Looking for summer travel ideas? You already know the least expensive weeks for the most popular summer destinations—among them New York City, Las Vegas, London, Paris, and Rome—and that most are most affordable in August. But that’s also when it’s hot and sticky in these cities and the locals have fled town. If your goal is to soak up local color while avoiding the worst of the tourist crowds this summer, here are alternatives to consider:
JUNE
Provence, France
June brings blooming fields of lavender and colorful village festivals. It also brings weather warm enough—and enough hours of daylight—that you can eat all three daily meals outdoors.
Cyclades Islands, Greece
In June the flood of tourists that inundate Mykonos and Santorini in high summer is still only a trickle. And you avoid the worst of the meltemi winds that can sandblast you off the beach (and sometimes cancel ferry service) later in the summer.
Bali
June has reliably pleasant weather and shoulder-season hotel rates, and it’s the calm before the tourist storm of July and August.
JULY
Newfoundland
This Canadian island off the easternmost edge of North America is refreshingly cool and blissfully uncrowded in July—the best month for whale watching in Bay Bulls. See the humpbacks frolic and breach—and see puffins too—as you sail past the icebergs.
Barbados
It isn’t as hot in summer as you might expect (temps are in the 80s during the day and the 70s at night), and July brings off-peak hotel rates as well as the Crop Over festival , which celebrates the end of the harvest with concerts, fairs, markets, and dancing in the streets. Your little ones can even march in the Kiddies Kadooment costume parade.
French Polynesia
Each July the Heiva festival brings thousands of grass-skirted islanders from all over French Polynesia to Tahiti for the annual tamure dance competitions. You can see everything from expertly choreographed ballets to singing competitions to canoe races.
AUGUST
Scotland
Purple heather blooms in the highlands in August, which also brings the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo , not to mention the Edinburgh International Book Festival and assorted Highland Games. These events draw crowds, but to escape them you can just hop over to the Hebrides .
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef
August is one of Australia’s nicest months: no school holidays and little rain. It brings good visibility for divers and snorkelers, as well as the best time to view whales (including humpbacks on their annual migration to Antarctica).
East Africa
August and September are prime safari months in Kenya and Tanzania: They’re the best time to see the annual migration, when more than a million animals pass through the Masai Mara.
You’ll find more summer travel help from Wendy at WendyPerrin.com .
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