Where Should I Go in February?

Living in Ottawa, Canada, I feel your need to escape. Portugal and Italy would be my first recommendations. There may be grey days, but less snow and ice risks. I was looking at Bologna for the month of Feb, and even night temps are rarely under freezing. Portugal would be slightly warmer. Having been in Amsterdam one November, I wouldn't go for winter. Very damp with cold.
I was at a travel show this Spring specifically asking about major cities for winter consideration, and one that I didn't expect was Vienna. They have had 'no snow' winters.

Of your 4 choices my gut instinct is Portugal.

All of those places will be substantially warmer than Minnesota in February, but #2 and #4 (I can't speak to #3) are quite likely to be gray and cloudy (I have spent a week in Brussels in early March in which it didn't rain much, but it was overcast for 7 days straight).

Portugal is likeliest to be sunny of all those places, though even Portugal in February is not guaranteed sunshine (it's just likelier than the other places.)

Just pointing out that Germany, Amsterdam and Brussels are all about the same latitude as Minnesota, so while daily weather wont be identical, the seasons are the same, and the hours of daylight. And Italy is not tropical warm in the winter.

We were in Puglia (Southern Italy) in late February this year, with lovely sunny weather every day but one. Then in Bologna and Venice in March, and it was nice there as well.

I’m on the Portugal bandwagon - was there in February or possibly March (been awhile), and recall mostly sunny days, and ripe oranges on trees.

If you insist on Europe Portugal would be my recommendation, or southern Spain.

Why not consider Argentina and Chile, do a cruise around Cape Horn.
Or Australia.

Northern Italy can be dreary (foggy) away from the coast in winter. If Italy, I would do central/southern, i.e. from Florence south.
Otherwise Portugal.

My top recommendation would be southern Spain (not the little beach towns, the great cities like Seville, Cordoba and Granada). But I imagine you've already been there, or it would be on the list you presented.

My second recommendation would be Sicily or Puglia.

When I'm trying to decide whether temperatures are likely to be acceptable to me at a potential destination, I use timeanddate.com to find actual, historical, day-by-day weather data going back about ten years. For precipitation data and average hours of sunlight, I take the easy way out and look at the Wikipedia entries for places I'm considering. The climate chart usually (not always) has monthly-average precipitation and sunlight statistics.

MIlan weather -- February 2022 << Use the pull-down box to change the month/year.

Your odds are better south of the Alps, but I wouldn't go to northern Italy in the winter. Then again, I've been to the Twin Cities several times in January, and I understand where you're coming from (both literally and figuratively).

Edited to add: In cities such as you list, I wouldn't expect issues with closures, though you might run into the rare minor sight that closes in the winter. I've seen that for a few sights in Estonia or Latvia, I think.

I took my first winter trip to Europe this year--to Rome, Naples and Salerno in February/March. The weather was well within the range historical statistics suggested--perhaps a bit warmer and with less rain. What I hadn't really expected was that on many days the temperature didn't get up to 40F until 11 AM or noon, even when the high temperature ultimately got way up into the 50s or lower 60s, so I had to bundle up when I headed out and then peal off layers as the day progressed. Of course, it got dark very early (expected), so I was returning to my hotel every night in the dark, which was a safety issue--not because of crime but because of rough sidewalks, sometimes ill-lit. The latter was an unexpected side effect of traveling in the winter.

The only closures that affected me were those involving cafes at some of the smaller museums. They were often closed; I had the feeling it was just for the off-season, not a post-COVID, semi-permanent situation.

I agree with acraven, don't overlook Southern Spain, everything will be "open" as you say, good weather, food, access, historical landmarks, etc. If you have already been to Andalucía, you can also visit next door Extremadura region, very underrated but equally interesting.

We were in Dresden in Feb. 2020 and loved it. We were there for a week and then headed to Prague for about 3 days. So much to see, great food and the weather was actually really nice. A bit rainy on some days in Dresden, but we had gorgeous weather in Prague.

Here in the Pacific NW many of us are effected by SAD, Seasonal Affected Disorder, due to our relentless season of grey rain. So I get you Minnesota. I get you. Every year I treat it with a 2.5-3 week course of travel, usually around end of January to first of March. This year I dosed myself a bit later but it all worked out. I survived another season of grey rain.
Two of my favorite places for mid winter travel are Lisbon and Nice. Lisbon is blessed with mild, lovely weather in February, in the low 60’s which I consider perfect hiking weather. Porto is awesome too but is quite a bit wetter that time of year.
Nice, France and the Côte d’Azur in February is really special too with very mild weather. The bonus there would be the huge Carnival celebrations in Nice. The weeks before Lent are filled with parades, parties and celebrations in Nice. Again, weather is low 60’s. If it does rain, Nice and the surrounding area has plenty of museums to keep you busy. I’ve been there three times in February and don’t recall any rain days. The best part is you can go to villages like St. Paul de Vence, Eze, etc without hoards of tourists jostling you.

I’ve been to the Netherlands in February. There isn’t a month I don’t like the Netherlands but wind and rain coming in off the North Sea certainly can have a strong bite in February. Nothing will be closed. The Dutch are hearty people.

I don’t have extensive winter travel history in Italy or Germany so I recuse myself from comment. February is also an excellent month to grab cheap airline tickets to Europe. That’s what lead me to my cure for SAD disease in the first place. I hope it helps you too.

Thanks, everyone, for their recommendations! I am definitely leaning heavily towards Portugal.