This text could include affiliate hyperlinks the place I make a small fee for purchases you make from hyperlinks that you just click on from this text. By buying by these hyperlinks, you assist me at no extra price to you. Thanks in your assist.
It’s sizzling in every single place. My inbox, my group chats, my Instagram feed — it’s all folks complaining about triple digits. And this yr it has a reputation: the “coolcation.” Search curiosity in coolcation journey has jumped roughly 300% year-over-year, and searches for cooler locations total are up almost 75% because the begin of the yr. Seems I’ve been doing this earlier than it was fashionable.
So as a substitute of writing about one other seaside vacation spot that can bake you alive, I need to speak in regards to the reverse: the moody, glacier-fed, sweater-weather corners of the world I’ve really traveled to myself. Sure, I do know there are dozens of different coolcation-worthy spots on this planet. Patagonia, New Zealand, the Alps, all truthful sport. However I’m preserving this record sincere: these are eight locations I’ve personally hiked by, eaten my manner throughout, and in at the very least one case, kissed a fish in. In the event you’re melting proper now and dreaming of crisp air and fjords as a substitute of humidity and sunscreen, right here’s precisely the place I’d level you — and why.
The West Nordic Trifecta: Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland
If you’d like the last word coolcation itinerary, look no additional than what I name the West Nordic Trifecta. These three locations sit clustered collectively within the North Atlantic, and it’s truthfully simpler to go to all three than you’d suppose — it’s laborious to get to Greenland or the Faroe Islands with out routing by Iceland first, so that you would possibly as nicely tack one (or each) onto an Iceland journey. I as soon as did all three in ten days, which even I’ll admit was a little bit manic — I’d funds at the very least 4 days per vacation spot if you happen to can swing it. Each is totally completely different, however they share one factor in widespread: no bushes, dramatic landscapes, and a stage of “excessive journey” cachet that solely grew after Iceland’s 2010 volcanic eruption grounded flights throughout Europe and put the entire area on the map.
Iceland: Skip the Ring Highway Crowds for Small Cities
Everybody goes to Iceland for the Ring Highway and the big-name waterfalls — truthful sufficient, they’re spectacular. However my favourite reminiscences are from the small cities most guests blow previous on their option to the subsequent photograph op.
On Heimaey Island, a part of the Westman Islands chain, I hiked the Eldfell volcanic cone, shaped by a 1973 eruption so sudden it compelled a full nighttime evacuation and buried properties in ash (the island really grew by a sq. mile within the course of). Close to the summit, I put my hand in a gap within the floor and felt warmth nonetheless radiating out of it, greater than 50 years later — it’s additionally residence to Iceland’s largest focus of puffins. In Akureyri, the “Capital of the North,” each stoplight on the town is heart-shaped (it makes you happier about having to cease), and I went whale watching by RIB boat on Eyjafjörður earlier than soaking on the splendidly uncrowded Forest Lagoon — a a lot quieter different to the tourist-mobbed Blue Lagoon. Close by, Goðafoss — the “waterfall of the Gods,” the place Norse idols had been reportedly tossed in when Iceland adopted Christianity — seems like a mini Niagara Falls.
Within the Westfjords, Ísafjörður is your gateway to Dynjandi Waterfall, nicknamed “the Thunderer,” which tumbles 329 ft over basalt terraces in seven distinct cascades. The roar is actual. And in Skógar, inhabitants 25, I bought up at 6am to stroll behind Seljalandsfoss and Kvernufoss with nearly nobody else round, then tracked down a few unmarked falls that don’t even present up on Google Maps — I’m pretty satisfied there was some elf magic concerned.
READ: 7 Small Cities in Iceland: Landscapes, Waterfalls, and Adventures →
Faroe Islands: The place Sheep Outnumber Individuals
If you’d like proof a spot could be distant and utterly unforgettable, it’s the Faroe Islands — 18 islands tucked between Iceland and Norway, residence to about 50,000 hearty folks and much more sheep. There are solely 9 stoplights on all the archipelago and no rush hour, ever.
