"Or maybe visiting Munich for the first time, visiting a castle or two, one or two day trips over a 5 or 6-day trip."

Munich is a train hub, great for longer trips out of town to Salzburg, Garmisch, Füssen, all 1.5 - 2 hours away. Munich typically has harsher winters than the western side of the country.

The southern part of the Rhine near Freiburg is one of the warmer areas. Stay in this area and you can daytrip to Stuttgart, into to the Black Forest, or to Basel (CH), Strasbourg (FR), or Colmar (FR.)

Alternatively, Mainz, which also has a milder climate, is only about 20 min. from Frankfurt airport. It has a fine Romanesque cathedral and a nice old town area, and its good train connections encourage daytrips to Frankfurt (30-40 min.), to Worms and Speyer (about 30 and 60 min., respectively) for their cathedrals, to Heidelberg (about 60-90 min.), and to the castle-filled Middle Rhine Valley (45-60 min. to St. Goar for Rheinfels Castle (open weekends), a bit longer to Braubach for Marksburg (open daily.)

www.marksburg.de
www.st-goar.de/17-1-.html

If you stay in Mainz through Feb. 20, you'll catch the huge Rose Monday "Fasnacht" (Carnival) celebration.

Scrb11, have you considered Sicily? I spent a week there once in mid-February and the weather was very agreeable for touring....

Sevilla would normally be quite nice at this time of year. Last 15 years statistics for the first two weeks of February says daily highs between 58 and 68F and an average of six hours sun pr. day. Cooler in Granada.
http://www.wetteronline.de/cgi-bin/regframe?3&PRG=cityklima&ART=MAX&CONT=euro&WMO=08391&LANG=de&BKM=Spanien/Sevilla

Perhaps visit close by, small and charming Carmona:
http://www.andalucia.com/province/sevilla/carmona/home.htm

Or go into the Aracena area north-west of Sevilla:
http://www.andalucia.com/province/huelva/aracena/home.htm
http://www.andalucia.com/rural/walking/forgotten.htm

Then you would be close to what must be the jamón/ham capital of the world, Jabugo: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2001/09/09/AR2005041402505.html

Very knowledgeable tapas bar/restaurant suggestions in Sevilla by districts. Azahar lives there. Be sure to visit places outside the touristy Santa Cruz area. I love the Arenal, San Lorenzo and Triana "barrios", much more local atmosphere. http://azahar-sevilla.com/sevilletapas/

Broad and updated info about Sevilla: http://www.exploreseville.com/

Russ, I went to Salzburg and Vienna in late Jan/early Feb a few years ago. Weather was pretty good, not too windy, not too cold, some snow. If Munich and the area around it are like that, it would be great.

I'll have to look at Frieburg and the area around Frankfurt, hadn't thought of them yet. Of course, if weather was the only factor, I'd go to Spain instead of Germany. I lean towards visiting new places over places I've visited before.

Lateday, I went to Sicily last June. Definitely want to go back but probably not so soon.

Kimhe, Really liked my previous trip to Andalusia. So if not this trip, then definitely another time. Spain certainly has weather and daylight over Germany.

I hate to be negative - but London, Amsterdam and Munich are all at least as likely to have freezing rain as snow that time of year.

For a better chance of the wether you want you really need to head to souther Spain.

My advice is to assume the weather will stink and just go to the city that most interests you.

If cold rain would be a true deal-breaker that you don't want to risk, then I would advise avoiding Europe entirely during February.

Amen Gourmet!

Have you been to Northern Spain? What about Barcelona? I think it wouldn't be as cold as Germany & Amsterdam, but would be very different from Andalucia. Or choose a city that has lots of museums in case you have a lot of freezing rain.

Obviously this is not the optimal time to go. I have a trip to Italy in May as well.

The timing of this trip is due to the need to take some vacation days (our company doesn't let you accumulate more than 240-hours) and the need to complete a trip by mid February for a status match on Continental/United.

South America would be nice but currently flights to Buenos Aires are going for more than double to any of these places in Europe.

So given the bigger trip in May, I'm looking to keep costs down for this shorter trip.

"I hate to be negative - but London, Amsterdam and Munich are all at least as likely to have freezing rain as snow that time of year."

Hmm, supposedly February is the driest month, and also the coldest month, in those cities.

But OTOH, ran into some cold, blustery weather in Berlin in July a few years ago too.