plans fell through
 

Plans for august fell through, and we're looking for something fun to do that won't break the bank. We have two weeks. Have been to Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, Tuscany, London. Love the old cities. Thoughts?

budapest and lake balaton. add vienna or prague?

vienna, graz, bratislava and budapest?

munich, fussen, salzburg, vienna, and the lakes in between?

how about Slovakia...with the mountains and old villages...or Poland ??? Budapest and Lake Balaton would be fun but very busy, or Romania??

August will be very hot, so that might rule some locations out.

Barcelona in Spain could be a good bet. It's on the water and is likely to be cooler than, e.g. Madrid. Nothing in Europe is cheap these days, but Spain is less expensive than a lot of other countries. Lots of history, very interesting architecture, some Roman ruins - but lots that's modern to see as well. Very stylish. Good cafe culture and shopping. Escape to the seaside, to Montserrat (mountaintop monastery) or to Girona (old, walled city).

It will be very hot, but if you like old cities, Istanbul can't be beat - it has been a crossroads of so many cultures. The prices are likely to be more reasonable than a lot of other places in Europe.

For something a little different, you could explore some smaller cities like Bruges, Trier and/or Maastricht. Some won't be cheap, but you could combine a few days in the city with winetasting along the Mosel River.

Vienna.......its just fantastic. You can probably go on the site VRBO and rent an apt. for cheaper than a hotel. Its what we found. We had an apt. hotel, a bit outside of the center and loved it.

Dubrovnik and Prague are beautiful old cities (particularly Dubrovnik) with heaps of possibilities to add on other things. For example Cesky Krumlov/Kutna Hora/Telc in the Czech Republic and Rovinj/Plitvice Lakes/Trogir/etc. in Croatia.

The Czech Republic (outside of Prague) is definitely less expensive than many places.

I agree with the Munich idea and it looks like you still have Amsterdam, Vienna and Prague to discover.

Berlin and Prague

Portugal and Northern Spain

Agree with Budapest and maybe Romania. Budapest is fantastic and as easy as any European city.

Romania's cheap and hugely interesting, but also requires different expectations than a western Europe trip.

In August I would head north - the Baltics should still be cheaper than Western Europe. I loved Vilnius, and there's also Riga and Tallinn, and the coast. Or you could consider Ukraine - again, I loved Lviv, and I hear good things about Kiev as well.

Amazing ideas - most are places I had never considered.
I have some research to do. Thank you