I ate one of the memorable meals of my life in a transformed hjallur — a standard Faroese drying shed — cooked by Poul Andrias Ziska, the primary and solely Michelin-starred chef on the islands. Course after course of fermented fish, lamb, and native birds, paired with drinks poured out of an precise sheep’s horn. In 2025, he opened his personal restaurant, PAZ, in central Tórshavn, specializing in sustainability, storytelling by meals, and collaboration with native producers
I hiked down into the tiny village of Saksun (inhabitants: 13, or 14 after a current child was born) to a seawater lagoon carved out by an outdated storm-blocked inlet, then spent a night being fed a five-course heimablídni — residence hospitality — dinner by a farming couple named Anna and Oli, who instructed me the story of Oli’s mother cooking fish each Saturday for a husband who liked it though she hated it. On the tiny island of Nólsoy (inhabitants 221), I used to be welcomed right into a customer heart that doubled as a café and fed espresso and rhubarb waffles by a girl named Maryann — the Faroese have a phrase for this type of spontaneous coziness: hungi. And a ship journey out to the Vestmanna sea cliffs, among the many highest in Europe, put me eye-to-eye with 1000’s of nesting seabirds.
READ: 5 Distinctive Experiences on the Faroe Islands →
Greenland: Icebergs, Artwork, and a Stunning Colours
Greenland is the one folks assume is simply ice and never a lot else. I landed in Nuuk, the capital, in mid-April to seek out snow on the bottom and falling from the sky — utterly regular, since Nuuk sees snow cowl eight months of the yr (Ahem…excellent or a coolcation!). What stunned me was the colour: vibrant crimson, yellow, and blue buildings and hanging road artwork set towards a black-and-white panorama, plus a shocking, thriving artwork scene on the Nuuk Artwork Museum, together with a group of eerie bone tupilak collectible figurines as soon as used to forged spells on enemies.
I took the Nuuk Water Taxi — a little bit yellow-and-black boat that made me chuckle with its nod to NYC cabs — almost 50 miles out by the 99-mile-long Nuuk Kangerlua fjord system to Kapisillit, a settlement of about 75 folks residing in colourful homes with no roads connecting them to wherever else; boats and planes are the one manner in or out. I additionally went snowshoeing 1,000 ft up Lille Malene mountain with an area information, and ate my manner by among the most unexpectedly refined meals I’ve had wherever, together with reindeer and muskox at a pop-up restaurant, capped off by a dare to drop a bit of reindeer blubber into my espresso (dare accepted! ). Enjoyable truth: Greenland bought its misleadingly lush identify from Erik the Pink, who wanted to persuade folks to maneuver to a frozen island and figured “Greenland” sounded extra interesting than the reality.
READ: Stunning Issues to Do in Nuuk, Greenland → Deciding Between Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands →
Norway: Fjordland Will Spoil You for Common Surroundings
I road-tripped Norway’s Fjordland area from Kristiansund to Ålesund with my good friend Michaela. It was the right coolcation, and the self drive itinerary signifies that we escaped the cruise ship crowds. The drive threads previous the Atlantimhavsvegen (Atlantic Ocean Highway), voted Norway’s “Engineering Feat of the Century,” bridges arcing dramatically over open ocean; up the Trollstigen mountain move, with its 11 hairpin turns and 9% gradient, the place we drove straight right into a cloud and did “a variety of gasping” on the best way up; and alongside the Geiranger Fjord, the place we kayaked beneath waterfalls tumbling straight into deep blue water.
Alongside the best way, I finished for a goat burger (and goat cheese dessert) at a farm guesthouse in Norddal that genuinely modified my thoughts about consuming goat, rode the Loen Skylift up 3,300 ft in 5 minutes for sweeping fjord views, and wandered the Artwork Nouveau streets of Ålesund on the finish of the journey. Because the Norwegian Public Roads Administration’s Per Ritzler instructed me, “There are scenic highways elsewhere on the planet. What makes this distinctive is using spectacular structure and artwork. Nobody else has performed fairly the identical factor.” Go on the very begin of June, proper as Trollstigen reopens for the season — earlier and it’s nonetheless snowed in — and anticipate grey, moody climate extra usually than the blue-sky postcard photographs you see on-line. That’s a part of the attraction.
