Where to Go in February: 16 Trips, from Costa Rica and Upper Egypt to Rio and Patagonia

FEBRUARY · WHERE TO GO · 16 TRIPS

No month spreads the choice wider than February. Book a week in Rio de Janeiro and you land in 87.9°F afternoons with a sea averaging 82.4°F. Take the same week in Kyoto and you are packing for 33.0°F dawns and eastern temples you get to yourself. The two trips sit almost 55 degrees apart at their extremes, Rio’s afternoons against Kyoto’s mornings, and both leave on the same Saturday.

February’s fixed points are worth knowing before anything is booked. The Atlantic hurricane season, June 1 through November 30, is long closed, which is why a Caribbean week now is the calm version of a Caribbean week. Carnival in Rio and Mardi Gras in New Orleans both move with Easter, so a February date lands inside them some years and a fortnight clear of them in others: check the year first. Kyoto’s blossom crowds are still weeks off, Patagonia is in the final full month of its trekking season, and Presidents’ Day, the third Monday, is the weekend when domestic desert rooms tighten.

Where is it hot and dry in February? Costa Rica, Upper Egypt and Oaxaca

Four February trips give you heat with the rain taken out, and the rain counts are what separate them: 0.0 days in Luxor, 0.2 in Guanacaste, 0.5 in Oaxaca, 1.0 in Jaipur.

Costa Rica

88.2°F days, 72.6°F nights · 0.2 rain days · sea 81.3°F · 11h 50m of daylight on February 15 · $$

A February week in Guanacaste is close to the safest weather bet in the tropics: 88.2°F afternoons and 0.09 inches of rain across the whole month, which works out at 0.2 days reaching a tenth of an inch. Heat without rain is the rare pairing, and this is where it sits. Five nights covers surf lessons at Tamarindo and a day inland, seven if Arenal joins the plan. The sea runs 81.3°F, warm enough that nobody hesitates at the shoreline.

Those figures belong to the Pacific side only. Book Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean coast for the same week and you are in a different rain regime, because that slope keeps taking showers straight through the northern winter. Our numbers come from a grid cell on the Nicoya side, so read them as the Guanacaste trip rather than the country.

Upper Egypt

75.0°F days, 48.0°F nights · 0.0 rain days · 11h 20m of daylight on February 15 · $$

0.01 inches for the month, and 0.0 days reaching a tenth of an inch. That is the number unrounded, and it is why the classic Nile itinerary is a winter one. You get Karnak at opening, the Valley of the Kings in mid-70s air rather than July’s furnace, feluccas at golden hour, then 48.0°F once the sun is gone, which is what the fleece in the bag is for. Seven to ten nights with Cairo included, and the Luxor to Aswan leg is the piece to book first.

Oaxaca

79.9°F days, 52.2°F nights · 0.5 rain days · 11h 38m of daylight on February 15 · $$

The 28-degree spread is the thing to pack for: 79.9°F at three in the afternoon on the Zócalo, 52.2°F when you leave for Monte Albán at dawn. Rain barely enters the picture at 0.17 inches for the month. Four nights handles the Tlacolula market, a day in the mezcal valleys and enough mole to justify the flight, arriving nonstop from Houston or on a hop through Mexico City.

Rajasthan

77.3°F days, 51.8°F nights · 1.0 rain day · 11h 17m of daylight on February 15 · $$

February is the last cool month for a Rajasthan loop, and that shapes the days: 77.3°F afternoons, 51.8°F dawns and a single rain day mean the forts at Jodhpur and Amber stay walkable from opening to dusk. Pre-monsoon heat builds through March and April, and the same itinerary then turns into early starts and long hidden afternoons. Give it ten to twelve nights with Delhi, since there is no nonstop from the US and the connection takes its cut at both ends.

Warm places in the US in February: Palm Springs, Death Valley and San Diego

The warmest domestic line in February is a desert one, and these four options run from 74.3°F afternoons in Palm Springs down to 66.2°F on the San Diego coast.

Palm Springs

74.3°F days, 42.9°F nights · 1.6 rain days · 11h 02m of daylight on February 15 · $$

This is the trip people underpack for. Afternoons hold 74.3°F with 1.6 rain days in the month, then the thermometer falls to 42.9°F once the sun drops behind San Jacinto, which is why the pools are heated. Three nights covers golf, the mid-century architecture loop and a Joshua Tree day, and the Presidents’ Day weekend is the one to lock in early.

Death Valley

73.7°F days, 49.0°F nights · 1.3 rain days · 10h 55m of daylight on February 15 · $

February is the month the park is walkable. Golden Canyon, the Badwater salt flats and the Mesquite Flat dunes at first light all happen in 73.7°F air, with 1.3 rain days across the month and 49.0°F nights that make a campsite comfortable rather than something to endure. In July those same walks are ruled out by the afternoon. Two nights out of Las Vegas is the standard version, three if Racetrack Playa is on the list.

