My 7 year old children have never left the country and we’re thinking of a bit of cheap February sun next year. Any recommendations/hints/tips/avoid etc. greatly appreciated. Probably Canaries or near by.

Its been a longtime since I shopped for holidays.

Yeah – probably Canary Islands are your best bet although it won’t be mega warm – probably around 20 degrees.

I’d avoid Fuerteventura; when we went fairly early in the season, the wind made it feel even colder & it was bloody windy there!

My favourite Canary Island is Tenerife. Las time there we stayed between Los Cristianos & Playa de las Americas.
There’s a good bike shop in Playa de las Americas, that does hire bikes. I hired a road bike for the day & struggled up some hills!! 😆

Tenerife would be my bet but you’ll pay through the nose for it during half term. Book now.

During our winter there is nowhere in the Northern hemisphere that’s properly warm and sunny

Have been to the Canaries many times during the winter it’s still pretty good in December but by Jan/Feb things are starting to go off. Although it very rarely rains the location means the weather tends to be settled good or bad, so if it’s grey and cloudy when you get there chances are it’ll be grey and cloudy when you leave. The wind can also be a problem – unlike here in the UK the trade winds in that part of the world are relentless and quite strong – 20 mph or so at the coast, more on the hills. If they pick up there is no escape

Having said that if you get a good week it will be good, but be prepared for something else. We’ve had it solid grey and 17 degrees in Jan and Spring-like but not amazing in Feb. Given the choice I would go Oct/Nov the islands have had all summer to warm up and it’s great at that time of year

imho 4.5 hours is a long way to fly for OK weather

HTH

We did Gran Canaria and Tenerife on consecutive years in January ~10 years ago, weather tended to be mild (~20C) but overcast. Used to be able to get great “all inclusive” deals of ~£300pp, nice food/drink and friendly staff. What spoiled it for us were aggressive street sellers on both holidays, so we knocked it on the head and have done Center Parcs ever since.

What spoiled it for us were aggressive street sellers on both holidays

As an aside they’ve had a much lighter presence in recent years, just the occasional Michael Kors salesman or hair braider mostly in the Tenerife fleshpots

I tend to engage them in conversation while mrs rocket walks off. They have a completely different way of life and yet have absorbed so much of our culture

To those of us in Aberdeenshire 20 degrees is tropical..

My wife leads me to believe that the excuse for a half-term up here is a week later than most English holidays.

Thanks for the input. Its something I know nothing about.

if your budget will stretch, cape verde is a couple of hours south of the canaries so will be a bit warmer (still breezy). but more expensive tho.

Madeira.

Malta?
Azores (Ryanair fly from Gatwick)
Madeira
Cape Town.