Where to go in Feb half term?

[Lemons1571]

I would love to go for a Feb half term break somewhere, but need inspiration. Should we go warm/hot (Canaries or Caribbean?). Or, as it’s cold in Europe, should we just embrace it and go to Iceland / Finland / elsewhere local ish?

Would prefer short haul as it’s not a long time to be away. But something like France / Germany will be freezing and no tourist stuff will be open.

Happy to look at city breaks too as long as there are things to do. Was thinking maybe Lisbon but not sure how much is “open” in the winter.

It’s only for 5-6 days. Kids are 16 and 13.

I'd go to Iceland or Finland with older kids. It's amazing!

Or skiing?

We really enjoyed Madeira this February and are looking at it again for next year.

Jordan or Oman?

I would suggest Andalucia, including Seville, Malaga and Granada. You get the odd rainy day but still plenty to do and usually sunny.

We've always done city breaks for half term as it doesn't seem long enough for anything else.

Berlin has loads to do all year round. My teen also liked Copenhagen.

If 16 year old has exams they may not want to go away for a whole week, why not a long weekend city break?

Rome.

Not enough time for caribbean. Do you want a city break or beach break?

For City breaks: Rome and Lisbon and Porto are great any time in the year. Seville also great.

I didn’t see many children in Madeira and if the weather is bad you may bot be able to land. Nice scenery and good for walking the mountains but don’t think my kids would have enjoyed much; we went alone.

Canary Islands may also be good or skiing?

Iceland, Finland, Copenhagen not been there but probably too cold for my taste.

I disagree it’s not enough time for the Caribbean. 7-8 nights is perfect for Antigua, for example. You wouldn’t want to go for much longer than that.

This year we did a canaries fly cruise, on P&O Azura, so flying to Tenerife then Lanzarote Madeira and Gran Canaria. Amazing variety in a single trio. Saw lots of teenagers, all having a great time! Weather was perfect. Santa Cruz in Tenerife and Las Palmas in GC are beautiful cities. Also in Tenerife there's a fabulous beach very near the port.

Also, very good value.

Think open said 5 to 6 days and prefers short haul; not sure why she put Caribbean. You have to add time for travelling and recovering from jet lag. I wouldn’t do it unless I am desperate for sunshine and beach

Definitely Finland. It's utterly enchanting and brilliant for teens.

Am really liking the idea of both Seville / Granada, or Finland. Would we see the northern lights from Helsinki in February? What is there to do inside in winter?

i would also love to see the Caribbean, but am thinking 6 nights is not quite long enough…

You'd need to go much further north than Helsinki for the Northern Lights (somewhere like Levi) and really it's all about the outdoors. You can ski, toboggan, drive huskies and reindeer, visit an ice hotel.

We've been to Seville in the February half term before and it was great.

Plenty to see and a lovely bit of warmth in the coldest part of the year here. It was 18-20 degrees every day, much more manageable than it is in the summer too, a colleague is there this week and it's 41 degrees!

At 13 and 15 my two loved skiing.

But I do agree about 16yo having exams?

I would do Iceland with kids of that age and for that length of time and short haul. . It would be a good experience for them.

And in Feb you have a good chance of seeing the northern lights.

It’s such an interesting and quirky place. Frozen waterfalls, geysers, thermal pools to swim in amongst the ice (The Blue Lagoon), volcanoes and reykayvik is a great town for food, hotels and quirky cafes and shops.