Article: Why Does Everyone Want to Visit Europe in Summer?

I think you’ve summed it up well! There are pros and cons to each season. The UK and Northern Europe is lovely in summer though, and the extra daylight means if you’re there sightseeing you get longer to do stuff. And less likely to be burdened down with wet weather gear or umbrellas.

Lazy afternoons in Zurich drinking caipirinhas aren’t quite the same in winter!
 
On a lighter note, the reason I think people summer in Europe - so that when someone asks "where does everyone summer", they can say "Oh, in a chateau in the South of France" 🤣🤣🤣 in a posh accent 🤣

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Personally I have no idea. I have friends been in Sicily with the mid to high 40s in the last couple of weeks. As someone who doesn't even like the Adelaide summer I am always going to avoiding the European summer. Many of the points Matt makes are so true. It's too busy, too crowded and too expensive
 
I'm the opposite - I'm one of those people who hate summer and hot weather.

I went to Europe in July back in 2012 and it was way too hot for my liking - especially in Italy / south.

This time I'm going to Europe in Autumn (October) and hoping that it'll be more pleasant.

I honestly couldn't think of anything worse than laying on a beach on a 30+ degree day getting sunburnt.
 
The last time I was in Europe was the middle of summer (in 2015) and the crowds were amazing -the Vatican museums were almost unable to be traversed! But the reason we chose summer was simple -school kids! when you are travelling with kids (teens at the time) you are often limited to whatever combination of school and work holidays works best. With teens jobs and our work commitments, the mid year school holidays gave us two weeks with one week of term off at either end (slightly less because our older teens had longer holidays at this point) and less school disruption. The longer Christmas holidays are just too expensive to travel in. Easter holidays are also expensive so its either Summer or Autumn.
 
Just got out the Lonely Planet guide to Europe. From a quick look, here are some snippets:

  • In summer, "expect all the major attractions to be nightmarishly busy".
  • Of April-May and September-October, "Overall these are the best months to visit Europe".
  • September is "maybe the best time to visit: the weather's still good and the crowds have thinned."
In other words it's not controversial at all to say that summer is not the best time to visit.

I'm a teacher and my last visit was during the April school holidays. It was magnificent: daylight saving had started, it wasn't too cold and I can't really remember having to queue up anywhere. My next visit will be during the September holidays next month. I would never even think about going in June-July.

Honourable mention to December-January: yes, it's cold, and the days are short, but there are no crowds and it's the only time of year to see the Northern Lights!
 
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A response based on the article title without having read the article … if it were a holiday without other restrictions I’d stick to spring or early autumn. But in 2018 the better-half had a late-June conference near-ish LHR so we did an England & Scotland holiday in June; the weather was seriously wonderfully brilliant, and there were zero crowding-related issues, that trip was really fun.

She was working for the London Limpix in 2012, also summer, so that was date-dependent too - and that was another really enjoyable trip, she was working overnight in a county about 45min by train out of the city & I was wondering around the canals & footpaths & checking-out the local villages/towns during those long high-20-degree summer days.
She & our housemate (who was also working there) & another of their co-workers had a couple of days off, so we caught the train into London, the girls went shopping in a couple of trendy dress-shops while us blokes had a couple of pints in a very English pub, then on the way home there were issues with the train system so we ducked into a trendy bar for drinks/nibblies/dinner and it was extremely cosmopolitanely & unexpectedly fun.

I’d not aim for summer, but the summer trips were very enjoyable. The better-half has positive childhood memories of camping near an Italian lake similar to Como (Balcena) and I think if we were to visit there we’d want to be close to summer so all the outdoor stands selling porchetta into the early evening would be running etc etc.
 
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When I read the title, I thought 'No, who on earth would want to go to Europe in (their) summer? Expensive, horrible crowds and too much competition for attraction tickets.

The I read the article @Mattg and the sense in which you wrote it. I'm always a shoulder season visitor.
 
