{"id":393285,"date":"2026-07-10T11:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T11:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/393285\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T11:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T11:36:09","slug":"as-if-i-was-on-a-greek-island-but-without-the-stifling-heat-readers-favourite-cooler-european-coasts-beach-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/393285\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018As if I was on a Greek island, but without the stifling heat\u2019: readers\u2019 favourite cooler European coasts | Beach holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pining for the Latvian coast<\/p>\n

Saulkrasti\u2019s long beaches and scented pine forests are an hour from Riga on the frequent local train. The forests come right down to the long, long sandy beach and the relaxing and well-marked trail takes you the 4km from Saulkrasti station through the trees to the big dune and blue river at Balta Kapa. We enjoyed a July picnic in the forest and occasional dips in the Mediterranean-warm Baltic, before returning happy to Riga.
Bruce<\/p>\n

Brittany\u2019s cool sandy beachesDinard. Photograph: Hemis\/Alamy<\/p>\n

We went on a lovely family holiday on the C\u00f4te Emeraude in Brittany last August. It was perfect weather, in the low twenties. We stayed in an Airbnb in Dinard with our three-year-old. It was the perfect starting place for day trips to this lovely part of Brittany. Just opposite St Malo, but less touristy, it has amazing family-friendly beaches, crepes and cidre, fun street parties and cool sandy beaches. There are also great art galleries and markets. You can get to St Malo easily from Paris on the train.
Gaia<\/p>\n

A Finnish beach \u2013 with volleyball and a saunaYyteri, Finland. Photograph: Pavel Dudek\/Alamy<\/p>\n

I was lucky enough to chance upon Yyteri beach<\/a> while cycling around south-west Finland last summer. I intended to spend a day there resting from the saddle but found it so relaxing and uplifting I stayed a week. Being around 3km long meant the sands were never crowded. I was asked to join a local beach volleyball team who then invited me for a sardine, song and sauna evening later on! The beach is also right next to the Yyteri nature trail<\/a>, which had spectacular sand dunes. Impromptu swim and song parties start at midnight as the sun sets \u2013 don\u2019t be afraid of joining in!
Pete<\/p>\n

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Exploring the far north-east of NorwayThe Steilneset memorial to executed \u2018witches\u2019 in Vard\u00f8, Norway. Photograph: Daniela Baumann\/Alamy<\/p>\n

In June, I spent a week way up in Varangerfjord in north-east Norway with four friends, where we took a 10-minute boat trip to the island of Horn\u00f8ya (booking required, from \u00a395 per person with Explore 70 Degrees<\/a> or Skua Nature<\/a>). Another day trip involved taking the road leading north to the abandoned fishing village of Hamningberg <\/a>with its pristine timber homes, left untouched by German troops in the second world war as they retreated in 1945. The village became deserted in the 1960s as fishing from its small harbour became unviable and there are free-roaming reindeer along the roadsides. And in Vard\u00f8 itself is the magnificent Steilneset Memorial commemorating the 91 people, mostly women, burned at the stake for witchcraft in 1621.
Natalie Keene<\/p>\n

A family beach break in PolandSopot pier is the longest wooden pier in Europe. Photograph: Kamil Suchta\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

My kids and I spent a glorious week in Poland last August, enjoying the fine white sand beaches of Sopot<\/a>, a 20-minute train or taxi ride from the beautiful Hanseatic city of Gdansk. We enjoyed strolling the Sopot pier (the longest wooden pier in Europe at 511.5 metres) and sampling pierogi on Monte Cassino Street, with its crooked house. OK, the Baltic Sea was a bit \u201crefreshing\u201d, but it was a small price to pay for such a fun (and good value) beach break.
Kate<\/p>\n

Spectacular vistas on Donegal shores, IrelandFanad Head Lighthouse. Photograph: Zoonar \/Alamy<\/p>\n

