Europe off the beaten track- holiday ideas?

[Sanne Panne]

The Dutch North Sea islands ("Waddeneilanden") are lovely too, some are car free and you can rent all shapes and sizes of bicycles. Vlieland for example is all gorgeous dunes with amazing cycling routes, beaches and just one little town with a bunch of shops and cafes. You can rent an apartment or go camping and there may be a small hotel too. Of course there's always the weather variable in this part of Europe but when it's sunny it's one of the best places I know. Extremely laid back and very much off the beaten track, most tourists are from mainland Holland.

[????]

Come on Minitoots, give us something back...where did you go in the end? How was it? etc?

I'd say Calabria this year. Beautiful, propa Italy without the Tuscany brigade

[Sanne Panne]

Noto is amazing. Small town in Southeastern Sicily. I've been to a completely deserted golden-white beach near there. Bit of a trek through the dry grass but we picked buckets of fresh almonds, lemons and mirtillo on the way. If that's not off the beaten track...

Here are some descriptions, if you don't speak Italian throw them in Google translate or pm me.

http://www.qspiagge.it/recensioni/noto/

[Minitoots]

This is where we ended up last year - our own deserted beach, 1 mile walk to nearest village/ pub with fantastic seafood, mountains 30 miles or so away, historic sites within 3 mile walk etc etc - any guesses as to where??!

[Ole]

Last year we hired an apartment in the catalonian pyrenees and had a great time. Lovely beaches are about 30 minutes drive (take your pick but we went to Ampurias which is very shallow great for paddling and overlooking the ancient roman ruins and pine wood forests). we would alternate beach trips with hiking trips (there are lots of good trails as you would expect and there is a volcanic national forest near there so a bit of geology thrown in), visits to charming maedieval villages, a trip to the estany the banyoles (massive lake where you can hire bikes to cycle around, and has a designatied swimming area). Would highly recommend. We went in the second half of september so avoided school holiday prices and overcrowing and had great weather. Really wanted to go back but hubby wanted to explore another area, but we will certainly be going back.

[womanofdulwich]

Did you go to Wales?

[Sanne Panne]

Scandinavia? An Ikea showroom with a view? Just kidding it looks GORGEOUS.

Minitoots Wrote:

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> This is where we ended up last year - our own

> deserted beach, 1 mile walk to nearest village/

> pub with fantastic seafood, mountains 30 miles or

> so away, historic sites within 3 mile walk etc etc

> - any guesses as to where??!

[Ruffler]

Looks fab Minitoots ... Wales or Scotland, maybe?

[Minitoots]

Not Wales, not Scandinavia....

Meanwhile, thanks for all the new interesting suggestions for places. We are looking into several of them starting with Montenegro so any more tips on where to go in Montenegro would be great. I'm starting a new post specifically on that too.

[vanthorne]

minitoots: is it lanzarote? Or somewhere nearby on those islands...intrigued....

[midivydale]

Sweden! West coast and east coast alike are stunningly beautiful and it is a very childfriendly country. I am bringing my 4mnth old tonight to meet his grandparents for the first time!

[arrozdoce]

Is it Scotland? Iceland? Please tell us!?

[Minitoots]

The place where we went last year was Crawton, Aberdeenshire - see pics attached. (We had to change travel plans to Europe due to family illness but ended up off the beaten track in the UK instead).

Now, back to the subject of places in Europe off the beaten track......

[arrozdoce]

Wow, looks amazing, thanks for telling!

[Minitoots]

Well, after all the great suggestions from 2011, the next year we did go to Montenegro and it was absolutley brilliant! I have loads and loads of info if anyone wants any.cheap,stunning scenery, lots of world heritage sites, good weather, great wine and beer- we got last mintue flights at only ?90 return - perfect!!! thanks so much again to everyone who recommended it.

We're now looking for something similar and will check out all the other suggestions above which all look just up our street, but if anyone has anything else to add, that would be good too. The main stipulation apart from everything in the original post is low price!!

[Minitoots]

Same question for August 26th for a week 2013- any new ideas? We've left it late for flights, I know..

[Ruffler]

Hi Minitoots, if the place you stayed at in Aberdeenshire is available to the public, would you mind PMing me the details? It looks awesome.

[Minitoots]

Unfortunately that place is not available to the public- it's our friends' house. The whole area is really stunning though, and the nearest village (Catterline)or town (Stonehaven) may have places to rent though I don't know if there are any with such a great view from the cliffs...

[Minitoots]

I've started a new post specifically on Denmark this year, if anyone is interested in somewhere which is very cheap to fly to, even for last minute August deals. Looks really interesting, and quite different from Montenegro where we went (and absolutely loved) last year, thanks to the ED forum advice on this post.