The European year
February in Europe
13 recurring fixtures, 3 countries at their best and 1 in the quieter shoulder — which is usually where you should be going.
On in February
Andorra la Vella winter sports season
Grandvalira and Vallnord
Vienna Ball season
Vienna
Carnival of Binche, with the Gilles and the oranges
Binche
Rijeka Carnival
Rijeka
Karneval / Fasching
Cologne, Mainz, Düsseldorf
Carnevale
Venice, Viareggio, Ivrea
Independence Day
Nationwide
Carnival
Valletta and Nadur
Kotor Carnival
Kotor
Mimosa Festival
Herceg Novi
Maslenitsa, the pancake week before Lent
Nationwide
Kurentovanje, a masked winter-driving-out rite
Ptuj
Fasnacht, Basel's carnival, starting at 4 am
Basel
At their best in February
Peak season: the weather works, everything is open, and so is everyone else's calendar.
Quieter, and often better, in February
Shoulder season. The Journey Planner scores these upward rather than downward for exactly this month.
Where we would actually send you
Quiet places in countries that are in shoulder season this month — the intersection of the two things that matter. The drawing is where those six are, on one frame. Drawn from Natural Earth 1:110m admin 0 countries, public domain.