Budget Friendly European City Break - Feb half term

[Wimbledonwomble]

We usually do a cheap UK break at Easter, mostly Sun £9.50 promo, with our main holiday in summer. Next year, DS will be doing GCSEs so think best to stay home at Easter.

Wondered about going Feb half term instead but suspect may be a bit chilly for a Sun break, plus kids are growing out of them anyway. Would like to do a city break. Any suggestions where would be good in February? Not after heat. From previous experience, walking around cities in hot weather not fun! However, don't want to freeze either!

DD fancies Paris and wondered if we might be able to get a cheap Eurostar deal? Or Amsterdam for same reason. However, other suggestions welcome. Prob not Barcelona as planning that as part of a bigger holiday in near future.

Don't really want to spend much more than 1k for 3 nights all in. 2 adults & 2 teens age 16 & 13.

Amsterdam can be absolutely freezing in the depths of winter. What about Lisbon?

DS (9) and I spent Feb half term in Munich as I'd found cheap flights and just felt like a little adventure for the two of us. We had a great time, Munich is lovely and easy to travel around and out from - got a train to go see Neuchwanstein castle which was great.

I would look up average temperatures of cities you may find interesting. I am from Germany and we have like here good Februaries and cold ones. The further south the colder as you still have skiing season.

Countries like Italy, Spain or Portugal can be a bit wet instead of cold.

I would go with what I would find interesting and dress accordingly.

Thanks! Think I might prefer cold & dry to mild & wet! What are the views on Paris? Assuming similar weather to London and we happily go there on winter days.

I went to Marrakech with dd3 (y10) this year. Weather was fab, and we booked a few weeks earlier on LastMinute.com

We often do trips at half term. Was put off Paris by the weather, the gilets jaunes and the fact I''ve not really warmed to Paris before. I'd be tempted by Amsterdam in your situation - or maybe Athens.

Seville, average February high is 18c, less chance of being wet than Lisbon or Porto, oranges on the trees for a bit of colour. Spain, but a very different city to Barcelona. Granada and Cordoba also nearby. A lot cheaper and warmer than Paris.
Paris is much nicer at this time of year (Spring), blossom and new green leaves on the trees, can be reasonably warm but not hot, much less crowded than July, August..

www.yr.no/place/Spain/Andalucía/Seville/statistics.html

Amsterdam was wet for me in Feb, but we did dress accordingly. Had a great time and it was lovely warming up with a hot chocolate. One of my cities.

Prague is freezing in February, huge icicles off buildings. It’s was beautiful! I’d go again in Feb. Ate loads of stews and did loads.

You could potentially get cheap flights to canaries in Feb if you wanted heat.

Can I come?

I went to Rome in February and it was wonderful, walked round in T-shirts as it was so warm.

What are people's thoughts on Dubrovnik in Winter? Have been to Prague, in Spring - loved it.

One problem is is that there are very few direct flights there in winter. The only direct flights from the UK in February for example, are BA from Gatwick. So if Gatwick is convenient that's fine, but for me in Edinburgh for example, not so convenient. Most of the budget airlines only go there from around May to early October.

I think it would be potentially good, especially if it was sunny as accommodation is cheap then and obviously crowds much smaller. A lot of Croatia shuts down in winter, so less restaurants open etc, but not sure to what extent this applies in Dubrovnik. I have considered it as a winter break, but was quite surprised at how cold it was when checking weather forecasts and actual weather online last winter.

You can certainly get some great accommodation bargains off season, saw an apartment just outside Split for an incredible £10 per night and apartments in Dubrovnik for under £25 per night.

You would need somewhere with heating as it gets cold at night. Also can be quite wet: www.yr.no/place/Croatia/Dubrovnik-Neretva/Dubrovnik/statistics.html

Rome is amazing. Or Brussels? Or Budapest - would be really cold but beautiful I think

Nice/Monte Carlo will be nice in Feb

Monte Carlo is fabulous - definitely not as expensive or up itself as you might think.

We’ve just booked Athens for February half term. Cheap easyJet flights and very reasonable central hotel. Less than £800 for 4 of us. Weather should be pleasantly warm too.

Malaga - the town itself is actually really nice, the home of tapas too. Or Palma de Mallorca? Both have the advantage of lots of reasonably priced flights and potentially better weather.

February can be very, very cold in Northern and Eastern Europe and as a frequent visitor to Berlin in the winter I find a winter trip costs me far more than a summer one - paying for inside attractions, lots of coffee or drinks to warm up. You have to go inside and pay for restaurant meals as you can’t just take a supermarket picnic to a park etc when its -15 with siberian windchill!

Seville is fab for a family break in February. We had 18 degrees every day and it was pretty cheap compared to most European cities. Very walkable and we stayed in an Airbnb with a roof terrace which was great to chill out on late afternoon before dinner.

I know you don’t want too cold but I’d really recommend Tallinn in winter. I went in February and it was snowy and very pretty in the old town. We went for a walk and into the park where kids were ice skating on the lake and having snow ball fights. We also did a day trip on the ferry to Helsinki, loved Helsinki and we visited one of the spas where you can dip in the frozen sea after the sauna.

Oh and the ferry itself was an experience because the sea ice was frozen, it was pretty cool.

It was cold but hovering around 0 rather than minus and it was pretty sunny and bright when it didn’t snow. Lots of cute and cosy cafes to stop in for a hot drink.

Oh and I should have said it’s budget friendly - cheap flights and food and living costs are low.