San Diego

66.2°F days, 51.8°F nights · 4.1 rain days · sea 58.8°F · 11h 05m of daylight on February 15 · $$

Trade eight degrees against Palm Springs and you get the coast in exchange: 66.2°F days, 51.8°F nights and 4.1 rain days, more than twice the desert’s count, a couple of hours west on the same freeway. The water sits at 58.8°F, so the ocean is a wetsuit proposition and the beach is for walking. Balboa Park, the La Jolla sea lions and a taco crawl fill three days with a light jacket and nothing heavier.

New Orleans

66.4°F days, 49.7°F nights · 5.7 rain days · 4.13 in · 11h 11m of daylight on February 15 · $$

New Orleans matches San Diego’s afternoons almost to the tenth of a degree, 66.4°F against 66.2°F, and doubles the water falling on them: 4.13 inches over 5.7 days. Cold is not what shortens the trip, wet is, so anchor the days indoors and let the street time be opportunistic. Mardi Gras dates move with Easter, and parade season fills rooms weeks ahead in the years it lands in February.

Where is it summer in February? Rio, Buenos Aires and Patagonia

South of the equator February is high summer, and the week changes shape fast with latitude: 87.9°F afternoons in Rio, 79.8°F in Buenos Aires, 59.4°F at El Calafate.

Daylight is the other reason to fly south now. February 15 gives El Calafate 14 hours 21 minutes between sunrise and sunset, against 10 hours 55 minutes at Death Valley the same day. Nearly three and a half extra hours of trail time per day is what lets a Patagonian itinerary run on single long pushes instead of two half days.

Rio de Janeiro

87.9°F days, 74.7°F nights · 13.8 rain days · sea 82.4°F · 12h 54m of daylight on February 15 · $$$

Rio holds the warmest nights and the warmest water on this list: 74.7°F at dawn and a sea averaging 82.4°F. At midday Guanacaste edges it by three tenths of a degree, a gap nobody standing on Ipanema will register. Five nights is the workable minimum once the flight from Miami has taken its day.

The catch has a number on it: 7.37 inches of rain over 13.8 days, nearly twice the next wettest line here, Buenos Aires at 3.84 inches. Build the week with movable beach days and a couple of fixed indoor ones, and keep Sugarloaf flexible, since cloud takes that view first. Carnival’s dates shift with Easter, so a February booking may sit inside the parades or well clear of them.

Buenos Aires

79.8°F days, 67.7°F nights · 5.9 rain days · 13h 23m of daylight on February 15 · $$

Buenos Aires is the compromise between the other two: eight degrees cooler than Rio by day at 79.8°F, and eight rain days fewer at 5.9. You give up the beach and gain a city that stays out late, and the 67.7°F nights are what make that trade comfortable, dinner outdoors at ten with nothing over your shoulders. Four nights, then decide whether Patagonia gets added on the same ticket.

Patagonia

59.4°F days, 46.1°F nights · 6.4 rain days · 14h 21m of daylight on February 15 · $$$

February closes out the strong part of the trekking season, with 59.4°F days, 46.1°F nights, 6.4 rain days and a wind no monthly average conveys. Rooms in El Chaltén and El Calafate go early for this month, and the Perito Moreno boats run full. Seven nights is the floor once the Buenos Aires connection has eaten its day, ten if Torres del Paine joins the route.

Caribbean in February: Puerto Rico and the Yucatan

Both Caribbean weeks here sit around 80-degree water in February: 80.0°F off Puerto Rico, 81.0°F off the Yucatán coast.

Puerto Rico

83.4°F days, 70.5°F nights · 3.8 rain days · sea 80.0°F · 11h 35m of daylight on February 15 · $$

This is the Caribbean with the paperwork removed: no passport, dollars in the machines, your own phone plan, domestic bag rules at the gate. Behind that convenience sit 83.4°F afternoons, 3.8 rain days and an 80.0°F sea. Four or five nights splits neatly between Old San Juan and the east coast, with El Yunque as the rain-day move, since a rainforest is the one place a shower costs you nothing.

The Yucatan

79.5°F days, 72.4°F nights · 2.6 rain days · sea 81.0°F · 11h 31m of daylight on February 15 · $$

1.08 inches over 2.6 days is dry, and it is not the extreme kind: twelve times what Guanacaste collects, a seventh of Rio’s total. Read it as a couple of brief afternoon showers a week and plan around them rather than against them. With the sea at 81.0°F and nights that barely dip below 72.4°F, the days run beach in the morning, cenotes or Cobá after lunch. Five nights, nonstop into Cancún.

Where to go in February for fewer crowds: Kyoto, Crete and Marrakech

The quiet options charge you on the thermometer: 66.7°F afternoons in Marrakech, 59.3°F on Crete, 47.3°F in Kyoto, where the nights drop to 33.0°F.

Kyoto

47.3°F days, 33.0°F nights · 6.3 rain days · 10h 57m of daylight on February 15 · $$

You pay for room to move with 33.0°F dawns and 6.3 rain days, and what you get is Fushimi Inari’s torii at opening with space to stand still, plus a table at restaurants that would be gone in April. Five nights covers the eastern temples, a morning in Nara and one long kaiseki dinner. Layers and a hat matter more here than a coat, because the afternoons reach 47.3°F and the mornings do not.

