Summer family trip...2 options !
 

Summer family trip in europe...2 options !

Hi !
We are a canadian family of 2 adults and 2 teens (17 ans 14 years old). We would like to do another trip in Europe. We already been in France (Paris, Normandy, Brittany, Dordogne and Alps), Venice, Rome, Dolomites, Slovenia, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Catalogna (Barcelona and around), Portugal and Germany.

We have budget and time for a 25-30 days trip. We enjoys good local food, natural sights (small/medium hiking is fun for us), remote village. We also enjoy nice cities but dont want to do only them. Our vacations time is from july 1st to august 20.

So....
Option 1) Arrival and departure from London. London, Wales, Lake region england, Bath, Edimbourg and Scotland (highlands ? Skye ?)

+ : weather is gonna be less hot that many place in Europe
-: expensive

Option 2) Arrival in Bordeaux ,Toulouse or Marseille: southern France + Northern Spain(including Pyrénées and Picos de Europe), Cantabria....

+: Less expensive than GB, nice mountains
-: could be more hot

So any ideas about that ?

Thanks

makes sense

both trips are covering a lot of ground in a relatively short trip.

Just very quick because I'm dashing out for the day. Option 1 would be a real rush if in just 25 days when accounting for travel times and such. 30 days would be more doable but you are still trying to squeeze in a awful lot. Much would end up being 'drive-by's'. The distances must seem small, especially for a Canadian, but the travel is much slower than back home.

I haven't been in the Pyrénées area but I suspect that option has the same issues.

Northern Spain will have very similar temperatures to those in Scotland.

Whilst Northern Spain will be noticeably cooler and wetter than the rest of the country, it will normally be quite a bit warmer than Scotland.

Heat in the mountains should not be a consideration. I adore Picos de Europe and all the interesting surrounding communities.

Both are great choices.

If you click on my user name, you will see trip reports for teens in Scotland and teens in London. We spent 2 weeks in Scotland and one week in London. We had a blast!

I want to point out that this last summer temperatures in the Picos De Europa were up to to 32C, and in Bordeaux was as high as 38C some days in July and even higher in August.
Scotland was cooler, but it will be crowded at that time of year, especially places like Skye.

Next year who knows?
All bets are off regarding the temperature anywhere in Europe given the climate crisis.

Edinburgh in August is overcrowded and expensive, because of the Festival

For Spain, is something like that would be doable ? Enjoyable ? Arrival in porto (Already been there, but 2 nights would be enjoyable), lease a car (no fee for droping into another country)
Douro Valley
Galicia in Spain
Asturia
Small hikes in Picos de Europa
San Sebastian
Basque country
Small hikes in Pyrénées
French basque country
Get back to home from Toulouse/Montpellier/ Bordeaux.

Of course we would have to read more to find all our stops.

no fee for droping into another country, good if you can get it

If we do a lease isnted of a rental there's no fee. Leasing is more expensive but you get a brand new car, full warranty coverage, no fee for another driver and no fee to drop in another country.

Flip a coin.. both are great and either will be a good trip. As the kids are teens.. what will they be more interested in. Option 2 can give the kids some down time swimming in the South of France.

Tostaky,
Below is a link to our recentish Spanish Pyrenees TR. Maybe it could give you some sense whether or not that area and its hiking is for you folks?
Good luck.
https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...es-tr-1727869/
I am done. The fellow Canuck.

Many Spaniards tend to go north in the summer months.
SS is popular..and expensive. And great !
Another seaside option :Santander.
Your list for Spain and France is very long . More interesting than UK , imo
happy planing.

The only time I hiked in the Picos, I drove up in a soft top sports car, had to get by some horned cows in the road, hiked up for 2 hours in broad sunshine and back down 3 hours in an ice blizzard to a completely clear car. June. Be prepared.

Climate Change has kicked up a lot since then, so more energy, less certainty.