Not hot in Europe in July?
 

This is a vague and somewhat unanswerable question, but I'll take any suggestions. Thanks in advance for your ideas!

Because of work commitments, I can only get away in July and December this year. I cannot wait until December. That leaves me July. I much prefer cooler weather and if I had my druthers I'd be in Andalusia or Le Marche or Turkey in April or October.

I will be meeting friends in Paris for a week but I'm looking for another week someplace else. I'll be traveling solo. I'm definitely a museum/church/history tourist-person. I love Paris and Rome, am cooler on London. I do enjoy splashing out on food and wine.

Went last summer to Poland and the Czech Republic, which I loved, especially Krakow and Prague. It was extremely hot but not unbearable.

Any suggestions? Stockholm seems cool but is there enough for a week and is it frightfully expensive? I've wanted to visit Berlin for ages but will it be baking? Even if it's hot, I'd prefer to avoid high humidity. My not-in-summer wish list includes Spain (Andalusia and Madrid), a return to Italy, and France (Burgundy, Toulouse, more).

Stockholm has enough to occupy you for 3 weeks. Really a fabulous city. I did a 3+ week home exchange there a couple of years back and absolutely loved Stockholm. It is made up of all these islands. You spend oodles of time on boats. There are also a lot of festivals during the summer.

Just as interesting as Paris or London. All of Scandinavia is expensive but not as bad as Norway (Oslo is not as interesting as Stockholm anyway) which wins the prize in the expensive department (at least in Europe it does; try Australia for obscenely expensive).

We loved our three day visit to Stockholm and would love to spend more time there. It is a beautiful city. We were surprised how taken we were with it.

Maybe I should get a Stockholm city guidebook. The cost of Scadinavia freaks me out but it's not a deal breaker.

Europe is either ruled by "Azore Highs" or "Icelandic Lows". The weather system that dominates can make many portions of the continent either rainy, cool, and dismal fpr weeks (months?) on end - - or interminablyu sunny and hot.

In Germany there is a specific date, called the "Siebenschlaefer" where it is determined early in summer, which will predominate any upcoming summer, but this is a kind of myth. Sometimes you buy wool caps in July, and then in August you swelter - - there is no predicting. Sometimes it stays cool and tricky all summer, and some summers are "bombensommer" with heat for weeks on end - - there is no predicting. Maybe 2 out of 5 are "bombensommer" with stifing temperatures. Your guess is as good as anybody's.

We found Stockholm to be cheaper than Oslo. Find a hotel that includes breakfast. Picnic for lunch. You can eat on the cheap in Gamla Stan. We found very reasonable prices there. Also, do not miss the Vasa Museum, fascinating. Skansen was a fun way to spend the day. I think you will really enjoy Stockholm. We did the overnight cruise from Tallinn to Stockholm. Fun way to get from one place to the other.

Do Stockholm and Copenhagen and you can easily fill a week. It is expensive though, but if you get a hotel at a price you like, you can get by.

Stockholm for a week sounds lovely, or maybe Stockholm and Helsinki. (I think Stockholm and Copenhagen would be too much for 1 week, particularly given your interests, but maybe if you could add a day or two....)

or St. Petersburg -- a week there is perfect timing IMO, and if you can go in early July, you would hit the White Nights, which are AWESOME! Truly the VERY best time to visit St. Petersburg. :-)

or maybe Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands?

Berlin has more or less the same Continental climate as Krakow or Prague.
If you want a more coastal destination, you can check out the Baltics and/or coastal Poland.
Much less of a sticker shock than the neighbors on the other side of the Baltic Sea.

If you're interested in Le Marche, you can be almost certain of avoiding excessive heat by going to somewhere at higher altitudes. We spend part of our summers in the southern part of Le Marche, where we often sleep under wool blankets in August. In the torrid summer of 2003, we fled to our house there even though it was still badly damaged by the earthquake of 1999. (It takes that long to get permits here!) We slept under blankets, with a view of the stars in our bedroom.

Our summer house is in the upper Potenza valley, which is an area that I love. It's not even really at a terribly high altitude, but between altitude, and the shade from the mountains, and the vicinity of the river, it's rarely too hot. If you were to go farther south, to the west of Ascoli Piceno, you'd find even higher altitudes.

i can tell you from bitter experience that Berlin in July can indeed be baking hot.

if that's a concern, put it on your list for December.

Berlin: HUMIDITY!!!! and that makes the "hot" feel even hotter.

Sweden is surprisingly warm in the summer, and can be baking hot.

Well, you could consider the Baltics - Tallin, Riga, Vilnius - with or without Helsinki.

Or maybe going higher? Switzerland is expensive, but there are mountains in France, Austria and Italy. Vienna was miserably hot in early August, but Innsbruck was fine.

