cheap(er) European, South American month long vacay ideas

[Anonymous]

Op, I second the recommendations for going to a smaller place. What about Croatia (beautiful beaches) or somewhere is Scandanavia?

If you want awesome food at a decent price, what about Sicily? Beaches, lots of history, lots to see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Portugal! You could spend some time in Lisbon and some time in the beachy area of the Algarve. It's much cheaper than most of Europe. Lots of sunshine and fresh fish. You can also travel to Spain very easily.

+1

+2 Portugal has a lot of expat UK. My DH is from the UK, and I've thought about retiring there.

[Anonymous]

Slovenia/ very reasonable/ has alps, sea and rolling green. Easy drive to Venice and Trieste, easy to Dubrovnik if you like game of thrones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go for Buenos Aires. The city is awesome and extremely cheap right now if you exchange dollars at the blue rate instead of the official rate (google blue rate and you can read all about it). It is also relatively close to the great beaches in Uruguay. Your money will go far there.

Another vote for Buenos Aires, try an AirBnB in the neighborhood of Palermo Soho, we have done this several times; there's great access to public transportation (cheap and excellent), the exchange rate is great for American tourists now, and if you get homesick you'll have Starbucks, Pain Quotidien, and a bunch of similar chains in the area. The only downside is that it will be winter there, but that only means 50s or 40s in a bad day (it doesn't snow over there). You'll love it. You could also do day or weekend trips to Uruguay and catch a plane to Brazil, Chile or Peru...really worth it.

We stayed in an apartment in Buenos Aires 6 years ago, also in Palermo SoHo. This was going to be my exact suggestion. It's impossible to spend a lot of money there, and I love the city.

[Anonymous]

Slovenia/ very reasonable/ has alps, sea and rolling green. Easy drive to Venice and Trieste, easy to Dubrovnik if you like game of thrones.

I think that is a good suggestion. Also, very accessible to other parts of Europe. Depends on whether you want to stay in one place and absorb the area (like Portugal) or want to travel around a lot.

[Anonymous]

I'd love to stay in portugal. Esp. the Azores.

What about Corsica? My mom recently spent over a month there and LOVED it. (she loves hiking, though.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd love to stay in portugal. Esp. the Azores.

What about Corsica? My mom recently spent over a month there and LOVED it. (she loves hiking, though.)

Where did your mom stay? That's on my list!

[Anonymous]

Provence! We spent 3 weeks there a couple of years ago and it was fabulous. Does your budget includes renting a car? That is expensive, more so if needs to be authomatic. But without a car you would be severely limited, including for groceries shopping in the locals regular stores. Otherwise, I highly recommend.

[Anonymous]

Ecuador for South America. They really like Americans and you have beach, jungle/rainforest and mountains. Quito is a beautiful Colonial city.

Do you want off-the-beaten-path for Europe? I would definitely do coastal, but maybe Croatia or Portugal. For more tried-and-true, maybe Amalfi coast of Italy. Southern Spain would probably be nice too. From most places you can easily and relatively cheaply fly or take the train to Paris (or Rome, etc) for a long weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Slovenia/ very reasonable/ has alps, sea and rolling green. Easy drive to Venice and Trieste, easy to Dubrovnik if you like game of thrones.

+1, check out Piran.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd love to stay in portugal. Esp. the Azores.

What about Corsica? My mom recently spent over a month there and LOVED it. (she loves hiking, though.)

Where did your mom stay? That's on my list!

she stayed in a room in someone's house, I think through something like air bnb

[Anonymous]

What about Portugal?

[Anonymous]

OP Here: These suggestions are amazing!

I think we've identified that we want a pool with our airbnb and a beach nearby.

Wife loves Portugal so far and I love Cartanega.

We are still on the hunt!

[Anonymous]

Cartagena is not cheap and the weather can be horrendously humid/hot. Its also a huuuuge tourist town and when the cruise ships come its terrible. I would
Not want to be there for more than 1 week. Portugal is still very inexpensive charming and just lovely.

[Anonymous]

I'm the original Portugal poster and I'm thrilled that so many others are recommending Portugal too. We didn't run into any other Americans when we were there (lots of Brits though). In addition to Lisbon and the Algarve, you could spend time in the wine country (Porto) and the charming town Sintra. I can't wait to go back!