London in February: Weather, Events and the Best Tours
Written and checked by the Best London Tours editorial team. .
February is the driest month of the London winter at 54mm across eleven wet days, and the month the London Eye comes back after its January maintenance shutdown. Daylight passes ten hours mid-month and the city gains 1 hour 40 minutes of it across February.
Quick pick: the best London tours in February
| # | Tour | Best for | Duration | From | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Afternoon Tea | Valentine's weekend, 12 to 14 February | 1.5 hours | £83 | 4.6 (82) |
| 2 | Thames Dinner Cruise | The other Valentine's booking | 3 hours | £95 | 4.3 (2,412) |
| 3 | London Eye | It is running again | 30 minutes | £25 | 4.6 (39,011) |
| 4 | Harry Potter Studio Tour | Half-term, 15 to 19 February | 7-9 hours | £85 | 4.6 (10,822) |
| 5 | Madame Tussauds | A weatherproof half-term afternoon | 2.5 hours | £24 | 4.6 (23,025) |
| 6 | SEA LIFE London | Younger children, ninety minutes, warm | 1.5-2 hours | £25 | 4.4 (3,678) |
| 7 | London Dungeon | Older children on the same South Bank stretch | 1.5-2 hours | £24 | 4.6 (4,666) |
| 8 | The Shard | Cold clear air and a 17:15 sunset | 1 hour | £24 | 4.5 (9,727) |
| 9 | Tower of London | The last month of winter hours | 2-3 hours | £37 | 4.6 (31,489) |
| 10 | Churchill War Rooms | An underground hour when the wind is easterly | 2.5 hours | £67 | 4.5 (1,001) |
Prices, ratings and review counts verified against live GetYourGuide listings on 28 July 2026. Duration varies by the option you choose at checkout.
Is February a good time to visit London?
February is January with the worst edges taken off. It is the driest of the winter months at 54mm, daylight crosses ten hours by the 15th, and the London Eye is running again. Prices stay near their winter floor except for the half-term week, 15 to 19 February.
The case for February over January is arithmetic. You gain a degree and a half on the average high, you lose a wet day, you gain an hour and forty minutes of daylight across the month, and the single largest attraction in the city is open again. Almost nothing gets worse. Only the half-term week, 15 to 19 February, brings prices and queues back up to something like autumn levels.
It is also the month with the most concentrated set of reasons to book something specific. Chinese New Year falls on Saturday 6 February and London stages one of the largest celebrations outside Asia across Chinatown, Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square. Valentine's Day is Sunday 14 February, which pushes the restaurant and dinner-cruise market hard for that whole weekend.
What has not improved is the cold. A 9.2C mean high and a 2.6C mean low make February the second-coldest month, and it produces London's rare genuine cold snaps more often than December does. Dress for January and be pleasantly surprised.
London weather in February
February averages 9.2C highs and 2.6C lows with 54mm of rain across eleven wet days, the driest of the winter months, though April at 40mm is drier still. Sunset is 17:15 on the 15th and daylight reaches 10 hours exactly, having gained 1 hour 40 minutes across the month.
| Measure | February | Annual context |
|---|---|---|
| Average high | 9.2C | Ranges from 7.7C in January to 22.6C in July |
| Average low | 2.6C | Ranges from 1.7C in January to 13.9C in July |
| Rainfall | 54mm | Driest is April at 40mm, wettest is October at 77mm |
| Wet days (1mm or more) | 11 days | Fewest in April at 10, most in March at 13 |
| Daylight, mid-month | 10h 00m | From 7h 52m in mid-December to 16h 36m in mid-June |
| Sunrise and sunset, 15th | 07:14 to 17:15 | From 15:51 in mid-December to 21:19 in mid-June |
| Change across the month | gains 1h 40m | Clocks go back on 25 October 2026 and forward on 28 March 2027 |
Temperature, rainfall and wet days are the 2015 to 2024 means from ERA5 reanalysis for central London, 2015 to 2024, via the Open-Meteo historical archive. Daylight, sunrise and sunset are for the 15th, from timeanddate.com sunrise and sunset tables for London.
Fifty-four millimetres is the lowest monthly rainfall in the whole autumn and winter half of the London year. It is not the driest month overall, which is April at 40mm, but among the months you might be worrying about weather for, February is the one that most often surprises people. Eleven wet days out of twenty-eight still means two days in five, so this is relative rather than absolute good news.
