Our 2026 Trip — Five Options We're Weighing 🌍

Two couples, late August into early September 2026 (Aug 29 – Sep 6, 8 nights), flying out of Denver. We wanted somewhere that gives everyone a win — adventure, calm relaxation, beautiful walkable old towns, and animals — and since Maria's expecting, everywhere on this list has a great hospital close by, an easy pace, and no rental car needed. Amanda's big ask: we stay somewhere genuinely once-in-a-lifetime — a castle, a palace, a historic villa — not a standard hotel room.

Here are the five we narrowed it down to. 👇

🥇 Lake Bled, Slovenia — the front-runner

Stay: Vila Bled — literally Tito's former summer state residence, now a hotel, with a private lakefront park. You sleep in a piece of history, and it's a fraction of the price of the fancier options.

A storybook alpine lake with an island church you reach by traditional boat, a clifftop castle, and the Julian Alps right there. Davis gets an alpine coaster and canyoning; Kieran gets a calm swimmable lake; Amanda gets the old towns, the gardens, and the animals — white Lipizzaner horses at the world's oldest stud farm and a brown-bear watching hide at dusk. Then a few nights in walkable little Ljubljana to finish. Fully doable by bus and train.

Roughly $4,700–7,000 per couple, all in.

Lucerne, Switzerland — the splurge dream

Stay: Château Gütsch — an actual fairytale castle hotel on a hill above town, reached by its own little funicular.

Medieval old town, lake steamers, and gentle cog railways up into the Alps. There's a wonderful nature park nearby where you can hand-feed roaming deer (plus bears and wolves), and Davis gets the famous Pilatus toboggan run and zipline. Switzerland's the priciest of the bunch, but the comfort and convenience are unmatched.

Roughly $6,000–9,000 per couple — the most expensive option.

Annecy, France — the best all-rounder

Stay: the Impérial Palace, a 1913 belle-époque grand hotel on its own little peninsula on the lake.

The "Venice of the Alps" — turquoise lake, flower-lined canals, a medieval old town. Davis can paraglide off the mountains and ride an alpine luge; everyone can swim the lake; and there's a high mountain animal park with ibex, chamois and marmots roaming free with Mont Blanc behind them.

Roughly $5,000–7,000 per couple if we go with standard rooms.

Lake Como, Italy — the most beautiful

Stay: a night or two at the legendary Villa d'Este (16th-century lakefront grande dame with the famous floating pool), then a comfy lakeside hotel in Como town.

Hop between the lake's villages by ferry, wander the gorgeous villa gardens, and catch a falconry show with hawks and eagles soaring over the water. The most jaw-dropping scenery of the five.

Roughly $4,900–8,000 per couple.

San Sebastián, Spain — the safe crowd-pleaser

Stay: the belle-époque Hotel de Londres right on the bay, with a splurge night at the iconic Hotel María Cristina.

Arguably the best food city in Europe (pintxos bar to pintxos bar, all on foot), wrapped around the calm, swimmable La Concha bay. There's a great aquarium right on the harbor and a Basque farm day with the animals, surfing and a clifftop funicular for Davis, and a seaside spa for the rest of us.

Roughly $4,800–7,500 per couple.

Where we're leaning

Lake Bled. It checks every box at once — a genuinely unique place to stay (a former presidential villa!), incredible animal experiences, an easy car-free pace, top scenery, and it's the best value of the lot. Lucerne is the dream if we want to splurge; San Sebastián is the safe "everyone's happy" pick.

Would love your take — which one would you pick? ✈️