Go Back  Fodor's Travel Talk Forums > Destinations > Europe
Reload this Page >

Summer family trip...2 options !

Search

Summer family trip...2 options !

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Dec 8th, 2025 | 08:35 AM
  #1  
Original Poster
10 Anniversary
 
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 457
Likes: 0
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

Last edited by tostaky; Dec 8th, 2025 at 08:37 AM.
tostaky is offline  
Old Dec 8th, 2025 | 09:13 AM
  #2  
Community Builder
Community Influencer
15 Anniversary
 
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 30,539
Likes: 4
makes sense

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

bilboburgler is online now  
Old Dec 8th, 2025 | 09:34 AM
  #3  
Community Builder
Conversation Starter
20 Anniversary
 
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 74,969
Likes: 50
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.
janisj is offline  
Old Dec 8th, 2025 | 11:51 AM
  #4  
20 Anniversary
 
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,827
Likes: 0
Northern Spain will have very similar temperatures to those in Scotland.
mikelg is online now  
Old Dec 8th, 2025 | 12:07 PM
  #5  
 
Joined: Nov 2023
Posts: 197
Likes: 0
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.
JohnEW2912 is offline  
Old Dec 8th, 2025 | 01:20 PM
  #6  
10 Anniversary
 
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 2,245
Likes: 0
Heat in the mountains should not be a consideration. I adore Picos de Europe and all the interesting surrounding communities.
shelemm is offline  
Old Dec 8th, 2025 | 03:37 PM
  #7  
15 Anniversary
 
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 10,291
Likes: 0
Both are great choices.
KTtravel is offline  
Old Dec 8th, 2025 | 05:39 PM
  #8  
15 Anniversary
 
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,598
Likes: 0
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!
StantonHyde is offline  
Old Dec 9th, 2025 | 12:17 AM
  #9  
Community Builder
 
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 19,633
Likes: 0
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.
hetismij2 is offline  
Old Dec 9th, 2025 | 04:05 AM
  #10  
20 Anniversary
 
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 21,268
Likes: 0
Edinburgh in August is overcrowded and expensive, because of the Festival
PatrickLondon is offline  
Old Dec 18th, 2025 | 07:08 AM
  #11  
Original Poster
10 Anniversary
 
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 457
Likes: 0
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.
tostaky is offline  
Old Dec 18th, 2025 | 07:30 AM
  #12  
Community Builder
Community Influencer
15 Anniversary
 
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 30,539
Likes: 4
no fee for droping into another country, good if you can get it
bilboburgler is online now  
Old Dec 18th, 2025 | 08:24 AM
  #13  
Original Poster
10 Anniversary
 
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 457
Likes: 0
Originally Posted by bilboburgler
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.
tostaky is offline  
Old Dec 24th, 2025 | 02:34 PM
  #14  
15 Anniversary
 
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 2,282
Likes: 0
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.
millie2112 is online now  
Old Dec 24th, 2025 | 04:40 PM
  #15  
Community Builder
 
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 9,653
Likes: 0
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.
Pyrennial: a Spanish Pyrenees TR
I am done. The fellow Canuck.
zebec is offline  
Old Dec 28th, 2025 | 08:14 AM
  #16  
15 Anniversary
 
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 16,275
Likes: 0
Many Spaniards tend to go north in the summer months.
SS is popular..and expensive. And great !
Another seaside option antander.
Your list for Spain and France is very long . More interesting than UK , imo
happy planing.
danon is offline  
Old Dec 29th, 2025 | 02:37 AM
  #17  
Community Builder
Community Influencer
15 Anniversary
 
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 30,539
Likes: 4
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.
bilboburgler is online now  
Related Topics
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
agswimmer
Africa & the Middle East
15
May 5th, 2009 05:06 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are On



Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement -