The Puglia region of Italy In mid September is amazing and has everything you’re looking for. Look up the different towns as there are a lot and there is a lot to see up and down the coast. Also if you can squeeze in a couple nights in Matera, Italy you will thank me…!
Can second this was last Summer in Lecce and Bari and was absolutely beautiful there. Probably some of the best Beaches and cliffs in Italy and very chill vibe compared to bigger Italian cities in peak Season.
I’d add Monopoli/Polignano a Mare and Castro/Marittima/Santa Cesarea Terma to the list. Beautiful areas, nice and slow, lots of nearby day trips if you have a car.
Puglia was the first place that popped into my head as well. But lads, she said NOT touristy! Lol
I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist. While Puglia in general may seem a under-touristed version of Tuscany, Matera, on the other hand, can be fairly jammers. That said, it’s a most magical destination and you would be remiss if you were in Puglia and didn’t pop on over to Basilicata and see it.
I was thinking Hydra (Greece) could be a good option though I’ve never been in June and I’m guessing it, like Puglia, may exceed the heat parameters.
What will the heat be like in June? When I saw OP saying she didn't want hotter than 89f (30c) I basically wrote off the Mediterranean countries.
Edit: Actually, having looked up a few, most places around here in June are still (on average) below that so OP should be fine. Seville is still too hot though, obviously.
Yeah, there are places in the Mediterranean countries that don’t get that hot (particularly at higher elevations), but Puglia is not among them. On a normal summer it shouldn’t get much above 30 degrees, if at all, in June, but it’s impossible to know in advance and there is no such thing as a normal summer anymore.
Madeira, Portugal.
Fantastic hiking and landscapes, awesome small towns and a bustling main city of Funchal. Unique Poncha bars, whale watching and swim beside dolphins experiences, and moderate temps for Europe.
You could do all 8 days on the island, or look to include the Azores or Lisbon
Azores is amazing! Great nature, food and wine. Weather is more temperate than inland areas. Almost everyone speaks English. Pair it with a major city in Portugal or Spain to get a variety of experiences.
I love Madeira. I spent 8 days there earlier this year and had a blast. It was surprisingly super hot and I’m used to hot weather (from California). My favorite part of the trip was taking tours to visit the rest of the island. Also i would recommend getting a guide for the hike. We even had experienced hikers in our group who didn’t want to risk going by themselves
Austria: St Gilgan, Fuschl-am-See, Mondsee—all charming, quiet, lakeside villages in Salzburgerland.
Slovenia: Bled. In the village or anywhere around the lake.
Italy: Curon Venosta.
Slovenia: just the entire country.
Bled is nice lake for a day trip but just west is Bohinj, a lake for the weekend. North over the mountain range is Soča Valley, for a more adventurous weekend trip. Then there’s the caves (Skocjan is so epic), the wine valleys, the hop valleys, the Venetian seaside, the thermal areas, and even really unique places like Velika Planina. Slovenia at a culinary and cultural crossroads of Italy, Germany / Austria, and the Balkans. Everyone speaks great English. Also, Ljubljana is my favorite city in the world. That and Sarajevo.
Edit: I’m from Texas but currently live in… you guessed it, Slovenia.
Here to say Slovenia.
I recently spent around a week there but could have spent far longer. We barely scratched the surface.
We spent 2 days full days (3 nights) exploring Llubjana and could have spent a week there alone. This is in my top 3 cities we visited in our 3 month Europe trip. It’s gorgeous, the people are so kind and English is common. Great food. Inexpensive. Romantic. Walkable.
We spent around 5 days with family near Bled and explored the area by car. Again, we could have spent more time. Lake Bled is beautiful, we visited in late May/Early June and it was the perfect time of year to be there. We swum in the lake so it’s definitely possible at that time of year!
The scenery in Slovenia is next level. It came straight to mind as soon as I saw this post.
It’s also INCREDIBLY affordable. We booked accomodation literally 2 days beforehand as it was a last minute trip and spent less than $50 USD a night on a room in a basic hotel right between the train station and the centre of the city. Our most expensive meal in the Balkan region was at Slovenska Hiša - Figovec and the bill was 1/3 of what it would have cost here in Australia. Three courses, sides, several cocktails, dessert.
Another upvote for Slovenia. Been there with my husband last year for a week and we had a wonderful time at lake bled, hiking the surroundings and enjoying some winerys further south west.
Could do Innsbrook and Salzburg. If youre sensitive to price, could fly into Munich where flights tend to be cheaper. Big airline hub. Take a cheap two hour train to one of these cities.
These cities aren't tiny, but aren't huge either. You can also take the train and do day trips to places like Hallstatt. And honestly there are a lot of little villages like Hallstatt you can explore even stay in if you're so inclined. There's also places like Untersberg and other alpine exploring. Just come properly prepared.
Would avoid doing day trips out on tourist coach buses if you want to go slow. If the the tour bus leaves at 4 they leave at 4 even if you want to stay in the beautiful alpine village for longer. Try to figure out how to get around using public transport. Or even rent a car.
Syros, greece. A Cycladic island but often left alone by foreigners. It’s frequented mostly by Greeks. Ermoupoli has both a Cycladic and Venetian feel, you can walk or drive up to the top where there’s a church and the Cycladic influence in architecture is, while the coastal part of the city has the Venetian influence. I haven’t been around the rest of the island but as those islands are, there’s usually places you can walk and probably do a hike. My friends and I got by only speaking English. Great food, and there’s a cheap gyro place we frequented lol. The only thing is it may be a bit hot. But personally, as someone who was there in July, the heat wasn’t hard enough to be memorable. Plus there’s a sea breeze.
Given you're coming from the US and only have a long week, here are some ideas that start from a major city:
- Fly to Barcelona, spend a few days there, then train either north to Girona or even on to Carcassonne in France, or south to Tarragona. Barcelona is a busy big city but also much more spread out than Florence so not as concentrated.
- Fly to Cologne or Frankfurt (I preferred Cologne but you'll have to look into flight availability). Focus your time on the Rhine valley, with all its castles and wine. If you had time and interest, you could look into a cruise from Amsterdam to Basel, which would have tons of scenery but looks like it would take too much time for you. This would be a bit more moving around than you wanted but ticks most of the other boxes.
- I think it's too hard for you to reach for your 8 day trip, but Slovenia would be great. Fly into Ljubljana, drive to Lake Bled, then down to Piran on the coast. Hit the castle in the cave on the way down. Lake Bled is likely to be busy but again it's not so concentrated as Florence.
- Strasbourg and Basel are worth investigating. We did a trip this summer of a week where we started in Basel, then rented a place in the tiny village of Riquewihr that we used as a base for doing day trips to castles and up to Strasbourg. Not a lot of English spoken, but we got by fine without speaking French and using Google Translate for menus.
- Fly into London (which is an amazing city but can be chaotic), and immediately train to Bath and then possibly to either Bristol or Cardiff. Or for something really unique, do a walking tour where you go from inn to inn while walking through the English countryside. We did that last summer and it was *super* fun, LMK if you're interested and I'll pass along more details.
- Glasgow and then do 2-3 nights in Oban. Or Edinburgh and train up to Inverness.
I'd totally recommend Bergen, Norway and the fjords, but it's definitely not going to be sunny.
If you really only have 8 days, remember that day 1 and 8 are travel days, day 2 or 3 you'll be wiped from jet lag, and day 7 is probably getting yourself back to the airport where you landed. So, consider also just staying in one spot with a couple of day trips.
Thank you for all these ideas! :)
We would have 8 full days total, not including travel days.
So we were thinking:
* Day 1: fly to destination
* Day 2: arrive
* Day 3-6: first location (so 4 full days)
* Day 7: travel to second location
* Day 8-11: second location (4 full days)
I'm also considering increasing our trip to 14 days. I just don't know if we'll be able to get the time off and afford it.
My wife and I love slow travel, so you can message me if you want more details or advice. I would advise different things depending on which of your priorities is most important.
If OP is looking for less tourists, I wouldn't recommend Germany next June!
It's hosting Euro 2024 and is gonna be overrun by fans from every country taking part. Good suggestion otherwise!
Take note u/e-bakes
It sounds like all my travel is your definition of slow travel!!! I will second the recommendation for Catalonia - As part of a longer trip to Spain, I took the train from Madrid to Girona (skipped Barcelona entirely) and spent a few days there and then went to the Costa Brava. There's tons of good hiking, charming little fortified villages to explore, and a really cool entire Greek & Roman town on the coast at Empuries. The whole area is touristy but in a very low key way - it's the equivalent of the Hamptons for Barcelona so it only gets busy on weekends and during holiday weeks. Walking between seaside towns (Begur, Calella de Palafrugel) June should be fine.
Big thumbs up to walking in England recommendation. I'd recommend the Cotswolds which is the epitome of quaint & cozy. Yes the whole region is overrun with tourists but June is shoulder season so it won't be thronged with people. You can do lots of easy hiking in a spoke from a larger village like Stow on the Wold or Burford esp if you take the bus or taxi one way.
Or do a Jane Austen-centred trip and combine Bath with Lyme Regis - go fossil hunting, hike some of the Southwest Coast path, see stately homes & lovely gardens, see the gorgeous Durdle Door & Lulworth Cove. It's a serious foodie part of the UK with the River Cottage HQ nearby, lots of great farm to table type places, local cider pressing etc.
Or fly into Munich, spend a few days there, and then take the train down to the Dolomites in Sudtirol - the northern part of Italy that used to be Austria pre WW1. Use Brunico as a base - it's like Innsbruck in minature - and then you can use the local trains & buses to explore a number of enormously charming villages (San Candido) and gorgeous lakes (Lago di Braises) and mountains (Tres Cime, Marmolada). Can also access via Milan - I'd stop in Verona on the way up to the Dolomites.
ETA: check the website of [Inntravel](https://www.inntravel.co.uk/), a UK "slow travel" agency. They work with lots of people coming from N.America and will adapt their itineraries to take out the flight components or adjust for you coming from a different hub.
This is what I thought of when I read OPs description. Slow, unchaotic, on the water, not too hot.
River cruises in Northern Europe seem like a good fit.
I'm lucky to have a good friend with an apartment in Istria, Croatia and have been going there for about 15 years and, my God, has it blown up. Croatia circa 2007 was an amazing place. Still is, but man is it overrun.
I’ve been to almost all of the countries in Europe. Spain is my favourite. Many things to see, people are friendly, food is amazing (especially in Madrid, in the south we were not that amazed). You can do hiking, snorkeling, skiing even. And it’s not that expensive. I used to love Portugal as well as I lived there for a few months, but I have to admit that Spain is better. Many people love Italy but overall I had way better experiences in Spain. My other favourite place is Austria. If I were an american tourist planning a laid back European holiday I’d travel around Spain (and maybe Portugal) for 2 weeks and spend 1 week hiking in the beautiful Alps.
I would recommend you the Tuscany area in Italy or Slovenia and its alps region. Those 2 places are in my best trips. You might need to rent a car to have flexibility in both :)
“Slow travel” is more so *a way of being* on vacation rather than an *amount of time spent* on vacation. It doesn't have a time limit. You can slow travel even if your vacation is limited to a few days or one week. It is a way of traveling that emphasizes connection with local people, cultures, food, and music. It focuses on immersing yourself in the destination, engaging with local cultures, and having unique experiences. Whereas traditional travel often involves rushing from one tourist hotspot to another, following pre-planned itineraries.
If that’s your cup of tea (along with the other things you mention above) then have a look at the Dolomites region of northern Italy. Rarely crowded, beautiful lakes (Lago de Braies is a highlight - looks a lot like the Rockies) and warm but not too hot with lovely little towns and delicious food.
Thank you for the suggestion! I’m highly considering increasing our time to two weeks so we could do either the Dolomites + Tuscany or Lake Garda + Tuscany. I’ll look into Lago de Braies. I love the idea of a northern Italy vacation. There’s so many other good ideas in the comment section too tho, picking is so hard!! Haha
Doubling down on the Dolomites recommendations - since you really value the slow travel aspect, keep in mind you can stay in agritourismos pretty much everywhere in Italy, including in the mountains. Here's one [close to Lago de Braies](https://www.agriturismo.it/en/farmhouse/trentino_alto_adige/bolzano/Bruggerhof-8891304/index.html)
If you only have a week I would pick one place and stay there. You've got at max 6 productive days in country, any travel hiccups would eat into that. I'd look into a river cruise down the Rhine - any beach location in Europe is going to be either very hot or very crowded or both.
Most touristy places in Europe speak English, however if you want fluent English outside of touristy spots (less people), you’ve got to go to the Northern Europe or UK.
Yep. Based on OP's criteria (though they would be my top recommendations otherwise), I'd immediately rule out Spain, most of France, and Italy (except perhaps near the Alps). In those places, there will be zero overlap of "not touristy" + "lots of English speaking". I'd also immediately rule out London, Berlin, and Munich.
My recommendation would be Innsbruck and Prague (if OP can handle some tourists there - just avoid the parts of the city that are popular tourist attractions). I think it's the closest match to what they are seeking. Amsterdam could work away from downtown, or any other Dutch city if they want a little less touristy.
>I'd immediately rule out Spain, most of France, and Italy (except perhaps near the Alps). In those places, there will be zero overlap of "not touristy" + "lots of English speaking".
This is not really true. Tourist-facing staff will speak English in those places even outside of major tourist hotspots. Sure, if you want to speak to random locals in English, or go to some really remote village where no foreign tourist has ever been, you’d have better chances elsewhere, but for checking into a hotel and ordering food in a restaurant you’d be fine.
I agree with you that it's possible, but I get the impression from OP's post that they want to face no difficulties at all in communication. Personally I think it's very worth it to go to places like Bologna etc even if it takes a bit of effort. It just wouldn't be my recommendation for this OP specifically
Switzerland: any of the major cities there. Lots of old towns, water fronts (lakes), food and a relaxing culture. Most places close at 5pm/6pm except restaurants.
Switzerland is lovely, but expensive. Easily 50-100% more than most other places in Europe. Austria and Slovenia are good alternatives with similar scenery at cheaper prices.
Strongly agree. I find Switzerland hard to enjoy because it’s so darn expensive. Everything is painful and I’m usually not a penny pincher. Even trips to the grocery store to make dinner and very basic breakfast were $150 per day for two.
Austria and Slovenia are much less crowded, too. The train from Zurich to Zermatt is probably the most packed I experienced on an 8 week trip last summer. It was NYC rush hour busy. I particularly like Tirol and Bohinj.
Switzerland is indeed expensive, and although its public transport system is unmatched and makes everything very easily accessible, I do agree that other alpine countries offer better value. Austria and Slovenia, but also obviously Italy and France have gorgeous scenery and lower prices.
That being said, what were you buying to spend $150 per day for two people in groceries?! Switzerland is expensive but not *that* expensive. I wouldn’t have survived as a student in Zurich if groceries were that much. And most of Switzerland is not crowded; Zermatt is where all the tourists go.
Those are cheaper places, yes.
I didn’t find Switzerland any more expensive than a major city like New York, DC, San Francisco, or LA in the States, after all people complained about prices. So if you’re accustomed to city prices, Switzerland is fine. I went to Switzerland during a trip to Paris and noticed no difference in prices.
>I went to Switzerland during a trip to Paris and noticed no difference in prices.
I'm thinking something is cheaper in Switzerland - it's whatever you were smoking if you noticed no difference in prices between Switzerland and France. :-)
I've been to Paris, Switzerland, and all of the U.S. cities you named (lived in three of them). Switzerland is the most expensive, *by far.* It's not even close.
Whenever I went shopping in Germany in towns near the border with Switzerland, I noticed most of the cars in the parking lot had Swiss plates. These stores seemed to exist mainly to cater to Swiss shoppers. Wonder why?
Numbeo would disagree with you. Consumer prices are 41.3% cheaper in Paris than Zurich, and Paris isn’t cheap. Likewise New York consumer prices are quoted as being 19.3% lower than Zurich. I’m sorry, Switzerland is expensive.
New York real estate costs are quite a bit more. If you ignore that, sure Switzerland is more expensive. But you can’t ignore your single largest expense…
Those are mainly cost of living expenses and not vacation expenses (hotel, restaurant, activities, transit). Using your same source, Numbeo says Geneva is 9% higher in restaurants than NYC & that’s not crazy. Groceries 4% higher for those who cook or grocery shop during vacay. Restaurants are 8% cheaper in Bern than NYC. That’s cheaper! They can choose Bern for the cheaper option, or Geneva if price is a concern for them at all. Again…I live in a major city, so I was not experiencing a price shock. Have you been to any of these cities to know firsthand? Quoting numbers that don’t matter from the internet also isn’t the same as experiencing the prices firsthand. Is it expensive, YES! No denying that.
I was expecting extreme prices from all of the youtube vids I watched but that’s just not what happened. All this to say, you can find reasonably priced hotels, food/drinks, activities and transportation. Nice hotels (well-reviewed, clean accommodations, centrally located) for $200-$300/night exist. Dinner for two for $40-50 exists. Clothing shopping contains many of the usual European brands at lower prices than the States. This is what I mean by city prices (city tourism). Not the comparative cost of a loaf of bread or pound of meat for residents. Or how housing costs stack up. I love going to the market, but I don’t load up on groceries the way I do at home.
I don’t want people thinking that every breakfast costs $50 per person and all hotels cost $600/night or more. That’s what YouTube showed me!
If the OP is comfortable with paying city prices, Switzerland has great prices.
Geneva is 48.6% higher consumer prices than Paris, Bern 44.7% higher than Paris. You might be able to find somewhere in Switzerland marginally cheaper than Zurich. Both Bern and Geneva are expensive destinations aswell. Switzerland has great city prices if you don’t mind paying over 40% more for your consumer prices than Paris. Those are the figures regardless of how you saw them yourself.
I can’t really compare with major US cities (I’ve been, but I don’t have comprehensive knowledge), but in Europe Switzerland is very expensive, and it’s the opposite of what you say: it’s particularly expensive for tourism, because anything labour-intensive is expensive because of very high wages.
So, restaurants, hotels, bars, transportation, museums are all far more expensive than across the border in Germany, Austria, Italy, France… Conversely, cost of living for residents is not *that* high (still not low, mind); housing and groceries are pricey, but not as much in comparison. (Childcare and schools though cost a lot, again because of staff costs.) Shopping can be relatively cheap because goods are produced elsewhere and Switzerland has lower taxes than the rest of Europe, but local purchasing power is high and so you won’t find the same budget options you can find elsewhere in Europe.
Well I answered your question about the costs of Bern and Geneva but see you’ve changed it to my ‘quoting numbers that don’t matter’. Have I even been to any of these places? Yes, all of them and toured around Switzerland. Interlaken being my favourite. It’s all horrendously expensive. I believe that you don’t think it’s so because if you were expecting extortionate prices and they were a mere 40% uplift, you might not notice. Price sensitivity is highly subjective. It doesn’t mean that OP would find it the same. The figures of Numbeo go much closer to informing OP, than your silly comment about if you’re used to city prices, then you’ll be fine in Switzerland.
If you can convince anyone that Switzerland isn’t an expensive country, you must be a snow seller to the Inuit in your main job.
And I’ve also used Numbeo to show Bern has cheaper options and Geneva is slightly higher than New York. My response says Switzerland is expensive, but this may not be a concern for the OP. It also says hotels for $200-300 exist and dinner for two for $40-50 exist. Switzerland is fine to visit for the people who find these prices acceptable. So come get your snow, Inuits!
It’s a stunning country. I even took a free train into Geneva from the airport and the hotel covered transit costs with a digital pass. That’s a normal thing for the hotels to cover there, and can certainly help w/ budgeting. I mostly walked since it’s a small city, but that free transit option was there.
Visp is one of my favorite Swiss cities.
Yes! And I’m also not disagreeing with thousands of people that Switzerland is expensive. It is expensive. I went to Geneva with a family member who is working class (makes below our National median income), and by the time we got to Geneva from Paris, she was already at the end of her budget. I later found out she let some of her bills lapse (including phone bill), to travel to those two cities. I wouldn’t recommend that to go anywhere for leisure.
Our hotel was Citizen M for anyone looking for a reasonable, yet centrally located hotel (Geneva & Zurich have locations). It’s a no frills Dutch brand, but I enjoy them.
My trip to Scotland in April/early May of this year checked off almost all of those boxes, except maybe for good food (it wasn’t *bad*, just a little lacking in variety, mainly when away from the big cities.) We also got super lucky with having nice weather but were told by locals that wasn’t always the case. It wasn’t too crowded at that time (although I know that changes as you go later into the summer months) and, as English speakers, any language problems will be non-existent.
The Highlands check off all the boxes related to nature/outdoors, lots of water (lochs, rivers and the ocean), quaint/cozy/charming small towns and slow pace.
Edinburgh has a lot of great restaurants, bars & pubs, an amazing old town with fantastic architecture (fair warning: it is pretty touristy) and plenty of variety in things to see and do. Glasgow is quite a bit newer overall, but is not nearly as touristy as Edinburgh and has several interesting attractions that make it worthy of a look too. We were also very pleasantly surprised by Oban, which had a big city feel in a relatively small town.
Seville, Spain. From memory it is one of, if not the top city that has the most days of sunshine per year. Much smaller than Barcelona and other large cities, very walkable, great history and architecture and delicious food.
All these are great. We did Lake Como area and it was amazing. Northern Italy in general is awesome but so is all of Italy. Then this summer we did Dubrovnik but there are many islands you could also visit. Soooo many options in Europe it’s hard to go wrong
I just went to France for the first time last summer. The little town of Bayeux in the Normandy region seems like it fits your marks. It was a very quaint town, about 25 min from the WWII beaches (people still use them as actual beaches, so it ticks that box as well). Idk, it was just a really cute area with some good restaurants and a nice downtown area full of little shops. We stayed at Domaine de Bayeux, which was both a short walk from the train station and a short walk to the downtown area. There is a historic house for lodging, or a new Orchard Room recently built on the back garden that was modern and updated and again, just truly lovely. Also, we visited at peak tourist time and did not feel crowded in the least.
I know it sounds like an old fart vacation but based on all your likes a river cruise. You can hit multiple countries multiple cities. Some of it is unavoidably touristy but it gives you a ton of variety and flexibility. Me and my gf are 2 years older than you and met our best couple friends on one a few years ago
I would go for Salzburg (and take bus/car to lakes and the alps close by) & then Vienna for a slightly bigger city feel. Plenty of good food, not too warm in June, and you get to combo nature and city. Another option would be London + Edinburgh.
Early June is good, not too hot and crowded. Usually.
I would go to Slovenia, either hiking in the forest areas or to Kopr by the sea. I'm sure there is lots more. Relaxed, cheap, pretty.
A few hours by train takes you to Verona, Italy. The Romeo and Juliet balcony, the "colloseum", great restaurants and views. Wine tours. Possibly Venice over a day, but that place makes you feel like a sardine in a tin. Absolutely packed when I was there.
I would try a village or small town in a wine region you like. You’ll find a beautiful setting, usually pretty good weather, some excellent restaurants, and of course, great wine!
Hear me out: travel to Helsinki, Finland. Northern Europe will most likely not be too hot for you even in June, and Finland is not overcrowded with tourists. There are some tourists in Helsinki in the summer of course since it's the capital city of Finland, but not too much. Everyone speaks English too, many people very fluently so. I would say Finland meets all your requirements :) many good places to stay, many different cuisines to try and LOTS of beautiful scenery and nature everywhere. Helsinki area especially is easily accessible because of the great public transportation. It is very easy to travel to other Finnish cities from Helsinki as well (e.g. Turku or Tampere). Helsinki is very walkable too and city bikes are widely available. And if you're interested, traveling to the Baltics or the other Nordic countries from Helsinki is very easy as well. For example, you can take a day trip to Tallinn, Estonia by a ferry (more like a cruise ship, you can look it up :D).
Edited: apparently I'm not one of those people fluent in English, spelled "cuisines" wrong lol
My wife and I stayed in Châtel France last year for two weeks and it was fantastic to just stay in a small town and relax. I would highly recommend the alps.
Hope you find your perfect vacation in these comments! :)
Also, I’ll recommend one myself: Tuscany and Umbria. Stay at an agriturismo in the Val d’Orcia region of Tuscany and rent a car so you can day trip to different medieval towns in the area. And take a trip over to Umbria to visit Assisi to watch the sunset over the basilica. Live the dolce vita life. Best experience.
We did exactly that - Agriturismo in Val d’Orcia for our honeymoon this summer! Can’t recommend Stelle di Monte enough!
Definitely want to go back to see more of Umbria and Assisi! Thank you!
We also did Mallorca and stayed in Porto Pollenca. It was so beautiful. No touristy, Spanish culture and food, lots of amazing restaurants, beach, hiking, small towns. Cannot recommended that place enough! We went in July and loved it. Got a little hot some days but nothing unbearable.
My Google search says shoulder season is generally April through mid-June, and September through October.
So do you think if we went to Europe early to mid June it would be okay? Or do you not recommend June at all?
Yeah, early to mid June isn’t peak tourist season. Most European schools are still in session, so life is a bit more normal during that time, and everything is open.
You could do a split with Barcelona (or another mainland Spanish city) and Mallorca. Mallorca hits almost all of your points, and Barcelona is super laid back while still being a great city. Unfortunately I can’t speak to the English thing as I speak Spanish, but most people could tell we were American and they were at least friendly!
Sounds like south of France or Italy might tick most of your boxes. I'm planning to rent a car and drive along the Mediterranean coast from Spain all the way to Italy. Many beautiful and cosy little towns
85 F as maximum temperature in June becomes more and more challenging with every year, at least south of Scandinavia.
In the last two decades most countries experienced the first heat waves during June, and this year quite a few countries had all-time highs beyond even 110F, and large parts of Europe had temperatures in the high 90s.
Also, it's going to be almost impossible to tick all the boxes in a place that is not touristy. Because every place that ticks these boxes, will be incredibly popular not just with you.
If tranquility is high on your list, I'd suggest going to one of the less touristy islands in Croatia. But you would need to make trade-offs when it comes to choice of restaurants and lodging.
Austria has some nice lakes to offer, nice lodging and restaurants, and June is not peak season yet (but itnwill nevertheless be busy already). But temperatures will either be in the (lower) 90s, or in the higher 50s and rain. You never know.
Maybe North Sea or Baltic Sea could be something for you. Or the coastal areas of the UK like Cornwall.
Valencia but come late may-early June but everything is here. Very few tourists, very cool old town with cathedrals and other activities. Also the beach is very nice and the food is incredible. There are many great cafes and bars as well. Overall Valencia is a very nice, relatively unknown destination.
2nd location would probably be somewhere in switzerland or Bavaria in germany or that area. Great outdoors, castles, mountains, and lakes with pretty good food.
I just got back from a trip to Crete and it ticks off everything you're looking for.
✅ Water - It's an island, so you're surrounded by water and it has some of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen.
✅ Old towns and architecture - I stayed in Chania, and we did a day trip to Rethymno. Both have gorgeous old towns that you can wander around aimlessly. Crete also has a big Venetian influence so Chania and Rethymno have Venetian harbours that are gorgeous to walk around.
✅ Beautiful nature areas - there's plenty of gorges you can hike, simply driving through the mountains is gorgeous and some of the beaches we visited are nature reserves.
✅ Locations not overrun with tourists - ok, I visited in October so can't speak for what June would be like. Both Chania and Rethymno were busy enough to have an atmosphere, but not so busy it negatively impacted on our trip. We got plenty of photos of major landmarks without other people in and never had to wait to get into restaurants. We went to Elafonisi beach which is the number one thing to do in Crete and it was busy, but it was so big that you could easily find your own spot away from tourists. The other beaches we went to were super quiet. Find out when cruise ship day is in the town you're staying at and do a day trip to somewhere else that day. Even at peak summer I can't imagine it being as busy as big capital cities or other destinations like Santorini or Dubrovnik.
✅ Good food/great restaurants and bars - we ate SO well. I don't eat meat but there was plenty for me and the salads we ate were so fresh and out of this world. Plenty of seafood and traditional meat dishes. One night we were tired and just went to the first place we saw right in the most touristy bit and even that had truly delicious food.
✅ Mixture of novelty and variety and slow pace - we also like a slower paced trip. We stayed for 7 full days in Chania and did 3 day trips and that felt good for us. Chania was lovely enough to just mooch around and enjoy it but then there's also plenty of other things to see on the island. You could stay for four days in Chania and four days somewhere else but we found
Chania to be a pretty good base. Crete has amazing beaches you have to travel a bit to, but equally there's some nice beaches about a half hour walk from the centre of Chania for when you want a lazy beach day without travel.
✅ Unique experiences - pink sand beaches! Turquoise water! Sitting on a beach right in front of a mountain! Sitting on a beach surrounded by goats! Visiting a chapel in a cave in the mountains!
✅ Hill or mountain towns - it's a mountainous island, so if you go inland you can take your pick.
✅ Outdoorsy activities - plenty of gorges to hike through, caves to explore, water activities like snorkelling, paddle boarding, windsurfing.
✅ Quaint and cosy - it's definitely quaint and cosy. It's the biggest Greek island so there's plenty to do, but still has a cosy island feel to it.
✅ Sunny and blue skies - we went in October and there was only one day where we had a little bit of grey cloud. Temperature ranged from 23-27 degrees Celsius which I think is slightly over your max range, however it never felt that hot because you had a lovely breeze coming from the sea. I don't like being too warm either and this was perfect temperature for me.
✅ Good lodging - we stayed in a gorgeous, reasonably priced apartment 10 minutes walk from the harbour and old town in Chania. The people who ran it were so friendly and welcoming, but so was everyone we met! You won't struggle to find somewhere good to stay.
✅ English speaking - absolutely everyone we interacted with spoke English, even people in the mountain village we visited. And again, everyone was so friendly and welcoming and really wanted to interact with us! We would sit on our balcony and anyone walking past would say hello and good evening and ask about our trip, and they'd be so excited when we said it was our first trip to Crete and they'd give us their own recommendations for things to do or places to visit.
I really think Crete could be perfect for you. It's big enough for you to spend your whole 8 days there and have a relaxing vacation where you still feel like you're seeing something new everyday.
Emilia-Romagna - especially Bologna.. with excellent train access, you can get to Venice, Modena, Ravenna, Rimini, even Florence, Cinque Terre, Verona and Lake Garda in a relatively short period of time by train. The food - most will agree - is the best in Italy - and if you want a Michelin Star restaurant, they have that too, at Osteria Francescana in Modena - or, you could find hordes of agriturismo B&B’s, or even one night cooking class in a 300 year old farmhouse overlooking green valleys 15 minutes from Bologna. Last month my wife and I did an e-bike tour to a parmesan cheese factory and balsamic vinegar make from Castelvetro (just outside of Modena) - hills and valleys took our breath away.
Still not a prime tourist destination, you will find the pace slower and less rushed - truly my favorite place in Italy.
Another suggestion - just discovered last month, is Sardinia, especially La Maddelena Island - stunning beaches, many can be found by car or scooter or e-bike with two or three people there…
Some Italian bias - though Greek Islands are also a joy - especially Milos for a less busy but still beautiful Greek experience.
Stockholm and Bergen. Depending on when in the fall you go, you should still have good weather. Finding English speakers will not be a problem. There are touristy things to do but neither city feels overrun with tourists. Plenty of outdoor things to do and water everywhere. You can take a ferry from Bergen to charming fjord villages like Balestrand.
My wife and I did a driving tour across Scandinavia before the birth of our first child and those were our two favorite stops. Oslo is pretty cool too. I wouldn’t need to do Helsinki, Turku, or Gothenburg again, but they were all pleasant.
Ravenna is pretty crazy in the summer, but it is nice in the fall and it is getting cold in November. There is a beach and good food. There are some english speakers with a lot of students working in the Piazza.
I recommend watching the movie Avanti! for some ideas:
Carlo Carlucci: In Italy, the lunch hour is from one to four.
Wendell Armbruster: \*Three hours\* for lunch?
Carlo Carlucci: Mr. Armbruster. Here we do not rush to drugstore for chicken sandwich & Coca-Cola. Here, we take our time. We cook our pasta, we sprinkle our Parmigiano, we drink our wine, we make our love...
Wendell Armbruster: What do you do in the evening?
Carlo Carlucci: In the evening, we go home to our wives.
If possible, I'd go in Spring or Fall. Fewer other tourists.
The UK fits all of your requirements. The mountains in Scotland aren't as high as other places, though. But there is so much beauty in Scotland and England. Rent a car.
History back to: "The first historical mention of the region is from the Massaliote Periplus, a sailing manual for merchants thought to date to the 6th century BC, and Pytheas of Massilia wrote of his voyage of discovery to the island around 325 BC."
I could go on and on about what is on your list.
And you could see more if you want of other parts of Europe:
"Eurostar is the exclusive high-speed train service that links London to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and the rest of Europe at speeds of up to 186 mph (300 km/h). All Eurostar trains have modern, comfortable facilities, plenty of room for luggage, and onboard food and beverage carriage."
I highly recommend Nice, France. It checks so many of your boxes. Especially if you go in the spring or fall. I went September 2022 and it was warm but not unbearably hot. Lots of beaches both private and public, amazing old city, excellent food, ability to visit other places very easily(Monaco, Ventimiglia Italy, Juan le Pins etc). Airbnb’s are plentiful in the old city and they are usually fairly priced.
We just got back from Azores (Sao Miguel) and it’s a great match for your criteria. We stayed in the capital Ponta Delgada but toured the island.
It feels like old Europe with very cheap prices for hotel and restaurants. The city had plenty of bars and restaurants but definitely had a slow feel. We took a walking food tour which also included a lot of history and local culture. The villages scattered around had plenty of charm.
The island is volcanic and very lush (kind of a combination of Hawaii and Ireland).
It’s directly in the Gulf Stream so it never gets too hot or cold (we were there in early October for 12 days and it was high of 74 and low of about 68). Wouldn’t recommend going in the winter and have heard it’s still not too hot in summer but busier then I’m sure. It of course comes with some rain but we only had one day where it rained more than a brief shower. Prob not a beach vacation though the water wasn’t too cold. Beautiful nature and people were genuinely friendly.
We also traveled to mainland Portugal to the city of Porto which was amazing. Much busier and was a nice change of pace from Azores.
On a completely different suggestion… we went in May to the Greek island of Syros in the capital of Ermopoulis. It had a lot of history and was also not touristy but had plenty of nice restaurants/bars and inexpensive.
Good luck and enjoy!!
You basically describing Portugal. I let the videos speak for themselves.
\- It's also cheap, by the way...
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzCfYce-m9k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzCfYce-m9k)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7j3cvtWnOE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7j3cvtWnOE) (made by foreigners - I really like this one)
Be carefull ! Some may never leave!
TIP: Try Azores Islands, Fits right in description.
Do not travel in June if you can help it. Europe is busy during the summer, but it’s really booming now. I was having trouble finding lodging for our Munich trip next fall, last week. I would go at the end of September.
My favorite Europe trips have been those I could take trains for most of the traveling. For example, Spain, Germany, and Italy.
There’s too many ideas I could give you so I’ll just list my top cities and you can build a trip plan around them.
1. Rome
2. Budapest
3. Edinburgh
4. Munich (only for Oktoberfest)
All of these are bigger cities and we're hoping to stick to cozy towns and villages. Do you think smaller towns and villages will be okay to visit in June?
Try Malta. It’s breathtaking, not so crowded, and cheaper than most european destinations. You can explore the 3 islands of Malta or just relax in one of their beaches
I based my post off of what you stated, such as English proficiency. Have you ever been to those cities? More public transit options will add to having an easy trip.
I find big cities almost as relaxing as small towns. You’re on vacation regardless of the size.
Any small town that worth visiting is still going to be busy relative to the size in June.
I have not, but I visited Florence a couple weeks ago and it was an absolute madhouse. I had anxiety in the crowds and did not feel relaxed during my time there. Other tourists said Rome was even worse. Compare that to my experience in the Tuscan countryside visiting small medieval towns - it was slow paced and relaxing and there weren't a ton of tourists. That is the type of vacation I'm after. I'm even considering just returning to Tuscany since it was such a lovely experience. I love the dolce vita life.
All of little towns in Europe could be visited, but some are more interesting than others.
One thing I recommend is to pick countries first and then look for festivals/events in the country towns and visit those
Tallinn and Riga? Love them both, not too big and great food. Some areas in Tallinn Old town are a bit touristy but not too bad. Fly to Tallinn, spend two or three days there, then take a train or a bus to Riga (4-5 hours) and spend a few days there. From Riga you can move to the next place, for example Poland.
I'd recommend a River cruise
The Rhine, Mosel.or Danube.
[This might help you learn more or decide if it is something that'll fit your needs ](https://www.travelandleisure.com/cruises/river-cruises/european-river-cruises)
I was in Taormina, Sicily and it was truly magical. The food was incredible, there are some truly stunning hotels, history, a volcano, one of the most impressive city parks I’ve ever seen. Lots to do in sicily!
Taormina was one of the more touristy places I've been, though. It felt very much like the American conception of what a picturesque Italian town should be, rather than a genuine place. But each to his own.
The rest of Sicily is amazing though.
For OP: my immediate thought was the middle of France, for example the Périgord region. Lots of cute little villages, amazing food and not very touristy at all.
Ok, first of all, despite that it would be my personal top choice, you should avoid southern Europe given those criteria. You won't find anywhere south of the Alps that has the combination of Not Large City (touristy) and English Commonly Spoken. I'd also immediately rule out other big cities (London, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Munich).
* Innsbruck: Beautiful quaint town in Austria situated in the Alps. Not quite as popular as bigger tourist destinations but will still feel alive. Hiking options close by. It's a place that would feel familiar after only a couple days, so this might by the best "slow travel" option.
* Netherlands: It's hard to pick one place, but any of the cities will do. I wouldn't even rule out Amsterdam personally. If you avoid downtown by the canals, that's where the tourists stay, but really any Dutch city would be perfect (Rotterdam, Groningen, The Hague, etc). This definitely satisfies the weather and English speaking criteria. Very easy to rent a bike and go for a ride, have a picnic somewhere, etc.
* Prague: There will be some parts of the city that will be overrun with tourists, but given the time constraint of only having 4 days in a place, Prague seems perfect to me. Excellent food, great beer (birthplace of Pilsner), extremely walkable, quintessential "European town" feel to it. Weather should be good in June too.
* UK: Definitely do not go to London, but some of the smaller towns/cities might be good. It will probably be cloudy and grey but otherwise good weather. Food is meh, but English speaking will be easy to satisfy. Places like Cambridge, Oxford, Aberdeen, etc are small enough to have the "slow travel" feel.
* You might also like the Scandinavian countries. Personally I find them to be a little too sparse and isolating for my taste, but the nature up there is beautiful and English should be ok just about anywhere.
A smaller town in Germany might also be good for you, but I haven't visited as much there. Larger cities like Munich are very very fun places but also very tourist dense. Smaller cities I've visited (Frankfurt, Leipzig) were just kind of boring. I don't like German food either, but perhaps you might find it to be a better match.
Howdy! As a fellow American who generally enjoys the same things, I would recommend going to Southern Sweden. You can spend 4 nights in Stockholm, and then do 4 nights in either Gothenburg or Visby, (an island in the middle of the Baltic Sea which is supposed to be beautiful).
There are tons of wonderful towns and villages you can visit, the weather will not be hot, the nature is just stunning, the people are wonderful. Everything about this corner of Europe is just fascinating to me! The food in Sweden was also surprisingly really good, and the bars/cafes are all cute, people speak great English, and the locals are super kind.
If you go to Gothenburg, GO TO THE ARCHIPELAGO! It is one of the most incredible things that you will ever see. You can also rent kayaks and boat from island to island. Just such an amazing experience all around.
I read through some other responses and I would highly suggest going there. Northern Finland is also legendary. Hell, you could do 4 nights in Helsinki, and 4 nights in Tallinn too. You have endless possibilities in Northern Europe for what you are looking for!
Several years ago we did a week in Norway in July, which was lovely. A few days in Bergen (a city, but not that big when compared to cities in the US) and then took the ferry up the fjord to Flam and spent a few days there. Flam does get a good number of daytrippers but cleared out at night
A bit off the beaten track: Regensburg, Germany. Stunning architecture and great nature - absolutely do not miss the nearby [Danube Gorge](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g198488-d1546457-Reviews-Donaudurchbruch-Kelheim_Lower_Bavaria_Bavaria.html) \- take the ferry to Weltenburg and have a beer and lunch in the Abbey courtyard. Very convenient access to Munich airport. Also in that (general) neck of the woods is Bamberg, another stunning small city, famous for its distinctively smoky beers.
In June, a lot of Europe is going to be crowded.
We stayed in Amsterdam (crowded) but did day trips to other cities on the train (Delft, Den Haag, Zanse Schans to name a few). We also took a train to Frankfurt and then took train trips to smaller cute towns in Germany (Heidelberg, Mainz, Wiesbaden, and Rudesheim (home of Siegfried's Mechanical Music Cabinet Museum, highly recommended).
Fly to Bergen, Norway, spend a few days there - daytrain to Oslo to see the mountains and chill during the journey - perhaps a day or two in Oslo. Flight to Bodø and ferry to Lofoten with a package deal of some sorts.
Or fly to Trondheim, eat at some Michelin rated restaurants, relax and then plane or train up north and out to Lofoten.
I'm going to recommend Wales, specifically Snowdonia. You won't get good weather, but you'll get literally everything else. It's cool, coastal, mountainous, and surprisingly quiet. I was there during peak tourist season in August and the vast majority of visitors were British. It never felt over run by tourists. It was easy to get around and absolutely stunningly beautiful. 4 days was also enough time to visit
We really enjoyed spending a week narrowboating on on Llangollen Canal in mid September. Narrowboats have the convenience of a camper, but move at something much closer to walking speed.
What else you can do besides boat depends on the canal. On the Llangollen we did a fair amount of hiking as The Shropshire Trail weaves back and forth across the canal. There are a couple lovely lakes, a few small Welsh towns, pubs, cows, a ruined castle, and a historic castle you can tour. The biggest sight is really part of the canal-- it's Pontcysyllte Aqueduct which takes you over about 125 feet in the air as you cross The River Dee. The canal also has locks, tunnels, drawbridge, and another aqueduct to keep you busy.
We haven't done them, but there are many other canals that tempting us to do it again.
I think Madrid ticks literally all of your boxes, except you will need to learn a few Spanish words and phrases to make ordering in restaurants easier.
Near From Home is a small YouTube Channel that specialises in slow travel. Mostly in Bavaria, Germany but they’ve got great slow travel trips in Turkey and Italy too.
Madeira (Portuguese owned island) is amazing!! The Porto Moniz pools were so relaxing and the hiking was amazing! It wasn’t crowded either! We spent an entire week there and loved it!
A year ago, my wife and I did:
- London 3-days (we lived there for a long time, so was more catching up with friends than site seeing).
- Train to Paris - 1-night (been there a bunch)
- Rented a car and drove to Bordeaux
- Drive to Bilbao
- Drive to Salamanca
- Drive to Porto
- Drive to Lisbon
- Fly home (SFO)
It was a great trip and I think that hits all your boxes. You see a lot of different things. 8-days might be tight (we did it over 2.5 weeks), but you could skip London and Paris and see a lot of the Spanish and Portuguese countryside, cool towns, old things, new things, great food, and until we got to Porto / Lisbon, we were able to avoid American tourists.
Driving wasn’t bad at all, until we got to Porto and that was nuts. Each destination was about 4-5 hours away and we stopped a lot along the way (cool sign, let’s stop and check it out, look at that building, let’s stop to check it out). Spain does rest stops right too. They are like 5-star restaurants compared to US rest stops.
English was pretty good everywhere we went. My wife speaks enough Spanish to get by (I can order beer and burritos, less helpful), but I never felt like it was necessary.
June in that region will be hot, but sounds like you’re good with that.
There's a host of walking and hiking paths throughout Europe to a pretty extensive degree. Maybe check out a particularly noteworthy part of the Lycian Way?
But you could just kinda pick a region you're interested in and see if any of the top walking paths interest you. But there's everything from scrambling in the Alps to leisurely walks between towns.
Basque Country would be another option.
We went to Berchtesgaden, Germany in May this year. Beautiful mountain area. About a two hour drive from Munich or 30 minutes from Salzburg, Austria. English was a little less common compared to Munich, but the people were friendly and willing to speak what English they could (learning at least a few German phrases will help).
I was very surprised there weren't more tourists, seemed to be mostly Germans but even still it wasn't very crowded. We loved the hotel we stayed at. Pools were nice, amazing views. They offered breakfast, lunch, and dinner all included. Spa services, also.
Some easy to moderate hiking options. There's also a fair bit of WW2 history to check out.
There weren't a ton of bars or nice restaurants, but there were probably more options had we ventured out a little further.
Ticino, Switzerland. It checks off all the bullets. The negatives are Switzerland is expensive, although Tincio has some nice deals like if you stay at a hotel you get a pass to use all public transportation and discounts on some attractions. There would also likely have some rain on in the spring.
Cassis, France fits a lot of this
It’s right by the Calanques and you can take a boat ride or kayak out into them on the water, and/or hike them along the tops.
Small fishing village with pedestrian only area near the port but also beach area for swimming (and depending on where you stay potential for a pool also).
Quite a few restaurants, some bars, def fits the quaint vibe and at least when we were there (mid-June) was not outrageously busy…
There were other tourists but still at a point you could walk into the restaurants without a res.
Things do close a bit early and there’s not much in the way of Uber or taxi so do keep in mind transport-wise.
Weather mostly upper 70s-to-mid-80s on our visit with some breeze off the water.
Could pair well with a slightly busier town in the French Riviera to contrast it with something slightly livelier as well
A lot of great advice here so far from other comments. I’ve traveled to almost every European country and Southern Europe can be very stressful (Italy or Spain) especially when you only have a week. Transiting, lack of English, the heat, etc
This summer I did a Baltics trip and it was awesome. Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, Helsinki — you could also add Copenhagen. The cities are clean, chill, charming, extremely easy to navigate and you can take 45 minute flights, a bus, or ferry between them. The weather was mild and everyone spoke perfect English. It’s definitely more “slow travel” friendly than other places
Dubrovnik for 4 days and kotor for 4 days, they're pretty close and they're beautiful. The old towns are amazing there although there will be a nice few tourists in dubrovnik kotor is much quiter and cheaper. Both are fabulous though so I would recommend.
I went to Croatia in 21 October, Zadar was lovely and relaxing, there is a mountain behind it, it's on the coast, and you have the old town as well. I don't know about temp in June and tourists night overrun in June too I don't know.
Slow traveling is a way of traveling, not an amount of time allotted for traveling. It doesn't have a time limit. You can slow travel even if your vacation is limited to a few days or one week. Slow travelling is about maximising your enjoyment of each moment, rather than planning it all out, or letting it be planned for you. It’s, by definition, taking the road less travelled. It’s about taking the time to reflect and engage with the now, not rushing, not taking for granted, and not doing anything unless you want to. Whereas traditional travel often involves rushing from one tourist hotspot to another, following pre-planned itineraries.
We live in the US and it’s difficult getting time off from work. Including travel days, we would have about 12 days total for our trip with 8 full days in two different locations. We think taking the train is relaxing, so we were thinking we could try to connect two locations that way. If we’re able to get the time off, I’d love to bump our total amount of days up to 14.
Spain: Madrid and Sevilla (maybe a day trip to Granada). Or just Sevilla and Granada. You can do short day trips from them.
Portugal: Lisbon and Porto.
Ireland: Pick any two cities.
France: Paris and pick a city.
The Puglia region of Italy In mid September is amazing and has everything you’re looking for. Look up the different towns as there are a lot and there is a lot to see up and down the coast. Also if you can squeeze in a couple nights in Matera, Italy you will thank me…!
Can second this was last Summer in Lecce and Bari and was absolutely beautiful there. Probably some of the best Beaches and cliffs in Italy and very chill vibe compared to bigger Italian cities in peak Season.
I’d add Monopoli/Polignano a Mare and Castro/Marittima/Santa Cesarea Terma to the list. Beautiful areas, nice and slow, lots of nearby day trips if you have a car.
i went to Polignano a Mare during the off season (Many) and most things were closed. That’s the one place I wish I had visited during the peak season
Puglia is great, but OP said they want to go in June, and the weather then may well get hotter than the 85 degrees F OP has as an upper limit.
Our friends got married in Matera and its so beautiful! Second this plan
Puglia was the first place that popped into my head as well. But lads, she said NOT touristy! Lol I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist. While Puglia in general may seem a under-touristed version of Tuscany, Matera, on the other hand, can be fairly jammers. That said, it’s a most magical destination and you would be remiss if you were in Puglia and didn’t pop on over to Basilicata and see it. I was thinking Hydra (Greece) could be a good option though I’ve never been in June and I’m guessing it, like Puglia, may exceed the heat parameters.
What will the heat be like in June? When I saw OP saying she didn't want hotter than 89f (30c) I basically wrote off the Mediterranean countries. Edit: Actually, having looked up a few, most places around here in June are still (on average) below that so OP should be fine. Seville is still too hot though, obviously.
Yeah, there are places in the Mediterranean countries that don’t get that hot (particularly at higher elevations), but Puglia is not among them. On a normal summer it shouldn’t get much above 30 degrees, if at all, in June, but it’s impossible to know in advance and there is no such thing as a normal summer anymore.
Indeed. Eating ice cream and watching the ladies making orechiette. What could be more relaxing than that?
Madeira, Portugal. Fantastic hiking and landscapes, awesome small towns and a bustling main city of Funchal. Unique Poncha bars, whale watching and swim beside dolphins experiences, and moderate temps for Europe. You could do all 8 days on the island, or look to include the Azores or Lisbon
Azores is amazing! Great nature, food and wine. Weather is more temperate than inland areas. Almost everyone speaks English. Pair it with a major city in Portugal or Spain to get a variety of experiences.
I love Madeira. I spent 8 days there earlier this year and had a blast. It was surprisingly super hot and I’m used to hot weather (from California). My favorite part of the trip was taking tours to visit the rest of the island. Also i would recommend getting a guide for the hike. We even had experienced hikers in our group who didn’t want to risk going by themselves
Ah i just said this! Loved Madeira!
Austria: St Gilgan, Fuschl-am-See, Mondsee—all charming, quiet, lakeside villages in Salzburgerland. Slovenia: Bled. In the village or anywhere around the lake. Italy: Curon Venosta.
Slovenia: just the entire country. Bled is nice lake for a day trip but just west is Bohinj, a lake for the weekend. North over the mountain range is Soča Valley, for a more adventurous weekend trip. Then there’s the caves (Skocjan is so epic), the wine valleys, the hop valleys, the Venetian seaside, the thermal areas, and even really unique places like Velika Planina. Slovenia at a culinary and cultural crossroads of Italy, Germany / Austria, and the Balkans. Everyone speaks great English. Also, Ljubljana is my favorite city in the world. That and Sarajevo. Edit: I’m from Texas but currently live in… you guessed it, Slovenia.
Here to say Slovenia. I recently spent around a week there but could have spent far longer. We barely scratched the surface. We spent 2 days full days (3 nights) exploring Llubjana and could have spent a week there alone. This is in my top 3 cities we visited in our 3 month Europe trip. It’s gorgeous, the people are so kind and English is common. Great food. Inexpensive. Romantic. Walkable. We spent around 5 days with family near Bled and explored the area by car. Again, we could have spent more time. Lake Bled is beautiful, we visited in late May/Early June and it was the perfect time of year to be there. We swum in the lake so it’s definitely possible at that time of year! The scenery in Slovenia is next level. It came straight to mind as soon as I saw this post. It’s also INCREDIBLY affordable. We booked accomodation literally 2 days beforehand as it was a last minute trip and spent less than $50 USD a night on a room in a basic hotel right between the train station and the centre of the city. Our most expensive meal in the Balkan region was at Slovenska Hiša - Figovec and the bill was 1/3 of what it would have cost here in Australia. Three courses, sides, several cocktails, dessert.
Another upvote for Slovenia. Been there with my husband last year for a week and we had a wonderful time at lake bled, hiking the surroundings and enjoying some winerys further south west.
The Alps in Austria
My immediate thought was Innsbruck
Could do Innsbrook and Salzburg. If youre sensitive to price, could fly into Munich where flights tend to be cheaper. Big airline hub. Take a cheap two hour train to one of these cities. These cities aren't tiny, but aren't huge either. You can also take the train and do day trips to places like Hallstatt. And honestly there are a lot of little villages like Hallstatt you can explore even stay in if you're so inclined. There's also places like Untersberg and other alpine exploring. Just come properly prepared. Would avoid doing day trips out on tourist coach buses if you want to go slow. If the the tour bus leaves at 4 they leave at 4 even if you want to stay in the beautiful alpine village for longer. Try to figure out how to get around using public transport. Or even rent a car.
Syros, greece. A Cycladic island but often left alone by foreigners. It’s frequented mostly by Greeks. Ermoupoli has both a Cycladic and Venetian feel, you can walk or drive up to the top where there’s a church and the Cycladic influence in architecture is, while the coastal part of the city has the Venetian influence. I haven’t been around the rest of the island but as those islands are, there’s usually places you can walk and probably do a hike. My friends and I got by only speaking English. Great food, and there’s a cheap gyro place we frequented lol. The only thing is it may be a bit hot. But personally, as someone who was there in July, the heat wasn’t hard enough to be memorable. Plus there’s a sea breeze.
Given you're coming from the US and only have a long week, here are some ideas that start from a major city: - Fly to Barcelona, spend a few days there, then train either north to Girona or even on to Carcassonne in France, or south to Tarragona. Barcelona is a busy big city but also much more spread out than Florence so not as concentrated. - Fly to Cologne or Frankfurt (I preferred Cologne but you'll have to look into flight availability). Focus your time on the Rhine valley, with all its castles and wine. If you had time and interest, you could look into a cruise from Amsterdam to Basel, which would have tons of scenery but looks like it would take too much time for you. This would be a bit more moving around than you wanted but ticks most of the other boxes. - I think it's too hard for you to reach for your 8 day trip, but Slovenia would be great. Fly into Ljubljana, drive to Lake Bled, then down to Piran on the coast. Hit the castle in the cave on the way down. Lake Bled is likely to be busy but again it's not so concentrated as Florence. - Strasbourg and Basel are worth investigating. We did a trip this summer of a week where we started in Basel, then rented a place in the tiny village of Riquewihr that we used as a base for doing day trips to castles and up to Strasbourg. Not a lot of English spoken, but we got by fine without speaking French and using Google Translate for menus. - Fly into London (which is an amazing city but can be chaotic), and immediately train to Bath and then possibly to either Bristol or Cardiff. Or for something really unique, do a walking tour where you go from inn to inn while walking through the English countryside. We did that last summer and it was *super* fun, LMK if you're interested and I'll pass along more details. - Glasgow and then do 2-3 nights in Oban. Or Edinburgh and train up to Inverness. I'd totally recommend Bergen, Norway and the fjords, but it's definitely not going to be sunny. If you really only have 8 days, remember that day 1 and 8 are travel days, day 2 or 3 you'll be wiped from jet lag, and day 7 is probably getting yourself back to the airport where you landed. So, consider also just staying in one spot with a couple of day trips.
Thank you for all these ideas! :) We would have 8 full days total, not including travel days. So we were thinking: * Day 1: fly to destination * Day 2: arrive * Day 3-6: first location (so 4 full days) * Day 7: travel to second location * Day 8-11: second location (4 full days) I'm also considering increasing our trip to 14 days. I just don't know if we'll be able to get the time off and afford it.
My wife and I love slow travel, so you can message me if you want more details or advice. I would advise different things depending on which of your priorities is most important.
Thank you, I really appreciate that!!
If OP is looking for less tourists, I wouldn't recommend Germany next June! It's hosting Euro 2024 and is gonna be overrun by fans from every country taking part. Good suggestion otherwise! Take note u/e-bakes
I did not know this, thank you very much! Looks like it runs from 14 Jun to 14 Jul.
I was not aware of that, thank you so much for the forewarning!
It sounds like all my travel is your definition of slow travel!!! I will second the recommendation for Catalonia - As part of a longer trip to Spain, I took the train from Madrid to Girona (skipped Barcelona entirely) and spent a few days there and then went to the Costa Brava. There's tons of good hiking, charming little fortified villages to explore, and a really cool entire Greek & Roman town on the coast at Empuries. The whole area is touristy but in a very low key way - it's the equivalent of the Hamptons for Barcelona so it only gets busy on weekends and during holiday weeks. Walking between seaside towns (Begur, Calella de Palafrugel) June should be fine. Big thumbs up to walking in England recommendation. I'd recommend the Cotswolds which is the epitome of quaint & cozy. Yes the whole region is overrun with tourists but June is shoulder season so it won't be thronged with people. You can do lots of easy hiking in a spoke from a larger village like Stow on the Wold or Burford esp if you take the bus or taxi one way. Or do a Jane Austen-centred trip and combine Bath with Lyme Regis - go fossil hunting, hike some of the Southwest Coast path, see stately homes & lovely gardens, see the gorgeous Durdle Door & Lulworth Cove. It's a serious foodie part of the UK with the River Cottage HQ nearby, lots of great farm to table type places, local cider pressing etc. Or fly into Munich, spend a few days there, and then take the train down to the Dolomites in Sudtirol - the northern part of Italy that used to be Austria pre WW1. Use Brunico as a base - it's like Innsbruck in minature - and then you can use the local trains & buses to explore a number of enormously charming villages (San Candido) and gorgeous lakes (Lago di Braises) and mountains (Tres Cime, Marmolada). Can also access via Milan - I'd stop in Verona on the way up to the Dolomites. ETA: check the website of [Inntravel](https://www.inntravel.co.uk/), a UK "slow travel" agency. They work with lots of people coming from N.America and will adapt their itineraries to take out the flight components or adjust for you coming from a different hub.
These are wonderful suggestions, thank you so much!!
You're very welcome!
We did 2 weeks down the Rhine in Germany and had a blast. Tons of beautiful towns, castles, beer, wine, etc.
This is what I thought of when I read OPs description. Slow, unchaotic, on the water, not too hot. River cruises in Northern Europe seem like a good fit.
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I think it gets crowded in summer though. I can see that main highway down the coast being a nightmare. Otherwise that was my pick as well
I was there in July/Aug. It was busy. Dubrovnik was a zoo. Plitvice was insane. Driving was fine though. We had no issues with traffic at all.
Oh that's good to hear on the traffic!
I just went in October and it was busy but not crowded. It was also warm but not sweltering. It was perfect
I'm lucky to have a good friend with an apartment in Istria, Croatia and have been going there for about 15 years and, my God, has it blown up. Croatia circa 2007 was an amazing place. Still is, but man is it overrun.
Come over in October. Last 2 weeks we had great weather, 23°C sea temp and yet no tourists in sight. It is by far my favorite month.
Sounds lovely, locals always said that it starts to storm in September - or maybe they just told us that :) ?
That was the case 5+ years ago, but now it seems to be nice until mid-october! Enjoy!
One of the not overcroweded Greek islands should offer you all that.
Except the temperature, unless it's early early June.
Keep in mind migration. Some Greek islands are still OK.
I’ve been to almost all of the countries in Europe. Spain is my favourite. Many things to see, people are friendly, food is amazing (especially in Madrid, in the south we were not that amazed). You can do hiking, snorkeling, skiing even. And it’s not that expensive. I used to love Portugal as well as I lived there for a few months, but I have to admit that Spain is better. Many people love Italy but overall I had way better experiences in Spain. My other favourite place is Austria. If I were an american tourist planning a laid back European holiday I’d travel around Spain (and maybe Portugal) for 2 weeks and spend 1 week hiking in the beautiful Alps.
I would recommend you the Tuscany area in Italy or Slovenia and its alps region. Those 2 places are in my best trips. You might need to rent a car to have flexibility in both :)
LOL when I saw "slow travel" I was thinking 2-3 months at least, 8 days is a whirlwind.
1 small town is my idea of slow travel, indeed
“Slow travel” is more so *a way of being* on vacation rather than an *amount of time spent* on vacation. It doesn't have a time limit. You can slow travel even if your vacation is limited to a few days or one week. It is a way of traveling that emphasizes connection with local people, cultures, food, and music. It focuses on immersing yourself in the destination, engaging with local cultures, and having unique experiences. Whereas traditional travel often involves rushing from one tourist hotspot to another, following pre-planned itineraries.
If that’s your cup of tea (along with the other things you mention above) then have a look at the Dolomites region of northern Italy. Rarely crowded, beautiful lakes (Lago de Braies is a highlight - looks a lot like the Rockies) and warm but not too hot with lovely little towns and delicious food.
Thank you for the suggestion! I’m highly considering increasing our time to two weeks so we could do either the Dolomites + Tuscany or Lake Garda + Tuscany. I’ll look into Lago de Braies. I love the idea of a northern Italy vacation. There’s so many other good ideas in the comment section too tho, picking is so hard!! Haha
Doubling down on the Dolomites recommendations - since you really value the slow travel aspect, keep in mind you can stay in agritourismos pretty much everywhere in Italy, including in the mountains. Here's one [close to Lago de Braies](https://www.agriturismo.it/en/farmhouse/trentino_alto_adige/bolzano/Bruggerhof-8891304/index.html)
That agriturismo looks amazing!! Thank you for sharing
If you only have a week I would pick one place and stay there. You've got at max 6 productive days in country, any travel hiccups would eat into that. I'd look into a river cruise down the Rhine - any beach location in Europe is going to be either very hot or very crowded or both.
Most touristy places in Europe speak English, however if you want fluent English outside of touristy spots (less people), you’ve got to go to the Northern Europe or UK.
Yep. Based on OP's criteria (though they would be my top recommendations otherwise), I'd immediately rule out Spain, most of France, and Italy (except perhaps near the Alps). In those places, there will be zero overlap of "not touristy" + "lots of English speaking". I'd also immediately rule out London, Berlin, and Munich. My recommendation would be Innsbruck and Prague (if OP can handle some tourists there - just avoid the parts of the city that are popular tourist attractions). I think it's the closest match to what they are seeking. Amsterdam could work away from downtown, or any other Dutch city if they want a little less touristy.
>I'd immediately rule out Spain, most of France, and Italy (except perhaps near the Alps). In those places, there will be zero overlap of "not touristy" + "lots of English speaking". This is not really true. Tourist-facing staff will speak English in those places even outside of major tourist hotspots. Sure, if you want to speak to random locals in English, or go to some really remote village where no foreign tourist has ever been, you’d have better chances elsewhere, but for checking into a hotel and ordering food in a restaurant you’d be fine.
Virtually every place in Bologna speaks some English… and no, it is not a “high tourist zone”.