Daylight is the more meaningful change. Sunset moves from 16:49 on 1 February to 17:38 on the 28th, crossing the psychologically important 17:00 mark in the first week. That is the point in the year when an afternoon in London stops feeling truncated, and it is the single biggest difference between a January and a February trip.
The cold is where February holds its ground. The 2.6C mean low is only a degree above January and the month is more prone to short, sharp easterly cold spells than December is. When those arrive they are dry and clear rather than wet, which makes them excellent for views and unpleasant for standing still.
Crowds, prices and what to book ahead
February splits cleanly around one week. The 15th to the 19th is the English half-term break and family attractions run at autumn levels for it. Either side of that week, London is close to its January quiet. Valentine's weekend puts real pressure on dinner cruises and afternoon tea.
The half-term week is the only sustained demand spike in the month. The Warner Bros Studio Tour, SEA LIFE, Madame Tussauds and the London Dungeon all fill for it, and the London Eye, freshly reopened, sells its good slots. If you are travelling with children this is your week and it needs booking; if you are not, the first two weeks and the last week of February are materially cheaper and quieter.
Valentine's Day falls on Sunday 14 February, which makes the whole weekend of the 12th to the 14th the busiest restaurant trading period of the first quarter. The Thames dinner cruise and the afternoon tea experience in our list both sell out for those dates well ahead, and both charge a premium for them. Book two to three weeks out or pick the following weekend.
Chinese New Year on Saturday 6 February concentrates a very large crowd into Chinatown, Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square for a single day. The parade and the stage programme are free to watch. It is genuinely worth going to, but the West End is difficult to move through that afternoon and restaurant tables in Chinatown are effectively unobtainable without a booking.
The best tours in London in February
February is ranked around two things the calendar puts in it: a Valentine's weekend and a half-term week. Romantic and family products move to the top, and the London Eye re-enters the ranking having been closed for the whole of January.
1. Afternoon Tea
4.6 out of 5 from 82 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £83 • 1.5 hours
First place on seasonal fit rather than review count, which is the largest single re-rank in this guide. Afternoon tea is a winter product and February gives it its biggest weekend of the year. Book by early February for the 13th or 14th, because those dates go first.
Best for in February: Valentine's weekend, 12 to 14 February
2. Thames Dinner Cruise
4.3 out of 5 from 2,412 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £95 • 3 hours
With sunset at 17:15 mid-month, an evening dinner cruise is still a fully lit-city cruise, which will not be true by May. Combine that with Valentine's falling on a Sunday and this is the month the product commands its highest prices.
Best for in February: The other Valentine's booking
3. London Eye
4.6 out of 5 from 39,011 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £25 • 30 minutes
Returns to the ranking after being closed for the whole of January for annual maintenance. February is also a good month for it on the merits: cold clear air after an easterly spell gives the best visibility of the winter, and a 17:00 slot catches the lights coming on.
Best for in February: It is running again
4. Harry Potter Studio Tour
4.6 out of 5 from 10,822 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £85 • 7-9 hours
The Hogwarts in the Snow dressing came down on 17 January, so this is the standard tour again. It is still the only full-day indoor option in our list and it is the first thing to sell out in half-term week, so book before you travel rather than on arrival.
Best for in February: Half-term, 15 to 19 February
5. Madame Tussauds
4.6 out of 5 from 23,025 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £24 • 2.5 hours
Twenty-three thousand reviews, entirely indoors, and easy with children in a 9.2C month. February half-term is its busiest week of the first quarter, so a mid-morning slot booked ahead is worth more than turning up.
Best for in February: A weatherproof half-term afternoon
6. SEA LIFE London
4.4 out of 5 from 3,678 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £25 • 1.5-2 hours
Ranked up for half-term. It is the shortest family attraction in our list, which matters when the daylight window runs to 17:15 and you want to do two things in an afternoon rather than one.
Best for in February: Younger children, ninety minutes, warm
7. London Dungeon
4.6 out of 5 from 4,666 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £24 • 1.5-2 hours
Sits next door to SEA LIFE and a few minutes from the London Eye, so a half-term afternoon can be built as a single indoor block with almost no walking between sites. Note the operator's age guidance before booking for younger children.
