Where to travel in February: real winter, wildlife season or warmth
February is the shortest month and, in Lithuania, often feels like the longest. So start by deciding what you miss most: snow that stays white, wildlife, or sun.
TOLIAI editorial · 4 min read
Photo: Kris Tian / Unsplash
By late February the Lithuanian days are noticeably longer than in December, though it hardly feels that way. The snow, if there is any, is usually grey and tired; frosts alternate with thaws; spring is still only a promise. The Užgavėnės masks remind us that winter has to be chased away – but you don't always want to wait for it to leave on its own.
Our advice for February: choose a mood before a destination. Some people miss the kind of winter we rarely get any more – deep, quiet, white snow. Others want wildlife and wide open space. Others simply want warmth and colour. For each of these, February has at least one place where it's among the best months of the year.
If you miss real winter: Hokkaido, Japan
In February Japan's northernmost island is exactly the winter we remember from childhood, only deeper. Snowfall is usually heavy and the snow light and dry; mountain villages and forests look as if drawn in ink. In early February Sapporo usually hosts its snow festival, with huge snow and ice sculptures, and the midday sun is often far brighter than in Vilnius.
But Hokkaido in February is most rewarding away from the ski resorts. In the east, in the Kushiro wetlands, red-crowned cranes feed through the winter – tall, elegant birds whose dances in the snow have become a symbol of the region. On the Sea of Okhotsk coast, around Shiretoko and Abashiri, drift ice often arrives from around late January to early March; how much, and when, varies every year. In between are hot-spring towns by frozen lakes, where an evening in the onsen after a day in the cold becomes the best part of the trip.
What to watch: not everyone should drive a Hokkaido winter, so trains and a local driver are often the wiser choice. Sapporo's hotels fill very early in festival week. The flight is long and the time difference large, so anything under nine or ten nights would feel rushed.
If you want wildlife: Tanzania and Mexico
In Tanzania, February often falls in a short, drier gap between two rainy seasons. What matters most is what happens then: in the southern Serengeti and around Ndutu the great wildebeest herds usually give birth. The plains are green, the light is soft, and where there are many young there is no shortage of predators. The migration's timing shifts every year, so choose a camp with someone who follows where the herds are this season, not last.
After the safari, Zanzibar in February is hot and humid but usually still ahead of the long rains, which tend to begin in March or April. It's one of few months when safari and beach combine in one journey without real compromise.
A very different wildlife encounter waits in Baja California, Mexico. From roughly January to April, grey whales come into the warm, sheltered Pacific lagoons – San Ignacio Lagoon and Magdalena Bay – to breed and raise their calves, and February and March are often considered the richest months. Watching happens from small local boats under strict rules. Around it: desert, cactus, islands in the Sea of Cortez with sea lions, and a few quiet days in Todos Santos to finish.
In February, choose a mood first and a destination second.
If you need warmth and colour: India and Cuba
Rajasthan is perhaps at its most pleasant in February: warm, clear days, cool mornings and evenings, and the heat that arrives by April still far off. Jaipur's pink façades, Jodhpur's blue old town and Udaipur's lakes look in winter light the way you imagined them. Bundi's slower pace suits it too, as do a few nights in former palaces now run as family-owned hotels.
If greenery and sea appeal more, South India's Kerala is dry and warm in February, if humid. It's cooler up in the Munnar tea hills, and on the backwaters a boat moves so slowly you can finally stop planning. One thing matters for both: India is a continent, so choose one region and give it two weeks rather than trying to cover both.
Cuba in February is the middle of the dry season: warm but not sticky, with long, musical evenings in Havana's squares and on Trinidad's cobbles. In the Viñales valley the tobacco fields and limestone hills look best early in the morning. But Cuba needs clear eyes: in recent years the country has seen power and supply shortages, so check current conditions and official travel advice before planning, and build the trip with some slack.
How long to allow
February trips are often shorter than summer ones, so it helps to know how much time each destination really needs not to feel rushed.
- Hokkaido – nine to eleven nights, since just reaching the island's east takes time.
- Tanzania with Zanzibar – about two weeks: at least five or six nights on safari, four or five on the beach.
- Baja California – around ten days, two or three of them at a whale lagoon.
- Rajasthan or Kerala – two weeks for one region.
- Cuba – ten to twelve days if you want more than Havana.
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