Where to go in July, avoiding crazy crowd and hot weather?
 

Hello all,
we are a family of father, mother, 6 yo and 2.5 yo. We were all set to go to Japanese Alps (about 500km or 250 miles away from the nuclear plant) late June - July. But now that the whole nuclear thing is rated a 7 and not dying down, I am cancelling my plan since we do have 2 young kids in tow.

My question now, where should we go to Europe in late June - July? I am looking for weather that is not scorching hot and if possible to avoid crazy crowd. We were in Venice in late June 2011 and it was too hot and too crowded for us. We've been to Brugge and Amsterdam in September 2007 and that was super pleasant.

I haven't done any research yet on Europe. We come from super polluted, cramped, humid and hot Jakarta, so we look for outdoor spaces for the kids to run around, walkable cities, temperate weather. I am not a beach person, and would prefer mountains, fields and the gorgeous scenery that comes with it.

Thanks so much if you've made it this far.

-Nana

Have you considered the Berner Oberland in Switzerland? Lots of easy walks you can take with the kids, train rides, waterfalls, and of course gorgeous scenery.

We stayed in an apt in Lauterbrunnen: Chalet Horner. There is a yard for the kids to run around in. Train just a couple blocks away and you can do all sort of day trips from there.

Hi Michele,
we were actually in Wengen area in June 2010 (our big family did a Switzerland mini trip, continued with cruise ending in Venice since cruise prices were so attractive this year).
Yes on the gorgeous scenery, but maybe I should save it up for the future since we were just there.

Scandinavia would fit the bill. Expensive, though.

Scotland or Ireland?

Scotland

Dolomites in Italy?

Does it have to be Europe? Ever been to Australia or NZ? Lots of wide open spaces, clean fresh air, and it'll be winter, so fewer tourists. They're also closer and polar opposites of Jakarta...

Just wanted to also say I love your username - we have two pugs ourselves!

Iceland! It's not over crowded, the weather is nice and the light stays a long time in July, and it has gorgeous scenery. http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...in-iceland.cfm

And here are some pictures just for fun: http://travel.webshots.com/album/569734296LtBiWA

Thanks all for the replies.
I was looking at Scotland and Scandinavia last night.

Melnq8: some of my family is based in Brisbane, so that's my last reserve :) if I can't find a destination for this June/July.

jamikins: piglet is the pug is no longer with us. But we now have yoda the pug.

keep em coming!

thx

I was going to say Iceland, but someone has beat me to it :)

Scandanavia is silly expensive, personally. I highly recommend Ireland as well - scenery is breathtaking

And out of Europe (although maybe the flights would just be too long) I definitely recommend Peru--and even Chile, although it's not the time of year for some of its most breathtaking scenery.

Oh, if only we had a warm summer this year in northern France, after 4 cool summers in a row!

Thanks for all the helpful replies. We are traveling using Singapore Air mileage, and i spent 2 hours last night looking for any dates flying into Copenhagen or Amsterdam (cheapest miles), but couldn't find any. I think I may have to go Australia.

Thanks again for the helpful suggestions.

You could certainly do worse. Don't forget about NZ - Singapore Air has direct flights to Christchurch from Singapore.

Might look at the French Jura, pretty mountain side fields, running stream and the odd little city