Runs the scoring program behind every ranking on the site, and writes the world, month, solo and budget lists that come out of it.
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February is when the south of Europe gets its light back. In this month's top three, every city averages more than eight hours of sunshine a day, and Madrid, cold at night but bright by day, climbs straight to second. North of the Alps, February is still a winter month, only a little kinder than January, and the prices are still low.
The ranking blends the two. Weather makes up 40% of each city's February score and our Snack Score, the measure of how good one night is, makes up 60%. So the cold cities that make it here do so because their 24 hours are strong, not because of the forecast. Expect a gap of more than a point between third and fourth, and two cities, Prague and Budapest, tied on the same score.
At a glance
Best overall
Lisbon: a 61°F (16°C) high, 8.3 hours of sun, 7.3 rain days
Sunniest and driest
Madrid: 8.4 hours of sun and 5.2 rain days
Best cold-weather night
Budapest: the outdoor pools at the Széchenyi bath
Fastest from London
York, 105 minutes by LNER; Paris, 136 minutes by Eurostar
Valentine's weekend
Sunday, February 14, 2027: arrive Friday the 12th
Last month of winter hours
Rome's Colosseum, to February 28, 2027
The ranking
Score = 40% this month’s weather + 60% the Snack Score, plus a market bonus in November and December for cities with a Christmas market. No more than 3 cities from one region. How we score
Lisbon stays first, and February strengthens its case: a 61°F (16°C) high, a 49°F (9.5°C) low, 7.3 rain days and 8.3 hours of sun give a weather score of 9.1, the best in this top ten. Its Snack Score (7.7) is lower than Rome's, but the cheaper night, $66 (£49) per person, and a 20-minute metro from the airport for $2.20 (£1.60; €1.92) make up the difference. February is the last month of the castle's winter hours, so be at São Jorge before its 5:30 p.m. last entry. Jerónimos is closed on Mondays.
Madrid jumps to second on the sunniest February here, 8.4 hours a day, with only 5.2 rain days and a 57°F (14°C) high. Nights are cold, around 37°F (3°C), but the plan is built for the evening: a tapas crawl on Cava Baja and the Mercado de San Miguel, open to 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Its after-dark score is a 10. The catch is the room: $118 (£88) for January 15, 2027, the dearest of the top three. The Reina Sofía is closed on Tuesdays and needs a timed ticket, $13.50 (£10.10; €12).
Rome is third by 0.02 and has the strongest 24 hours of the three leaders, a Snack Score of 8.1. Its February is a little wetter, 9.1 rain days, with a 58°F (14.5°C) high and 8.3 hours of sun. This is the last month of the Colosseum's winter timetable: last entry 3:30 p.m. until February 28, 2027, with timed tickets at $20 (£15.10; €18). Visit the Trevi Fountain at 8 a.m., before the $2.20 (£1.70; €2) basin fee starts at 9 a.m. One night costs $119 (£89) per person, the most in the top three.
London leads the second group. Its February weather scores 4.9, with a 49°F (9°C) high and 11.2 rain days, but a Snack Score of 8.0 lifts it over Paris by 0.08. The plan does well in gray weather: Westminster Abbey, Borough Market, Tate Modern and the British Museum. On Valentine's weekend, note that the Abbey closes to visitors at 1 p.m. on Saturdays and all day on Sundays, so Friday is the day for it. The Elizabeth line from Heathrow takes 32 minutes for $21 (£15.50).
Paris is fifth on a February weather score of 5.0: 11.5 rain days, 5.2 hours of sun and a 49°F (10°C) high. Its Snack Score (7.8) is held back by a conditional verdict and a long 8.5-mile (13.7 km) route. For a Valentine's dinner it is hard to beat: the Eiffel Tower sparkles for five minutes at the start of each hour after dark, the last show at midnight in winter. Note the Eiffel Tower's new fares from January 11, 2027. A Bastille 3-star was $96 (£72) for January 15, 2027.