Examine my Norway Highway Journey by Fjordland →
Alaska: Glaciers and Wildlife With out Breaking a Sweat
Alaska is my go-to reply every time somebody asks the place to go when it’s unbearably sizzling in every single place else — summer season highs in Anchorage common a refreshing 66°F. I’ve flagged down the Alaska Railroad’s Coastal Basic prepare after kayaking amongst icebergs at Spencer Glacier, ridden an ATV 22 miles by forest, sand dunes, and a river crossing to succeed in the 28-mile-long Knik Glacier (our information Brian summed up the entire state’s ethos: “You don’t really begin to expertise what Alaska has to supply till you’re out of cellular phone vary”), and brought the full-day Coastal Basic spherical journey from Anchorage to the seaside city of Seward, previous Turnagain Arm and thru Kenai Fjords Nationwide Park.
I’m additionally a sucker for the Alaska Railroad’s Denali Star and its Gold Star Class dome automobiles — glass-topped, with an out of doors viewing balcony, the place Denali “determined to grace us with its presence” on a uncommon clear day. My first job out of school was in a railroad’s accounting division and I later bought licensed as a prepare engineer, so watching this surroundings scroll by from a prepare is about as near meditation as I get. On land, Talkeetna’s three-block Major Road (and its cat mayor) makes a straightforward day journey, and biking the paved Coastal Path from downtown Anchorage to Kincaid Park will get you moose, beluga whale, and bald eagle sightings with out ever leaving the town limits. If you’d like one of the best odds on the northern lights on high of all this surroundings, purpose for the shoulder seasons of September or March as a substitute of peak summer season.
READ: Issues to Do in Anchorage, Alaska: Summer time & Winter → Driving the Alaska Railroad: A Photographer’s Information →
Newfoundland: Icebergs, Whales, and Kissing a Cod
Newfoundland could be my favourite “anticipate the sudden” coolcation vacation spot on this record. I hiked a stretch of the East Coast Path with a driver named Jamie who ended each sentence with “proper?” and gave me an impromptu historical past lesson at Sign Hill above St. John’s earlier than I’d even checked into my B&B. Alongside the coast — all 10,900 miles of it — I watched humpback whales breach simply offshore (the world’s largest inhabitants of feeding humpbacks summers right here, usually Might by September), and I’ve no self-control round native traditions, so I bought “screeched in” at Christian’s Pub on George Road: reciting an oath, consuming a bit of bologna, and sure, kissing a codfish, all to develop into an honorary Newfoundlander.
Newfoundlanders are among the warmest, funniest folks I’ve met in my travels — the accent alone is well worth the journey, and also you’ll shortly study to like being known as a “CFA” (come from away). St. John’s can be residence to Jelly Bean Row, blocks of impossibly colourful homes, and George Road itself, a two-block strip of pubs that one way or the other looks like a slice of New Orleans transplanted to the North Atlantic. If icebergs are in your record too, purpose for Iceberg Alley between April and July — although nature doesn’t at all times cooperate, so don’t financial institution your complete journey on it.
What to Anticipate on Your First Go to to Newfoundland →
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia: The Cabot Path in a Single Good Day
Most individuals funds a number of days for the Cabot Path. I’ve performed it counterclockwise in a single, and it nonetheless ranks among the many most scenic drives I’ve ever performed. Base your self the evening earlier than in Whycocomagh, then begin the morning at Charlene’s Bayside Restaurant for an East Coast seafood breakfast — chowder, fish truffles, a do-it-yourself biscuit — that I’d rank as among the finest breakfasts of my life, arms down.