Northern Scotland is cool in July. On the continent, a/c works well in France, anemic in Italy, and nonexistent at small hotels in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

I remember Madrid as very hot in July (30 °C and more), but very dry also, so the heat was much more liveable than most places.

Innsbruck is a fine suggestion, even better than Innsbruck is Igls, in the same municipality but much higher, like having natural AC.

Generally speaking, you would need higher elevations in mountain areas. Mountains are not enough - for example, Bolzano and Merano, surrounded by beautiful mountains, are very hot in summer - the southern side of Alps being hotter than the northern side,

<i>Northern Scotland is cool in July.</i>

As can be the islands. I went to Islay last August and had to wear sweaters.

Bolzano can indeed be very hot, but you just have to go up to Castlerotto to escape the worst heat. However, you don't escape the sun - I would choose somewhere with more trees!

I have visited Berlin five time in early- mid July in the last five years .
The year before last, it was rainy and cool for a week...it
It was never close to hot in all five visits. There is so much to see in the city,
I am thinking about going again this summer, the airfare is high but hotels are a bargain.

Stockholm is beautiful in the summer...and, as suggested, a nice combo with Copenhagen.

<Went last summer to Poland and the Czech Republic, which I loved, especially Krakow and Prague. It was extremely hot but not unbearable.>

Thinking you need to quantify "hot" because if you think Krakow and Prague were EXTREMELY hot, you have a fairly low tolerance.

That said, based on your museumaphilic personality, St. Petersburg seems perfect for you. Isn't the Hermitage alone large enough to spend a week visiting? ;-)

Unfortunately the coolest places - Scand and Switz - are also the most expensive. Some VERY expensive indeed.

Northern germany might be a decent compromise - unlikely to be hellishly hot and not very expensive - esp Berlin.

And Poland/Czech re not really hot - not like Spain or Italy or Greece - just regular summer weather. It may SEEM hotter since so few place have AC - but that is true of most of europe.

I've been to Poland and the CR in summer and would say they were extremely hot, which to me, would be about 90 degrees F and over. Since the OP said it was bearable, I imagine she is thinking in that range as being very hot. I've been in Dresden in July when it was like that, also. But I've been in Scotland and England in August when I had to wear a trench coat, it was so cold.

I have rarely suffered heat like Berlin and Paris in the summer. Weather varies from year to year everywhere but IMO, the recommendations for Scotland make a lot of sense. Also, we went there for the first time ever last year and I loved it in ways I was not prepared for, by which I mean it was so totally different than any other place we had ever been and I fell in love!

Scandinavia can be hot in the summer although that varies from year to year.

weather is screwed-up in europe and has been for the last few years. three years ago I went to austria and germany in july. it was pissing rain all the time, temps were ranging between 6C and 15C during the day, and was chillier in the morning. In austria it snowed not just on the mountains but also in some much lower areas - this is July we're talking about!
Two years ago I went again to central and southern europe in July /August and the temps were ranging between 38C and 44C without a drop of rain!!!.
Last year I went to Italy and Austria in July and the temps were ranging bewtween 38C and 40C.

This winter is some parts of Europe they hardly had any snow and spring like weather all winter long.

Who knows what will happen later on this year.

Stockholm or Copenhagen or Edinburgh or Glasgow or Dublin would be my suggested cities. All are pretty easy nonstop flights from Paris. All would give you plenty to do re fascinating history, churches cathedrals, castles/monumental bldgs, architecture, shopping, museums and nightlife. The temps in all these places in July is likely to be similar to San Francisco, but w/ a few showers or storms possible.

I have been to Paris in mid July when it was cool and rainy, and in mid July the following years- the temp
was in the high 80s...
Dublin and Edinburgh in July and August were cool with occasional rain.

I am a little confused about this "expensive" lark.

I have been to some of the most expensive destinations in the world. If you aren't comfortable living at your usual level just down grade. We would normally eat at middle market restaurants in Britain, similar restaurants in Norway would have cost well over e100 a head, we just ate pizza. Same with all levels of living, just don't buy decent Chianti in Stockholm etc etc.

Perfect destinations for OP :

Cornwall
West coast of France
Northern Spain
Definitely Stockholm and the islands
Ireland

Believe me, you will struggle to see much over 20oC in Scotland in summer.

Thanks, these are all thought-provoking replies and excellent suggestions.

My visit last summer to Poland and the CR was during the last ten days of July and the first week of August; it got progressively hotter while we were there. For me it was the humidity that pushed it to "very hot." We had great a/c in Krakow and Prague but not in the hinterlands. The rental car became a haven. The trains were hot hot hot. And one day in Prague we sought out the contemporary and modern museums, reasoning they would have a/c (we were correct).

