Top 5 Off Peak Summer Destinations for 2012

March 27, 2012 | Family Travel, Top Travel Lists, Travel Tips, World travel

Traveling savvy is in this year, so consider choosing one of our Top 5 Off Peak Destinations for Summer 2012 instead of making a revisit to a more popular location. Many of our choices will see a drop in the number of tourists at these times which causes airlines and hotels to lower their rates. Take advantage of that by looking into one of these five or let us know where we should look into ourselves.

5) Saint Petersburg, Russia

Geographically, this may not seem like an obvious choice. But the weather in Saint Petersburg is temperate in the summers, averaging in the 50’s and 60’s for most of the summer. You can travel lean here and leave your outwear at home, but don’t make that mistake in winter. What makes Saint Petersburg so desirable are the opportunities it presents: travelers have access to the port which connects the Baltic states to the city, Eastern European neighbors to the South and Southwest, and of course everything inside the city itself. Saint Petersburg contains 93 rivers and canals which make walking being outside a pleasure and causing many to dub it “The Northern Venice.”

4) Granada, Nicaragua

Fly in in to Managua and then catch a ride to the coast in less than an hour to reach your destination.  Conveniently located between national parks and on the Gulf of Mexico make Granada more desirable than other Nicaraguan locations. You can find river tours by boat, a bustling central market, and tours of some historical museums and churches. Granada is one of the smaller cities to be considered, which make for a more intimate travel experience than some other choices.

3) Dominical, Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a popular tourist destination for many travelers to Central America but we think Dominical has yet to hit full-stride making it our number 3 choice. You will have to fly into San Jose and take a ride to this coastal destination but it is very affordable. The ride is very natural, passing you through remnants of the rain forest that is still thriving and preserved further down the coast at Corcovado National Park. From the city, you can relax on the beach, go fishing, explore the calmer parts of nature by hiking, or even go whale watching at certain times of the year. Nightlife in Dominical is also developed so you should save some energy and make it to one of the local clubs.

2) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

For travelers looking for an authentic summer travel experience, Santo Domingo is the right place to embrace the heat this summer. Cheap flights out of Florida and Texas make it an ideal Caribbean getaway for anyone in the US. Reduced rates for hotels are very common there as well which makes this a perfectly affordable island excursion and our second favorite off-peak destination this summer.

1) Kiev, Ukraine

Ukraine, like its neighbor from across the pond Turkey, has the unique fortune, or past misfortune, of being the link between two very different continents. Kiev, Ukraine’s capital city will probably be the most interesting to the culturally driven since the history of the city is dramatic. History aside, Ukraine today is a perfect vacation spot due to the mixture of cultures and its geographic location. Although you can find river cruises in neighboring cities or beach resorts on the Black Sea we recommend Kiev because it will host the UEFA Euro Cup 2012 this year, a soccer tournament only eclipsed by the World Cup in size. The tournament culminates with a final in Kiev on July 1^st.

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