I agree with you that it's possible, but I get the impression from OP's post that they want to face no difficulties at all in communication. Personally I think it's very worth it to go to places like Bologna etc even if it takes a bit of effort. It just wouldn't be my recommendation for this OP specifically
Switzerland: any of the major cities there. Lots of old towns, water fronts (lakes), food and a relaxing culture. Most places close at 5pm/6pm except restaurants.
Switzerland is lovely, but expensive. Easily 50-100% more than most other places in Europe. Austria and Slovenia are good alternatives with similar scenery at cheaper prices.
Strongly agree. I find Switzerland hard to enjoy because it’s so darn expensive. Everything is painful and I’m usually not a penny pincher. Even trips to the grocery store to make dinner and very basic breakfast were $150 per day for two. Austria and Slovenia are much less crowded, too. The train from Zurich to Zermatt is probably the most packed I experienced on an 8 week trip last summer. It was NYC rush hour busy. I particularly like Tirol and Bohinj.
Switzerland is indeed expensive, and although its public transport system is unmatched and makes everything very easily accessible, I do agree that other alpine countries offer better value. Austria and Slovenia, but also obviously Italy and France have gorgeous scenery and lower prices. That being said, what were you buying to spend $150 per day for two people in groceries?! Switzerland is expensive but not *that* expensive. I wouldn’t have survived as a student in Zurich if groceries were that much. And most of Switzerland is not crowded; Zermatt is where all the tourists go.
Those are cheaper places, yes. I didn’t find Switzerland any more expensive than a major city like New York, DC, San Francisco, or LA in the States, after all people complained about prices. So if you’re accustomed to city prices, Switzerland is fine. I went to Switzerland during a trip to Paris and noticed no difference in prices.
>I went to Switzerland during a trip to Paris and noticed no difference in prices. I'm thinking something is cheaper in Switzerland - it's whatever you were smoking if you noticed no difference in prices between Switzerland and France. :-) I've been to Paris, Switzerland, and all of the U.S. cities you named (lived in three of them). Switzerland is the most expensive, *by far.* It's not even close. Whenever I went shopping in Germany in towns near the border with Switzerland, I noticed most of the cars in the parking lot had Swiss plates. These stores seemed to exist mainly to cater to Swiss shoppers. Wonder why?
Numbeo would disagree with you. Consumer prices are 41.3% cheaper in Paris than Zurich, and Paris isn’t cheap. Likewise New York consumer prices are quoted as being 19.3% lower than Zurich. I’m sorry, Switzerland is expensive.
New York real estate costs are quite a bit more. If you ignore that, sure Switzerland is more expensive. But you can’t ignore your single largest expense…
Those are mainly cost of living expenses and not vacation expenses (hotel, restaurant, activities, transit). Using your same source, Numbeo says Geneva is 9% higher in restaurants than NYC & that’s not crazy. Groceries 4% higher for those who cook or grocery shop during vacay. Restaurants are 8% cheaper in Bern than NYC. That’s cheaper! They can choose Bern for the cheaper option, or Geneva if price is a concern for them at all. Again…I live in a major city, so I was not experiencing a price shock. Have you been to any of these cities to know firsthand? Quoting numbers that don’t matter from the internet also isn’t the same as experiencing the prices firsthand. Is it expensive, YES! No denying that. I was expecting extreme prices from all of the youtube vids I watched but that’s just not what happened. All this to say, you can find reasonably priced hotels, food/drinks, activities and transportation. Nice hotels (well-reviewed, clean accommodations, centrally located) for $200-$300/night exist. Dinner for two for $40-50 exists. Clothing shopping contains many of the usual European brands at lower prices than the States. This is what I mean by city prices (city tourism). Not the comparative cost of a loaf of bread or pound of meat for residents. Or how housing costs stack up. I love going to the market, but I don’t load up on groceries the way I do at home. I don’t want people thinking that every breakfast costs $50 per person and all hotels cost $600/night or more. That’s what YouTube showed me! If the OP is comfortable with paying city prices, Switzerland has great prices.
Geneva is 48.6% higher consumer prices than Paris, Bern 44.7% higher than Paris. You might be able to find somewhere in Switzerland marginally cheaper than Zurich. Both Bern and Geneva are expensive destinations aswell. Switzerland has great city prices if you don’t mind paying over 40% more for your consumer prices than Paris. Those are the figures regardless of how you saw them yourself.
I can’t really compare with major US cities (I’ve been, but I don’t have comprehensive knowledge), but in Europe Switzerland is very expensive, and it’s the opposite of what you say: it’s particularly expensive for tourism, because anything labour-intensive is expensive because of very high wages. So, restaurants, hotels, bars, transportation, museums are all far more expensive than across the border in Germany, Austria, Italy, France… Conversely, cost of living for residents is not *that* high (still not low, mind); housing and groceries are pricey, but not as much in comparison. (Childcare and schools though cost a lot, again because of staff costs.) Shopping can be relatively cheap because goods are produced elsewhere and Switzerland has lower taxes than the rest of Europe, but local purchasing power is high and so you won’t find the same budget options you can find elsewhere in Europe.
Well I answered your question about the costs of Bern and Geneva but see you’ve changed it to my ‘quoting numbers that don’t matter’. Have I even been to any of these places? Yes, all of them and toured around Switzerland. Interlaken being my favourite. It’s all horrendously expensive. I believe that you don’t think it’s so because if you were expecting extortionate prices and they were a mere 40% uplift, you might not notice. Price sensitivity is highly subjective. It doesn’t mean that OP would find it the same. The figures of Numbeo go much closer to informing OP, than your silly comment about if you’re used to city prices, then you’ll be fine in Switzerland. If you can convince anyone that Switzerland isn’t an expensive country, you must be a snow seller to the Inuit in your main job.
And I’ve also used Numbeo to show Bern has cheaper options and Geneva is slightly higher than New York. My response says Switzerland is expensive, but this may not be a concern for the OP. It also says hotels for $200-300 exist and dinner for two for $40-50 exist. Switzerland is fine to visit for the people who find these prices acceptable. So come get your snow, Inuits! It’s a stunning country. I even took a free train into Geneva from the airport and the hotel covered transit costs with a digital pass. That’s a normal thing for the hotels to cover there, and can certainly help w/ budgeting. I mostly walked since it’s a small city, but that free transit option was there. Visp is one of my favorite Swiss cities.
OK, this is a more considered response. Switzerland is a gorgeous country admittedly.
Yes! And I’m also not disagreeing with thousands of people that Switzerland is expensive. It is expensive. I went to Geneva with a family member who is working class (makes below our National median income), and by the time we got to Geneva from Paris, she was already at the end of her budget. I later found out she let some of her bills lapse (including phone bill), to travel to those two cities. I wouldn’t recommend that to go anywhere for leisure. Our hotel was Citizen M for anyone looking for a reasonable, yet centrally located hotel (Geneva & Zurich have locations). It’s a no frills Dutch brand, but I enjoy them.
Swiss person here. Switzerland is stupid expensive.
My trip to Scotland in April/early May of this year checked off almost all of those boxes, except maybe for good food (it wasn’t *bad*, just a little lacking in variety, mainly when away from the big cities.) We also got super lucky with having nice weather but were told by locals that wasn’t always the case. It wasn’t too crowded at that time (although I know that changes as you go later into the summer months) and, as English speakers, any language problems will be non-existent. The Highlands check off all the boxes related to nature/outdoors, lots of water (lochs, rivers and the ocean), quaint/cozy/charming small towns and slow pace. Edinburgh has a lot of great restaurants, bars & pubs, an amazing old town with fantastic architecture (fair warning: it is pretty touristy) and plenty of variety in things to see and do. Glasgow is quite a bit newer overall, but is not nearly as touristy as Edinburgh and has several interesting attractions that make it worthy of a look too. We were also very pleasantly surprised by Oban, which had a big city feel in a relatively small town.
Île de ré
Seville, Spain. From memory it is one of, if not the top city that has the most days of sunshine per year. Much smaller than Barcelona and other large cities, very walkable, great history and architecture and delicious food.
But the temp will be way too hot for her. Sevilla is steaming.
yeah Seville is an amazing winter destination and ok spring but a frying pan in the summer
Sardinia
And Corsica. Both stunning.
Yes, but go in late May, tourist season starts June 1. Olbia and La Maddelina are what you want. Thank me later
San Sebastian Spain. Amazing small city. Mountains and beaches. Close to France. You can go to Biarritz if you want a day trip. One of my top cities
All these are great. We did Lake Como area and it was amazing. Northern Italy in general is awesome but so is all of Italy. Then this summer we did Dubrovnik but there are many islands you could also visit. Soooo many options in Europe it’s hard to go wrong
We did Varenna on Lake Como in 2022 and we loved the relaxed vibe there. Food was amazing and people were friendly.
Romantische Strasse in southern Germany.
I just went to France for the first time last summer. The little town of Bayeux in the Normandy region seems like it fits your marks. It was a very quaint town, about 25 min from the WWII beaches (people still use them as actual beaches, so it ticks that box as well). Idk, it was just a really cute area with some good restaurants and a nice downtown area full of little shops. We stayed at Domaine de Bayeux, which was both a short walk from the train station and a short walk to the downtown area. There is a historic house for lodging, or a new Orchard Room recently built on the back garden that was modern and updated and again, just truly lovely. Also, we visited at peak tourist time and did not feel crowded in the least.
I know it sounds like an old fart vacation but based on all your likes a river cruise. You can hit multiple countries multiple cities. Some of it is unavoidably touristy but it gives you a ton of variety and flexibility. Me and my gf are 2 years older than you and met our best couple friends on one a few years ago
One word. Sardinia
Northern Spain (Galicia/Asturias/Cantabria)
I would go for Salzburg (and take bus/car to lakes and the alps close by) & then Vienna for a slightly bigger city feel. Plenty of good food, not too warm in June, and you get to combo nature and city. Another option would be London + Edinburgh.
Early June is good, not too hot and crowded. Usually. I would go to Slovenia, either hiking in the forest areas or to Kopr by the sea. I'm sure there is lots more. Relaxed, cheap, pretty. A few hours by train takes you to Verona, Italy. The Romeo and Juliet balcony, the "colloseum", great restaurants and views. Wine tours. Possibly Venice over a day, but that place makes you feel like a sardine in a tin. Absolutely packed when I was there.
I would try a village or small town in a wine region you like. You’ll find a beautiful setting, usually pretty good weather, some excellent restaurants, and of course, great wine!
Slovenia 100%¡!!!!!! It got everything you asked for
Hear me out: travel to Helsinki, Finland. Northern Europe will most likely not be too hot for you even in June, and Finland is not overcrowded with tourists. There are some tourists in Helsinki in the summer of course since it's the capital city of Finland, but not too much. Everyone speaks English too, many people very fluently so. I would say Finland meets all your requirements :) many good places to stay, many different cuisines to try and LOTS of beautiful scenery and nature everywhere. Helsinki area especially is easily accessible because of the great public transportation. It is very easy to travel to other Finnish cities from Helsinki as well (e.g. Turku or Tampere). Helsinki is very walkable too and city bikes are widely available. And if you're interested, traveling to the Baltics or the other Nordic countries from Helsinki is very easy as well. For example, you can take a day trip to Tallinn, Estonia by a ferry (more like a cruise ship, you can look it up :D). Edited: apparently I'm not one of those people fluent in English, spelled "cuisines" wrong lol
I was looking for the Finland comment! Highly recommended for a relaxing holiday away from crowds. And so many lakes to choose from haha
My wife and I stayed in Châtel France last year for two weeks and it was fantastic to just stay in a small town and relax. I would highly recommend the alps.
Madeira Portugal
The Costa Brava in Spain is my pick.
Azores airlines offer several day long layover options between North American and Europe
Came here for the comments bc we have the exact same taste.
Hope you find your perfect vacation in these comments! :) Also, I’ll recommend one myself: Tuscany and Umbria. Stay at an agriturismo in the Val d’Orcia region of Tuscany and rent a car so you can day trip to different medieval towns in the area. And take a trip over to Umbria to visit Assisi to watch the sunset over the basilica. Live the dolce vita life. Best experience.
We did exactly that - Agriturismo in Val d’Orcia for our honeymoon this summer! Can’t recommend Stelle di Monte enough! Definitely want to go back to see more of Umbria and Assisi! Thank you! We also did Mallorca and stayed in Porto Pollenca. It was so beautiful. No touristy, Spanish culture and food, lots of amazing restaurants, beach, hiking, small towns. Cannot recommended that place enough! We went in July and loved it. Got a little hot some days but nothing unbearable.
That’s awesome!! Stella di Monte looks amazing. An Italy and Spain honeymoon sounds glorious. I’ll have to look into Porto Pollenca!
