Sunniest places to go from Paris in December
In December, the sunniest well-known place within 15 hours of Paris is Aswan, Egypt, 10.1 h of sun a day and 18.7 °C, about 8h 36m each way by air. Without flying, it is Benidorm, Spain, 8.4 h of sun a day, about 14h 6m each way by train, for about 26× less carbon (34.4 kg CO₂e return against 897 kg).
The 10 sunniest places within 15 hours of Paris
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 ≈ 8h 36m · 897 kg CO₂e return
Luxor, Egypt10.0 h · 18.0 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 8h 24m · 924 kg CO₂e return
Hurghada, Egypt9.8 h · 19.9 °C · mostly dry · sea 24.7 °Cair ≈ 8h 18m · 908 kg CO₂e return
Maspalomas, Spain9.4 h · 19.7 °C · mostly dry · sea 21.9 °Cair ≈ 7h 12m · 705 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 · 696 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 · 695 kg CO₂e return
Ouarzazate, Morocco9.3 h · 10.3 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 6h 24m · 538 kg CO₂e return
Aqaba, Jordan9.2 h · 18.0 °C · mostly dry · sea 23.5 °Cair ≈ 8h 12m · 880 kg CO₂e return- Ifrane, Morocco9.2 h · 6.9 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 5h 54m · 456 kg CO₂e return
Oujda, Morocco9.1 h · 11.9 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 5h 42m · 406 kg CO₂e return
Without flying
The sunniest places the train reaches within 15 hours. Benidorm is 8.4 h for 34.4 kg — about 26× less carbon than flying to Aswan.
Benidorm, Spain8.4 h · 12.8 °C · mostly dry · sea 16.5 °Crail ≈ 14h 6m · 34.4 kg CO₂e return- Elche, Spain8.3 h · 12.4 °C · mostly dry · sea 16.3 °Crail ≈ 14h 54m · 35.5 kg CO₂e return
- Albacete, Spain8.1 h · 6.5 °C · mostly dryrail ≈ 13h 48m · 33.8 kg CO₂e return
Valencia, Spain7.9 h · 12.1 °C · mostly dry · sea 16.4 °Crail ≈ 12h 18m · 31.4 kg CO₂e return
Nice, France7.5 h · 9.2 °C · 1.4 mm rain a day · sea 15.8 °Crail ≈ 7h 12m · 20.2 kg CO₂e return
Marseille, France7.5 h · 9.0 °C · mostly dry · sea 14.5 °Crail ≈ 4h 36m · 19.5 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 Paris in December within 15 hours is Aswan, 10.1 h, costing 897 kg CO₂e return. The lowest-carbon option is Dieppe at 4.4 kg — 204× less carbon, for 7.3 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 Almería can only be reached by air — 350 kg CO₂e, in 5h 24m. Allow up to 24 hours and the train does the same journey for 41.1 kg in 17h 24m — 9× less carbon for 12h more travelling.
| Destination | How | CO₂e return | Temp | Sun/day | Rain/day | Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dieppe, France | Rail | 4.4 kg | 7.9 °C | 2.8 h | 3.1 mm | 3h 42m |
| Caen, France | Rail | 5.9 kg | 7.9 °C | 3.4 h | 2.3 mm | 4h 24m |
| Châteauroux, France | Rail | 6.9 kg | 6.4 °C | 3.8 h | 2.3 mm | 4h 36m |
| Clermont-Ferrand, France | Rail | 10.2 kg | 4.8 °C | 4.5 h | 2.0 mm | 6h 6m |
| Saint-Etienne, France | Rail | 12.1 kg | 4.2 °C | 5.3 h | 2.4 mm | 4h 48m |
| Montélimar, France | Rail | 15.1 kg | 6.4 °C | 6.2 h | 1.6 mm | 5h 48m |
| Avignon, France | Rail | 17.0 kg | 6.9 °C | 6.8 h | 1.0 mm | 4h 12m |
| Marseille, France | Rail | 19.5 kg | 9.0 °C | 7.5 h | 1.1 mm | 4h 36m |
| Barcelona, Spain | Rail | 24.5 kg | 9.7 °C | 7.7 h | 0.6 mm | 8h 12m |
| Alicante, Spain | Rail | 35.1 kg | 13.3 °C | 8.5 h | 0.2 mm | 14h 36m |
| Almería, Spain | Air | 350 kg | 13.5 °C | 8.9 h | 0.2 mm | 5h 24m |
| Bouarfa, Morocco | Air | 465 kg | 8.7 °C | 9.6 h | 0.0 mm | 6h |
| Aswan, Egypt | Air | 897 kg | 18.7 °C | 10.1 h | 0.0 mm | 8h 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 Bouarfa (465 kg, 9.6 h) to Aswan (897 kg, 10.1 h) buys 0.5 hours more sunshine for an extra 431 kg — 863 kg of CO₂e per hour. That single step is the most expensive sunshine on the whole curve.
The pick of them
DieppeFrance4.4 kg CO₂e returngrey and wet
AlicanteSpain35.1 kg CO₂e returnmild and brightAswanEgypt897 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 Aswan
Places to stay in Aswan, Egypt, on a live map. Prices and availability come from Stay22 and its booking partners.
Search places to stay in Aswan →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 Paris
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
- Dieppe: Baidax, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Alicante: unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Aswan: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Luxor: Roland Unger, CC BY-SA 3.0, 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
- Benidorm: Simon Cobb, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Valencia: Joanbanjo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Nice: Moody Dreiza (Moody751 at English Wikipedia), CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
- Marseille: kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Questions
Where is the sunniest place to go from Paris in December?
Aswan, Egypt, at 10.1 h. Reaching it emits 897 kg CO₂e return, travelling 8h 36m each way by air (modelled).
Can I get somewhere sunny from Paris in December without flying?
Yes. Alicante reaches 8.5 h and is reachable by rail or ferry in 14h 36m (modelled), emitting 35.1 kg CO₂e return — though Aswan is sunnier still, if you fly.
How much carbon does a return trip from Paris to Aswan produce?
897 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.