Canaries, Morocco, Tunisia, Algarve, Madeira, Egypt in Oct half term, Jan or Feb?

[hidetheelephant]

We want somewhere that's warm enough to sunbathe, not just warm enough to be in linen trousers and tshirts. Also keen to avoid the rain.

honeymooned in Morocco (Marrakech) in January - weather was like pleasant late spring in the UK so probably not warm enough for you - gorgeous though.

Bumping as I'd like to go away during oct half term. Was thinking about southern Spain but not sure about the weather and I'm told the pools aren't heated.

Tenerife is fine in october, but not in late january or worse february.
The 4 or 5* hotels have each at least one heated pool. Check before booking. Anthelia has one, costa adeje palace has even a covered one.

Canaries or Egypt will be your best bet.

Morocco, Tunisia and Madeira (been to all of them) are, as you say, warm enough for t-shirts, but not really for bikinis.

If you want to avoid the rain, forget Madeira completely! (beautiful though it is)

gordon What's Tenerife like in Jan/Feb. Are any of the other Canaries better?

Egypt about the only place that will be sunbathing weather.

GOTW. is right, to be 100% sure about sunshine, the Red Sea is your best option, you're in the desert after all, BUT you need to know that in Jan/Feb in Sharm el Sheik or Hurgada, you can't stay on the beach/pool after 3 p.m max 4pm because there isn't any more sun. It gets dark realllllllly early.
Morocco isn't south enough.
Tenerife can be hot in Jan/Feb, but it you get the wrong week, you'll have 4 days of pouring rain... so it is a risk.
Tenerife is less windy than Fuerteventura and the volcano Teide blocks most clouds on the northern part of the island ...

We have looked at these places in Egypt - Marsa Matruh, Dahab, El Gouna, Makadi Bay, Marsa Alam, Nuweiba, Sahl Hasheesh, Taba, Taba Heights. Will they be the same as Sharm el Sheik and Hurghada?

As far as I remember, we had more sun on the east side of the Red sea. I know Marsa Alam for example is on the west side. Check a map. In Hurgada (west side) we had less one hour less sun, but then we were in a real city and we had a great time going around , enjoying tea in a local café, visiting the souk ... Sharm (east side) is artificial. There is the Old part, but old doesn't mean interesting, the rest is pure tourist-oriented. Sharm has great resort, HUGE resort
The best thing abour hurgada is that you can have a day-trip by bus to visit Luxor and that was amazing.One thing is seeing the Egyptian art in a book or Discovery channel, another is touching it with your hand

How about Cape Verde instead?
We went to Lanzarote during Feb half term one year and the weather was disappointingly cool. Certainly not sunbathing weather.

Cape Verde is expensive though isn't it?

Cape verde will be cold

Average air temperature in Cape Verde in February is 24 degrees.