Ten days in February - give me suggestions on where to go

[sugarwood]

He is connecting the 2 weekends, and it's a 10 day trip, not 4.

[masraum]

I've been to southern Spain a couple of times. Dad was stationed there when I was in college. I haven't been there in Feb, but I wouldn't think it was too cold. I do know that a certain time of year they get serious wind off of the Sahara. Dad was Stationed in Rota which is near Jerez (town that sherry is named after) and Cadiz and not too far from Seville. We did tour from there to a weekend in southern Portugal once, Faro, I think. We also drove from Rota to Gibraltar, and also took a day trip from Rota to Tangier, Morroco. I thought the area was beautiful. The people and their way of life is really cool, and the food was also quite tasty. If the weather is decent in Feb, I think you could easily do something in southern Spain while seeing quite a bit.

[Otter74]

Originally Posted by Alfasrule

Go to Daytona, been going for over 30 years and missed a few year in between. It's a great experience. Stay East of the track, I pick a hotel on 1A and walk to the beach, not all years, but many!
NASCAR People are the very friendly and fun to hang around with.

I've been to the 24 Hour, but NASCAR doesn't interest me enough. In any rate, if I stay in the US for a vacation then, I'm going to the southwestern desert or driving up the Pacific coast or something like that. I'm more inclined to go overseas.

Originally Posted by imcarthur

For Cuba, if you want to stay local they are called Casa Particulares. You can rent a car & just drive into the hinterlands. Very safe.

South Africa - I agree with Motion. SA is stunning & very addictive. But that resort in Sabi Sands is $1K a night. The private reserves attached to Kruger are $400 - $2K per night. If you self-drive in Kruger, you can do it for $200 per night.

Morocco- A great destination although it will be coolish & cold if you go south over the Atlas & into the desert - which you should do. Marrakech is an assault on your senses & not to be missed but the real magic of Morocco is in the south imho.

Thanks for the tip on Morocco. I'll check with my sister, who was there by herself for her 40th in October. I eventually checked the prices on those resorts and...yeah no. Not my price range! I have a friend who travels like I do who went to Cuba in the past year, so I will check with him for his feedback too. I've even got a relative there.

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

Wherever you decide to go, keep in mind, that February is a bad month for flight delays in the more Northern regions, but those delays can affect the whole rest of the country with cancelled/delayed flights.

Indeed - I fly out of ORD, where I can be at security 45 minutes after walking out my front door.

Originally Posted by masraum

I've been to southern Spain a couple of times. Dad was stationed there when I was in college. I haven't been there in Feb, but I wouldn't think it was too cold. I do know that a certain time of year they get serious wind off of the Sahara. Dad was Stationed in Rota which is near Jerez (town that sherry is named after) and Cadiz and not too far from Seville. We did tour from there to a weekend in southern Portugal once, Faro, I think. We also drove from Rota to Gibraltar, and also took a day trip from Rota to Tangier, Morroco. I thought the area was beautiful. The people and their way of life is really cool, and the food was also quite tasty. If the weather is decent in Feb, I think you could easily do something in southern Spain while seeing quite a bit.

Andalucia is the area that interests me the most. It occured to me a bit belatedly that it would be easy to split a week between one or two cities in Spain and Morocco, though if I go to Morocco or Senegal I think it would be better to just spend a couple of days on either end in Spain. For some reason Morocco seemed 'meh' to me when my sister and I were talking about it before she went; then I saw her pictures and wondered what on earth I was thinking.

Someone is bound to mention India; I have been to the south on two occasions for two weeks each, both trips for weddings and then other travel. I'd love to go back, but not this time. I would really love to go back to Turkey, but this doesn't seem to be the right time of year for it.

[imcarthur]

In southern Spain, the Barrio Santa Cruz in Sevilla is a great place to stay & spend time. Lots to see & incredible food & wine. You could daytrip to Cordoba from there. Alhambra in Granada is mandatory imho. For the south coast, Nerja is a fav with Brit expats & Marbella for the jet set & Malaga for everything in between. Easy to drive too with some fun mountain roads. Lots of other villages to see as well e.g. Ronda, Jaen etc.

Madrid is a good entry or exit point because of its museums & more incredible food. But you can’t expect warm temps in Feb.

Other worthy destinations – but also not necessarily that warm in Feb – would be driving around Sicily or Crete. And being off-season, the hordes would mostly be absent in all of the above.

Ian

[bleucamaro]

I'm trying to get to Morroco via southern Spain in that time frame as well. We'd be going through Tangiers, Casablanca, Marrakesh, to Ait Ben Haddou. Also trying to do it on the cheap. I'll be happy if I can do the whole trip under $2k.

Flights from northern CA to Seville were in the low $500's a couple weeks ago.

[Jestocost]

Ireland, and cycle around the Ring of Kerry.

No language problems and the country is small enough to see a lot in that time.

[imcarthur]

I did a lot of research before our Moroccan trip. The general consensus in the travel forums is to skip Tangiers & Casablanca. Chefchaouen, Fes, Marrakech & Essaouira are the usual suspects that you want to go to as a tourist. If you want non-touristy go to a place like Taroudant but you won't like it . . .

You can get daytrips (a long day however) to hop over the High Atlas from Marrakech to Ait Benhaddou. For the desert you have 2 choices: Erg Chebbi or Erg Chigaga. Chigaga is much more difficult to get to but the remoteness makes it worthwhile. Expect 3 nights/4 days for either. You can self-drive Morocco but many choose not to (me included at the insistence of my spouse). It cost us about $1000 - $1200 USD for a private driver for 4 days with acc & meals on our trip to Chigaga.

Easy Jet has cheap flights out of CDG & Heathrow & Air Maroc out of Orly.

Ian