Sunburn is out. Fjords, forests and a very reasonable 15C in August are very much in.
There was a time when the entire point of a European summer was heat. You went south, you lay flat, you drank something cold and you came home the colour of a conker. Then July started hitting 44 degrees in places that were never built for it, the airports melted, and a lot of us quietly worked out that lying on a lounger while your phone overheats in your bag is not, in fact, restorative.
Enter the coolcation, the holiday that heads north instead of south and comes back with far better photographs. The problem, naturally, is that “somewhere cooler” covers roughly half a continent. Do you want glaciers or forest? Beaches you can actually walk on in August, or cliffs that make your stomach drop? A capital city with proper restaurants at the end of it, or absolutely nobody for miles in any direction? Everyone has an opinion, and most of them are unhelpful.
So our editors have narrowed it to nine, all of which sit comfortably under 25 degrees at the height of August, all of which reward the extra layer in your case. Pack a waterproof. Pack a swimsuit anyway. Here’s where we’d go.
Coolcations at a glance
Best for landscape that borders on showing off: Iceland
Best for a long walk and a longer pub lunch: Scottish Highlands
Best for total escape: Faroe Islands
Best for never seeing the sun set: Norway
Best for forests and a seriously underrated capital: Latvia
Best for mountain views without the crowds: Logar Valley, Slovenia
Best for a beach holiday that won’t cook you: Estonia
Best for doing absolutely nothing, expertly: Finnish Lakeland
Best for wild coast and warm pubs: Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way
How we chose
August averages came first, because that’s when the heat is at its most punishing and when most of us are actually off work. After that we prioritised places our editors have been and would happily go back to, weighing up how easy they are to reach, what there is to do when the weather turns (it will turn), and whether the food and the hotels justify the flight. We update this list as new routes open up, and plenty are opening up.
1. Iceland
Best for: Landscape that borders on showing off
Average temperature in August: 8 to 13C
Iceland spent years being written off as too far, too expensive, too complicated. That excuse has quietly expired. Reykjavík sits forty minutes from Keflavik Airport, which means you can land, drop your bag and be eating dinner in the city the same evening. Go in August and you’ll catch the pride festival, which takes over the capital and is genuinely the warmest weekend you’ll have in a country that never troubles 13 degrees.
Then get out of town. The Volcanic Way runs 700km past eight volcanoes and is the best argument we know for hiring a car here rather than booking yourself onto a coach. Walkers should head for Thorsmork Glacier Valley, where the scale of the thing does something useful to your sense of perspective. Up north, whale-watching boats leave from Akureyri, a city sitting dramatically beneath the Eyjafjordur fjord and looking rather pleased about it. Bring layers. Bring more than you think you need.
2. Scottish Highlands
Best for: Long days, big skies, no passport required
Average temperature in August: 15 to 18C
We’ll be the ones to say it: half the people flying to Iceland could have driven to Sutherland. The Highlands in August give you light until nearly eleven at night, cool breezes, and temperatures that are perfect for the kind of walking that would flatten you in Andalusia.
The famous bits (Skye, Loch Ness) pull serious crowds, and the midges do their own crowd-pulling, so our advice is to keep going. The wild beaches of the northwest coast are as good as anything in the Caribbean if you squint and ignore the sea temperature, and the glens are endless and mostly empty. Rain is part of the deal, non-negotiable, almost guaranteed. Book somewhere with a fire and a decent whisky list and it stops being a problem.
3. Faroe Islands
Best for: Total escape
Average temperature in August: 10 to 13C
Summer in the Faroes is a lesson in embracing the elements, and we mean that literally. The weather does what it likes, sometimes four times in an afternoon, so the waterproof is not optional. What you get in exchange is enormous: cliffs that fall straight into the Atlantic, waterfalls cascading off the edge of the land, and hiking routes so peaceful you’ll start hearing your own thoughts.
The villages look lifted straight off a postcard, all turf roofs and painted timber, and the whole archipelago has an almost eerie quiet to it. You will not come home with a tan. You will come home genuinely rested, which is more than most of us can say after a fortnight in Puglia.
