Sunniest places to go from Frankfurt in January
The sunniest place you can reach from Frankfurt in January within 15 hours is Safaga, 10.0 h, costing 848 kg CO₂e return. The lowest-carbon option is Marsberg at 4.4 kg — 193× less carbon, for 6.9 hours less sunshine.
The 10 sunniest places within 15 hours of Frankfurt
Ranked on sunshine in January 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, Egypt10.0 h · 16.8 °Cair 8h 18m · 898 kg CO₂e return
Hurghada, Egypt10.0 h · 18.2 °Cair 7h 54m · 834 kg CO₂e return
Luxor, Egypt9.9 h · 16.7 °Cair 8h · 856 kg CO₂e return
Aqaba, Jordan9.8 h · 16.8 °Cair 7h 42m · 799 kg CO₂e return
Ouarzazate, Morocco9.7 h · 10.1 °Cair 6h 48m · 628 kg CO₂e return
Maspalomas, Spain9.6 h · 19.6 °Cair 7h 48m · 811 kg CO₂e return
Agadir, Morocco9.6 h · 17.1 °Cair 7h 6m · 671 kg CO₂e return- Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain9.5 h · 18.3 °Cair 7h 48m · 804 kg CO₂e return
Essaouira, Morocco9.5 h · 16.0 °Cair 6h 54m · 647 kg CO₂e return
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain9.4 h · 18.8 °Cair 7h 42m · 801 kg CO₂e return
Without flying
The sunniest places the train reaches within 15 hours. Barcelona is 7.7 h for 32.3 kg — about 28× less carbon than flying to Aswan.
- Barcelona, Spain7.7 h · 9.0 °Crail 13h 12m · 32.3 kg CO₂e return
Girona, Spain7.5 h · 8.1 °Crail 13h 12m · 29.8 kg CO₂e return
Marseille, France7.4 h · 8.5 °Crail 9h 36m · 23.6 kg CO₂e return
Andorra la Vella, Andorra7.3 h · 4.1 °Crail 13h 36m · 29.7 kg CO₂e return- Huesca, Spain7.3 h · 5.6 °Crail 14h · 33.3 kg CO₂e return
Toulon, France7.2 h · 9.9 °Crail 10h 24m · 23.8 kg CO₂e return
Rail times are modelled; air times include getting to and through the airport.
The low-carbon trade-off
Every destination here is on the efficiency frontier: nowhere else this site covers is both sunnier in January 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marsberg, Germany | Rail | 4.4 kg | 2.6 °C | 3.1 h | 2.8 mm | 3h 42m |
| Cologne, Germany | Rail | 4.5 kg | 4.0 °C | 3.8 h | 2.7 mm | 2h 36m |
| Friedrichshafen, Germany | Rail | 8.2 kg | 2.3 °C | 4.3 h | 2.7 mm | 5h 12m |
| Bregenz, Austria | Rail | 8.9 kg | 2.4 °C | 4.8 h | 4.4 mm | 6h |
| Chur, Switzerland | Rail | 10.9 kg | 1.8 °C | 5.9 h | 3.0 mm | 7h |
| Merano, Italy | Rail | 12.5 kg | 5.0 °C | 6.9 h | 1.0 mm | 7h 54m |
| Marseille, France | Rail | 23.6 kg | 8.5 °C | 7.4 h | 0.9 mm | 9h 36m |
| Manlleu, Spain | Rail | 30.3 kg | 5.7 °C | 7.9 h | 0.7 mm | 13h 54m |
| Santa Eulària des Riu, Spain | Air | 342 kg | 12.7 °C | 8.5 h | 0.6 mm | 5h 18m |
| Gafsa, Tunisia | Air | 439 kg | 9.9 °C | 9.0 h | 0.0 mm | 5h 48m |
| Errachidia, Morocco | Air | 577 kg | 10.2 °C | 9.5 h | 0.1 mm | 6h 36m |
| Safaga, Egypt | Air | 848 kg | 18.9 °C | 10.0 h | 0.0 mm | 8h |
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 Errachidia (577 kg, 9.5 h) to Safaga (848 kg, 10.0 h) buys 0.5 hours more sunshine for an extra 271 kg — 542 kg of CO₂e per hour. That single step is the most expensive sunshine on the whole curve.
The pick of them
SafagaEgypt848 kg CO₂e returnwarm, bright and dryThe same month, asked differently
January 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 Safaga
Places to stay in Safaga, Egypt, on a live map. Prices and availability come from Stay22 and its booking partners.
Search places to stay in Safaga →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 Frankfurt
January 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
- Safaga: User:MatthiasKabel, 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
- Luxor: Roland Unger, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Aqaba: Sana Janakat, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Ouarzazate: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Maspalomas: JUAN RAMON RODRIGUEZ SOSA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Agadir: Marco Riss, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Essaouira: Kayaky, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Bengt Nyman, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Girona: Patronat de Turisme Costa Brava Pirineu de Girona, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Marseille: kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Andorra la Vella: Tiia Monto, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Toulon: Rafi88, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Questions
Where is the sunniest place to go from Frankfurt in January?
Safaga, Egypt, at 10.0 h. Reaching it emits 848 kg CO₂e return, travelling 8h each way by air (modelled).
Can I get somewhere sunny from Frankfurt in January without flying?
Yes. Manlleu reaches 7.9 h and is reachable by rail or ferry in 13h 54m (modelled), emitting 30.3 kg CO₂e return — though Safaga is sunnier still, if you fly.
How much carbon does a return trip from Frankfurt to Safaga produce?
848 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.