Where to go in February

In February the good weather is overwhelmingly north of the equator — 20 of the top 24 destinations below sit in the northern hemisphere. If you are travelling from the southern hemisphere, February is a long flight into someone else's summer. On the scoring used here, the strongest single destination in February is Hurghada — 22.7 °C, rain on 0 days, and 100 out of 100.

Against January, the map has moved: Xi’an (+18), Alice Springs (+17) and Kota Bharu (+17) improve most sharply on January, while Coimbatore (-31), Hubballi (-30) and Sholapur (-30) fall away fastest. Those are the places where a fortnight's difference in your dates changes the trip.

Depending on what you are actually after in February: for heat with low odds of rain, Santiago at 33 °C across 2 wet days, for the driest month outright, Hurghada with 0 rain days and for mild rather than hot, Taupo at 24 °C with 9 rain days.

Every strong destination this month is also in its own high season, which is the trade February asks you to accept: the weather is not the constraint, the price is.

Ranked on a 0–100 score combining temperature, rain days, heavy-rain days and humidity, computed from NASA POWER daily data 2001–2020. Capped at three cities per country so the list stays useful rather than becoming one coastline.

Best February destinations

1. 1 Hurghada Egypt 22.7 °C, lows of 16.4 °C, rain on 0 days.
2. 2 Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt 24.7 °C, lows of 16.5 °C, rain on 0 days.
3. 3 Dubai United Arab Emirates 24.4 °C, lows of 18 °C, rain on 1 day.
4. 4 Virār India 26.4 °C, lows of 22.8 °C, rain on 1 day.
5. 5 Chihuahua Mexico 22 °C and notably dry air at 41% humidity.
6. 6 Torreón Mexico 25.8 °C and notably dry air at 38% humidity.
7. 7 Antofagasta Chile 22.5 °C, though at 77% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
8. 8 Mexico City Mexico 24 °C by day falling to 7.6 °C overnight — hot afternoons, cool sleeping.
9. 9 Cairo Egypt 22 °C by day falling to 8.6 °C overnight — hot afternoons, cool sleeping.
10. 10 Cape Town South Africa 22.1 °C, though at 79% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
11. 11 Jaipur India 27 °C and notably dry air at 32% humidity.
12. 12 Perth Australia 26.9 °C, lows of 19.9 °C, rain on 2 days.
13. 13 Kathmandu Nepal 20.4 °C and notably dry air at 43% humidity.
14. 14 Geraldton Australia 25.8 °C, though at 75% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
15. 15 Al Ain City United Arab Emirates 27.8 °C by day falling to 13.8 °C overnight — hot afternoons, cool sleeping.
16. 16 Qui Nhon Vietnam 25.3 °C, though at 83% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
17. 17 Munnar India 26.1 °C by day falling to 12.6 °C overnight — hot afternoons, cool sleeping.
18. 18 Pokhara Nepal 21.7 °C, lows of 9.5 °C, rain on 3 days.
19. 19 Laredo United States 24.2 °C by day falling to 10.1 °C overnight — hot afternoons, cool sleeping.
20. 20 Nha Trang Vietnam 26.1 °C, though at 82% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
21. 21 Phoenix United States 21.7 °C and notably dry air at 44% humidity.
22. 22 Thanh Hóa Vietnam 24.3 °C, though at 83% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
23. 23 Agadir Morocco 23.8 °C, lows of 12 °C, rain on 4 days.
24. 24 Tucson United States 20.7 °C by day falling to 6 °C overnight — hot afternoons, cool sleeping.

Where to avoid in February

• Sapporo Japan Highs of -2 °C, and 28 nights below freezing.
• Akureyri Iceland Highs of -3.8 °C, and 28 nights below freezing.
• Whistler Canada Highs of 1.4 °C, and 24 nights below freezing.
• Tromsø Norway Highs of -5.2 °C, and 27 nights below freezing.
• Bergen Norway Highs of 1.9 °C, and 18 nights below freezing.
• Trondheim Norway Highs of 0.2 °C, and 22 nights below freezing.
• Reykjavík Iceland Highs of 2.3 °C, and 16 nights below freezing.
• St. John's Canada Highs of -0.6 °C, and 28 nights below freezing.

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