If you want quiet unspoilt beaches alongside spectacular scenery, you can\u2019t beat the Fanad peninsula<\/a> in Donegal, where my father grew up. The Rathmullan and Ballymastocker beaches on Lough Swilly are long strands of pale sand. The road between them offers spectacular vistas as the lough heads into the Atlantic. Visit Fanad Head lighthouse<\/a> before settling on the peaceful Atlantic beaches of Ballyhiernan<\/a>. For somewhere just a little busier head farther west to the Gaeltacht<\/a> village of Downings. As you travel you\u2019ll be able to admire the lovely mountainous landscape affording views across the Mulroy and Lough Swilley estuaries and the Atlantic.
Brendan<\/p>\n

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Geothermal joy in IcelandAkureyri in summer. Photograph: Noppawat Tom Charoensinphon\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Although Iceland is expensive, we found many attractions in the northern town of Akureyri to be good value. Staying at Saeluhus hotel<\/a> in one of its bungalows we had a great view across the spectacular Eyjafj\u00f6r\u00f0ur fjord<\/a>, which teems with whales in the summer. City buses are free, so travelling around town is easy. We found the Forest Lagoon<\/a> to be a haven of peace, unlike Reykjavik\u2019s more crowded Blue Lagoon. It\u2019s set among trees, with blissful pools, saunas and swim-up bars. Even cheaper is the municipal geothermal pool, brimming with activities. The city is walkable and friendly, dotted with cool restaurants and cafes.
Hannah Angle<\/p>\n

Blissful rain in northern SpainSculpture on the promenade at Gij\u00f3n. Photograph: Marit Xu 22\/Alamy<\/p>\n

A workmate in Madrid came back from his June holiday in Gij\u00f3n, on Spain\u2019s north coast, and announced with glee that it had rained all seven days of his break. Desperate to escape the oven that is Madrid in July, we followed suit. Unfortunately it only rained on three of our days but it coincided with the Semana Negra literary festival<\/a>, which was a great way to spend those wet days (including an interview with John Banville in which he detailed his hatred of summer!) It never gets cold up there in July, but one day it reached 27C and some of the daytime events were cancelled due to \u201cextreme heat\u201d. We stayed at the Silken Ciudad hotel<\/a> (doubles from \u00a3300 for 2 nights).
Eve<\/p>\n

Baltic beauty and Hanseatic history in north GermanyEldena Abbey. Photograph: Gacro 74\/Alamy<\/p>\n

The beautiful Hanseatic town of Greifswald on the River Ryck is only a few miles from the Baltic coast along a well-kept path. As well as a quiet and extensive beach, the village of Wieck also features both ancient and modern attractions: a state-of-the-art flood barrier system; and the ruins of the 12th-century Eldena Abbey, which local Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich introduced into many of his landscapes, no matter where they were situated geographically. From Greifswald, the local train takes you parallel to the coast to the bustling port of Stralsund, with yet more majestic gothic brick churches, and a ferry across to the island of R\u00fcgen \u2013 a popular destination in its own right.
Barbara Forbes<\/p>\n

Winning tip: soft white sands of southern SwedenPowdery sand and dunes at Sandhammaren on the Baltic Sea. Photograph: Juniors Bildarchiv\/Alamy<\/p>\n

Sitting on the soft white sand of Sandhammaren beach in the far south of Sweden last summer, gazing out at clear aqua marine waters made me feel as if I was on a Greek island \u2013 without the stifling heat. The beach is on the south-eastern tip of Sk\u00e5ne province and offers so much more than swimming and sunbathing. We explored the nature reserve behind the beach<\/a>, home to elk and a wide range of birdlife. The 19th-century lighthouse is open for guided tours and there\u2019s a pop-up kiosk for drinks and snacks, such as sardine rye bread and sandwiches for under \u00a35. The beach stretches forever up the coast and nearby L\u00f6derups Strandbad made for a great base \u2013 a peaceful seaside location full of white wooden cottages. We shared some mornings with stray elks and deer before heading on to the sands.
Nicholas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pining for the Latvian coast Saulkrasti\u2019s long beaches and scented pine forests are an hour from Riga on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-393285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}