February's weather map is January's with one degree added almost everywhere. What actually changes is the calendar around it: the Nordic and Dutch winter breaks, British half-term and carnival all land in the same three weeks, and they move prices more than the climate does. The same Canaries room can double between the first week of February and the third.

So the February question is really two questions: where is it warm (same three tiers as January — Canaries, Red Sea, long-haul), and which week are you allowed to fly? Our climate study recommends twenty-one destinations; these ten cover both questions.

The ten for February

1. Gran Canaria · 21°C · sea 19°C

February is carnival: Las Palmas runs one of the largest outside Brazil, weeks of it. The south-coast weather does its steady 21-and-sunny while the capital parties. Half-term pricing is real — the weeks either side cost a third less.

2. Tenerife South · 21°C · sea 19°C

Santa Cruz's carnival answers Las Palmas's, and the south coast stays the dependable base. The honest fine print from January still applies: pleasant, not hot, swim at your own enthusiasm.

3. Sal, Cape Verde · 26°C · sea 23°C

Still the best warmth-per-flight-hour in the Atlantic. February is core dry season with the trade wind at full reliability — the kite schools run daily, and the beach bars at Santa Maria don't change pace.

4. Sharm el-Sheikh · 23°C · sea 22°C

The Sinai's February is a notch warmer than Hurghada's and the reef wall at Ras Mohammed doesn't have seasons. Days at 23, evenings cool, visibility underwater at its winter best.

5. Dubai · 25°C · sea 21°C

Still in its prime window, and outside the European school weeks the rates breathe. February evenings are the year's best for eating outdoors without the summer's air-conditioning arms race.

6. Krabi · 33°C · sea 28°C

Peak dry season on the Andaman coast, a shade hotter than January. Railay's climbing mornings, four-island afternoons, and the last calm stretch before April's heat build-up begins.

7. The Maldives · 30°C · sea 28°C

February is statistically the driest month of the Maldivian year. If there's one month to justify the overwater premium — or to get the guesthouse version of the same sea — it's this one.

8. Punta Cana · 29°C · sea 26°C

Dry season, trade winds, zero hurricane anxiety, and a direct-flight map built for exactly this month. The all-inclusive strip is what it is; the Bávaro beach in front of it is genuinely world class.

9. Cape Town · 27°C · sea 15°C

Late summer, slightly quieter than January, the winelands in harvest. The sea remains a cold-water plunge with an audience. February is also the city's most wind-still stretch — Table Mountain's cableway cancels less.

10. Zanzibar · 32°C · sea 28°C

The short dry window between the rains: hot, blue, the spice farms green from December's showers. February is Zanzibar's secret best month — the crowds think it's only a July place.

Skip these in February

• The Mediterranean for swimming. Same cold-sea flags as January, same honest verdict: Alicante at 16 degrees of water is a city break wearing beach clothes.
• Bali. Still the wet monsoon. Six more weeks.
• Mauritius. The cyclone season's second act — the study keeps its flag up through February. The Maldives carry none of that risk this month.

The week you're allowed to fly matters more than the destination this month — the wheel shows what's delivering in the fortnight you've actually got, and every destination page pre-fills hotels and flights for its window. Affiliate links throughout; same price for you, details on the disclosure page.

Travelling in the school break? The February half-term piece prices what the premium week actually buys.