Europe in February

One idea is to see where you can fly to (Europe and warmer, your criteria) inexpensively from Vienna. Go to skyscanner.com and use Vienna as To and Everywhere as From. There are a few warmer countries (Greece, Turkey, Italy) that show up in the less than $150 pp RT range. Book this flight directly with the airline mid trip as the filling in your Vienna weeks.

Alternately you and the one daughter who's traveling with you from the US could book just 3 tickets. One from your city to Vienna, one Vienna to where you want to travel to with both daughters and then one from that location back to the US.

Edit: you should book the first and last portions of this 2nd scenario as a round trip, open jaw ticket to get the best price most likely.

Portugal is a great relaxing place. Either stay in southern portugal algarve or the azores.
Hopefully u can take a budget european airlines from vienna. Skyscanner.com will help or use www.whichbudget.com for airlines to get u started.

We were in Sicily last February, and the weather was quite pleasant. Not toasty, but pleasant. I must add, however, that the previous June we went to Mt. Etna and froze our buns off.

Great ideas. Thank you! I was wondering about Skyscanner and spent hours with different sites. After reading reviews, I believe it is worth the extra dollars to book directly with the airlines? An open jaw would have to be with the same airlines to and from the U.S?

I love the Portugal idea. Keep them coming. Thanks!

In my opinion no place in Europe is going to be significantly warmer to be worth the effort for the sake of climate. The south of Spain in February is the south of Spain when it is at its worst. Save that for good weather whey you can really capitalize on it. Vienna is a pretty good hub though and you can fly Vienna to Tel Aviv and have a wonderful experience (although it will still be fairly cool). I will be in Budapest (again) in February and i cant wait. I decided years ago to embrace the cold when that's what i was faced with. Winter in Vienna and Budapest is theater season so spend the time with great music and theater. Or look for something special like: http://visitbudapest.travel/articles/busojaras-in-mohacs/ or http://shakespearebal.hu/index/ or http://budapestchristmas.com/budapest-outdoor-ice-rink-in-the-city-park

For open jaw, the Big 3 are all allied with European airlines, so check open jaw with United, American, and Delta and they will show inter-European connections with their partners. United-Lufthansa-Austrian, American-British and others, Delta-Air France-Alitalia.

I live in Vienna and we travel all the time.

A few thoughts:

• February is the month when Austrian schoolchildren are off school and families take "ski week." The first week of February is the week that Viennese children are out of school and other regions of Austria are off on the other weeks. As a result, and because many people are also trying to get somewhere warm, flights might be more expensive or sold out during this period. Book early.
• Portugal, the Algarve specifically, during February is horrible. I have done it and it was the worst trip I have ever done. Moldy, deserted, cold. Our apartment rental was so moldy, we had to leave. I am sure it is nice at other times of the year, but not then. Choose Southern Spain (Sevilla) instead.
• I suggest looking at RyanAir flights out of Bratislava. That's what we do. For example, 4 of us are flying RT to Athens direct for less than 300 Euro total (less than 100 Euro per ticket). You just have to know the rules and pack light. They fly direct to Malaga, Palma, and several cities in Southern Italy.

Go to the wiki page for the Vienna and (thanks to Emily) the Bratislava airports. There's a table listing all the airlines that fly from there and all the airports they fly to.

When James says to avoid southern Spain, I'm pretty sure he means the coast. I've been to Andalusia twice and Barcelona once in February and had mostly good weather - sunshine, temps in the 50's-60's. It is the warmest, driest part of Europe. I had a very few days of drizzling rain and clouds, but no real cold temps. It is definitely low season, so you can get great hotel rooms for affordable prices. The food and wine are great, and there is a lot to explore in Seville/Cordoba. Barcelona is another good option. It has lots of attractions and a variety of day trips.

Has anyone suggested Malta? Small, with history, good food, friendly people, and definitely warmer than Vienna in February.

My daughters and I decided on Athens and Peloponnese. Suggestions, should we rent a car or bus down and rent a car to explore from Nafpoli. We will have three full days to explore! Places not to miss in Peloponnese. Feb. 18-22

Thanks

How about northern Africa? Flights from southern Europe are cheap and it would definitely be something different! Fez or Marrakech, Morocco? It can get up into the 70s even in February and might be a really nice place to eat delicious food, relax, shop,and see a spectacular part of the world. It's not an expensive destination either...that's where I would go if I were in your shoes!