If Croatia is found less than optimal, I think Praha would meet Peter’s criteria too, perhaps even better. Except for the lack of a sunny beach, of course.
There’s a bus stop 1 km from the BRAC airport and it is no problem to get a taxi. From the airport it’s a 10 minute drive to Bol, a beautiful small village with good infrastructure. Bol is a very touristy place in high season, just make a Google search and you’ll find everything about it. In the other direction it is a 30 minute drive to Supetar where the Ferry for Split leaves. Also the FLIGHT along the coast down to Brac is one of the NICEST I can imagine.
While the little town of Mali Losinj might look more interesting to you, I think that Brac is much more interesting, especially if you spend a day in Split, with its 1800 year old Roman Palace in the Center.
I’d fly to Speyer too, although for me that’s a boring flight. And Schwäbisch Hall even more so. Too close for me :-)
Not directly related to the EuroGA FlyIn: We are currently organising the Socata TB FlyIn 2014 which will take place 29. May – 1. June 2014 in Schwaebisch Hall / EDTY.
Will post some further details in a separate thread in a few days time.
Prague is a very nice city (I was born there so I am impartial 
) and probably the most scenic city I have ever been to – with Trieste being a possible exception, being a bit like “Prague with the sea”. Culturally I think Prague has a lot more.
What concerns me a bit about Prague is that Ruzyne is now over €200, Vodochody can be shut anytime the owner feels like a day off work, Letnany is grass and no IAP, Kbely is invitation-only. €200 is OK with me for a totally special one-off (and probably once-only) trip (Tirana in Albania was in that category) but it is a waste of money. Accordingly their “GA” apron is virtually empty nowadays, with the cafe customers being mostly local workmen.
Also the weather in Prague isn’t going to be as nice in May as in the Adriatic. Finally of course the food is no comparison 
I think Brac and Losinj are comparable. Bol is scenic but very small, Supetar is a proper functioning small town, and Mali Losinj has a bit of each. Brac has better ferry connections than Losinj (to Split or Hvar – another very scenic harbour there). Losinj is close to Pula (a nice Roman arena) but a flight to Pula from either island is fairly trivial and people can do that on the way back home. Losinj airport has better opening hours than Brac; I can only just make Brac from Shoreham, on most days of the week.
Of course people are free to organise any other fly-in also. For example pilots in the southern UK can do one to Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. But they do that all the time anyway. Bembridge or – far far better – Le Touquet. We are talking about May here and hopefully the rest of the summer will be long enough.
I think a “really nice” destination with plenty to see and places to chill out is essential given that neither myself nor presumably anybody else is going to be doing a highly detailed organisation of the whole fly-in programme, with an accompanying “partner programme” (another name for somewhere to send the wives and girlfriends ) and also organising the flights. Actually while I am more than happy to meep up with any local pilot and help them with flight planning etc, I don’t like these highly organised fly-ins because they can be excruciatingly boring, having to follow the group from some Zeppelin museum to some Messerschmitt museum. That is the problem with most city-based fly-ins. And I don’t like a tight organisation of flying because it puts pressure on those pilots who are more careful over weather… in any group you get a pilot who “always flies”.
Also the weather in Prague isn’t going to be as nice in May as in the Adriatic. Finally of course the food is no comparison.
Have you forgotten the motherlands duck in cumin with sauerkraut and dumplings? I’d take that meal over pretty much anything else personally.
Primary concern for anything south of the Alps of course is the alpine weather, which makes it difficult to plan VFR. In the last 4 years now, of about 20 planned alpine crossings I managed to get 2 done, plus some inner-alpine flights. May is anything but stable in terms of weather, so it may well be an idea to plan for Croatia but keep a N-of Alps alternate in case there is one of those weather systems around which close the Alps at the weekend of choice…. IFR, as long as you can fly FL160+ and have FIKI the Alps are less of a problem.
Speyer, have been there, it’s one hour from here and very uncritical in terms of weather. Lovely museum and great city. If some of you want to meet there, I would do my very best to be there.
In my experience May and June were always the months with the most stable weather! Actually you can cross the Alps to Croatia on many days if you are not afraid to fly on top for some time. Of my maybe 20 VFR crossings most were at FL120 to FL130 (which is the highest I flew my Warrior without O2).
If you want to cross the “high” Alps then FL140 is the lowest (the route going north of SRN, or Locarno). There are various other routes at FL150-160.
The highest MEA route I have ever filed was FL180 which passes close to Mt Blanc but we could not get above FL175 on the day, due to ISA+whatever. But you would not use that route to get to the Adriatic if coming from most of N Europe – it is too far to the west.
For lower levels, you can go via Cannes and then across the top of Italy, dipping low down below the big piece of Class A if going VFR. Or you can go to the east of the Alps…
VFR 120 to 130 is no problem if you fly to Croatia frm Bavaria. If the weather is really bad you can follow the Danube almost to Vienna and then ake a shortcut south … by the time time your south of the highest part it’s almost always VMC in May, June …
If you want to cross the “high” Alps then FL140 is the lowest (the route going north of SRN, or Locarno). There are various other routes at FL150-160.
But only IFR! You can fly the same route VFR at FL110. Even lower a bit to the east when you fly form the Lake of Constance along valleys towards Lake of Como / Bergamo.