Dickie, I mentioned the expense of Scandinavia because when I travel by myself I have found I prefer to upgrade. Just a personal thing; I like more comfort when traveling solo. Heck, with friends I'll happily stay in a shack.

I will check into all of these places and try to cobble something together. Thanks again, everyone!

St. Petersburg is a good suggestion, but I would do it for an entire week if I were going there (and you do have to mess with the dumb Russian visa production). Look at the Sijla Line Ferries for connections from Stockholm to Riga (17 hours one way) and Helsinki to Tallinn (an easy day trip from Helsinki). Having said that of all the Nordic cities, I would go back to Stockholm in a heartbeat.

Leely

The comment was just general, not aimed at anyone. Just seems that every time Norway, Switzerland or Sweden are mentioned here the response that is posted is the cost.

We are about to book 10 days in Stockholm for this July.

Will spend 3 days in the city and 7 days in the islands, probably Varmdo. The rentals seem to be of a high design standard for a reasonable price. Certainly compared with Spain and Italy where it can cost 1000s of euros for terrible rentals. This one of the reasons for choosing Sweden, after 40 years I don't think I can stomach another tatty, overpriced rental in Southern Europe.

The restaurant scene in Denmark is getting a lot of coverage and Copenhagen seems very user friendly, I am just not sure it is that impressive a landscape.

How about one of then islands : Mallorca, Sardinia and Corsica rarely exceed 30oC due to the regulating influence of the sea. Sicily is further south and so 40oC is normal in high summer. I seem to remember you have been to Sardinia? How about Corisca, much more vibrant. We loved Bonifacio.

I go to Scandinavia every month-6 weeks, and now we own a summer cottage in southern Sweden. Yes it is more expensive than where we live but you can adapt, buy open sandwiches etc from bakeries or buy inexpensive lunches from department store restaurants etc.
I can recommend Restaurant Radio in Copenhagen, for a Nordic culinary experience, or for a traditional Danish meal, Groften inside the Tivoli Gardens.
Renting a summer cottage on an island in the Swedish archipelago will be delightful. A Scandinavian summer is very special. The Danish island of Bornholm is a holiday island and supposed to be lovely, I have not visited it yet.
The area north of Copenhagen along the coast is lovely, up towards Helsingoer and beyond, white sand beaches and views towards Sweden.

St Petersburg can be quite hot & humid summer, at least in my experience.

Finally, some sensible comments about the cost of holidaying in Scandinavia. Had an extended stay in Sweden and Norway a few summers back - admittedly some of it was staying with friends in their apartment in Oslo, but we also had a hotel in Gothenburg, and a cabin in Aurland, and it was no more expensive then any other holiday I've ever taken.

Our hotel did very generous breakfasts included in the price of the stay, we ate sandwiches for lunch, or BBQ (less than a tenner a head for meat, salads and a slice of melon), or bought seafood from the supermarket, pizza out which was good and affordeable, and one or two smarter restaurant meals (general Mediterranean cuisine) which were barely any more expensive than they would be at home. Cooked sea bream and dill from the local market, ate norweigan goats cheese with honey dressing etc - all fab. Great cakes and pastries if you can forgo lunch after a big brekkie are another way of saving on the cost of a large midday meal. I really do despair at people who would miss out an entire country because they don't want to compromise on 5-star luxury or the latest Michelin starred place to brag about/tick off the list.

In more general terms, if the OP is worried about the heat (I'm not great with it either) find somewhere coastal, as it always tends to be slightly cooler/breezier than inland. And it doesn't have to be a beach hol - plenty of fabulous cities on the sea.

And ironically the essence of the new wave, stratospherically expensive Nordic restaurants is basic rustic cooking using fresh ingredients straight from the sea/beach/field. Tastes even better on the dock of a rental house with your feet in the water.

We went to Copenhagen twice last August and loved it! We were pleasantly surprised by the price of things...perhaps because we had expectations that things were going to be horrendously expensive! We found it much cheaper than we were expecting and cheaper than Stockholm.

I second the excellent Radio restaurant in Copenhagen...fantastic food! We would go back to Copenhagen in a heartbeat!

During our six week trip to Scandinavia in 2012, one thing we were pleasantly surprised with was the availability of food at all of our hotels in the evening. Like the breakfasts, it was included in the price of the room. Granted it wasn't anything phenomenal, but since my husband and I are not big eaters, it was great for us. One less meal to purchase. This was at the Choice Hotels group of hotels. We had points and stayed for free which helped also.

Two years ago I was in Iceland during summer. Perfect! Max temperature was 19°C :)
I recommend going in northern Europe and/or mountains.

coco - 5 years ago we were in Iceland in the summer and it was boiling hot - they had a heatwave. it never even cooled down much at night, which was a surprise and of course no-one has got A/C there.

it was such a relief when it rained!

@annhig - "...and of course no-one has got A/C there." :D