Sunniest places to go from Amsterdam in December
In December, the sunniest well-known place within 15 hours of Amsterdam is Aswan, Egypt, 10.1 h of sun a day and 18.7 °C, about 8h 42m each way by air. Without flying, it is Reus, Spain, 7.9 h of sun a day, about 14h 48m each way by train, for about 24× less carbon (37.8 kg CO₂e return against 921 kg).
The 10 sunniest places within 15 hours of Amsterdam
Ranked on sunshine in December alone, among well-known places (a Wikivoyage travel guide and at least 40,000 Wikipedia readers a year), one per area and at most three per country. The carbon is shown, not used to choose: the list further down is the other question, how much sunshine each extra kilogram buys.
Aswan, Egypt10.1 h · 18.7 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 8h 42m · 921 kg CO₂e return
Luxor, Egypt10.0 h · 18.0 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 8h 30m · 882 kg CO₂e return
Hurghada, Egypt9.8 h · 19.9 °C · mostly dry · sea 24.7 °Cair ≈ 8h 24m · 926 kg CO₂e return
Maspalomas, Spain9.4 h · 19.7 °C · mostly dry · sea 21.9 °Cair ≈ 7h 48m · 810 kg CO₂e return- Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain9.3 h · 18.9 °C · 1.3 mm rain a day · sea 22.2 °Cair ≈ 7h 42m · 800 kg CO₂e return
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain9.3 h · 19.1 °C · 2.8 mm rain a day · sea 21.9 °Cair ≈ 7h 42m · 799 kg CO₂e return
Ouarzazate, Morocco9.3 h · 10.3 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 6h 54m · 647 kg CO₂e return
Aqaba, Jordan9.2 h · 18.0 °C · mostly dry · sea 23.5 °Cair ≈ 8h 12m · 890 kg CO₂e return- Ifrane, Morocco9.2 h · 6.9 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 6h 30m · 564 kg CO₂e return
Oujda, Morocco9.1 h · 11.9 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 6h 12m · 513 kg CO₂e return
Without flying
The sunniest places the train reaches within 15 hours. Reus is 7.9 h for 37.8 kg — about 24× less carbon than flying to Aswan.
- Reus, Spain7.9 h · 10.4 °C · mostly dry · sea 16.2 °Crail ≈ 14h 48m · 37.8 kg CO₂e return
- Barcelona, Spain7.7 h · 9.7 °C · mostly dry · sea 15.8 °Crail ≈ 12h 54m · 36.6 kg CO₂e return
Nice, France7.5 h · 9.2 °C · 1.4 mm rain a day · sea 15.8 °Crail ≈ 11h 54m · 28.9 kg CO₂e return
Marseille, France7.5 h · 9.0 °C · mostly dry · sea 14.5 °Crail ≈ 9h 18m · 29.8 kg CO₂e return
Zaragoza, Spain7.5 h · 8.0 °C · mostly dryrail ≈ 14h 24m · 37.4 kg CO₂e return
Toulon, France7.4 h · 10.2 °C · 1.3 mm rain a day · sea 15.2 °Crail ≈ 10h 6m · 30.4 kg CO₂e return
≈ is the model's estimate (air times include getting to and through the airport); ✓ is a rail journey checked against a real timetable, with the date it was checked. Temperatures are historical daily means for 2023–2024, averaged across day and night, so afternoons run warmer.
The low-carbon trade-off
The sunniest place you can reach from Amsterdam in December within 15 hours is Luxor, 10.0 h, costing 882 kg CO₂e return. The lowest-carbon option is Aarschot at 4.6 kg — 192× less carbon, for 7.5 hours less sunshine.
Every destination here is on the efficiency frontier: nowhere else this site covers is both sunnier in December and lower in carbon. Anything a better option beats outright has been left out.
