Sick of the Heat? Try One of These Cool Vacations

The cool summer is also the best time of year to visit Peterhof, the summer residence of Peter the Great -- especially its majestic fountains.

Stay at The Hotel Astoria, on St. Isaac's square. The concierge can hook up you with a hydrofoil boat ride to Peterhof, a private tour of the Hermitage museum and even a seat in the czar's box at the Mariinsky theater.

Lake Diving in Iceland
Reykjavik is another party city; this is true all year round, but especially in the summer, where the average July high temperature is a brisk 55 degrees.

The crowds in the bars and the pubs won't prepare you for the center of the country, a completely uninhabited landscape that so resembles the moon that it was used to train Apollo astronauts.

(The reason why: Iceland sits where the North American and European tectonic plates meet, so, along with Hawaii, it's one of the most volcanically active places on earth.)

It's inadvisable to venture in the central regions alone, but tour outfitter Black Tomato offers an adventure itinerary that guides you through it.

If partying by night and soaking in thermal spas by day sounds more up your alley, don't miss the popular Blue Lagoon , and stay at the posh Hotel Borg.

Paddling the Norwegian Fjords
Norway is a quiet country with dramatic scenery of its own. Steep granite cliffs rise from deep emerald green fjords, or inland fingers of the sea.

In these fjords, the water is sufficiently deep and the cliffs steep to have once provided cover for the likes of pirates, but they now provide tranquility for vacationers in search of a true get-away, in a place where summer temps top out in the 70s.