4. Norway
Best for: Never seeing the sun set
Average temperature in August: 12 to 20C
Midnight sun, Gulf Stream breezes and a climate that could have been designed in a lab for coolcationers. On the Svalbard archipelago the sun doesn’t set at all until late August, which sounds gimmicky until you’re out at one in the morning in full daylight wondering what time it is and not caring.
Stick to the mainland and the fjords are the draw, long sea inlets carved by glaciers and scattered down the northwest coast, made for hiking, fishing and kayaking. Do not skip Oslo on your way through. The city has quietly become one of the best-looking capitals in Europe and the home of Scandi-cool for a reason. Budget accordingly, obviously. It’s Norway.
5. Latvia
Best for: Forests, drama, and a seriously underrated capital
Average temperature in August: 13 to 21C
August is finally the moment to book that Latvia trip you’ve been vaguely meaning to take for a decade. Yes, it might rain. The drizzle only adds a layer of atmosphere to a country that is 50 per cent forest and knows exactly what to do with it.
Riga is the obvious base and a very good one, all Art Nouveau facades and a food scene that’s got sharply better in the last few years. From there, head to the blustery beaches at Jurmala and Liepaja, or into Gauja National Park for lynx, red deer and wild boar. It’s also the cheapest entry on this list by some margin, which is not nothing.
6. Logar Valley, Slovenia
Best for: Alpine views without the queues
Average temperature in August: 11 to 24C
Parts of Slovenia get preposterously hot in August (we’re looking directly at you, Ljubljana), which makes the Logar Valley essential rather than optional. Logarska Dolina sits around 40 miles north of the capital, and there is a strong argument that it offers the most beautiful views in the entire country. In Slovenia, that is quite a claim.
Outdoor adventure takes top billing here, hiking and biking mostly, with the Kamnik-Savinja Alps rising on three sides. The drive up is spectacular in its own right, so leave time and stop often. Go now, before everyone else works it out.
7. Estonia
Best for: A beach holiday that won’t cook you
Average temperature in August: 13 to 20C
Estonia has 2,350 miles of coastline, and Pärnu is the jewel in it. Golden sand, surf schools, museums, restaurants and a charming old town, all at temperatures that rarely climb past 20 degrees. They call it the country’s summer capital, and it does have a proper holiday buzz to it, the sort where everyone’s out until late because it barely gets dark.
If even Pärnu’s modest crowds feel like too much, get on a ferry to Saaremaa. The sleepy island has the highest number of spas per capita in the world, which is a statistic we’ve thought about a lot since we first heard it. Do with that information what you will.
8. Finnish Lakeland
Best for: Doing absolutely nothing, expertly
Average temperature in August: 13 to 22C
Nobody understands rest quite like the Finns, and Lakeland is where they go to prove it. Think 188,000 lakes, endless pine, and a culture built entirely around sitting in a very hot room and then getting into very cold water. The sauna is not a spa treatment here. It’s the point.
Base yourself around Savonlinna or Punkaharju, rent a lakeside cabin with a jetty, and structure your days around swimming, paddling and eating far too many cinnamon buns. There is essentially nothing to do, which is the entire appeal. Come home with your nervous system reset.
9. Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way
Best for: Wild coast and warm pubs
Average temperature in August: 12 to 19C
The closest coolcation on this list and, we’d argue, one of the most underrated. The Wild Atlantic Way runs 1,600 miles down the west coast, and while everyone piles into the Cliffs of Moher, the real pleasure is further off the main road: Achill Island, the Beara Peninsula, the beaches of Donegal that are the colour of the Aegean and roughly nine degrees colder.
Weather here is a genuine lottery, but the compensation is the best pub culture in Europe and food that has quietly become excellent. Sea swimming, coastal walks, oysters, and somewhere with a fire to retreat to when the Atlantic decides otherwise. Trust us when we say the rain matters far less than you’d think.
Still craving heat? Read our guide to the best late-season sun in Europe, and we won’t say a word about it.
