I think if OP is balking at Alaska costs she will not like how $$$ Switzerland is. |
Pacific Northwest!! Either Oregon or Washington or both - everything from the coast to the mountains and sailing with orcas off the San Juan Islands |
Yellowstone/Grand Teton (not inexpensive though) |
BTW, great site with detailed weather history by month, day, averages, etc. Really helpful for getting detailed info.
https://weatherspark.com/ |
Slovenia has alps, caves, hiking— great place to visit |
Norway |
Go to Maine and then keep going - New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI. We had an amazing family vacation on the New Brunswick side of Bay of Fundy. |
I;m surprised no one has mentioned Olympic National Park and Wash State yet. You could do a combo of rafting, hiking, biking. Olympic is great in the summer. Depending on where else you go, you may have to worry about wildfires. |
We went to Colorado last summer and it was great. We stayed for a few days in Colorado Springs and did activities there such as hiking in the Garden of the Gods. We stayed one night in Denver so we could see a few things. Then a week cabin rental right outside the Rocky Mountain National Park and we went hiking in the park almost everyday. There are also plenty of zip lining and other fun things to do. |
More expensive than Alaska |
Banff/Jasper |
Norway- you could subscribe to SAS for airline deals (we flew one year for under 400) and then airbb/cater as it is expensive.
Chile would be another recommendation (particularly Atacama area and maybe the Lake District area depending on weather there) Or Canada, Iceland |
If into hiking and mountains, Acadia. Tons of hiking, from easy to moderate to difficult. Also sea kayaking, rock climbing and ranger activities. |
You could do Alaska for 8K if you do it on your own and mainly hike. |
Hawaii is warmer in the summer but not all that much warmer than the cooler times of year. Avg high temp is within 10 degrees all year. (73-81) It’s $$$$ though. |