Awesome Travel Places: Best Tourist Places in Summer

Best Tourist Places in Summer

Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Copocabana Beach, or Praia de Copacabana, is the Rio de Janeiro of the tourist brochures and deservedly so. It’s a breath-taking 2.5mi (4.5 km) stretch of bright sand that’s filled with people luxuriating in the sun and soaking up the atmosphere. As night descends the lights go on and football is played until the wee hours. Other groups start singing and dancing and still others are just there to check each other out. The busy sidewalks can get seedy at night so take care.Behind it rise the Sugarloaf and Morro de Leme and in between is one of the world’s most densely populated residential areas.It is possible to visit Rio and never leave Copacabana, many hotels are situated here and there are plenty of restaurants and bars and some decent shopping

Barcelona, Spain

To the south and east, Barcelona’s fanciful cityscape—from playful Joan Miró sculptures to Antoni Gaudí’s fantastical architectural swirls—meets the Mediterranean Sea. In summer, the city’s collective focus shifts coastward to eight white-sand beaches and Port Vell, the medieval Catalan harbor transformed into a world-class entertainment district as part of Barcelona’s 1992 Olympics makeover. Pictured here, “The Wounded Star,” a sculpture by Rebecca Horn, looms over Barceloneta Beach (accessible by metro), where you can spend the morning before cruising the harbor aboard a traditional, woodenLas Golondrinas. Back on shore, head inside Aquarium Barcelona where you can walk through the Oceanarium’s transparent tunnel for an underwater view of rays, sharks, and morays. Certified divers (ages 18 and up) can dive into the Oceanarium’s million-gallon waters as part of a shark biology program.

St. Petersburg, Russia

Peter the Great’s stately Baltic city built on 42 Neva Delta islands celebrates “White Nights” (near-round-the-clock summer light) with joyful abandon. Late May to mid-July the skies above St. Petersburg’s Peter and Paul Fortress (resting place of the tsars, pictured here during White Nights) and Nevsky Prospekt (the city’s main thoroughfare) glow pale blue, pink, and peach well after midnight. Cruise the canals and River Neva on Anglotourismo’s guided White Nights boat tour, and then stroll atop the Neva Embankments—elegant granite barriers built to control flooding—to watch the four illuminated Neva drawbridges open (around 2 a.m.). Stars of the White Nights 2012: International Music Festival (May 25-July 15) features some hundred opera, ballet, and symphony performances and concerts at Mariinsky Theatre and the Concert Hall. June 18, join the massive end-of-school festival, Scarlet Sails, for free concerts, a multivessel pirate battle, and the dramatic arrival of an 18th-century tall ship, its red sails illuminated by the city’s biggest summer fireworks show.

Traverse City, Michigan, US

Traverse City is the biggest little beach town on the “Third Coast”—the U.S. shores of the eight-state Great Lakes coastline. The region’s 180 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline basically trace the upper left edge of Michigan’s “mitten.” Add another 149 inland lakes that are 10 acres or larger and you get a rambling Cape Cod-on-freshwater summer playground: quaint port villages, sandy beaches, historic lighthouses, rolling orchards, family-friendly festivals (including the National Cherry Festival, July 7-14), and summer-only Traverse City Beach Bums pro baseball games (team members bunk with local families). Head northwest from Cherry Capital Airport to the Leelanau Peninsula and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (pictured here). Michigan’s monumental sandbox is best known for its 150-foot Dune Climb (or roll), but there’s also 35 miles of pristine Lake Michigan beach. Take the 7.4-mile Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive loop in time to watch the sunset from Lake Michigan Overlook observation deck, perched 450 feet above the water.

Stockholm, Sweden

Nearly 25,000 islands—only a thousand of them inhabited—make up Stockholm’s maritime “garden on the rocks.” The vast archipelago stretches more than 62 miles from north to south over emerald waters best explored via kayak, canoe, sailboat, or classic white ferry. Sweden’s allemansrätt (right of public access to land) makes it possible to roam freely throughout the verdant inner archipelago and the rocky outer reaches. In return for being responsible environmental stewards, travelers can picnic on sandy white beaches, camp on rocky islets, hike in pine forests, swim in secluded coves, and go ashore on any open space—all under a cobalt blue sky that, June through early July, doesn’t darken until 10 p.m. The closest island, Fjäderholmarna, is about a 25-minute ferry ride from the docks at Slussen, Stockholm’s public transportation hub, where you also can hop an eco-friendly bus, tram, or metro to connect to archipelago restaurants, museums, parks, and nature preserves. Lodging options include pastel wooden cottages in the village of Vaxholm, spartan youth hostels, quaint inns, and chartered yachts moored at the Royal Swedish Yacht Club’s historic marina in Sandhamn, site of Sandhamn Race Week, July 2-4.

Azores, Portugal

A remote location—about a thousand miles west of continental Portugal—has helped limit tourist traffic and development in this unspoiled North Atlantic archipelago. The nine major islands—connected by ferry service in summer, are home to green volcanic mountains, mineral hot springs, hydrangea-covered hills, rambling vineyards, white-washed seaside towns, cobblestone lanes, and traditional Flemish and Moorish windmills. Terceira (“the lilac island”) is known for its weaving tradition and 50 brightly painted imperios (empires), ornate chapels of the Holy Spirit. São Miguel, the biggest island, includes Ponta Delgada (the Azores' largest city), secluded black and white sand beaches, and natural steam vent ovens at Furnas Lake where Portuguese cozido (stew) is cooked in earthen pots buried along the volcanic shoreline. Faial, named “the blue island” for its abundant hydrangeas and blue-trimmed homes, features numerous grottoes, caves, churches, and museums, as well as the bustling Horta marina, a popular stopover point for transatlantic yachtsmen. May to September is the island-wide festival season with numerous religious processions and cultural events celebrating patron saints, the sea, and the local whaling heritage.

Istria, Croatia

More than 40 beaches on Istria’s 333-mile coast have earned a coveted Blue Flag for superior water quality and environmental management standards. While not as familiar to North Americans as Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast, this densely forested peninsula at the top right-hand corner of the Adriatic Sea has been a popular summer hot spot since Austro-Hungarian Empire days. Head west and south for crystalline blue bays, tranquil coves, and white pebble and sandy shores bordered by fragrant pines. The Medulin Riviera, located near Istria’s southern tip, offers 49 miles of coastline, plus hilltop medieval villages and ancient ruins to explore. Just south of Medulin is rugged Cape Kamenjak, an edge-of-the-world nature reserve featuring sheer 70-foot cliffs, hidden coves, and flat stone outcroppings nature-made for sunbathing. The current is powerful here, so you may want to play it safe and watch the windsurfing and cliff-jumping action from the safety of the rocky shore. Make time to visit the regional capital Pula, home of the Pula Arena. This remarkably intact first-century Roman amphitheatre hosts numerous summer concerts and events, including the July 16-23 portion of the 58th Pula Film Festival.