Europe, Research, Tourism, United Kingdom

Hate a heatwave? These are the 20 “perfect” European summer holiday destinations for Brits

28 May 2024

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Last year things got a little bit hot in Europe, with some places reaching an unbearable 40°C and over in 2023. For some, this may have meant worrying about where to book for their holiday this year. A past survey by Sunshine.co.uk found that Brits think 27°C is the perfect temperature for a summer holiday, but where in Europe can this be found?
A recent study by tech retailer Currys took 196 European cities and ranked them on several factors, including how close the average summer temperature was to 27°C in 2023, as well as the quality and quantity of local cultural highlights.

The study found that Venice in Italy was the perfect summer holiday destination, scoring 37.16 out of 40 across the various factors. The average summer (June-September) temperature was in fact exactly 27°C, and the city also scored highly for sights and landmarks, such as Ponte di Rialto and St Mark’s Square, as well as museums and galleries, such as the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and Doge’s Palace.

In fact, cities in Italy made up the whole of the top five and had eight in the top 10 overall, including Pordenone, Matera and Pesaro. Although most of the Italian cities boast a perfect score for sights and landmarks, a few miss the mark when it came to temperature, such as Florence and Lecce, with a higher average summer temperature of 31°C.

The two destinations in the top 10 that were not in Italy were Weimar in Germany and Salzburg in Austria. These locations are a little on the cooler side, topping out at an average temperature of 22°C and 23°C respectively, but for what they lack in heat they make up for in cultural highlights.
Weimar, in Germany, boasts the Bauhaus Museum, the Museum Neues, and Goethe National Museum, among many others. Salzburg scored evenly across all cultural highlights, with places of interest including Hohensalzburg Fortress and Mozart’s birthplace.

20 best European summer holiday destinations for Brits

Rank	City name	Country	Average temperature score out of 10	Sights & landmarks score out of 10	Museums & art galleries score out of 10	Concert & music halls score out of 10	Total score out of 40
1	Venice	Italy	10.00	10.00	10.00	7.16	37.16
2	Pordenone	Italy	9.02	10.00	9.19	5.46	33.67
3	Trieste	Italy	9.27	10.00	9.09	4.73	33.08
4	Florence	Italy	6.10	10.00	10.00	6.62	32.72
5	Matera	Italy	7.56	10.00	8.64	4.64	30.84
6	Weimar	Germany	5.12	8.79	10.00	5.86	29.78
7	Bergamo	Italy	9.51	10.00	4.97	5.13	29.61
8	Salzburg	Austria	6.59	7.41	7.80	7.33	29.12
9	Pesaro	Italy	9.76	10.00	4.15	4.56	28.46
10	Lecce	Italy	6.10	9.04	7.57	4.58	27.30
11	Prague	Czechia	7.07	4.23	8.61	7.09	27.01
12	Bologna	Italy	8.05	5.83	6.60	5.16	25.64
13	Bruges	Belgium	5.12	7.01	8.81	4.68	25.61
14	Trento	Italy	9.27	7.03	5.05	4.12	25.47
15	Tartu	Estonia	3.66	7.87	8.31	5.07	24.90
16	Ponta Delgada	Portugal	5.85	4.56	4.02	10.00	24.43
17	Limerick	Ireland	1.46	7.69	8.70	6.16	24.02
18	Pula	Croatia	9.02	5.66	4.20	4.78	23.67
19	Galway	Ireland	1.00	6.92	6.89	8.65	23.46
20	Perugia	Italy	8.05	6.17	4.66	4.48	23.35

If you only take temperature into consideration, then these are the best cities to visit this summer if you prefer a comfortable 27°C.

Five European cities with the “perfect” average summer holiday temperature

Barcelona, Spain
Valladolid, Spain
Toulouse, France
Venice, Italy
Lisbon, Portugal

The study also took research from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) which found that temperatures over Europe have warmed significantly over the 1991-2021 period, at an average rate of about +0.5 °C per decade.

With this calculation, Currys were able to predict which cities will be the summer destinations of the future in 2083 if a 2.5°C increase occurs.

Five European cities with the “perfect” average summer holiday temperature in 2083