Europe in February

Hi,
Just for a week? Then I'd visit Spain OR Greece; the two countries are a 4-hour flight apart.
I'd have the same conclusion for a 2-week trip, actually.

In Spain, Andalucia is perfect at that time of the year, and deserves a week.
In Greece, it's more complicated: islands are largely shut down, and I'm not knowledgeable enough about the mainland to know what ti's like then.

After Greece, head to The South of Spain in the region of Andalusia. Temperatures there are above 50F. How many days in total you plan to spend in Europe for the month of February?

https://www.tripsavvy.com/andalusia-southern-spain-4135670

Also the Peloponnese region of Greece is worth exploring. The city of Naplio near Athens is delightful.

http://www.visitgreece.gr/en/main_cities/nafplio

Greece can be wet and miserable in February, so I would head to Spain. You haven’t got time to cover Greece and Spain in a week regardless of the weather.

Lisbon would be another option.

In your planning, keep an eye out for Carnival/Mardi Gras celebrations, either happening on Feb. 25 or for several days ahead, depending on how big a deal the community makes of it. In Spain, Cadiz has one of the more famous festivals: https://www.andalucia.org/en/the-carnival-of-cadiz/. I would consider that a reason to visit, but it can affect price and availability of hotels and trains also can fill earlier.

I agree that Greece and Spain are not a good pair even if you have two weeks. For one thing, going to Greece for just a couple of days in Athens would not be something I'd recommend if it's your first visit.

February is not the time of year I'd go to Madrid and the rest of central Spain. You can check actual, day-by-day weather data for the last ten years on timeanddate.com. I'm not a winter traveler, but I don't think there's a better place in Europe at that time of year, weather-wise, than Andalucia.

I llved in Germany for four years and would not travel to Europe in the Winter.

If you like museums and staying inside, then go for it.

Consider South America, Argentina or Chile. Also, Australia or New Zealand.

Thank you for the replies. We will be in Europe for 8 days exclusive of travel to and from. My thoughts were that we would fly into Athens, see the ruins over 2 days and then hop a flight to Spain for 5 days and y home from there. I am thinking we can avoid crowds in Greece this way. Not planning on visiting any where else in Greece on this trip.

Oh, then I'd really skip Greece. There are plenty of ancient (roman, not Greek) ruins in Southern Spain. With only 8 days I'd head straight to Andalucía and build an itinerary around Sevilla, Córdoba and Granada, with a possible side trip to Mérida if you want to see the Roman theater there (otherwise there's Itálica near Seville, but I've never been so can't vouch for it).

So after your two days in Athens Greece, fly to Andalusia Spain. Base yourself in Seville then do day trips during your 5 days there to towns like Cordoba, Jerez, and Granada. Málaga is another town to add if you add more time to Southern Spain. Granada has the Alhambra, a perfectly preserved Moorish ruin. Córdoba has the Mezquita and the Alcazar.

Hi, as Balso has mentioned above, Andalucia has a number of Ancient Ruins, they may not be on the grand level of Athens, but they hold a certain romantic charm that I feel would mitigate the need to fly across the Mediterranean, for a 2 day blitz of Athens. Many of these ruins are near Sevilla:

Italica: a large Roman city and birthplace of 3 Roman Emperors, easy to do as a day trip from Sevilla, recently used as a filming location for Game of Thrones.

Cadiz: the oldest continuously inhabited city in Western Europe, has a great museum of the Ancient Phoenician colonists that founded the city, 1000 years before Romans came to Iberia.

Baelo Claudia: east of Cadiz, this Roman town situated right on the coast, has many well preserved architectural features including walls, temples, bathhouses, and a theater.

Andalusia it is then. If flights work I think I will try to squeeze in my 2 days to see the Acropolis, etc. Thanks all.

I would not want to try to see Granada on a day-trip from Seville. Too much time on the train, not enough time for the Alhambra and Granada's other sights.

Check skyscanner.com for flights between Athens and Seville. If there aren't any non-stops in February, that flight may turn out to be rather costly in terms of time and money.

It sounds as if you may have uncovered a good fare for flights into Athens and home from Spain. Is that the case? I know mid-winter is not a high-cost time to fly, but I think from my origin Athens is usually a good bit more expensive than Barcelona and Madrid. I didn't find anything to southern Spain affordable when I was booking a flight for April of this year.

I was in Athens 3 years ago in late April for 4 days and back again (the end of the RS tour) for another. While there were a lot of tourists, nothing was crowded. Athens could be sunny and 60's, and it could be 40's and cloudy, or worse, rainy. Neither is unusual.

Spend all your time in Spain. I've been to Madrid and Andalucia twice in February, Barcelona once. A little rain won't impact your visit much at all if you do get it. Andalucia is the warmest, driest part of Europe. Madrid isn't much different and Barcelona has a mild, Mediterranean climate. Also consider daylight hours. Although nearly all of Spain is west of the of the prime meridian, it's on Central European time. On February 20, sunset in Sevilla is around 7 pm. And even though Athens is on Eastern European time (2 hours later), sunset there is an hour earlier.