Sometimes Euro summer is unavoidable... having conquered Antarctica earlier this year, our main event next year is a cruise "into the midnight sun" starting mid-June.
Though the vast majority of our Euro trips have been for specific events that were usually scheduled in the shoulder seasons, so I cant complain too much :)
Post-summer late August/ through Sept are our personal favourites.
 
September is best overall. Weather still warm, swimming weather in most places. Longish days, but much lower crowds at major attractions. Hotels, trains and airports are less busy. Hospitality staff are less frazzled.

Many exceptions of course such as for speciality tourism like skiing, northern lights, dogsledding etc etc, when other times of year are more suitable.
 
Having just come back from Europe a week ago (and having endured many a grey European Winter during my youth), I have a very clear answer to your question:

Because it’s frigging awesome in Summer, that’s why!

Granted, German Christmas markets and some Gluhwein are very special but after my Aussie partner experienced what I call “the real Winter” (i.e. grey snow mud in the streets of Berlin, grumpy faces everywhere, drizzling rain-snow mix with iced up motorways/ train tracks…) for the first time, we’ve both decided that my mum and dad will have to live without us over Christmas from now on. Give me tacky tourist Christmas at Bondi beach and a couple of barbies on the balcony over this any day!

The side seasons make lots of sense and for quite some time we more or less regularly went around September/October to include a couple of Mass at Octoberfest in Munich (if anyone wants tips on how to accomplish this best without queuing up together with other tourists outside the beer tents- DM me, we’re quite the Octoberfest experts these days). Last year though it got very very cold in mid September already, I fell ill with pneumonia and then ended up in hospital. So Summer just felt… More attractive this year.

And what a glorious Summer it was! The sun stays up much longer in Central Europe than it does down here and the fact that you can just sit outside till the late night with drinks in hand us just amazing. We enjoyed Germany, France and Hungary this time around and while it was hot, we very much enjoyed the atmosphere and the action till late at night. For us specifically, it’s also in Summer when the European gay prides are on which alone is a reason to chose this season. But for others it might be other events that are only on in Summer and weather it’s concerts or festivals or whatever it might be that takes your fancy- all those are just so much more special in the Summer time.

Just my 5 cents on the matter. I quite enjoy the Christmas holidays down here in the sun and then escaping the Aussie Winter over June or July. Oh, and mid July is also my birthday so that’s also extra special with old friends and family in Europe :D
 
Why just Europe? We basically do northern hemisphere travel between Mid March and May or mid august to November. The only times in summer proper have been for cruises in the arctic -Svalbard, Iceland, Greenland and Hudson bay.

We also though prefer visiting just north of the Equator - Singapore, Thailand and the rest of the old Indo China region in December and January.
 
We've always travelled to Europe in May through August. We hit London the first day of the summer break. Never again. We escape the cold of our winter. This year we will be in Europe (Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, UK) for Christmas. It might be our one and only white one. And to appease the cold blooded one in the family, spending NYE in Dubai.
 
I pretty much agree with these sentiments. Our previous trip to Europe was in September and October and we had great weather (not too hot and not too cold) and places were much quieter. We are currently doing a 4 month trip which started in July due to timing of other things happening. Paris and London were out of control with crowds and as Matt pointed out the cost of hotel rooms were through the roof!
 
Just did two weeks in Greece - got back just before heat wave. It was everything I expected - busy in the tourist areas and amazing in the quieter places - did Mykonos/Santorini and Naxos - Naxos was my favourite - the best of everything without the crowds
For me I usually take holidays when work is quiet so that is usually XMAS and June/July - I travel in peak season - just need to make the most of it - just need to work a bit harder to book earlier and look for just off the main tourist traps
 
If you enjoy hiking, walking, amazing scenery (and more 'extreme' sports like paragliding, rafting, etc) the Alps in summer are amazing places to holiday in summer. While the days can still be hot it cools off in the long evenings to mid-20's. We just returned from Europe spending time in St Anton, then Grindelwald (Zermatt last year) - wonderful. Prices are much less than winter which is the high season for skiing (e.g. our holiday apartment in St Anton costs $20,000 per week in ski season - we paid $3000).
 

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