Silvaire wrote:
Having spent time in Trieste in mid-winter, and another time around this time of year having driven from Koper down the Adriatic coast, en route from Ljubljana to Zadar, I’m having a difficult time thinking of Portoroz as being a warm winter refuge! The Bora will be there waiting for you – and it’s cold.
That particular area is actually very rainy and very often hit by thunderstorms. Portoroz has on average 113 rainy days in the year (and 931mm of precipitation), less than near by Pula (more rainy days but less total accumulation of precipitation) and Rijeka (absolute champion in Croatia, sometimes breaking the world’s records in precipitation) but more than Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik.
Which shows once again that there is no such thing as a “Mediterranean” climate. In summer the situation all across the Med is pretty similar, but in other seasons the weather patterns vary significantly, caused by orography and resulting wind and wx patterns I guess.
And on a smaller scale there are many examples of microclimates that make or break certain locations when it comes to attractiveness in winter.
In Mallorca, not such a big island, there is a mountain ridge running from the southwest to the north. Quite a difference in winter temps, rainfall and humidity between being on one side or the other. I suppose the same would be true for any, for instance, Greek islands with mountains.
A good illustration is to see the significant difference between the climates on the islands of Mallorca en Menorca, just 30 NM apart. Menorca does not have such a mountain range and, in addition, is very often is caught in a strong and cool northerly wind, curving off the French side of the Pyrenees, hitting the island and missing Mallorca. For some it is seen as an advantage. Things are just a little cooler in summer..
And taking it to the nano-level, it is very important where precisely your house is located. That house on a slope of that beautiful hill will lose its charm once you realize that the winter sun disappears behind that hill at 14:00 PM..
I absolutely love the adriatic coast as a fly in destination, sailing, swimming etc. but I have been to Pula off season and it is actually a very depressing place. It felt like Covid lockdown but in 2018. There simply is not much going on beyond summer tourism in most places.
Every place is depressing in the rain 
I spent a week in Dec 2019 at Madonna di Campiglio, in rain and cloud, OVC000… And Switzerland, and Mali Losinj… and the nice places in southern Europe have much less general activity outside the tourist season; it’s just the locals going about their stuff, with most hotels and restaurants shut.
It seems clear that if you want somewhere warm in the winter, the only place in “Europe” is the Canary Islands. I’ve been there a number of times and it does work. Not always “shorts” wx but usually nice. And many N Europeans live there either permanently or during the winter. It is also OK for GA if you have a decent plane with enough range to fly from there, right across Spain and into say France. I think all airports there have 100LL and “of course” all will have customs and immigration.
Croatia is good for May to October; similar to Greece. From what I can see, Croatia is much more “functional” than Greece, for someone living there as a homeowner.
But as I said it depends massively on what you want to spend your time doing. If you can be totally self sufficient, nothing beats renting a villa on some lovely Greek island. Friendly people, cheap, nice wx except ~ 3 months. But if you want to mix, you want to be somewhere bigger than a small island.
It is true that in winter, things die down across the Med. But that does not count for cities. Actually, it is much more pleasant to visit Barcelona or Palma in winter. It’s a madhouse in summer, well, at least to my standards.
Weather-wise, Peter is right in that the Canaries are better than the Med. But depends a little on your life-style to define “better”. My wife and me actually don’t enjoy July and August that much weather-wise, simply to hot. Are you in for a summer swap @Buckerfan? 
We enjoy all other seasons. In spite of the days being shorter and some clouds/rain every now and then, it is perfect for just being outside, biking, hiking, working on our property. And VFR flying!
Here is a photo from the open window of the cub showing most of the Upper Harford airstrip, which is now about 800m long.
We live in one of the houses and own the surrounding land and strip. Sits in the middle of the Cotswolds, not far from Bourton-on-the-Water. UK regs allow us to fly in directly from any country, doing the immigration clearance on-line.
Seasonal swap, interesting idea…
Buckerfan wrote:
Upper Harford airstrip, which is now about 800m long.
Do you also operate the PA46 there?
Yes, but cautiously. Under MTOW, and using short field technique from the POH (2 stages flaps, 68 kts rotate speed vs 80). The first time I landed here I was scared, but it worked just fine. I put in 120 m of tarmac at the east end of the runway (out of the picture), and built it up a little to avoid slight wetness at that end. Despite heading uphill slightly as one takes off toward the west and prevailing winds, I am usually off before the first hangar.
Very cool!
Airborne_Again wrote:
According to Wikipedia, the daily mean temperature in Portorož in January is 4.7°C and the average high temperature is 8.6°C…
I’m not sure whether you’d think that warm or cold but I’m guessing maybe from the Scandinavian perspective it may not be so cold? It’s a lot colder regardless when the wind is blowing 40 knots as it was on both my winter visits to the area.
And for sure everything is relative.
