Sunniest places to go from Cardiff in December
In December, the sunniest well-known place within 15 hours of Cardiff is Aswan, Egypt, 10.1 h of sun a day and 18.7 °C, about 9h 18m each way by air. Without flying, it is Nice, France, 7.5 h of sun a day, about 14h 48m each way by train, for about 21× less carbon (47.3 kg CO₂e return against 1,011 kg).
The 10 sunniest places within 15 hours of Cardiff
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 18m · 1,011 kg CO₂e return
Luxor, Egypt10.0 h · 18.0 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 9h · 974 kg CO₂e return
Hurghada, Egypt9.8 h · 19.9 °C · mostly dry · sea 24.7 °Cair ≈ 9h · 958 kg CO₂e return
Maspalomas, Spain9.4 h · 19.7 °C · mostly dry · sea 21.9 °Cair ≈ 7h 18m · 713 kg CO₂e return- Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain9.3 h · 18.9 °C · 1.3 mm rain a day · sea 22.2 °Cair ≈ 7h 12m · 700 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 12m · 703 kg CO₂e return
Ouarzazate, Morocco9.3 h · 10.3 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 6h 36m · 580 kg CO₂e return
Aqaba, Jordan9.2 h · 18.0 °C · mostly dry · sea 23.5 °Cair ≈ 8h 48m · 931 kg CO₂e return- Ifrane, Morocco9.2 h · 6.9 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 6h 12m · 504 kg CO₂e return
Oujda, Morocco9.1 h · 11.9 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 6h · 471 kg CO₂e return
Without flying
The sunniest places the train reaches within 15 hours. Nice is 7.5 h for 47.3 kg — about 21× less carbon than flying to Aswan.
Nice, France7.5 h · 9.2 °C · 1.4 mm rain a day · sea 15.8 °Crail ≈ 14h 48m · 47.3 kg CO₂e return
Marseille, France7.5 h · 9.0 °C · mostly dry · sea 14.5 °Crail ≈ 12h 12m · 46.6 kg CO₂e return
Toulon, France7.4 h · 10.2 °C · 1.3 mm rain a day · sea 15.2 °Crail ≈ 13h · 47.6 kg CO₂e return
Avignon, France6.8 h · 6.9 °C · mostly dryrail ≈ 11h 48m · 44.1 kg CO₂e return- Turin, Italy6.6 h · 3.0 °C · mostly dryrail ≈ 14h 48m · 44.1 kg CO₂e return
- Geneva, Switzerland5.0 h · 3.3 °C · 4.9 mm rain a dayrail ≈ 12h 12m · 39.0 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 Cardiff in December within 15 hours is Luxor, 10.0 h, costing 974 kg CO₂e return. The lowest-carbon option is Portsmouth at 13.2 kg — 74× less carbon, for 7.1 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 — 371 kg CO₂e, in 5h 30m. Allow up to 24 hours and the train does the same journey for 60.2 kg in 22h 18m — 6× less carbon for 16h 48m more travelling.
| Destination | How | CO₂e return | Temp | Sun/day | Rain/day | Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portsmouth, United Kingdom | Rail | 13.2 kg | 8.4 °C | 2.9 h | 2.7 mm | 3h 54m |
| Le Havre, France | Rail | 23.6 kg | 8.2 °C | 3.2 h | 3.6 mm | 10h 54m |
| Angers, France | Rail | 30.3 kg | 7.5 °C | 4.2 h | 1.6 mm | 12h 12m |
| Saint-Nazaire, France | Rail | 31.6 kg | 9.0 °C | 4.5 h | 2.5 mm | 12h 30m |
| Geneva, Switzerland | Rail | 39.0 kg | 3.3 °C | 5.0 h | 4.9 mm | 12h 12m |
| Romans-sur-Isère, France | Rail | 41.0 kg | 4.7 °C | 5.5 h | 3.0 mm | 12h 42m |
| Montélimar, France | Rail | 42.2 kg | 6.4 °C | 6.2 h | 1.6 mm | 13h 24m |
| Nîmes, France | Rail | 44.0 kg | 7.5 °C | 7.1 h | 0.8 mm | 12h 6m |
| Marseille, France | Rail | 46.6 kg | 9.0 °C | 7.5 h | 1.1 mm | 12h 12m |
| Tortosa, Spain | Air | 307 kg | 11.0 °C | 7.9 h | 0.4 mm | 5h 6m |
| Alicante, Spain | Air | 371 kg | 13.3 °C | 8.5 h | 0.2 mm | 5h 30m |
| Melilla, Spain | Air | 453 kg | 15.2 °C | 8.9 h | 0.4 mm | 5h 54m |
| Bouarfa, Morocco | Air | 531 kg | 8.7 °C | 9.6 h | 0.0 mm | 6h 18m |
| Luxor, Egypt | Air | 974 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 (531 kg, 9.6 h) to Luxor (974 kg, 10.0 h) buys 0.4 hours more sunshine for an extra 443 kg — 1108 kg of CO₂e per hour. That single step is the most expensive sunshine on the whole curve.
The pick of them
PortsmouthUnited Kingdom13.2 kg CO₂e returncoolMarseilleFrance46.6 kg CO₂e returncold but brightLuxorEgypt974 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 Cardiff
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
- Portsmouth: en:User:AlanFord, 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
Questions
Where is the sunniest place to go from Cardiff in December?
Luxor, Egypt, at 10.0 h. Reaching it emits 974 kg CO₂e return, travelling 9h each way by air (modelled).
Can I get somewhere sunny from Cardiff in December without flying?
Yes. Marseille reaches 7.5 h and is reachable by rail or ferry in 12h 12m (modelled), emitting 46.6 kg CO₂e return — though Luxor is sunnier still, if you fly.
How much carbon does a return trip from Cardiff to Luxor produce?
974 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.