A church in Jutland. Photo © hidden europe magazine

Beat those Winter Blues

Those few leisure travelers who are out-and-about are heading in the main for Europe’s winter sports regions. Buck that trend and you will have much of Europe to yourself.

We traveled last week along Denmark’s windy North Sea coast, enjoying empty roads and clear blue skies. This past weekend we rode by train through northern Germany: ten trains in all, and never more than a handful of people aboard. Spread out, and enjoy the space on trains which would be crowded in mid-summer.

Low season rates and heavy discounting by hoteliers still don’t woo the crowds. So travel is cheap. Bleak weather is still interesting. And there is a peculiar charm to many off-season coastal resorts. Expect dramatic skyscapes and wild seas. Go dressed for the worst.

Five of the Best

Here are a handful of our top coastal choices for January travel:

Gozo: Malta’s kid sister is at her best in the depths of winter. Catch it when the fierce grigal winds blow in and you’ll see a moody Gozo far removed from the sedate Mediterranean island featured in guidebooks.

Connemara and Galway: Western Ireland can be formidably crowded in summer, yet even popular spots like Clifden offer space to breathe in deepest winter. Watch and feel Atlantic waves and winds roll in off the ocean.

Istria: This little pocket of territory near the head of the Adriatic, where the Latin and Slavic worlds collide, is the perfect antidote to winter blues. Piran (Slovenia) is our favorite winter hideaway on the Istrian coast.

The North Frisian Islands: It just happens that’s where we are staying all this week. The chic set who celebrated New Year here has gone and everyday life has returned to this happy scatter of Danish and German islands in the eastern North Sea. Off-season in the region is hard to beat, whether you opt for the islands of Sylt, Amrun and Föhr (all on the German side of the border) or head further north to the Danish islands.

Galicia: The north-west corner of Spain teems with summer visitors, yet is deserted in January. The seafood is as good as ever and if you drive out to the headland at Cape Finisterre on a stormy day you really will have a sense of having reached the end of the earth.

The post Exploring Europe’s Coastal Regions in Winter appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

One of our favorites is Gozo in the Med. Gozo is at its best in midwinter when the crowds have gone and the grigal winds bear down fiercely on the rocky island that Calypso once called home.

Azores, Hebrides and Lofoten Islands

Then there’s Moskenesøya, the most rugged of the Lofoten island group in northern Norway. It is a place where fierce black peaks tower out of the sea.

Lovely Colonsay in Scotland’s Inner Hebrides surely stakes a claim, as does remote Corvo in the Azores.

Nor should we neglect tiny Fugloy, the Faroese outpost that is draped in mist for half the year and yet still the most delectable spot in the North Atlantic archipelago.

And what of Brändö in the Åland Islands?

Or tiny San Lazzaro degli Armeni in the Venetian lagoon with its cypress trees, peacocks and the Armenian monastery where Byron once studied the Armenian language.

The Scilly Isles. Photo © hidden europe

Our pick: Tresco and the Scilly Isles

That’s seven of the best already, but these past few days of Indian summer on Tresco push this remote outpost of England right up into the premier league of European islands. The Scilly Isles, of which Tresco is the second largest, are on the same latitude as Winnipeg and Newfoundland. But warm Gulf Stream waters bathe the islands, so frost-free Tresco has an almost Caribbean demeanor.

Palm trees and cacti, eucalyptus and strelitzia rub shoulders in the lush gardens that surround Tresco Abbey. Canny Brits have always had a soft spot for the Scillies, but the islands are not well known among other travelers.

Routes to Tresco

A half hour helicopter flight from Penzance (on the UK mainland) will bring you straight to Tresco, but, better still, take the boat as we did. The three-hour crossing from Penzance to St Mary’s (from where there is an onward ferry to Tresco) on the Scillonian III affords views of fabulous Cornish coastal scenery, basking sharks, dolphins, and porpoises.

Try Tresco! It might well get our vote to be Europe’s most beautiful island.

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