Sunniest places to go from Brussels in February
In February, the sunniest well-known place within 15 hours of Brussels is Maspalomas, Spain, 10.4 h of sun a day and 18.8 °C, about 7h 36m each way by air. Without flying, it is Teruel, Spain, 8.8 h of sun a day, about 14h 30m each way by train, for about 21× less carbon (36.6 kg CO₂e return against 771 kg).
The 10 sunniest places within 15 hours of Brussels
Ranked on sunshine in February 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.
Maspalomas, Spain10.4 h · 18.8 °C · mostly dry · sea 20.4 °Cair ≈ 7h 36m · 771 kg CO₂e return- Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain10.3 h · 17.6 °C · mostly dry · sea 20.5 °Cair ≈ 7h 30m · 762 kg CO₂e return
Aswan, Egypt10.3 h · 17.7 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 8h 36m · 901 kg CO₂e return
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain10.1 h · 18.0 °C · 1.5 mm rain a day · sea 20.3 °Cair ≈ 7h 30m · 761 kg CO₂e return
Luxor, Egypt10.1 h · 17.2 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 8h 24m · 927 kg CO₂e return
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt10.0 h · 18.6 °C · mostly dry · sea 23.0 °Cair ≈ 8h 18m · 900 kg CO₂e return
Aqaba, Jordan9.8 h · 16.4 °C · mostly dry · sea 22.1 °Cair ≈ 8h 6m · 875 kg CO₂e return
Funchal, Portugal9.5 h · 14.6 °C · 2.2 mm rain a day · sea 19.6 °Cair ≈ 7h 6m · 670 kg CO₂e return
Fethiye, Turkey9.5 h · 10.7 °C · 1.6 mm rain a day · sea 18.2 °Cair ≈ 6h 54m · 634 kg CO₂e return
Rhodes, Greece9.5 h · 13.4 °C · mostly dry · sea 18.0 °Cair ≈ 6h 48m · 624 kg CO₂e return
Without flying
The sunniest places the train reaches within 15 hours. Teruel is 8.8 h for 36.6 kg — about 21× less carbon than flying to Maspalomas.
- Teruel, Spain8.8 h · 5.5 °C · mostly dryrail ≈ 14h 30m · 36.6 kg CO₂e return
Zaragoza, Spain8.6 h · 8.8 °C · 1.2 mm rain a dayrail ≈ 12h 30m · 32.4 kg CO₂e return- Barcelona, Spain8.6 h · 10.2 °C · 1.3 mm rain a day · sea 13.5 °Crail ≈ 11h · 31.4 kg CO₂e return
Andorra la Vella, Andorra8.5 h · 5.4 °C · 1.9 mm rain a dayrail ≈ 11h 24m · 28.1 kg CO₂e return- Madrid, Spain8.4 h · 7.4 °C · mostly dryrail ≈ 14h 36m · 38.8 kg CO₂e return
Marseille, France8.3 h · 9.3 °C · 2.0 mm rain a day · sea 13.7 °Crail ≈ 7h 24m · 24.9 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 Brussels in February within 15 hours is Icod de los Vinos, 10.7 h, costing 769 kg CO₂e return. The lowest-carbon option is Düren at 4.4 kg — 175× less carbon, for 6.0 hours less sunshine.
Every destination here is on the efficiency frontier: nowhere else this site covers is both sunnier in February 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 Cartagena can only be reached by air — 385 kg CO₂e, in 5h 30m. Allow up to 24 hours and the train does the same journey for 45.2 kg in 18h 48m — 9× less carbon for 13h 18m more travelling.
| Destination | How | CO₂e return | Temp | Sun/day | Rain/day | Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Düren, Germany | Rail | 4.4 kg | 6.5 °C | 4.7 h | 2.2 mm | 4h 12m |
| Mainz, Germany | Rail | 8.7 kg | 6.1 °C | 5.5 h | 1.7 mm | 5h 36m |
| Strasbourg, France | Rail | 10.4 kg | 5.9 °C | 5.8 h | 2.0 mm | 6h 6m |
| Mulhouse, France | Rail | 12.0 kg | 5.9 °C | 6.0 h | 1.6 mm | 7h 54m |
| Fribourg, Switzerland | Rail | 14.6 kg | 4.3 °C | 7.2 h | 1.4 mm | 9h 6m |
| Geneva, Switzerland | Rail | 15.7 kg | 5.1 °C | 7.7 h | 1.5 mm | 7h 24m |
| Bolzano, Italy | Rail | 20.8 kg | 7.3 °C | 8.1 h | 1.8 mm | 12h 6m |
| Gap, France | Rail | 21.0 kg | 5.4 °C | 8.5 h | 2.0 mm | 9h |
| Cartagena, Spain | Air | 385 kg | 13.0 °C | 9.0 h | 0.5 mm | 5h 30m |
| Errachidia, Morocco | Air | 559 kg | 10.6 °C | 9.7 h | 0.6 mm | 6h 30m |
| Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain | Air | 762 kg | 17.6 °C | 10.3 h | 0.9 mm | 7h 30m |
| Icod de los Vinos, Spain | Air | 769 kg | 17.3 °C | 10.7 h | 0.4 mm | 7h 36m |
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 Gap (21.0 kg, 8.5 h) to Cartagena (385 kg, 9.0 h) buys 0.5 hours more sunshine for an extra 364 kg — 729 kg of CO₂e per hour. That single step is the most expensive sunshine on the whole curve.
The pick of them
GapFrance21.0 kg CO₂e returncold but brightIcod de los VinosSpain769 kg CO₂e returnwarm, bright and dryThe same month, asked differently
February 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 Icod de los Vinos
Places to stay in Icod de los Vinos, Spain, on a live map. Prices and availability come from Stay22 and its booking partners.
Search places to stay in Icod de los Vinos →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 Brussels
February 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
- Gap: Le corrigateur, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Maspalomas: JUAN RAMON RODRIGUEZ SOSA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Aswan: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Bengt Nyman, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Luxor: Roland Unger, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Sharm el-Sheikh: Tanya Dedyukhina, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Aqaba: Sana Janakat, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Funchal: Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Fethiye: https://www.flickr.com/photos/astolath/, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Rhodes: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Zaragoza: Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Andorra la Vella: Tiia Monto, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Marseille: kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Questions
Where is the sunniest place to go from Brussels in February?
Icod de los Vinos, Spain, at 10.7 h. Reaching it emits 769 kg CO₂e return, travelling 7h 36m each way by air (modelled).
Can I get somewhere sunny from Brussels in February without flying?
Yes. Gap reaches 8.5 h and is reachable by rail or ferry in 9h (modelled), emitting 21.0 kg CO₂e return — though Icod de los Vinos is sunnier still, if you fly.
How much carbon does a return trip from Brussels to Icod de los Vinos produce?
769 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.