tansmets

Hi! I am trying to figure out a 5 week mid June - Mid July Europe trip for my family - myself, partner and a 5 and 8 year old. Last summer we did this - our itinerary was landing in FCO > Tuscany (5 nts) > Parma (2 nts) > Lake Garda (4) > Wengen (6) > Provence/Avignon (5) > Chamonix (6) > Lucerne (3) and leaving from ZCH. We'd like to do something similar this year and not repeat places for the most part - focus on natural scenery and relaxed destinations (no Paris for example). My children aren't big on museums but LOVE to hike, we did 5 hours on the TMB last year. I'm open to adding a flight in the middle of our summer plans and wanted feedback on potential destinations. From our trip last summer I'd also like to again spend a few days in Tuscany since it's just glorious and relaxing (we will be working remotely) +amazing food, and possibly Chamonix which was my favorite place by far. Great transit, lovely architecture, good selection of food, the alpine luge for my kids. I'd consider going to the other side and staying in Courmeyer if that makes sense.

This summer destinations on my mind - Northern Croatia - I want to start off in either Zadar or Split, trips to the islands, and the Plitvice Lakes (then maybe fly out from Zagbreb)?
If we continue road triping from Croatia I've thought to stop in Ljubjana or Lake Bled and then head to Austria - Zell Am See was recommended as a summer destination for us but it doesn't look as great as Wengen or Chamonix, and then after austria drive south to Italy.

Other places on my "list": Cinque Terre, Northern Spain / Pyrenees - San Sebastian, Bilbao, or maybe the Dolomites for the hiking portion of the trip. For spain we'd fly to get there and then go back to the US from Spain. Figuring about 6-7 destinations. Would appreciate any insights or advice. Thanks!!

rialtogrl

Split and Zadar are not in northern Croatia. Maybe I am not reading correctly and you want to go to both the south and the north?

If your family loves hiking, consider more time in Slovenia. Here is some info to get you started:
https://www.slovenia.info/en/stories...-hiking-trails

And for Plitvice - there is the main part of the national park that is crammed with people but there is a lot more to the park and you can find trails outside that area where you may be the only people on the trail! You could spend a night or two there and have a lot of hiking options.

The Dolomites make more sense than flying to another country, and another beautiful area of Italy that is easily combined with Slovenia and Austria is Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

tansmets

Thanks - I guess it's central croatia? Dubrovnik seems like a place we should skip given our interests and itinerary. Thanks for the advice on Plitvice - its worth lodging there for a night it seem.

I think the Dolomites look great but we love glaciers and snow covered mountain tops which they don't have at that time of year, but the food (IMO) will be much better than Switzerland, found the food expensive and bland. Will check out the slovenia links - thanks!

Gypsy8

Cinque Terre is an amazing group of towns!! We stayed in Manarola, hiked through vineyards and olive groves to the other 4 towns.
Great hiking in the Dolomites, you can hike up and take the gondolas back down the mountain as there seem to be gondolas everywhere. We stayed in St Christina

lrice

What a fun trip to plan! You could think about something like:

Fly into Bordeau and head to Sarlat in the Dordogne (hiking, canoeing, prehistoric caves, castles)
Then:
Toulouse
Collioure (beach)
Girona
Barcelona

Others on this Board will need to comment about the Basque region, and how to include that because my itinerary took you down the other side of Spain.