Where the height of the northern summer is still mild enough for a long day on foot. Of 1,033 towns and cities that draw visitors in Europe, 500 rate Good or better in July. These 15 are the best of them, spread across the region.
Where to go
- 184 · IdealCherbourgFrance
A typical midday in July feels like 17°C, and the Active outdoors rating averages 84 over the stretch. The good spell lasts about six months, from May to October. Rain is rare at this time of year. Open it on the map at mid July.
- 283 · IdealEdinburghUnited Kingdom
Midday in July feels like 15°C under often cloudy skies, which rates 83, Ideal, for active outdoors. Good weather here runs from May to mid October, so there is room either side. See mid July on the map.
- 383 · IdealWhitbyUnited Kingdom
Midday in July feels like 15°C under often cloudy skies, which rates 83, Ideal, for active outdoors. The good spell lasts about five and a half months, from May to early October. Open it on the map at mid July.
- 481 · IdealHudiksvallSweden
Rated 81 (Ideal) for active outdoors in July: midday feels like 17°C, with partly cloudy skies. Good weather here runs from late May to September, so there is room either side. See mid July on the map.
- 579 · GoodPiteåSweden
Rated 79 (Good) for active outdoors in July: midday feels like 16°C, with partly cloudy skies. The good spell lasts about three and a half months, from June to mid September. Open it on the map at mid July.
- 679 · GoodVisbySweden
A typical midday in July feels like 17°C, and the Active outdoors rating averages 79 over the stretch. Good weather here runs from mid May to September, so there is room either side. See mid July on the map.
- 779 · GoodKirkwallUnited Kingdom
A typical midday in July feels like 12°C, and the Active outdoors rating averages 79 over the stretch. The good spell lasts about three and a half months, from June to mid September. Open it on the map at mid July.
- 878 · GoodUstkaPoland
Midday in July feels like 18°C under often cloudy skies, which rates 78, Good, for active outdoors. Good weather here runs from May to October, so there is room either side. See mid July on the map.
- 973 · GoodAndorra la VellaAndorra
Midday in July feels like 16°C under often cloudy skies, which rates 73, Good, for active outdoors. The good spell lasts about five months, from May to September. Open it on the map at mid July.
- 1073 · GoodRovaniemiFinland
Rated 73 (Good) for active outdoors in July: midday feels like 17°C, with partly cloudy skies. Good weather here runs from late May to early September, so there is room either side. Rain is rare at this time of year. See mid July on the map.
- 1171 · GoodSelfossIceland
Midday in July feels like 9°C under often cloudy skies, which rates 71, Good, for active outdoors. Good weather here runs from late June to August, so there is room either side. See mid July on the map.
- 1267 · GoodJeseníkCzechia
A typical midday in July feels like 18°C, and the Active outdoors rating averages 67 over the stretch. The good spell lasts about five months, from May to September. Open it on the map at mid July.
- 1364 · GoodRegenGermany
Rated 64 (Good) for active outdoors in July: midday feels like 19°C, with often cloudy skies. Good weather here runs from May to early August, so there is room either side. See mid July on the map.
- 1463 · GoodGijónSpain
Midday in July feels like 22°C under partly cloudy skies, which rates 63, Good, for active outdoors. The good spell lasts about eleven months, from September to July. Open it on the map at mid July.
- 1561 · GoodAkureyriIceland
A typical midday in July feels like 8°C, and the Active outdoors rating averages 61 over the stretch. See mid July on the map.
Among the best-known places
The list above favours whatever the weather favours, which is often a smaller town. These are the best of the places with a guide of their own.
How this list is worked out
The data
Every figure comes from a decade of weather-station observations, blended into one typical year and read at midday, local solar time. Scores here are averaged in July; a city missing a reading for any part of that stretch is left out rather than scored on part of it.
The rating
Active outdoors: A mild feels-like gates the score — best 10–20 °C, cool enough for hiking, cycling and running. Dryness matters most, with a penalty for strong wind. A place is also left out when its typical readings contradict its own rating, for example a high score alongside frequent rain.
The spread
To keep one warm corner from filling the list, entries are at least 150 km apart, no more than three sit within 1,000 km of each other, and no more than three come from one country unless the list would otherwise run short.
Only places that draw visitors
Towns and cities with plenty of hotels, guest houses and holiday lets nearby for their size, or a great many of them in all, counted from Overture Maps Places, an open dataset. That keeps out places the weather favours but nobody travels to. Where two places share one resort or city, the one a visitor would name is kept.
The dotted links open the map at that place and time of year, on the same layer. The map remembers the time of day you last chose there; set it to midday to see these exact numbers.