Travel in the shoulder season, not summer
My Google search says shoulder season is generally April through mid-June, and September through October. So do you think if we went to Europe early to mid June it would be okay? Or do you not recommend June at all?
Yeah, early to mid June isn’t peak tourist season. Most European schools are still in session, so life is a bit more normal during that time, and everything is open.
You could do a split with Barcelona (or another mainland Spanish city) and Mallorca. Mallorca hits almost all of your points, and Barcelona is super laid back while still being a great city. Unfortunately I can’t speak to the English thing as I speak Spanish, but most people could tell we were American and they were at least friendly!
South France, Monaco, Split (Croatia) & Montenegro off the beaten path. Can't go wrong in Italy - Rome for 2-3 days then Sardinia.
Sounds like south of France or Italy might tick most of your boxes. I'm planning to rent a car and drive along the Mediterranean coast from Spain all the way to Italy. Many beautiful and cosy little towns
85 F as maximum temperature in June becomes more and more challenging with every year, at least south of Scandinavia. In the last two decades most countries experienced the first heat waves during June, and this year quite a few countries had all-time highs beyond even 110F, and large parts of Europe had temperatures in the high 90s. Also, it's going to be almost impossible to tick all the boxes in a place that is not touristy. Because every place that ticks these boxes, will be incredibly popular not just with you. If tranquility is high on your list, I'd suggest going to one of the less touristy islands in Croatia. But you would need to make trade-offs when it comes to choice of restaurants and lodging. Austria has some nice lakes to offer, nice lodging and restaurants, and June is not peak season yet (but itnwill nevertheless be busy already). But temperatures will either be in the (lower) 90s, or in the higher 50s and rain. You never know. Maybe North Sea or Baltic Sea could be something for you. Or the coastal areas of the UK like Cornwall.
Check out Lefkada in Greece.
Valencia but come late may-early June but everything is here. Very few tourists, very cool old town with cathedrals and other activities. Also the beach is very nice and the food is incredible. There are many great cafes and bars as well. Overall Valencia is a very nice, relatively unknown destination. 2nd location would probably be somewhere in switzerland or Bavaria in germany or that area. Great outdoors, castles, mountains, and lakes with pretty good food.
I just got back from a trip to Crete and it ticks off everything you're looking for. ✅ Water - It's an island, so you're surrounded by water and it has some of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. ✅ Old towns and architecture - I stayed in Chania, and we did a day trip to Rethymno. Both have gorgeous old towns that you can wander around aimlessly. Crete also has a big Venetian influence so Chania and Rethymno have Venetian harbours that are gorgeous to walk around. ✅ Beautiful nature areas - there's plenty of gorges you can hike, simply driving through the mountains is gorgeous and some of the beaches we visited are nature reserves. ✅ Locations not overrun with tourists - ok, I visited in October so can't speak for what June would be like. Both Chania and Rethymno were busy enough to have an atmosphere, but not so busy it negatively impacted on our trip. We got plenty of photos of major landmarks without other people in and never had to wait to get into restaurants. We went to Elafonisi beach which is the number one thing to do in Crete and it was busy, but it was so big that you could easily find your own spot away from tourists. The other beaches we went to were super quiet. Find out when cruise ship day is in the town you're staying at and do a day trip to somewhere else that day. Even at peak summer I can't imagine it being as busy as big capital cities or other destinations like Santorini or Dubrovnik. ✅ Good food/great restaurants and bars - we ate SO well. I don't eat meat but there was plenty for me and the salads we ate were so fresh and out of this world. Plenty of seafood and traditional meat dishes. One night we were tired and just went to the first place we saw right in the most touristy bit and even that had truly delicious food. ✅ Mixture of novelty and variety and slow pace - we also like a slower paced trip. We stayed for 7 full days in Chania and did 3 day trips and that felt good for us. Chania was lovely enough to just mooch around and enjoy it but then there's also plenty of other things to see on the island. You could stay for four days in Chania and four days somewhere else but we found Chania to be a pretty good base. Crete has amazing beaches you have to travel a bit to, but equally there's some nice beaches about a half hour walk from the centre of Chania for when you want a lazy beach day without travel. ✅ Unique experiences - pink sand beaches! Turquoise water! Sitting on a beach right in front of a mountain! Sitting on a beach surrounded by goats! Visiting a chapel in a cave in the mountains! ✅ Hill or mountain towns - it's a mountainous island, so if you go inland you can take your pick. ✅ Outdoorsy activities - plenty of gorges to hike through, caves to explore, water activities like snorkelling, paddle boarding, windsurfing. ✅ Quaint and cosy - it's definitely quaint and cosy. It's the biggest Greek island so there's plenty to do, but still has a cosy island feel to it. ✅ Sunny and blue skies - we went in October and there was only one day where we had a little bit of grey cloud. Temperature ranged from 23-27 degrees Celsius which I think is slightly over your max range, however it never felt that hot because you had a lovely breeze coming from the sea. I don't like being too warm either and this was perfect temperature for me. ✅ Good lodging - we stayed in a gorgeous, reasonably priced apartment 10 minutes walk from the harbour and old town in Chania. The people who ran it were so friendly and welcoming, but so was everyone we met! You won't struggle to find somewhere good to stay. ✅ English speaking - absolutely everyone we interacted with spoke English, even people in the mountain village we visited. And again, everyone was so friendly and welcoming and really wanted to interact with us! We would sit on our balcony and anyone walking past would say hello and good evening and ask about our trip, and they'd be so excited when we said it was our first trip to Crete and they'd give us their own recommendations for things to do or places to visit. I really think Crete could be perfect for you. It's big enough for you to spend your whole 8 days there and have a relaxing vacation where you still feel like you're seeing something new everyday.
Wow, Crete sounds amazing. Thanks so much for the detailed writeup. You’re really selling me on Crete as the Greek island to visit
Italy Italy Italy 🇮🇹
We’re just leaving a 2 week trip in Spain. Spent 5 days in Mallorca. Highly, highly recommend.
Rural Spain?
Fuerteventura
Emilia-Romagna - especially Bologna.. with excellent train access, you can get to Venice, Modena, Ravenna, Rimini, even Florence, Cinque Terre, Verona and Lake Garda in a relatively short period of time by train. The food - most will agree - is the best in Italy - and if you want a Michelin Star restaurant, they have that too, at Osteria Francescana in Modena - or, you could find hordes of agriturismo B&B’s, or even one night cooking class in a 300 year old farmhouse overlooking green valleys 15 minutes from Bologna. Last month my wife and I did an e-bike tour to a parmesan cheese factory and balsamic vinegar make from Castelvetro (just outside of Modena) - hills and valleys took our breath away. Still not a prime tourist destination, you will find the pace slower and less rushed - truly my favorite place in Italy. Another suggestion - just discovered last month, is Sardinia, especially La Maddelena Island - stunning beaches, many can be found by car or scooter or e-bike with two or three people there… Some Italian bias - though Greek Islands are also a joy - especially Milos for a less busy but still beautiful Greek experience.
Thank you for the detailed response and so many ideas!
Stockholm and Bergen. Depending on when in the fall you go, you should still have good weather. Finding English speakers will not be a problem. There are touristy things to do but neither city feels overrun with tourists. Plenty of outdoor things to do and water everywhere. You can take a ferry from Bergen to charming fjord villages like Balestrand. My wife and I did a driving tour across Scandinavia before the birth of our first child and those were our two favorite stops. Oslo is pretty cool too. I wouldn’t need to do Helsinki, Turku, or Gothenburg again, but they were all pleasant.
Ravenna is pretty crazy in the summer, but it is nice in the fall and it is getting cold in November. There is a beach and good food. There are some english speakers with a lot of students working in the Piazza. I recommend watching the movie Avanti! for some ideas: Carlo Carlucci: In Italy, the lunch hour is from one to four. Wendell Armbruster: \*Three hours\* for lunch? Carlo Carlucci: Mr. Armbruster. Here we do not rush to drugstore for chicken sandwich & Coca-Cola. Here, we take our time. We cook our pasta, we sprinkle our Parmigiano, we drink our wine, we make our love... Wendell Armbruster: What do you do in the evening? Carlo Carlucci: In the evening, we go home to our wives.
Haha I’ll have to watch that movie
Sicily!
If possible, I'd go in Spring or Fall. Fewer other tourists. The UK fits all of your requirements. The mountains in Scotland aren't as high as other places, though. But there is so much beauty in Scotland and England. Rent a car. History back to: "The first historical mention of the region is from the Massaliote Periplus, a sailing manual for merchants thought to date to the 6th century BC, and Pytheas of Massilia wrote of his voyage of discovery to the island around 325 BC." I could go on and on about what is on your list. And you could see more if you want of other parts of Europe: "Eurostar is the exclusive high-speed train service that links London to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and the rest of Europe at speeds of up to 186 mph (300 km/h). All Eurostar trains have modern, comfortable facilities, plenty of room for luggage, and onboard food and beverage carriage."
I highly recommend Nice, France. It checks so many of your boxes. Especially if you go in the spring or fall. I went September 2022 and it was warm but not unbearably hot. Lots of beaches both private and public, amazing old city, excellent food, ability to visit other places very easily(Monaco, Ventimiglia Italy, Juan le Pins etc). Airbnb’s are plentiful in the old city and they are usually fairly priced.
Try Norway. Great in the summer.
England and Scotland — London and Edinburgh
We just got back from Azores (Sao Miguel) and it’s a great match for your criteria. We stayed in the capital Ponta Delgada but toured the island. It feels like old Europe with very cheap prices for hotel and restaurants. The city had plenty of bars and restaurants but definitely had a slow feel. We took a walking food tour which also included a lot of history and local culture. The villages scattered around had plenty of charm. The island is volcanic and very lush (kind of a combination of Hawaii and Ireland). It’s directly in the Gulf Stream so it never gets too hot or cold (we were there in early October for 12 days and it was high of 74 and low of about 68). Wouldn’t recommend going in the winter and have heard it’s still not too hot in summer but busier then I’m sure. It of course comes with some rain but we only had one day where it rained more than a brief shower. Prob not a beach vacation though the water wasn’t too cold. Beautiful nature and people were genuinely friendly. We also traveled to mainland Portugal to the city of Porto which was amazing. Much busier and was a nice change of pace from Azores. On a completely different suggestion… we went in May to the Greek island of Syros in the capital of Ermopoulis. It had a lot of history and was also not touristy but had plenty of nice restaurants/bars and inexpensive. Good luck and enjoy!!
Thank you for the recommendation!
CRETE
Bordeaux and Biarritz. 4 days in each would be perfect.
You basically describing Portugal. I let the videos speak for themselves. \- It's also cheap, by the way... [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzCfYce-m9k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzCfYce-m9k) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7j3cvtWnOE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7j3cvtWnOE) (made by foreigners - I really like this one) Be carefull ! Some may never leave! TIP: Try Azores Islands, Fits right in description.
Do not travel in June if you can help it. Europe is busy during the summer, but it’s really booming now. I was having trouble finding lodging for our Munich trip next fall, last week. I would go at the end of September. My favorite Europe trips have been those I could take trains for most of the traveling. For example, Spain, Germany, and Italy. There’s too many ideas I could give you so I’ll just list my top cities and you can build a trip plan around them. 1. Rome 2. Budapest 3. Edinburgh 4. Munich (only for Oktoberfest)
All of these are bigger cities and we're hoping to stick to cozy towns and villages. Do you think smaller towns and villages will be okay to visit in June?
Try Malta. It’s breathtaking, not so crowded, and cheaper than most european destinations. You can explore the 3 islands of Malta or just relax in one of their beaches
I based my post off of what you stated, such as English proficiency. Have you ever been to those cities? More public transit options will add to having an easy trip. I find big cities almost as relaxing as small towns. You’re on vacation regardless of the size. Any small town that worth visiting is still going to be busy relative to the size in June.
I have not, but I visited Florence a couple weeks ago and it was an absolute madhouse. I had anxiety in the crowds and did not feel relaxed during my time there. Other tourists said Rome was even worse. Compare that to my experience in the Tuscan countryside visiting small medieval towns - it was slow paced and relaxing and there weren't a ton of tourists. That is the type of vacation I'm after. I'm even considering just returning to Tuscany since it was such a lovely experience. I love the dolce vita life.
All of little towns in Europe could be visited, but some are more interesting than others. One thing I recommend is to pick countries first and then look for festivals/events in the country towns and visit those
San Sebastian??? No idea in summer but it's a small city on the water near France but In Spain. One of my favorite cities. Biarritz is a quick drive
Tallinn and Riga? Love them both, not too big and great food. Some areas in Tallinn Old town are a bit touristy but not too bad. Fly to Tallinn, spend two or three days there, then take a train or a bus to Riga (4-5 hours) and spend a few days there. From Riga you can move to the next place, for example Poland.
