4 Ways to Escape the Winter Blues

Daydreaming of a day in the sun while freezing your butt off this winter? You’re not alone! Whatever your budget, how much time you’ve got, or just how hard the winter blues have hit you, we’ve got different solution to fill you with good vibes until spring finally comes. Check them out here!

4 Ways you can escape the winter blues in Berlin this year

Winter Blues Level 1: Sweat it out at a local day spa

It’s raining, it’s pouring, and you feel like you haven’t properly felt warm for the last two weeks straight. Why not hit up a sauna centre or day spa! You’ll be able to truly switch off (phones aren’t allowed in most spas) and sweat out the winter blues in saunas and steam rooms and maybe even treat yourself to a massage while you’re at it. Whether for a whole day at the weekend or even a few hours after work, some time at the spa will make you feel refreshed and re-energized, and totally ready to face the cold again.

• Try out: Vabali Berlin
• Cost: half a day usually around €40, depending on the spa
• Time: from a few hours to a day
• Transport: use inner-city freefloating bike or carsharing (depending on the weather!)

Winter Blues Level 2: Eat the pain away

Ok, you really need a change of scenery away from your office, the sofa, and the tram ride in between. This is a perfect pre-requisite for a short weekend city trip! To maximize your time away and keep costs down, choose a cheap Friday night or Saturday morning flight to a city not too far away. For the best winter-blues-busting effect, opt for a city you’ve never been to, with incredible history, vibrant culture and delicious food. And for an epic combination of all three why not head to Rome for a weekend! If the best pasta in the world doesn’t cheer you up, then I don’t know what will. (Actually, I do. Read on.)

• Try out: weekend trip to Rome
• Cost: Flights, 1 night stay and pasta probably around €200
• Time: 36 hours
• Transport: got to Berlin’s airports by carsharing. In Rome, use car, bike and scooter sharing with Free2Move

Winter Blues Level 3: Vitamin D levels critical

You’ve never liked winter in the first place and have 8 weeks of solid crap weather ahead of you? What you need is a healthy dose of vitamin D, my friend. Take off your weary winter beanie, slap on some factor 50 and sip a caipirinha on the beach. You can reach some actual winter sun as close to Europe as the Canary islands. Lanzarote, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and others offer sun, beaches, watersports and temperatures around 20 degrees. Treat yourself to a few days off work, pack a bathing suit and recharge your winter batteries.

• Try out: package holiday in the canary islands
• Cost: Flights, 4 nights stay and a snorkel probably around €500
• Time: 4-6 days
• Transport: drive to the airport with Carsharing: here’s more info. about carsharing at Berlin’s airports

Winter Blues Level 4: Before you pack up and move to Thailand…

You’re one snowstorm away from selling all your belongings and doing a yoga teacher training in Bali and becoming an Instagram travel star? GREAT! But before you go completely off the rails, maybe plan a proper winter holiday in the sun. Choose the dark and dreary months to head to the southern hemisphere or to equatorial regions, discover a new country or continent and take a proper break from cold, wet, dark winter. Yes, you won’t have as much holiday time to take off work in the summer, but when there’s lakes and parks and sunshine all around you, who needs to go on holiday!

• Try out: backpacking through Costa Rica
• Cost: Expensive (but worth it)
• Time: 2-3 weeks
• Transport: Use carsharing to arrive to the airport relaxed