Sunniest places to go from London in October
In October, the sunniest well-known place within 15 hours of London is Aswan, Egypt, 11.0 h of sun a day and 29.1 °C, about 9h each way by air. Without flying, it is Marseille, France, 9.0 h of sun a day, about 8h 54m each way by train, for about 33× less carbon (29.6 kg CO₂e return against 970 kg).
The 10 sunniest places within 15 hours of London
Ranked on sunshine in October 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, Egypt11.0 h · 29.1 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 9h · 970 kg CO₂e return
Luxor, Egypt11.0 h · 28.4 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 8h 48m · 932 kg CO₂e return
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt10.9 h · 29.0 °C · mostly dry · sea 28.3 °Cair ≈ 8h 42m · 909 kg CO₂e return
Limassol, Cyprus10.8 h · 23.1 °C · mostly dry · sea 26.0 °Cair ≈ 7h 48m · 814 kg CO₂e return
Paphos, Cyprus10.7 h · 22.1 °C · mostly dry · sea 26.1 °Cair ≈ 7h 48m · 802 kg CO₂e return
Maspalomas, Spain10.7 h · 24.9 °C · mostly dry · sea 24.0 °Cair ≈ 7h 24m · 740 kg CO₂e return- Konya, Turkey10.6 h · 14.4 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 7h 24m · 743 kg CO₂e return
- Antalya, Turkey10.6 h · 21.5 °C · mostly dry · sea 26.5 °Cair ≈ 7h 24m · 732 kg CO₂e return
Alanya, Turkey10.6 h · 22.4 °C · mostly dry · sea 26.8 °Cair ≈ 7h 30m · 760 kg CO₂e return- Nicosia, Cyprus10.4 h · 21.9 °C · mostly dry · sea 26.5 °Cair ≈ 7h 48m · 809 kg CO₂e return
Without flying
The sunniest places the train reaches within 15 hours. Marseille is 9.0 h for 29.6 kg — about 33× less carbon than flying to Aswan.
Marseille, France9.0 h · 18.2 °C · 2.2 mm rain a day · sea 20.5 °Crail ≈ 8h 54m · 29.6 kg CO₂e return- Barcelona, Spain8.9 h · 19.1 °C · 3.2 mm rain a day · sea 23.1 °Crail ≈ 12h 30m · 33.6 kg CO₂e return
Lleida, Spain8.8 h · 18.4 °C · 3.2 mm rain a dayrail ≈ 14h 18m · 32.5 kg CO₂e return- Reus, Spain8.5 h · 18.8 °C · 4.3 mm rain a day · sea 23.1 °Crail ≈ 14h 24m · 34.1 kg CO₂e return
Toulon, France8.4 h · 18.6 °C · 4.4 mm rain a day · sea 20.9 °Crail ≈ 9h 42m · 30.6 kg CO₂e return
Girona, Spain8.3 h · 18.3 °C · 1.4 mm rain a dayrail ≈ 12h 30m · 32.0 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 London in October within 15 hours is Paphos, 10.7 h, costing 802 kg CO₂e return. The lowest-carbon option is Calais at 4.5 kg — 178× less carbon, for 4.5 hours less sunshine.
Every destination here is on the efficiency frontier: nowhere else this site covers is both sunnier in October 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calais, France | Rail | 4.5 kg | 13.6 °C | 6.2 h | 3.7 mm | 5h 24m |
| Dieppe, France | Rail | 5.8 kg | 14.0 °C | 6.8 h | 2.9 mm | 6h 24m |
| Montluçon, France | Rail | 18.0 kg | 14.8 °C | 7.5 h | 3.7 mm | 9h 24m |
| Vichy, France | Rail | 19.3 kg | 15.0 °C | 7.9 h | 2.8 mm | 9h 54m |
| Marseille, France | Rail | 29.6 kg | 18.2 °C | 9.0 h | 2.2 mm | 8h 54m |
| Granollers, Spain | Rail | 32.9 kg | 18.6 °C | 9.1 h | 2.4 mm | 13h 30m |
| Palma, Spain | Air | 338 kg | 21.1 °C | 9.9 h | 1.4 mm | 5h 18m |
| Aigio, Greece | Air | 572 kg | 20.5 °C | 10.4 h | 0.2 mm | 6h 30m |
| Paphos, Cyprus | Air | 802 kg | 22.1 °C | 10.7 h | 0.3 mm | 7h 48m |
The flights, in practice
The model measures to the town, not to a runway. For the destinations above reached by air, this is the nearest airport, how far it is, and whether a direct flight from London is listed on the airport's own destination page (researched 2026-09-15; route existence, not availability on a date). "Not checked" means no destination list was read for that airport.
| Destination | Airport | From town | Direct from London | Onward |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palma, Spain | Palma de Mallorca PMI | 10 km | yes LHR, LGW, LCY, LTN, STN | Airport bus or taxi to central Palma. |
| Aigio, Greece | Araxos GPA | 75 km | not checked | Road transfer to Aigio; scheduled public transport details not found. |
| Paphos, Cyprus | Pafos International PFO | 15 km | yes LGW, LTN | Public bus or taxi to Paphos and Kato Paphos. |
Sources for this table
- Palma: www.aena.es
- Paphos: www.hermesairports.com
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 Aigio (572 kg, 10.4 h) to Paphos (802 kg, 10.7 h) buys 0.3 hours more sunshine for an extra 231 kg — 768 kg of CO₂e per hour. That single step is the most expensive sunshine on the whole curve.
The pick of them
GranollersSpain32.9 kg CO₂e returnwarm overallPaphosCyprus802 kg CO₂e returnwarm, bright and dryThe same month, asked differently
October 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 Paphos
Places to stay in Paphos, Cyprus, on a live map. Prices and availability come from Stay22 and its booking partners.
Search places to stay in Paphos →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 London
October 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
- Granollers: No machine-readable author provided. 1997 assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Paphos: unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
- Aswan: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 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
- Limassol: Xaris333, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Maspalomas: JUAN RAMON RODRIGUEZ SOSA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Alanya: Ozgurmulazimoglu, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Marseille: kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Lleida: Jorge Franganillo from Barcelona, Spain, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Toulon: Rafi88, 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
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Questions
Where is the sunniest place to go from London in October?
Paphos, Cyprus, at 10.7 h. Reaching it emits 802 kg CO₂e return, travelling 7h 48m each way by air (modelled).
Can I get somewhere sunny from London in October without flying?
Yes. Granollers reaches 9.1 h and is reachable by rail or ferry in 13h 30m (modelled), emitting 32.9 kg CO₂e return — though Paphos is sunnier still, if you fly.
How much carbon does a return trip from London to Paphos produce?
802 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.