The late-winter escape: where February is reliably warm and bright. 20 seaside holiday towns and cities in Africa south of the Sahara were scored in February, and 8 rate Good or better. The five below lead, spread across the region.
Where to go
- 166 · GoodDurbanSouth Africa
A typical midday in February feels like 28°C, and the Sunbathing rating averages 66 over the stretch. Good weather here runs from late December to March, so there is room either side. See mid February on the map.
- 265 · GoodGrand BaieMauritius
Rated 65 (Good) for sunbathing in February: midday feels like 30°C, with often cloudy skies. The good spell lasts about seven months, from late October to mid May. Open it on the map at mid February.
- 364 · GoodMalindiKenya
Midday in February feels like 32°C under partly cloudy skies, which rates 64, Good, for sunbathing. Good weather here runs from December to February, so there is room either side. See mid February on the map.
- 463 · GoodBakauThe Gambia
A typical midday in February feels like 27°C, and the Sunbathing rating averages 63 over the stretch. The good spell lasts about six and a half months, from mid December to mid June. Rain is rare at this time of year. Open it on the map at mid February.
- 559 · GoodVictoriaSeychelles
Rated 59 (Good) for sunbathing in February: midday feels like 32°C, with partly cloudy skies. Good weather here runs from late May to February, so there is room either side. See mid February on the map.
How this list is worked out
The data
Every figure comes from a decade of weather-station observations, blended into one typical year and read at midday, local solar time. Scores here are averaged in February; a city missing a reading for any part of that stretch is left out rather than scored on part of it.
The rating
Sunbathing: Warm feels-like gates the score — best 26–32 °C. Dry air, light wind and clear skies each lift it; none alone rules it out. A place is also left out when its typical readings contradict its own rating, for example a high score alongside frequent rain.
The spread
To keep one warm corner from filling the list, entries are at least 150 km apart, no more than three sit within 1,000 km of each other, and no more than three come from one country unless the list would otherwise run short.
Only seaside places
Towns and cities within 12 km of the coast, with beaches and plenty of hotels, resorts and holiday lets within 10 km for their size. That keeps out hot inland towns and busy ports that nobody visits for the beach. Places to stay are counted from Overture Maps Places, an open dataset, so a resort missing there is missing here.
The dotted links open the map at that place and time of year, on the same layer. The map remembers the time of day you last chose there; set it to midday to see these exact numbers.