Vienna is sixth, 0.02 behind Paris, on a February weather score of 5.1: a 46°F (8°C) high, a 32°F (0°C) low and 8.6 rain days. A worth-it verdict and the steadiest prices on this list keep it close to the top six: $71 (£53) for January 15, 2027 and $78 (£58) for June 11. The airport Railjet reaches Hauptbahnhof in 15 minutes for $4.60 (£3.40; €4.10); the City Airport Train runs only as a bus until October 31, 2027. The Kunsthistorisches Museum stays open to 9 p.m. on Thursdays.
Prague ties Budapest at 6.52 and goes first on its higher Snack Score, 8.0 against 7.4. February is cold, a 44°F (6°C) high and a 30°F (-1°C) low, and the castle buildings still close at 4 p.m. If you land after noon, flip the day: Old Town and Josefov first, then the castle grounds, open until 10 p.m., for the view at dusk. It has the cheapest night in this top ten, $58 (£43), with a 24-hour ticket at $6.90 (£5.20; CZK 150). Dinner is at U Fleků.
Budapest joins the list in February with the best weather score in Central Europe, 5.2: a 46°F (8°C) high and 6.3 hours of sun. Cold air is what you want for the Széchenyi bath, whose outdoor pools are at their best in winter; the day ticket with a locker is $41 (£30; HUF 13,200) Monday to Thursday and $46 (£34; HUF 14,800) on Fridays and weekends. A District VII room was $71 (£53) for January 15, 2027. The catch: no nonstop from our ten US hubs, and the 100E airport bus takes 40 minutes.
York holds ninth with a February weather score of 4.6, a 47°F (9°C) high and 11.8 rain days, and the most compact plan on the list: 1.9 miles from the Minster to the railway museum. It has the shortest trip from London, 105 minutes on LNER. On a wet afternoon, Bettys on St Helen's Square stays open to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, so go late for a shorter queue. The 8 p.m. ghost walk costs $13.30 (£10). Book a Jorvik timeslot before you travel.
Dublin is tenth, with the wettest February in the top ten, 13.6 rain days, though a 40°F (4°C) low makes it the mildest at night after Lisbon and Rome. The Dublin Express coach reaches O'Connell Bridge in 28 minutes for $10.10 (£7.60; €9), and a 24-hour Leap Visitor Card is $9 (£6.70; €8). Build the day around the Guinness Storehouse, whose weekday tours run to 5 p.m., and a session at The Cobblestone. On a Sunday or Monday the National Museum opens only at 1 p.m.
The weather half uses each city's average February daytime high, rain days and sunshine hours from Open-Meteo's 2016-2025 record; a high between 63°F and 79°F (17°C and 26°C) scores best. The other 60% is the Snack Score, which you can read city by city in how we score cities. Each region is capped at three places. When two cities tie, the higher Snack Score goes first, which is why Prague sits above Budapest.
Valentine's weekend falls on a Sunday
February 14, 2027 is a Sunday, and Sunday is the day that breaks the most plans on this list. In London, Westminster Abbey and St Paul's are closed to sightseers on Sundays, and the Abbey admits visitors only until 1 p.m. on Saturdays. York Minster opens to sightseers for less than two hours on a Sunday. Madrid's Reina Sofía closes at 2:30 p.m. on Sundays, and in Dublin the National Museum opens only at 1 p.m.
The fix is to arrive on Friday, February 12, do the full plan on Friday and Saturday, and keep Sunday for walking and a long lunch. For the dinner itself, Paris and Lisbon are the safest picks: the Eiffel Tower sparkles on the hour after dark, and Lisbon's plan ends with dinner and fado in Alfama. More ideas are on the best city breaks for couples.
The last month of short opening hours
Several sights are still on winter time. Rome's Colosseum keeps a 3:30 p.m. last entry until February 28, 2027. Lisbon's São Jorge Castle closes at 6 p.m. from November to February and stays open to 9 p.m. from March. Prague Castle's buildings close at 4 p.m. until March 31, although the grounds are open until 10 p.m. In each case the answer is the same: do the outdoor or ticketed stop first and leave the evening for food.
