Sunniest places to go from Birmingham in December
In December, the sunniest well-known place within 15 hours of Birmingham is Aswan, Egypt, 10.1 h of sun a day and 18.7 °C, about 9h 12m each way by air. Without flying, it is Nice, France, 7.5 h of sun a day, about 14h 12m each way by train, for about 23× less carbon (43.4 kg CO₂e return against 1,008 kg).
The 10 sunniest places within 15 hours of Birmingham
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 ≈ 9h 12m · 1,008 kg CO₂e return
Luxor, Egypt10.0 h · 18.0 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 9h · 970 kg CO₂e return
Hurghada, Egypt9.8 h · 19.9 °C · mostly dry · sea 24.7 °Cair ≈ 8h 54m · 953 kg CO₂e return
Maspalomas, Spain9.4 h · 19.7 °C · mostly dry · sea 21.9 °Cair ≈ 7h 30m · 748 kg CO₂e return- Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain9.3 h · 18.9 °C · 1.3 mm rain a day · sea 22.2 °Cair ≈ 7h 24m · 735 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 24m · 738 kg CO₂e return
Ouarzazate, Morocco9.3 h · 10.3 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 6h 42m · 612 kg CO₂e return
Aqaba, Jordan9.2 h · 18.0 °C · mostly dry · sea 23.5 °Cair ≈ 8h 48m · 923 kg CO₂e return- Ifrane, Morocco9.2 h · 6.9 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 6h 18m · 534 kg CO₂e return
Oujda, Morocco9.1 h · 11.9 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 6h 6m · 498 kg CO₂e return
Without flying
The sunniest places the train reaches within 15 hours. Nice is 7.5 h for 43.4 kg — about 23× less carbon than flying to Aswan.
Nice, France7.5 h · 9.2 °C · 1.4 mm rain a day · sea 15.8 °Crail ≈ 14h 12m · 43.4 kg CO₂e return
Marseille, France7.5 h · 9.0 °C · mostly dry · sea 14.5 °Crail ≈ 11h 42m · 42.6 kg CO₂e return
Toulon, France7.4 h · 10.2 °C · 1.3 mm rain a day · sea 15.2 °Crail ≈ 12h 30m · 43.7 kg CO₂e return
Avignon, France6.8 h · 6.9 °C · mostly dryrail ≈ 11h 12m · 40.2 kg CO₂e return- Turin, Italy6.6 h · 3.0 °C · mostly dryrail ≈ 14h 12m · 40.2 kg CO₂e return
Bellinzona, Switzerland6.5 h · 5.9 °C · 1.2 mm rain a dayrail ≈ 14h 54m · 39.4 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 Birmingham in December within 15 hours is Luxor, 10.0 h, costing 970 kg CO₂e return. The lowest-carbon option is Preston at 12.2 kg — 79× less carbon, for 7.8 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
What the 15-hour limit costs: at this budget Alicante can only be reached by air — 396 kg CO₂e, in 5h 36m. Allow up to 24 hours and the train does the same journey for 56.3 kg in 21h 42m — 7× less carbon for 16h 6m more travelling.
| Destination | How | CO₂e return | Temp | Sun/day | Rain/day | Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preston, United Kingdom | Rail | 12.2 kg | 7.1 °C | 2.2 h | 5.5 mm | 3h 42m |
| Salisbury, United Kingdom | Rail | 12.6 kg | 7.7 °C | 2.8 h | 2.8 mm | 3h 48m |
| Caen, France | Rail | 20.7 kg | 7.9 °C | 3.4 h | 2.3 mm | 11h |
| Angers, France | Rail | 26.3 kg | 7.5 °C | 4.2 h | 1.6 mm | 11h 36m |
| La Rochelle, France | Rail | 30.7 kg | 9.0 °C | 4.8 h | 3.9 mm | 12h 24m |
| Geneva, Switzerland | Rail | 35.1 kg | 3.3 °C | 5.0 h | 4.9 mm | 11h 42m |
| Romans-sur-Isère, France | Rail | 37.1 kg | 4.7 °C | 5.5 h | 3.0 mm | 12h 6m |
| Montélimar, France | Rail | 38.3 kg | 6.4 °C | 6.2 h | 1.6 mm | 12h 48m |
| Nîmes, France | Rail | 40.1 kg | 7.5 °C | 7.1 h | 0.8 mm | 11h 36m |
| Marseille, France | Rail | 42.6 kg | 9.0 °C | 7.5 h | 1.1 mm | 11h 42m |
| Tortosa, Spain | Air | 330 kg | 11.0 °C | 7.9 h | 0.4 mm | 5h 12m |
| Alicante, Spain | Air | 396 kg | 13.3 °C | 8.5 h | 0.2 mm | 5h 36m |
| Melilla, Spain | Air | 481 kg | 15.2 °C | 8.9 h | 0.4 mm | 6h 6m |
| Bouarfa, Morocco | Air | 558 kg | 8.7 °C | 9.6 h | 0.0 mm | 6h 30m |
| Luxor, Egypt | Air | 970 kg | 18.0 °C | 10.0 h | 0.0 mm | 9h |
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 (558 kg, 9.6 h) to Luxor (970 kg, 10.0 h) buys 0.4 hours more sunshine for an extra 412 kg — 1029 kg of CO₂e per hour. That single step is the most expensive sunshine on the whole curve.
The pick of them
PrestonUnited Kingdom12.2 kg CO₂e returngrey and wetMarseilleFrance42.6 kg CO₂e returncold but brightLuxorEgypt970 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 Birmingham
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
- Preston: Karl1587, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Marseille: kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0, 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
- Toulon: Rafi88, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Avignon: Jean-Marc Rosier (de/from http://www.cjrosier.com + http://www.gordes-immobilier.com), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Bellinzona: Alex Barrow, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Questions
Where is the sunniest place to go from Birmingham in December?
Luxor, Egypt, at 10.0 h. Reaching it emits 970 kg CO₂e return, travelling 9h each way by air (modelled).
Can I get somewhere sunny from Birmingham in December without flying?
Yes. Marseille reaches 7.5 h and is reachable by rail or ferry in 11h 42m (modelled), emitting 42.6 kg CO₂e return — though Luxor is sunnier still, if you fly.
How much carbon does a return trip from Birmingham to Luxor produce?
970 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.