Thank you all for the additional insight. I didn't realize the time zone/sunset times. It was also good to hear Athens is not crowded in April, that is our usual time to visit Europe. We did find good flights to Athens and out of Spain, but we can easily fly in and out of Spain affordably too. Now that I've been convinced to put off Greece for this trip my next question is transportation. We prefer to not rent a car, or to only rent a car as necessary to see special sights. For example, we took a train from Lyon to Cannes/Nice but stopped at Avignon TGV station, rented a car to see Pont du Gard and Carrieres de Lumineres, and were back on the train 5 or 6 hours later. Can we rely on public transportation to get us to the major sights in Andalusia?

"Can we rely on public transportation to get us to the major sights in Andalusia?"

Yes you can to most places.

Can we rely on public transportation to get us to the major sights in Andalusia? Absolutely. The trains are much faster than driving for the most part and buses are as good for certain routes. Spain is big so plan on sticking to Andalucia (Cordoba, Sevilla, Granada). You may need to use Madrid for your flights. Landing in the morning, you can get to Cordoba (nearer) or Sevilla by train that day and still have time to relax and have an early dinner (note that dinner in Spain typically doesn't start before 9.30 pm and dining 11 pm is also normal). Unless you can find a connecting flight from Granada or have a late flight out of Madrid, you'll want to spend your last night there.

The only place you might want to consider a short car rental would be the white villages like Arcos de la Frontera, Grazalema and Zahara de la Sierra. It's difficult to link them by public transportation. But it's quite possible you'll decide you don't have time to go beyond Seville/Cordoba/Granada. As Chani pointed out, there's a good chance you'll need to spend your last night in Madrid due to the likely lower cost of flights there.

Here's my rough plan:
Sat land in Malaga and travel to Nerja for the night.
Sun and Mon stay in Granada,
Tues and Wed stay in Sevilla,
Thurs drive to Tarifa and take Ferry for a few hours in Tangier.
Fri drive to Arcos de la Frontera, Ronda, stay in either.
Sat stay near Malaga Airport for Sun flight home.
How does this look? For a first visit to Andalusia we are only looking to hit the major sights in each area. I am thinking we should either rent a car or skip Tarifa/Tangier and rely on public transportation.

Where are you staying on Thursday after the Tangier trip? Tarifa ?

Tarifa and Tangier are not must see places. You have the option to skip them so you don't feel you are in a rush to cover that many locations in such a short time span. My sincere advice is just focus on Andalusia and save Morocco for a future trip.

Please take RJean's advice. It would be sad to spend a day traveling back and forth to Tangier when you have only a bit more than one full day in Granada and (even worse) about the same amount of time in Seville. Plus no time at all for Cordoba.

Morocco is a really fascinating place, but it takes a bit of time to see the best parts.

My thinking is this is a one time chance to see Tangier and I'll never be this close again. Yes, I probably skip Cordoba but it is more likely I could visit Cordoba on a future trip to Madrid, Toledo, etc. Truthfully it is probably now or never for Tangier. But my travel companion might balk anyway. If I skip Tangier, should I skip the car or would I need to rent one anyway to see Anco and Ronda? Thanks for all the advice so far.

My thinking is this is a one time chance to see Tangier and I'll never be this close again.

I've been close to Blackpool but never felt the need to visit and it's unlikely that I'll ever regret not doing so.

What is it about Tangier that you feel so drawn to? I went simply because I've visited Andalucia so many times I thought I'd see what the attraction was about. I was disappointed and if I was someone who had only a limited time to explore Andalucia and not sure when or if I'd return then I certianly wouldn't waste my precious time on Tangier.

Do you feel the same way as Cueta or Melilla?

At least with Ceuta and Melilla you won't have to cross any hard border, saves you time, but still you can say you've been to Africa lol! They're both Spanish Autonomous Cities actually on Morocco's north coast.

Ok. You have convinced me to skip Tangier. I guess my interest is based on RS guidebook. Now, rental car or train and bus? Now that I know we're going to Andalucia, I'm going to move my was to the Spain forum.

Ok. You have convinced me to skip Tangier. I guess my interest is based on RS guidebook. Now, rental car or train and bus? Now that I know we're going to Andalucia, I'm going to move my was to the Spain forum.

I haven't read the guidebook so I don't know what the recommendations are. All I can say from my experience of talking to fellow passengers to and from Tangier and overhearing conversations (many of the fellow passengers were American) the overriding consensus was that people wanted to go simply because it was an opportunity to visit Africa. It appears that it's very much a tickbox trip rather than a genuine interest in the place itself.

As for driving vs public transport I always drive in Andalucia but much of the decision boils down to what you intend on doing and how comfortable you are with driving. We always self cater when we visit Andalucia so a car is essential for trips to the supermarket and markets. I also like the freedom of not being tied to timetables and routes and I simply enjoy driving, particularly on challenging mountain roads. However you need to be comfortable with driving in towns, villages and cities that were nout built with cars in mind, a lot of people struggle with that side of things.