Spain in Early February- Good bad or Terrible idea?

Hi there,

I visited Barcelona, Seville, Granada, and Cordoba last mid-February. I was living in France at the time, and compared to the weather in eastern France, Spain was extremely pleasant and even warm! I imagine that compared to Toronto, the weather will be very nice. Additionally, there are fewer tourists at that time of year, which means that there will be fewer lines and crowds, but potentially there will be fewer night-life options or certain restaurants open because they are open only during high-tourist seasons.

If it is a nice day, you will likely see Spaniards on the beach, otherwise you might be the only visitors to the sandy shores. When I went no one was swimming, but there were quite a few people picnicking at the beach on a sunny day in Barcelona.

As far as the Canary Islands, I traveled to Tenerife last November. While it is pleasant and has great water sports, my stay in the south (at playa des americas) did not offer a lot of culture outside of 6-language menus and lots of outlet stores. If I were you and really insistent on visiting the Canary Islands, I would stay on the northern and socially calmer side of Tenerife. But honestly, I would rather visit another part of Spain, Portugal, Morocco, etc. and see more culture in combination with beautiful nature rather than just a beach-resort town. That is completely my personal opinion, and others may have had very positive experiences in the Canaries!

Great idea for Canarias, Seville & Cordoba
OK idea for Barcelona
Not so great idea for Madrid & Granada

Day 1. Depart Toronto
Day 2. Arrive Barcelona (4)
Day 6. Fly to Canarias (4)
Note, every island is very different and attract a particular market.
Day 10. Fly to Seville (3) - day for Córdoba
Day 13. Train to Madrid (1) for flight home
Day 14. Depart Madrid

First things first...

I am planning a two week vacation in Spain, early Feb 2017 ( Feb 11 to Feb 25)

Start by being honest with yourself about how many actual, usable, full days you will have in Europe, not including your arrival or departure days. If Feb 11 and 25 are your travel days, then the bad news is that you really only have 11 or 12 real full usable days in Europe (you will probably leave on 2/11 and arrive on 2/12, on your arrival day you'll be wiped out from exhaustion, and the next day, your first full day in Europe you may be pretty jet-lagged....especially if managing kids through the whole experience).

Given how many (how few) days you have to use, your original plan (Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and Madrid) looks ambitious - not impossible, but somewhat ambitious (more on why below). Adding the Canary Islands in sounds crazy to me (you lose a day going to there from Spain and returning back to Spain, so subtract 2 more days from your already brief trip). Skip the Canary Islands, save that for a separate trip (the Canary Islands are interesting, but too far to include in this trip).

Before handing out my next bit of advice, a question or two: have you been to Europe before? (for that matter have you been to Spain before?)? I ask because... I think for most of us, your choice of 4 places in Spain includes an odd one and skips an (arguably) "better" place: Valencia may be a nice enough Spanish city, but on a first trip to Spain, I'd give it a pass. Madrid, Seville and Barcelona, yes, these are great places to include (although Barcelona is tricky - see below). If (as I'm guessing) you've never been to Spain before, and you want to see "the best of Spain" as most North American tourists would probably define that, I would spend those 11 days between Madrid, Seville, Andalucia (the region in the south of Spain), and other top sights in/around there. That includes Toledo (near Madrid) and, Granada, Cordoba (the great Moorish cities of Europe), maybe the White Hill Towns, and if wiggling your toes in some sand by the Mediterranean is important to you, a day or so at some beach town south of there.

I would advocate skipping Barcelona. Not because it isn't cool and worth seeing (it certainly is), but because it's a long way from the rest of "Spain" (the parts most tourists want to see). Take a look at a map of Spain. Barcelona actually works as well a side-trip trip from southern France as it does from "Spain." To maximize your time being somewhere (rather than going between places) consider sticking to Madrid, Seville, Andalucia, and the towns/cities/regions nearby. There is plenty of great stuff to see there and 11 or 12 days will barely scratch the surface and give you a taste of that.

Hope that helps.

The above advice is very good, except where I'm going to respectfully disagree with some of it. I've been to Spain twice in February in recent years and this year in March.

Andalucia is the warmest, driest part of Europe so a great choice for February. Expect a little rain and some cloudy days, but it is more likely to be sunny. I don't know why Aussie David says no to Madrid and Granada. Nor do I know why Seattle David nixes Barcelona. It's about 2.5 hours by train to Madrid.

The beaches will be pretty deserted in February. Even if it's warm enough to sit on the sand, the water will be way to cold to go in.

If you tell us what your interests are, we'll be able to give you more suggestions and recommendations.

Thanks so much ekurth, Both davids and Chani for your much valuable recommendation.

We have been in Feb before - the weather will be much nicer than Toronto but not exactly beach weather - you might get lucky and hit a warm spell. The trade-off (and well worth it) is the reduced # of tourists - priceless.

Do you plan on driving or using the train between destinations?

Traveling with toddlers you might consider 3 locations and cut down the moves by 1.

As a Toronto native I know you can cope with cold weather, however, wanting to spend time in the Canaries indicates to me a desire for some warmth. Granada and Madrid in February have an average maximum of 12c, often with icy winds.