5 Best Travel Destinations in February for Sun and Adventure

February is Mexico City at its most usable: the rainy season is months away, skies are clear and daytime temperatures sit around 73°F, so you can walk Roma and Condesa, queue for the Museo Nacional de Antropología and eat your way through markets without summer afternoon downpours. Nights drop into the mid-40s, which is a jacket problem, not a trip-ruiner. Because this is a working city rather than a resort, February is busy but not overwhelmed, and the hotel stock runs from hostels to grand old colonials. Give Teotihuacán a full morning while the light is good.

February sits inside Cartagena's dry season, and the trade winds take the edge off the heat: expect around 88°F, almost no rain and a breeze that builds through the afternoon. The walled city and Getsemaní are compact enough to cover on foot in the cool early mornings and again after dark, while boat trips to the Rosario Islands or Barú fill the middle of the day. It is a city break and a beach trip in one, and it pairs easily with Medellín if you want two stops. Rates are at their yearly peak in the Old Town, so book that first.

February is Cape Town's high summer: dry, sunny, around 80°F by day, with sunset not until nearly 8pm. That long daylight is the point. You can hike Platteklip Gorge or ride the cableway up Table Mountain in the morning, drive out to Stellenbosch or Franschhoek for a long lunch, and still reach Clifton beach before the sun drops. It is also the busiest and most expensive month of the year, so lock in accommodation on the Atlantic seaboard early. Bring a wind layer — the southeasterly known as the Cape Doctor can close the cableway and flatten a beach day.

February is the second half of the austral summer and the most reliable window for the W trek: daylight runs to roughly 14 hours, every refugio and campsite is staffed, and daytime temperatures hover around 60°F. Wind, not rain, is the variable — gusts can be ferocious on exposed stretches and the weather turns fast, so pack for four seasons in a day. The trade-off is that everyone knows this. Campsites and refugios on the W sell out months ahead, and flights to Punta Arenas climb in price through the season. Book the trek before you book anything else.

February is deep in Costa Rica's Pacific dry season: blue-sky days in Guanacaste, easy wildlife spotting around Arenal and Manuel Antonio, and beach weather that suits children. Humpbacks move through the southern Pacific during the northern winter, and the dry forest is at its most walkable. The Caribbean coast and the cloud forests run noticeably wetter, so pick two regions rather than trying to cover the whole country. It is peak season — lodges in Manuel Antonio and Monteverde fill up — and road transfers eat more time than the map suggests.