Anonymous wrote:OP. I have no clue about Eastern Europe. Those who have been, please share some towns/cities you have been to that you absolutely loved, so I can look it up. Thank you!

Krakow is really nice. There are also lots of parts of Romania that are gorgeous (you can start in Bucharest and then go into the Transylvania/the Carpathians; I loved Sighisoara). You could go to Sofia in Bulgaria and then the surrounding area.

All of these places are pretty low-price compared to western Europe, the people are nice, and the weather tends to be pretty temperate (though they do also get heat waves).

Does it have to be Europe? On a tight schedule I’d stay domestic (or Canada)

Switzerland and inexpensive are two words which don't belong in the same sentence.

Southern and Eastern Europe tend to be less expensive, especially outside the major cities and further from major popular tourist attractions, as you'd expect. So it depends what your objectives are - soak up atmosphere? See the Leaning Tower or the Mona Lisa? You can do the former inexpensively; the latter will be harder to do on a budget. Traveling second class by train can be economical if you use rail passes or limit the numbner of trips you take, renting cars can be pricey and fraught with challenges if you can't read local road signage or drive a stick shift.

OP. I have no clue about Eastern Europe. Those who have been, please share some towns/cities you have been to that you absolutely loved, so I can look it up. Thank you!

Anonymous wrote:I was just in Colmar and while it was nice I wouldn’t describe the prices as reasonable. Also, keep in mind you need a hotel with air conditioning. It’s not standard, but it’s miserable without it.

OP here. I'm interested in your itinerary - did you need a car? How easy is it to travel in France without a car? What were the room rates like when you went? I didn't think to look into whether the hotel had air conditioning. Good reminder, thank you.

Bulgaria or Romania

Yeah, you should go to Eastern Europe. Roumania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Serbia, Czechia

Any of those will be a pleasant surprise and so.much.cheaper and less CROWDED than France in early August. Just make sure sites you want to see will be open through the days you’re there. I have been to Croatia and Slovenia when everyone has left for their six-week vacations already and it’s wasn’t very fun

I had major sticker shock in France. Especially because we were almost always forced into 2 rooms/

Annecy in France. With such short notice not a ton of availability of course, but this looks pretty good, $322/night for 8 nights, easy walk or bike to the lake.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/841811925200977319

If you are willing to make a quick stop and brave basic economy you can fly to Geneva for $900/person.

Rent a car on the French side of GVA airport to save money.

Anonymous wrote:Eastern Europe?

+1 Go to Poland

Eastern Europe?

I was just in Colmar and while it was nice I wouldn’t describe the prices as reasonable. Also, keep in mind you need a hotel with air conditioning. It’s not standard, but it’s miserable without it.

I don't think it's worth going if you can't afford it.

Add on Paris and then take a train to Colmar etc. you could also go to the Black Forest in Germany.

What the title says -

My husband suddenly realized he cannot carry over some vacation days and wants to go somewhere in early August. I'm a sub teacher so our vacation schedule depends more on his schedule.

Where to go? We were planning for a trip to Switzerland next Spring so I had some vague itinerary but all those places - especially the Berner Oberland, have hotel prices through the roof for August.

I looked into Alsace region in France but that doesn't take up more than 3 to 4 days - Colmar, Strasbourg and the wine tour. Colmar is very reasonable at $200+/night.

Where else could we go and where to fly into? We have 10 days.