• European countries offer diverse winter vacation activities.Carte Europe Noir image by Aimohy from Fotolia.com
  
  For February vacation fun, pick a sport or a spa that is out of the ordinary and travel to a destination in mainland Europe, which extends from Finland on the Arctic Ocean to Portugal on the Pacific and France, Italy, Spain, and Greece on the Mediterranean. Inland Europe offers many winter-sport friendly mountain ranges, including the Alps, Pyrenees, Apennines, and the Cantabrian Mountains. It is also home to some of the world's most famous rivers, lakes, natural hot springs, and mineral water sources. For snow and ice sports, enjoying the beach and rivers, or relaxing at a spa retreat, Europe offers indulgent winter getaways.
  
  

Winter Sports

• Kite-skiing is popular in Norway.kiteskiing image by F/32 from Fotolia.com
  
  Visit Norway for a snowkiting (kite-skiing) experience in which kites make skiing uphill possible, or go to Finland and take a dog-sledding safari. Sweden is famous for snowmobile tours followed by saunas. Eastern Europe's Carpathian Mountains of Slovakia and the Czech Republic offer the general public the opportunity to try bobsledding and ski mountaineering (backpacking on skis) and have a number of Nordic and Alpine ski resorts. Switzerland, Austria, France, and Germany all boast mountain getaways and off-the-beaten-path winter sports. Try snowshoeing tours in the Swiss Alps, alpine skiing from four-star accommodations in the Italian Alps, Nordic adventures in Germany's Bavarian Alps, and ski-joëring--skiing while holding the harness of a galloping horse--in the French Alps. Combination vacations are possible in Spain and Greece. Do some challenging downhill skiing in the Pyrenees for a few days, then pop down to the Mediterranean shore for a few days on the beach. Even Greece gets snow on Mount Olympus and offers a chance to ski with the gods one day and sail on the Med the next.
  
  

Water Sports

• Scuba diving and spear-fishing are national pastimes in Algarve, Spain.scuba diver before diving image by janika from Fotolia.com
  
  Northern Europe is a not a winter vacation destination for water sports, as the bulk of its waters, both salt and fresh, freeze over during the long winter months. Southern countries, especially coastal Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy, and France have no shortage of whitewater, still-water, and saltwater vacation activities, including swimming, diving, sailing, and rafting. For an adrenalin thrill, take a body boarding and surfing vacation at one of many beach resorts featuring the world-class waves off northern Portugal. Spain's Algarve region is well known for teaching spear-fishing to scuba divers on custom tours. Charter a sailboat in almost any Mediterranean coastal city for a cruising holiday.
  
  

Spa and Wellness Retreats

• European spas offer wellness and relaxation in luxurious settings.Spa resort image by Canakris from Fotolia.com
  
  Belgium is home to the town of Spa, which is where the term for watery health, wellness, and beauty facilities originated. It has a number of coastal castles, which have been converted into spas and hotels. Trek to the Black Forest city of Baden-Baden in Germany and try a different one of its hundred-plus spas each day of the vacation. Home of many famous waters--Evian and Vichy for example--France has coastal spas that practice the saltwater therapy called thalassotherapy, and five-star Paris hotels with some of the highest rated spas and spa treatments in the world. Portugal and its Island of Madeira are renowned for elegant spa resorts built around natural thermal springs and pools. Hungary's Turkish Baths and Roman spas are as famous as its reputation for having the greatest number of healing natural hot springs anywhere on Earth.