Paris or Florence in February

You have about a 50/50 chance of Rain in Paris and Florence in February. A good time to visit Museums.

Paris is dark-dark-dark early. Could be snow, but most likely, rain or drizzle. Many times, when working the EU would fly there for a weekend before heading to Dortmund or Patterborn because of connections and AMS was even darker. Florence should be better. January, however, (believe it or not) is neat because the Champs trees were covered with lights and a pleasure to walk under because they were still lit for the Holidays and the decorations in the store windows.

Paris, at 48 degrees latitude, is further north than Maine (43-47 degrees). The days will be shorter, with more darkness. Maybe look at places further south in Italy? We visited Puglia in late February 2024 and it was warm (60-65 degrees F in the daytime and sunny. Take a look at Lecce, known as the “Florence of the south”.

For warm in February consider a trip to Egypt or Morocco.

By February the daylight is already increasing rapidly, especially towards the end of the month, so don’t let that put you off Paris if that’s where you want to go. Where you are in your time zone (ie more east or west) also makes a difference, not just how far north you are. I imagine there must be websites where you could check the various sunrise/sunset times.

I’ve been to Paris in February & enjoyed the museums, churches, restaurants, & markets without the tourist mobs. I would think the same would apply to Florence.

Depending on what you like to do, you might miss alot in both cities in February. Between Paris and Florence, I'd pick Paris as it has much, much more to do indoors when it is cool (you are from Maine) and wet. Good news, no crowds and cheaper hotels.

It will be warmer and reatively dry in southern Spain, Italy or Greece. Definately not summer beach weather, but temperatures remain above freezing. Look for cities with pictures of orange or lemon trees.

Having just been to Florence and experienced late-October mobs, I would only go back in winter. So if you really want to go to Florence, February might be a great time to do it. I wish we had.