Meteo Tossa de Mar (Costa Brava) in febbraio

Forum advice on skiing Andorra with children describes the base villages as sitting down in the valley, so depending on the weather you may ride the gondola to reach reliable snow - and it draws practical distinctions between bases: Soldeu works, Canillo offers an ice rink and pool for non-ski time, El Tarter's hotels are nice but the place is not really a village, while Pas de la Casa divides opinion. February's record is the shape of a ski month: 4.2-degree highs, nights at minus three, about 33cm of snowfall across the month, 8.9 precipitation days and 8.2 hours of sun.

Tossa de Mar's forum pushes back on the idea that Costa Brava winters are dreary: several posters describe January as chilly but typically sunny with clear blue skies, closer to a crisp day than the grey damp of a UK winter, which matches the destination's own mild low-teens-C average high. Most tourist-facing bars and restaurants close for the season in October, so the town reverts to serving its Catalan residents rather than visitors - it's quiet, but not shut down, and weekend day-trippers still fill the seafront spots when the weather cooperates.

Forum posters describe July as when the Costa Brava season really comes together - sea temperatures around 23C and genuinely comfortable for swimming, with the town noticeably livelier and warmer than earlier in summer. Posters note Tossa stays relatively calm midweek in early July, but by mid-month crowds build and stay heavy through the end of August, so early-to-mid-July offers a window with somewhat thinner crowds while conditions are already excellent. Heat and humidity are genuinely present by mid-July, and nights stay warm enough that even an after-8pm walk still feels balmy rather than cool - a real contrast to the shoulder-season evenings earlier in the year.