Some things suit February better than summer. The outdoor pools at Budapest's Széchenyi bath are at their best in the cold. Madrid's Thyssen-Bornemisza stays open to 11 p.m. on Saturdays, and the Louvre to 9 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays, so a short day still has a late indoor stop.
What February costs, and what we did not measure
We price hotels on two Fridays, January 15 and June 11, 2027, and February sits between them. We did not price a February date, so the January figure is the nearest one we measured: Prague $62 (£46), Budapest and Vienna $71 (£53), Lisbon $89 (£67), Paris $96 (£72), Rome $111 (£83), London $115 (£86) and Madrid $118 (£88), each for the cheapest central 3-star-or-better double rated 8 or more, taxes in.
Our one-night figure, half the average room plus the airport ride both ways and a day ticket, puts Prague lowest in this top ten at $58 (£43), and London highest at $129 (£97). Of the three sunny leaders, Lisbon is much the cheapest at $66 (£49), against $94 (£70) for Madrid and $119 (£89) for Rome. Check the dates of school holidays at home before you book, since we did not measure those weeks.
Who missed the February list
Southern Europe had more strong cities than places. Barcelona (7.94), Porto (7.9) and Florence (7.88) all outscored London's 6.76 but sit behind Lisbon, Madrid and Rome under the three-per-region cap. Barcelona's February weather score, 8.9, is second only to Lisbon's, so it is the obvious swap if you have been to Madrid. Venice scored 7.36.
Kraków dropped out at 6.46: its February weather scores 3.4, the lowest in Central Europe, and Vienna, Prague and Budapest fill the region's three places. Bruges (6.22), Bath (6.2) and Amsterdam (6.14) were next. Copenhagen's Tivoli is shut all month, from January 4 to March 18, 2027.
Getting there from the UK and the US
Two cities on this list are rail trips from London: York, 105 minutes from King's Cross, and Paris, 136 minutes from St Pancras. Madrid and Rome have nonstops from all ten of our US hubs and from Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh and Stansted. Budapest is the hard one from America, with no nonstop from any of our US hubs, and Prague has only JFK. Dublin has US preclearance in Terminal 2, so you land at home as a domestic passenger.
Seven of the ten are in the Schengen area, where the Entry/Exit System has recorded fingerprints and a photo at the first border since April 10, 2026. ETIAS has no start date yet; when it begins it will cost $22 (£16.80; €20). Americans going to London or York need a UK ETA at $27 (£20). The March ranking is next.
Booking through these links supports this site at no cost to you. Prices move by date, so we do not print them here; the official prices we checked are in the page above.
Frequently asked questions
Where is warm in Europe in February?
Lisbon is the warmest city we rank for February, with a 61°F (16°C) average high, then Rome at 58°F (14.5°C) and Madrid at 57°F (14°C). Madrid is the sunniest and driest, but its nights are cold, around 37°F (3°C).
Where should I go in Europe for Valentine's weekend?
On our February scores, Lisbon, Madrid and Rome, all tagged good for couples. Valentine's Day 2027 is a Sunday, so arrive on Friday, February 12: Sunday closes Westminster Abbey and shortens hours at the Reina Sofía and York Minster.
Is Budapest worth visiting in February?
Yes, if you want the baths. February is cold, with a 46°F (8°C) high, but the Széchenyi's outdoor pools are at their best then. It is cheapest Monday to Thursday, $41 (£30; HUF 13,200), and a central room was $71 (£53) on our January 15 check.
Is Madrid good in February?
It is one of the best picks: second on our February list, with 8.4 hours of sun and 5.2 rain days. Dress for cold evenings, and do not plan the Reina Sofía for a Tuesday, when it is closed. See 24 hours in Madrid for the full plan.
Are European attractions on winter hours in February?
Many are. Rome's Colosseum keeps a 3:30 p.m. last entry until February 28, 2027, Prague Castle's buildings close at 4 p.m. until March 31, and Lisbon's castle closes at 6 p.m. until the end of February.
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