Best for in February: Older children on the same South Bank stretch
8. The Shard
4.5 out of 5 from 9,727 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £24 • 1 hour
February's easterly cold snaps produce the clearest long-range visibility of the year. With sunset at 17:15 mid-month, a 16:30 slot gives you daylight, sunset and the lit city, which is the same trick that worked in December but at a more sociable hour.
Best for in February: Cold clear air and a 17:15 sunset
9. Tower of London
4.6 out of 5 from 31,489 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £37 • 2-3 hours
Still on its shorter winter schedule until 1 March, so treat it as a morning visit. The compensation is that February, outside half-term week, is one of the quietest months at the Tower, and the Crown Jewels queue barely exists.
Best for in February: The last month of winter hours
10. Churchill War Rooms
4.5 out of 5 from 1,001 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £67 • 2.5 hours
Drops from second in January to tenth here, purely because February gives you more usable daylight and there is less need to hide from the weather. It remains the strongest indoor history experience in our London list.
Best for in February: An underground hour when the wind is easterly
The bike tour, photography walk, open-top bus, daytime river cruise and London Zoo all remain outside the ten for a fifth consecutive month. February's 2.6C mean low is the reason; they return from March and April as the daylight and temperature recover. Buckingham Palace stays closed for the season, with no 2027 opening dates yet published.
Events and festivals in February 2027
February has two dated events that genuinely move crowds: Chinese New Year on Saturday 6 February, celebrated across Chinatown and Trafalgar Square, and the English school half-term from 15 to 19 February. Valentine's Day falls on Sunday 14 February.
| Event | Dates | Where | Free? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese New Year celebrations | Saturday 6 February | Chinatown, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square | Free to attend |
| Valentine's Day | Sunday 14 February | Citywide, restaurants and cruises at a premium | Ticketed |
| School half-term | Monday 15 to Friday 19 February | Family attractions at peak | Not applicable |
| London Eye reopens | From the start of February | South Bank, SE1 | Ticketed |
| Changing the Guard | Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays | Buckingham Palace forecourt | Free to watch |
London's Chinese New Year celebration is one of the largest outside Asia and it is free. The parade sets off in the late morning and the stage programme in Trafalgar Square runs through the afternoon, with Chinatown itself effectively pedestrianised for the day. Go early if you want to move around, and do not plan to eat in Chinatown without a booking.
Half-term is the one week in February when London prices behave like autumn. It runs Monday 15 to Friday 19 February for most English schools, though individual authorities and independent schools vary by a week either side. Family attraction slots, particularly at the Warner Bros Studio Tour, should be booked before you travel.
Valentine's Day on Sunday 14 February pushes demand into the whole preceding weekend. The two products in our list that feel it are the Thames dinner cruise and the afternoon tea experience, and both charge a premium and sell out for the 13th and 14th. The following weekend is materially cheaper for an identical experience.
What is closed in February
February is the lightest closure month in the winter half. The London Eye is back after its January shutdown. Buckingham Palace stays closed and the Tower of London remains on winter hours for one more month before switching back on 1 March.
| Site or service | Closed | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Buckingham Palace State Rooms | All month | Closed since 27 September. The 2027 summer season dates had not been published when this page was written, so no reopening date is stated here. |
| Tower of London | Winter hours, final month | The shorter winter schedule runs through February. Summer hours return on 1 March, which makes March a materially better month for a Tower visit. |
| Somerset House ice rink | All month | The season ran 11 November to 10 January and the rink is long gone by February. |
| Hogwarts in the Snow | All month | The Christmas dressing at the Warner Bros Studio Tour finished on 17 January. The tour runs all year in its standard form. |
| Changing the Guard | Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays | Monday, Wednesday and Friday only. February cold snaps and high winds are a common cause of same-day cancellation. |
Buckingham Palace opening season: Royal Collection Trust, visiting Buckingham Palace. Changing the Guard days are published a month at a time on the Household Division Changing the Guard listing, and the ceremony can be cancelled at short notice in bad weather.
The most useful thing about February's closure list is how short it is. The London Eye is running again, nothing seasonal has an end date inside the month, and the only structural limitation is the Tower of London's winter hours, which expire on 28 February.