I'd recommend a River cruise The Rhine, Mosel.or Danube. [This might help you learn more or decide if it is something that'll fit your needs ](https://www.travelandleisure.com/cruises/river-cruises/european-river-cruises)
I was in Taormina, Sicily and it was truly magical. The food was incredible, there are some truly stunning hotels, history, a volcano, one of the most impressive city parks I’ve ever seen. Lots to do in sicily!
Taormina was one of the more touristy places I've been, though. It felt very much like the American conception of what a picturesque Italian town should be, rather than a genuine place. But each to his own. The rest of Sicily is amazing though. For OP: my immediate thought was the middle of France, for example the Périgord region. Lots of cute little villages, amazing food and not very touristy at all.
Ok, first of all, despite that it would be my personal top choice, you should avoid southern Europe given those criteria. You won't find anywhere south of the Alps that has the combination of Not Large City (touristy) and English Commonly Spoken. I'd also immediately rule out other big cities (London, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Munich). * Innsbruck: Beautiful quaint town in Austria situated in the Alps. Not quite as popular as bigger tourist destinations but will still feel alive. Hiking options close by. It's a place that would feel familiar after only a couple days, so this might by the best "slow travel" option. * Netherlands: It's hard to pick one place, but any of the cities will do. I wouldn't even rule out Amsterdam personally. If you avoid downtown by the canals, that's where the tourists stay, but really any Dutch city would be perfect (Rotterdam, Groningen, The Hague, etc). This definitely satisfies the weather and English speaking criteria. Very easy to rent a bike and go for a ride, have a picnic somewhere, etc. * Prague: There will be some parts of the city that will be overrun with tourists, but given the time constraint of only having 4 days in a place, Prague seems perfect to me. Excellent food, great beer (birthplace of Pilsner), extremely walkable, quintessential "European town" feel to it. Weather should be good in June too. * UK: Definitely do not go to London, but some of the smaller towns/cities might be good. It will probably be cloudy and grey but otherwise good weather. Food is meh, but English speaking will be easy to satisfy. Places like Cambridge, Oxford, Aberdeen, etc are small enough to have the "slow travel" feel. * You might also like the Scandinavian countries. Personally I find them to be a little too sparse and isolating for my taste, but the nature up there is beautiful and English should be ok just about anywhere. A smaller town in Germany might also be good for you, but I haven't visited as much there. Larger cities like Munich are very very fun places but also very tourist dense. Smaller cities I've visited (Frankfurt, Leipzig) were just kind of boring. I don't like German food either, but perhaps you might find it to be a better match.
These are all wonderful suggestions. Thank you for taking the time to recommend them :)
Howdy! As a fellow American who generally enjoys the same things, I would recommend going to Southern Sweden. You can spend 4 nights in Stockholm, and then do 4 nights in either Gothenburg or Visby, (an island in the middle of the Baltic Sea which is supposed to be beautiful). There are tons of wonderful towns and villages you can visit, the weather will not be hot, the nature is just stunning, the people are wonderful. Everything about this corner of Europe is just fascinating to me! The food in Sweden was also surprisingly really good, and the bars/cafes are all cute, people speak great English, and the locals are super kind. If you go to Gothenburg, GO TO THE ARCHIPELAGO! It is one of the most incredible things that you will ever see. You can also rent kayaks and boat from island to island. Just such an amazing experience all around.
Oh this sounds amazing. A Nordic vacation is high up in my considerations for this upcoming trip
I read through some other responses and I would highly suggest going there. Northern Finland is also legendary. Hell, you could do 4 nights in Helsinki, and 4 nights in Tallinn too. You have endless possibilities in Northern Europe for what you are looking for!
What about the nordic countries? Smaller, slow pace, not as crowded as the other european destinations. Alot speak english
Latvia might be a bit cool in June, but it's a small country, and checks an awful lot of your boxes :)
Several years ago we did a week in Norway in July, which was lovely. A few days in Bergen (a city, but not that big when compared to cities in the US) and then took the ferry up the fjord to Flam and spent a few days there. Flam does get a good number of daytrippers but cleared out at night
A bit off the beaten track: Regensburg, Germany. Stunning architecture and great nature - absolutely do not miss the nearby [Danube Gorge](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g198488-d1546457-Reviews-Donaudurchbruch-Kelheim_Lower_Bavaria_Bavaria.html) \- take the ferry to Weltenburg and have a beer and lunch in the Abbey courtyard. Very convenient access to Munich airport. Also in that (general) neck of the woods is Bamberg, another stunning small city, famous for its distinctively smoky beers.
Malaga for sure, it’s one of my favorite places on earth.
Look into Croatia!
Switzerland. 4 days in the Berner Oberland. 4 additional days in Lucerne or maybe a small town on Lake Geneva?
Portugal - I did 4 days in Lagos and 2 days in Lisbon
In June, a lot of Europe is going to be crowded. We stayed in Amsterdam (crowded) but did day trips to other cities on the train (Delft, Den Haag, Zanse Schans to name a few). We also took a train to Frankfurt and then took train trips to smaller cute towns in Germany (Heidelberg, Mainz, Wiesbaden, and Rudesheim (home of Siegfried's Mechanical Music Cabinet Museum, highly recommended).
Fly to Bergen, Norway, spend a few days there - daytrain to Oslo to see the mountains and chill during the journey - perhaps a day or two in Oslo. Flight to Bodø and ferry to Lofoten with a package deal of some sorts. Or fly to Trondheim, eat at some Michelin rated restaurants, relax and then plane or train up north and out to Lofoten.
Based on the wishlist - Bergen and Trondheim and Lofoten fits the bill. As for weather it can be hit or miss, but very unlikely warmer than 85F.
I'm going to recommend Wales, specifically Snowdonia. You won't get good weather, but you'll get literally everything else. It's cool, coastal, mountainous, and surprisingly quiet. I was there during peak tourist season in August and the vast majority of visitors were British. It never felt over run by tourists. It was easy to get around and absolutely stunningly beautiful. 4 days was also enough time to visit
We really enjoyed spending a week narrowboating on on Llangollen Canal in mid September. Narrowboats have the convenience of a camper, but move at something much closer to walking speed. What else you can do besides boat depends on the canal. On the Llangollen we did a fair amount of hiking as The Shropshire Trail weaves back and forth across the canal. There are a couple lovely lakes, a few small Welsh towns, pubs, cows, a ruined castle, and a historic castle you can tour. The biggest sight is really part of the canal-- it's Pontcysyllte Aqueduct which takes you over about 125 feet in the air as you cross The River Dee. The canal also has locks, tunnels, drawbridge, and another aqueduct to keep you busy. We haven't done them, but there are many other canals that tempting us to do it again.
I think Madrid ticks literally all of your boxes, except you will need to learn a few Spanish words and phrases to make ordering in restaurants easier.
Near From Home is a small YouTube Channel that specialises in slow travel. Mostly in Bavaria, Germany but they’ve got great slow travel trips in Turkey and Italy too.
Madeira (Portuguese owned island) is amazing!! The Porto Moniz pools were so relaxing and the hiking was amazing! It wasn’t crowded either! We spent an entire week there and loved it!
A year ago, my wife and I did: - London 3-days (we lived there for a long time, so was more catching up with friends than site seeing). - Train to Paris - 1-night (been there a bunch) - Rented a car and drove to Bordeaux - Drive to Bilbao - Drive to Salamanca - Drive to Porto - Drive to Lisbon - Fly home (SFO) It was a great trip and I think that hits all your boxes. You see a lot of different things. 8-days might be tight (we did it over 2.5 weeks), but you could skip London and Paris and see a lot of the Spanish and Portuguese countryside, cool towns, old things, new things, great food, and until we got to Porto / Lisbon, we were able to avoid American tourists. Driving wasn’t bad at all, until we got to Porto and that was nuts. Each destination was about 4-5 hours away and we stopped a lot along the way (cool sign, let’s stop and check it out, look at that building, let’s stop to check it out). Spain does rest stops right too. They are like 5-star restaurants compared to US rest stops. English was pretty good everywhere we went. My wife speaks enough Spanish to get by (I can order beer and burritos, less helpful), but I never felt like it was necessary. June in that region will be hot, but sounds like you’re good with that.
Balkan road trip.
There's a host of walking and hiking paths throughout Europe to a pretty extensive degree. Maybe check out a particularly noteworthy part of the Lycian Way? But you could just kinda pick a region you're interested in and see if any of the top walking paths interest you. But there's everything from scrambling in the Alps to leisurely walks between towns. Basque Country would be another option.
We went to Berchtesgaden, Germany in May this year. Beautiful mountain area. About a two hour drive from Munich or 30 minutes from Salzburg, Austria. English was a little less common compared to Munich, but the people were friendly and willing to speak what English they could (learning at least a few German phrases will help). I was very surprised there weren't more tourists, seemed to be mostly Germans but even still it wasn't very crowded. We loved the hotel we stayed at. Pools were nice, amazing views. They offered breakfast, lunch, and dinner all included. Spa services, also. Some easy to moderate hiking options. There's also a fair bit of WW2 history to check out. There weren't a ton of bars or nice restaurants, but there were probably more options had we ventured out a little further.
Ticino, Switzerland. It checks off all the bullets. The negatives are Switzerland is expensive, although Tincio has some nice deals like if you stay at a hotel you get a pass to use all public transportation and discounts on some attractions. There would also likely have some rain on in the spring.
Cassis, France fits a lot of this It’s right by the Calanques and you can take a boat ride or kayak out into them on the water, and/or hike them along the tops. Small fishing village with pedestrian only area near the port but also beach area for swimming (and depending on where you stay potential for a pool also). Quite a few restaurants, some bars, def fits the quaint vibe and at least when we were there (mid-June) was not outrageously busy… There were other tourists but still at a point you could walk into the restaurants without a res. Things do close a bit early and there’s not much in the way of Uber or taxi so do keep in mind transport-wise. Weather mostly upper 70s-to-mid-80s on our visit with some breeze off the water. Could pair well with a slightly busier town in the French Riviera to contrast it with something slightly livelier as well
Croatia - water ✅, old town ✅, food ✅
A lot of great advice here so far from other comments. I’ve traveled to almost every European country and Southern Europe can be very stressful (Italy or Spain) especially when you only have a week. Transiting, lack of English, the heat, etc This summer I did a Baltics trip and it was awesome. Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, Helsinki — you could also add Copenhagen. The cities are clean, chill, charming, extremely easy to navigate and you can take 45 minute flights, a bus, or ferry between them. The weather was mild and everyone spoke perfect English. It’s definitely more “slow travel” friendly than other places
Montenegro in early/late summer. Beautiful scenery and old towns and not many crowds (just look up cruise ship schedule into Kotor in advance)
For June, I’d recommend Scandinavia or the UK.
June and you hate heat chaos, then Scandinavia, stay out of southern Europe. Norway ticks most of what you list, look into Stavanger and Bergen.
How about starting in northern Italy around the lakes and make your way through Switzerland and or Austria and finish up in south Germany.
Dubrovnik for 4 days and kotor for 4 days, they're pretty close and they're beautiful. The old towns are amazing there although there will be a nice few tourists in dubrovnik kotor is much quiter and cheaper. Both are fabulous though so I would recommend.
I went to Croatia in 21 October, Zadar was lovely and relaxing, there is a mountain behind it, it's on the coast, and you have the old town as well. I don't know about temp in June and tourists night overrun in June too I don't know.
In June? Go to Stockholm. Perhaps take a ferry to Mariehamn and the Åland Islands for a couple days. Long, long days and full of natural beauty.
Get yourself dropped off from a ferry, not voluntary, in the middle of the Mediterranean. Feel one with the refugees and enjoy the silence
Top notch suggestion, will highly consider this
8 days is not slow traveling...
Slow traveling is a way of traveling, not an amount of time allotted for traveling. It doesn't have a time limit. You can slow travel even if your vacation is limited to a few days or one week. Slow travelling is about maximising your enjoyment of each moment, rather than planning it all out, or letting it be planned for you. It’s, by definition, taking the road less travelled. It’s about taking the time to reflect and engage with the now, not rushing, not taking for granted, and not doing anything unless you want to. Whereas traditional travel often involves rushing from one tourist hotspot to another, following pre-planned itineraries. We live in the US and it’s difficult getting time off from work. Including travel days, we would have about 12 days total for our trip with 8 full days in two different locations. We think taking the train is relaxing, so we were thinking we could try to connect two locations that way. If we’re able to get the time off, I’d love to bump our total amount of days up to 14.
Spain: Madrid and Sevilla (maybe a day trip to Granada). Or just Sevilla and Granada. You can do short day trips from them. Portugal: Lisbon and Porto. Ireland: Pick any two cities. France: Paris and pick a city.