By rail or ferry By air
| Destination | How | CO₂e return | Temp | Sun/day | Rain/day | Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aarschot, Belgium | Rail | 4.6 kg | 6.0 °C | 2.5 h | 2.6 mm | 4h 12m |
| Calais, France | Rail | 7.7 kg | 7.8 °C | 2.9 h | 2.8 mm | 5h 48m |
| Tübingen, Germany | Rail | 15.3 kg | 3.2 °C | 3.8 h | 2.6 mm | 8h 36m |
| Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany | Rail | 15.7 kg | 4.7 °C | 4.0 h | 4.0 mm | 9h 30m |
| Bern, Switzerland | Rail | 18.6 kg | 1.8 °C | 4.8 h | 4.8 mm | 10h 54m |
| Lugano, Switzerland | Rail | 22.6 kg | 5.9 °C | 6.5 h | 1.1 mm | 12h 48m |
| Marseille, France | Rail | 29.8 kg | 9.0 °C | 7.5 h | 1.1 mm | 9h 18m |
| Tarragona, Spain | Rail | 37.8 kg | 10.6 °C | 7.8 h | 0.5 mm | 14h 42m |
| Palma, Spain | Air | 361 kg | 12.4 °C | 8.3 h | 0.6 mm | 5h 24m |
| Melilla, Spain | Air | 502 kg | 15.2 °C | 8.9 h | 0.4 mm | 6h 12m |
| Bouarfa, Morocco | Air | 572 kg | 8.7 °C | 9.6 h | 0.0 mm | 6h 30m |
| Luxor, Egypt | Air | 882 kg | 18.0 °C | 10.0 h | 0.0 mm | 8h 30m |
Warm is not the same as pleasant, which is why sunshine and rainfall are shown alongside temperature. All three are ERA5 monthly means for 2023–2024.
Where the curve breaks
The frontier is gentle until it isn't. Going from Bouarfa (572 kg, 9.6 h) to Luxor (882 kg, 10.0 h) buys 0.4 hours more sunshine for an extra 310 kg — 774 kg of CO₂e per hour. That single step is the most expensive sunshine on the whole curve.
The pick of them
AarschotBelgium4.6 kg CO₂e returncool
TarragonaSpain37.8 kg CO₂e returnmild and brightLuxorEgypt882 kg CO₂e returnwarm, bright and dryThe same month, asked differently
December answers differently depending on what you are after, and the lists genuinely diverge: the brightest places are not the hottest, and in summer the useful question stops being where is warm at all.
Where to stay in Luxor
Places to stay in Luxor, Egypt, on a live map. Prices and availability come from Stay22 and its booking partners.
Search places to stay in Luxor →Opens the booking search in a new tab. Same partners as the map below.
Affiliate disclosure. A booking made through this map may earn 0xCarbon a commission, at no extra cost to you. It changes nothing above it: the emissions figures come from UK Government conversion factors and are computed before anyone is paid anything.See the method.
Other months from Amsterdam
December from elsewhere
- Amsterdam
- Barcelona
- Berlin
- Birmingham
- Bristol
- Brussels
- Cardiff
- Copenhagen
- Dublin
- Edinburgh
- Frankfurt
- Glasgow
- Leeds
- Lisbon
- Liverpool
- London
- Madrid
- Manchester
- Milan
- Munich
- Newcastle
- Nottingham
- Oslo
- Paris
- Prague
- Rome
- Sheffield
- Southampton
- Stockholm
- Vienna
- Warsaw
- Zurich
Photo credits
- Aarschot: EGS, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
- Tarragona: Pere prlpz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Luxor: Roland Unger, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Aswan: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Hurghada: Marc Ryckaert, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Maspalomas: JUAN RAMON RODRIGUEZ SOSA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Bengt Nyman, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Ouarzazate: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Aqaba: Sana Janakat, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Oujda: Farajiibrahim, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Nice: Moody Dreiza (Moody751 at English Wikipedia), CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
- Marseille: kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Zaragoza: Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Toulon: Rafi88, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Questions
Where is the sunniest place to go from Amsterdam in December?
Luxor, Egypt, at 10.0 h. Reaching it emits 882 kg CO₂e return, travelling 8h 30m each way by air (modelled).
Can I get somewhere sunny from Amsterdam in December without flying?
Yes. Tarragona reaches 7.8 h and is reachable by rail or ferry in 14h 42m (modelled), emitting 37.8 kg CO₂e return — though Luxor is sunnier still, if you fly.
How much carbon does a return trip from Amsterdam to Luxor produce?
882 kg CO₂e for one person, return, by air. That uses the UK Government's 2026 conversion factors, including radiative forcing for flights.
Carbon uses UK Government (DESNZ/DEFRA) 2026 conversion factors applied to great-circle distance, with radiative forcing included for flights. Rail journey times are modelled estimates, not timetabled services. Full method · download the data.