From there, the loop takes you thru Cape Smokey Picnic Park for coastal views higher than any roadside pullout, the two.4-mile Center Head Path out onto a cliff-lined peninsula between two bays, and White Level Harbor, a sleepy former fishing village from 1922 that sees nearly no vacationers in any respect. Cease in Nice Bay for a lobster dinner on the patio on the Rusty Anchor, full with whale watching, and preserve an eye fixed out round Cheticamp for Sundown Level — an unmarked, secluded seaside I stumbled onto utterly by chance. Finish the day in Margaree Forks on the Normaway Inn, the place you possibly can catch stay Celtic music on the Barn Music Heart earlier than crashing for the evening. The total loop runs about 185 miles, so funds roughly six hours of precise driving, plus each cease your digital camera calls for.
Nonetheless – I recommend you keep rather more than at some point in your coolcation in Nova Scotia! It’s also possible to take a drive on any of their scenic highways alongside the coast and benefit from the cool summer season breeze off the ocean in Lunenberg or additional south. Or jump over to the plush inexperienced west aspect and take a look at the fascinating Bay of Fundy’s tidal bore!
READ: My One-Day Cabot Path Itinerary in Cape Breton →
READ: Issues to do in Nova Scotia as you Roadtrip Throughout the Province→
Eire: 63°F to 68°F Highs, All Summer time Lengthy
If you’d like proof {that a} coolcation vacation spot doesn’t should imply glaciers, have a look at the numbers: Eire’s common summer season daytime highs run a gentle 63°F to 68°F. No warmth dome, no humidity spiral — simply inexperienced hills, moody skies, and a wool cardigan you’ll really put on. I’ve pushed, hiked, biked, and kayaked my manner throughout the west coast on a number of journeys (it’s virtually a second residence to me at this level, and I run small-group excursions there), so that is the vacation spot on this record I in all probability have probably the most materials on.
Begin with the Wild Atlantic Approach, a roughly 1,600-mile signed coastal route (nothing says cool just like the Atlantic coast!) that takes wherever from two and a half to 4 weeks to drive in full — although even every week on one stretch is price it. Sure – you are able to do the favored stops just like the Ring of Kerry, Killarney Nationwide Park, and Dingle. Nonetheless I recommend you go even additional north and into the cool temps in Connemara, County Mayo, and Donegal!
In Connemara, out on the Sky Highway loop from the city of Clifden, I traded my automotive for an electrical bike (important — Connemara is just not flat) and rode out previous grazing sheep to the top of the peninsula out and in of pouring rain, courtesy of a pair of borrowed rain pants from an area store proprietor named Amanda. I additionally went sea-cave kayaking with a information named Clare, paddling into crashing Atlantic swells to discover cliffside caves whereas a storm rolled in — she served me tea mid-crossing prefer it was nothing.
Additional north soak up County Mayo’s Céide Fields (the oldest Stone Age monument on the planet), see Downpatrick Head, Achill Island’s Keem Seaside and beachside sauna (dash straight from the warmth into the freezing Atlantic — it’s exhilarating).
Or preserve going the place few folks discover – County Donegal. I used to be there in Might and was sporting a coat all the time…it’s fairly uncommon that it will get extremely popular up there. However you do get some unbelievable coastal views in one of many least visited counties in Eire!
Go in Might by September for one of the best climate and daylight, although I’ll at all times have a delicate spot for spring lambs and fall’s quieter roads and comfortable pubs.
READ: Eire Journey Itinerary: 7, 10, or 14 Days in Western Eire →
READ: Wild Atlantic Approach Map and Route Information →
READ: Distinctive Issues to Do in Connemara, Eire →
The Backside Line on Coolcations
When the remainder of the world is sweating by one other warmth wave, these eight locations have been my private coolcation escape hatches for years — fjords, icebergs, whales, sheep-dotted cliffs, and a codfish or two alongside the best way. None of them require you to undergo by triple-digit warmth to have the journey of a lifetime. If the “coolcation” pattern has you rethinking your summer season plans, contemplate this your permission slip: decide considered one of these eight, and go discover some chilly air!