Crete

59.3°F days, 47.1°F nights · 7.7 rain days · sea 61.9°F · 10h 57m of daylight on February 15 · $

Book Crete now for the archaeology rather than the swimming. The sea averages 61.9°F, 7.7 days bring rain, and much of the south-coast beach lodging is shut for the winter along with a good share of the ferry timetable. Knossos and the Heraklion museum stay open and stay empty, the mountain villages keep their tavernas running for locals, and 59.3°F afternoons are fine for the Lasithi plateau in a fleece.

Marrakech

66.7°F days, 40.3°F nights · 3.4 rain days · 11h 07m of daylight on February 15 · $

The 26-degree swing decides the suitcase: 66.7°F at four in the afternoon, 40.3°F before dawn, with only 3.4 rain days between. Riads are built to stay cool, which in February means a courtyard room can be genuinely cold after dark, so ask about heating when you book. Four nights buys the souks, the Majorelle garden at opening and a day toward the Atlas, whose snow line is visible from the roof terraces this month.

Where to go in February: Costa Rica, Upper Egypt or Oaxaca

Choose on rain before heat, because this month the two do not arrive together. The four driest of the sixteen (Luxor at 0.0 rain days, Guanacaste at 0.2, Oaxaca at 0.5, Jaipur at 1.0) are also four of the warmest, while Rio, warmest of all overnight, carries 13.8 rain days. A week built on Brazilian beach afternoons is a wager. A week built on Egyptian mornings is not a wager at all.

Then count nights against the flight map. Rajasthan and Patagonia both want ten nights or more, since neither has a nonstop from the US and the connection takes most of a day at each end. Puerto Rico, Palm Springs, Death Valley and New Orleans all work from a Friday. Two more February weeks live on their own guides instead of here: Jamaica, and Portugal region by region, where Madeira is the mildest option.

Last, look hard at which week you can actually take. Presidents’ Day, the third Monday, is the domestic squeeze, and the desert and the San Diego coast absorb that long weekend, while a Kyoto or Luxor booking is indifferent to an American holiday. For a domestic warm week we have not counted here, Florida has its own month-by-month calendar and Miami its own guide. If your window slides a month earlier, January’s options differ mostly south of the equator.

Where to go in February

Averages flatten elevation. Sedona, in the same Southwest as Palm Springs, runs 54.2°F days, 32.5°F nights and 4.9 rain days in February, twenty degrees cooler by afternoon than the desert one state west. They flatten the shape of rain too: Rio’s 13.8 days are downpours that clear inside an hour, while New Orleans’ 5.7 can sit over a whole afternoon. And half these lines come from a reanalysis grid cell rather than a weather station, which smooths coasts and ridges, so our Patagonia figures describe a cell near El Calafate and not the wind on the trail.

The last word

One decision, if February is the week you have and warmth is the point: book the dry line rather than the warm one, which sends you to Guanacaste or Luxor rather than Ipanema. And one figure to carry into the packing. The sea off Crete averages 61.9°F this month, three degrees warmer than San Diego’s 58.8°F, and neither of those is a swim. Save the suit for Guanacaste’s 81.3°F.

Sources & data for this guide

• Climate normals 1991-2020, computed per destination from Open-Meteo / ECMWF ERA5 grid cells: Costa Rica, Upper Egypt, Oaxaca, Rajasthan, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Patagonia, Yucatán, Puerto Rico, Kyoto, Crete, Marrakech, Sedona · checked Sep 14, 2026
• Station normals 1991-2020, NOAA NCEI: Palm Springs International (USW00003104), San Diego International (USW00023188), New Orleans International (USW00012916), Death Valley (USC00042319) · checked Sep 14, 2026
• Sea surface temperatures: Open-Meteo Marine API, mean of daily maxima 2015-2024 (Guanacaste 81.3°F, Rio 82.4°F, Yucatán 81.0°F, Puerto Rico 80.0°F, Crete 61.9°F, San Diego 58.8°F) · checked Sep 14, 2026
• Daylight on February 15: sunrise and sunset calculations per destination, sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 14, 2026
• Atlantic hurricane season dates, June 1 to November 30 · NOAA National Hurricane Center · checked Sep 14, 2026
• Carnival in Rio and Mardi Gras in New Orleans move with Easter each year. We have deliberately pinned no dates here: check the official Rio Carnival and New Orleans parade calendars for your year before booking rooms.
• Presidents’ Day falls on the third Monday of February under the US federal holiday calendar · standard calendar reference, not re-verified for this page
• Our editorial admission on the climate lines: the ERA5 figures are model reanalysis on a grid cell, not station records, so they smooth coastlines and mountains. Costa Rica’s numbers describe the Guanacaste side rather than the country, and Crete’s a cell near Heraklion.
• Budget tiers are our own relative February signals (flights plus typical rooms), not quotes, and they move with the week you choose.