Sunniest places to go from Cardiff in March
In March, the sunniest well-known place within 15 hours of Cardiff is Luxor, Egypt, 11.4 h of sun a day and 22.7 °C, about 9h each way by air. Without flying, it is Toulon, France, 9.7 h of sun a day, about 13h each way by train, for about 20× less carbon (47.6 kg CO₂e return against 974 kg).
The 10 sunniest places within 15 hours of Cardiff
Ranked on sunshine in March 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.
Luxor, Egypt11.4 h · 22.7 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 9h · 974 kg CO₂e return
Maspalomas, Spain11.3 h · 21.0 °C · mostly dry · sea 20.2 °Cair ≈ 7h 18m · 713 kg CO₂e return
Assiut, Egypt11.3 h · 20.9 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 8h 48m · 923 kg CO₂e return
Aswan, Egypt11.2 h · 23.4 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 9h 18m · 1,011 kg CO₂e return- Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain11.1 h · 18.5 °C · mostly dry · sea 20.4 °Cair ≈ 7h 12m · 700 kg CO₂e return
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain11.1 h · 18.9 °C · 1.4 mm rain a day · sea 20.2 °Cair ≈ 7h 12m · 703 kg CO₂e return
Ouarzazate, Morocco10.8 h · 16.8 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 6h 36m · 580 kg CO₂e return
Essaouira, Morocco10.8 h · 17.1 °C · mostly dry · sea 17.1 °Cair ≈ 6h 30m · 575 kg CO₂e return
Agadir, Morocco10.7 h · 18.3 °C · mostly dry · sea 17.6 °Cair ≈ 6h 42m · 604 kg CO₂e return
Sousse, Tunisia10.6 h · 16.4 °C · mostly dry · sea 16.0 °Cair ≈ 6h 12m · 518 kg CO₂e return
Without flying
The sunniest places the train reaches within 15 hours. Toulon is 9.7 h for 47.6 kg — about 20× less carbon than flying to Luxor.
Toulon, France9.7 h · 12.3 °C · 3.2 mm rain a day · sea 14.1 °Crail ≈ 13h · 47.6 kg CO₂e return
Marseille, France9.6 h · 11.6 °C · 2.6 mm rain a day · sea 13.9 °Crail ≈ 12h 12m · 46.6 kg CO₂e return
Perpignan, France9.4 h · 13.0 °C · mostly dry · sea 13.0 °Crail ≈ 14h 6m · 46.7 kg CO₂e return
Nice, France9.2 h · 12.2 °C · 4.3 mm rain a day · sea 14.2 °Crail ≈ 14h 48m · 47.3 kg CO₂e return- Turin, Italy8.1 h · 9.2 °C · 3.9 mm rain a dayrail ≈ 14h 48m · 44.1 kg CO₂e return
- Bern, Switzerland7.3 h · 6.2 °C · 3.9 mm rain a dayrail ≈ 13h 48m · 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 March within 15 hours is Arona, 11.5 h, costing 713 kg CO₂e return. The lowest-carbon option is Coventry at 12.4 kg — 57× less carbon, for 6.2 hours less sunshine.
Every destination here is on the efficiency frontier: nowhere else this site covers is both sunnier in March 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 Lleida can only be reached by air — 285 kg CO₂e, in 5h. Allow up to 24 hours and the train does the same journey for 49.5 kg in 17h 36m — 6× less carbon for 12h 36m more travelling.
| Destination | How | CO₂e return | Temp | Sun/day | Rain/day | Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coventry, United Kingdom | Rail | 12.4 kg | 7.0 °C | 5.3 h | 3.5 mm | 3h 42m |
| Newquay, United Kingdom | Rail | 14.3 kg | 8.8 °C | 6.0 h | 5.8 mm | 4h 6m |
| Le Havre, France | Rail | 23.6 kg | 8.8 °C | 6.6 h | 3.7 mm | 10h 54m |
| Angers, France | Rail | 30.3 kg | 9.2 °C | 7.2 h | 3.1 mm | 12h 12m |
| Vichy, France | Rail | 36.2 kg | 8.9 °C | 8.0 h | 3.7 mm | 13h 12m |
| Clermont-Ferrand, France | Rail | 37.0 kg | 8.5 °C | 8.1 h | 2.9 mm | 13h 30m |
| Saint-Etienne, France | Rail | 39.2 kg | 8.1 °C | 8.6 h | 4.3 mm | 12h 18m |
| Montpellier, France | Rail | 44.4 kg | 11.6 °C | 9.2 h | 2.7 mm | 12h 30m |
| Marseille, France | Rail | 46.6 kg | 11.6 °C | 9.6 h | 2.6 mm | 12h 12m |
| Lleida, Spain | Air | 285 kg | 12.9 °C | 10.4 h | 0.8 mm | 5h |
| Palma, Spain | Air | 352 kg | 14.4 °C | 10.7 h | 1.4 mm | 5h 24m |
| Arona, Spain | Air | 713 kg | 16.1 °C | 11.5 h | 1.2 mm | 7h 18m |
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 Palma (352 kg, 10.7 h) to Arona (713 kg, 11.5 h) buys 0.8 hours more sunshine for an extra 361 kg — 451 kg of CO₂e per hour. That single step is the most expensive sunshine on the whole curve.
The pick of them
CoventryUnited Kingdom12.4 kg CO₂e returncoolMarseilleFrance46.6 kg CO₂e returnmild and bright
AronaSpain713 kg CO₂e returnwarm overallThe same month, asked differently
March 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 Arona
Places to stay in Arona, Spain, on a live map. Prices and availability come from Stay22 and its booking partners.
Search places to stay in Arona →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
March 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
- Coventry: E Gammie, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Marseille: kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Arona: Vasile Cotovanu, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Luxor: Roland Unger, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Maspalomas: JUAN RAMON RODRIGUEZ SOSA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Assiut: Hypatia Foundation, CC BY 3.0, 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
- Ouarzazate: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Essaouira: Kayaky, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Agadir: Marco Riss, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Sousse: BishkekRocks 15:01, 29 December 2005 (UTC), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Toulon: Rafi88, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Perpignan: Jean Tosti, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Nice: Moody Dreiza (Moody751 at English Wikipedia), CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Questions
Where is the sunniest place to go from Cardiff in March?
Arona, Spain, at 11.5 h. Reaching it emits 713 kg CO₂e return, travelling 7h 18m each way by air (modelled).
Can I get somewhere sunny from Cardiff in March without flying?
Yes. Marseille reaches 9.6 h and is reachable by rail or ferry in 12h 12m (modelled), emitting 46.6 kg CO₂e return — though Arona is sunnier still, if you fly.
How much carbon does a return trip from Cardiff to Arona produce?
713 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.