When the winter blues hit, it’s time to get out of town and find some fun and sun. All over the world, people are having fun to break up the routine of February. Visitors who want to party hard, relax in the sun, or get excited by seeing animals will not be let down. Here is a list of the best places to visit in February:
While winter celebrations usually happen in February, the times are subject to change because they depend on when Easter and the Lunar New Year fall.
10 Best February Destinations
1. New Orleans Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras was first celebrated in New Orleans not long after it was founded in 1718. In the beginning, parties were balls put together by the governor. Parades through town today feature fancy floats (only foot parades are held in the famous French Quarter), and people dressed in purple, green, and gold compete for strings of beads thrown from the floats.
Mardi Gras, which comes from the French phrase “fat Tuesday,” is the first day of the party. Mardi Gras has a reputation for being loud these days, but the event’s organizers say it’s still a family event, and people can avoid the rowdy crowds by staying out of the French Quarter after the parades.
2. Carnival in Venice
People often wonder, “Who is that man in the mask?” at the carnival in Venice, which takes place before Lent. That’s because the most famous thing about Venice’s carnival, which has been going on since the 1100s, is the masks that people wear. People’s behavior behind masks became so bad that wearing masks was officially banned for two hundred years.
It came back into the spotlight in the 20th century as a way to bring even more tourists to this canal city. A group of fashion and costume artists from around the world chooses one mask as the most beautiful near the end of the party.
3. Chinese New Year in Hong Kong
Some people in Hong Kong think their big event is one of the best in the world. It starts the Chinese New Year. The animal that represents the Chinese Zodiac for the next year is centered on a colorful float. Bands from all over the world play in the show on the first night. People in China go to churches to pray for a happy new year. The next few days will be full of flower markets, fireworks, and horse races. The 15-day Lunar New Year celebration ends with the classic Lantern Festival. Families get together and share gifts, which are usually red envelopes with money. It’s a lot like Christmas in the West.
4. Trinidad and Tobago Carnival
Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival has a lively Caribbean feel to it, with parades, people dressed up to take part, and dancing to the beat of island music. The fair is held every year two days before Ash Wednesday. This fair may be better for people who like to party since the opening party starts at 4 a.m.
Monday and doesn’t stop for two days. People dressed up in amazing outfits party like it’s no big deal before getting ready for the serious weeks of Lent. There are many kinds of events, such as limbo dancing.
5. Thailand
People from the north can get away from the cold and snow in February by going to Thailand. People think of this month as the last “cool” one before fall, and after Christmas, there are fewer people around. It might rain a little more, but not enough to ruin anyone’s vacation.
Tourists only need to choose where they want to go, like the beaches of Phuket the temples of Chiang Mai, the markets of Bangkok, or the hikes in the north of Thailand.
6. Oruro Carnival
The Carnaval de Oruro is one of the most important cultural and folk events in all of South America. It takes place every year in Oruro, just before Ash Wednesday. At the event, more than 28,000 dancers perform a wide range of ethnic dances.
The dancers are accompanied by about 10,000 bands. In Oruro, carnival always starts with the diablada, or devil dance. In Rio, the carnival has a different theme every year. Many of the artistic styles from pre-Columbian America are still thought to be present.
7. Pingxi Lantern Festival
Taiwan, an island country, celebrates the end of the Chinese New Year with the Lantern Festival, which is a very bright event. The Discovery Channel says that Taiwan’s party is one of the best in the world, so tourists won’t want to miss it. There are fireworks and lots of bright lanterns, especially at night in Pingxi, where thousands of lanterns light up the sky. In the 19th century, when this custom began, people in Taiwan would say a prayer for the coming year as they let their lanterns float above them.
8. Rio Carnival
Since it began in 1723, Rio de Janeiro’s carnival party has had a lot of time to get better. Rio’s streets are now filled with almost 2 million people every day, making it the world’s biggest party and one of the best places to visit in February. As the last big party before Lent, the event is marked by parades, bands, and people dressed up to have fun. Competition between samba “schools,” which are groups of people with similar interests who dress with a theme, is one of the best things to do at the carnival. In the parade, each group can have up to 4,000 people and six to eight floats.
9. Serengeti National Park
As of mid-February, about a million wildebeest come to the Southern Serengeti’s short grass fields to give birth. In just three weeks, more than 400,000 calves are born. Plains are full of young animals of all kinds, from zebra calves to the many predators that follow the migrating groups.
The plains are also home to newborn wildebeest calves. As soon as it stops raining, animals make their way north to the Masai Mara in Kenya. This is called “the great migration.”
10. Donsol Bay Whale Sharks
Travelers who like to try new things might enjoy a boat ride through Donsol Bay, where they can see whale sharks moving. When it comes to length, the whale shark is much longer than a whale, which is how it got its name. Because they like warm water, Donsol Bay in the southern part of the Philippines’ Luzon Island is a great place for them to live.
The protected species comes to Donsol from November to June, with the most sharks passing through between February and May. This is why Donsol is known as the “whale shark capital of the world.” This huge fish isn’t afraid to swim up to boats; in fact, some of them have scars from running into blades.
