Ideas for late August, early September
 

Trying to decide between a couple of destinations.

The trip would last 15-20 days or so.

One idea is Northern Europe, 2-4 nights each in Stockholm, Tallinn, Helsinki, Berlin and Copenhagen. Tallinn would be a 2 night stay, then take the ferry to Helsinki for 3 nights. Only been to Stockholm and Berlin, once each, 10-15 years ago.

The other idea is to go to Paris, then go to mostly Normandy but also a short visit to Mont St. Michel, since you can take the TGV from CDG to Rennes and then it's about an hour drive to MSM. From there, go on to probably Caen and spend 1 or 2 nights to visit the Omaha beach area. Then I would drive to Etretat and stay for a couple of nights there.

Looking at doing this portion over the course of 5-7 nights. The driving in between isn't bad, except at the end, it's about 3.5-4 hours from Etretat to Paris or CDG.

The other half of the trip would be either train or fly to Biarritz, spend a couple of days there with nearby day trips (including possibly San Sebastian) and then drive north to Bordeaux for a couple of nights there, before returning to Paris, probably for a night or two before flying back.

Haven't been to Normandy or Bordeaux, briefly visited Biarritz as a day trip from San Sebastian.

The France itinerary would involve a lot of driving, trains. The Northern Europe would involve several short flights -- Stockholm to Tallinn, Helsinki to Berlin, Berlin to Copenhagen.

Normandy part could be more hectic, moving base after just a night or two nights.

Some of these destinations tend to be rainy but they have the lowest rainfall, on average, in September. They are places I've never been or have limited familiarity with them.

Any opinions? I don't go to museums as much as I used to. I am far more about the outdoors and it was going this way even before the pandemic. In the travel I've done since the pandemic, I avoid indoor dining and I don't think I've gone into many museums or any kind of public indoor place for extended periods. But these are all places where it rains a lot, so I may have to prepare for alternatives in case of bad weather.