That makes February the first month since September in which an itinerary can be built without working around a major closure. It is worth weighing against the temperature: a 2.6C average low is not comfortable, but a month where everything is open and nothing is crowded has real value.
As in every month of this guide, we do not state a 2027 Buckingham Palace season. The Royal Collection Trust had not published those dates when this was written. The pattern in recent years has been a July to September window announced a few months ahead, and the 2026 season ran 9 July to 27 September, but a pattern is not a date.
What to wear and pack for London in February
February needs January's kit with one addition: something for cold, dry, windy days. The month averages 9.2C highs and 2.6C lows and it produces London's sharpest cold snaps, which are clear rather than wet and which make wind protection matter more than waterproofing.
The February cold snap is a different animal from January drizzle. It arrives from the east, it is dry, the sky is clear and the wind chill along the river and across the parks is severe. That is the weather in which a windproof outer layer, a scarf and gloves make more difference than a heavier coat would.
On the other hand, February gives you the first genuinely usable late afternoons since October. Sunset at 17:15 mid-month and 17:38 by the 28th means you can plan two outdoor blocks in a day again, which changes what is worth carrying: a bag light enough to walk with all day beats one packed for every eventuality.
- A windproof outer layer for the easterly cold snaps
- Scarf and gloves, more useful in February than a thicker coat
- Waterproofs still, for eleven wet days out of twenty-eight
- Booked Valentine's dates if you are travelling on the 13th or 14th
- Booked half-term slots if you are travelling between the 15th and the 19th
How we chose these tours
February is ranked on the two dates the calendar hands it. Afternoon tea and the dinner cruise go to the top for the Valentine's weekend of the 12th to the 14th. The family attractions move up for half-term from the 15th to the 19th. And the London Eye simply re-enters the list, because it is open again.
- Popularity first. The base order is the verified review count on the live GetYourGuide listing, which is the only booking signal we can check independently.
- Then seasonal fit. A tour moves up or down for a specific, stated reason tied to February: temperature, wet days, sunset time, school holidays or a closure. Every move is explained in the entry itself rather than left implied.
- Closed means out. If an attraction is shut for the month, it does not appear in the ten at any rank, however popular it is. We name it in the closures table instead so you can plan around it.
- Nothing is invented. Prices, star ratings and review counts come from the live product page, checked on 28 July 2026. We do not publish an opening time, closure or event date we could not confirm, and we say so where we could not.
- We earn a commission. Booking links go to GetYourGuide and pay us if you book. That does not change the ranking: the review counts are public and you can check every one of them against the listing.
FAQs about London in February
Is the London Eye open in February?
Yes. The wheel closes for the whole of January for annual maintenance and reopens in February, so February is the first month of the year in which it operates. It is also a good month for it on the merits, because the cold clear air that follows an easterly spell gives the best long-range visibility of the winter.
Is February the driest month in London?
It is the driest of the autumn and winter months at 54mm across eleven wet days, but it is not the driest month overall. April takes that, at 40mm across ten wet days. February is still noticeably drier than October at 77mm, and drier than November, December and January, which is why it beats the rest of the winter on weather.
When is Chinese New Year in London in 2027?
The main celebrations fall on Saturday 6 February, centred on Chinatown, Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square. London stages one of the largest Chinese New Year events outside Asia and it is free to attend, with a parade in the late morning and a stage programme through the afternoon. Chinatown restaurants require a booking that day.
When is half-term in London in February 2027?
Monday 15 to Friday 19 February for most English state schools, though individual local authorities and independent schools can differ by a week. It is the only sustained demand spike in the month, and family attractions including the Warner Bros Studio Tour, SEA LIFE and Madame Tussauds should be booked before you travel for that week.
Is February a better month than January to visit London?
On the numbers, yes, on almost every measure. February is 1.5C warmer by day, has one fewer wet day and 7mm less rain, gains an hour and forty minutes of daylight, and has the London Eye open rather than closed. The only thing January does better is price, and only outside the 15 to 19 February half-term week.
How cold is London in February?
The ten-year mean gives a 9.2C high and a 2.6C low, making it the second-coldest month after January. February is also the month most likely to produce a short easterly cold snap, which brings dry clear conditions and a sharp wind chill rather than snow. Settled snow in central London remains uncommon in any winter month.