Sunniest places to go from Rome in December
In December, the sunniest well-known place within 15 hours of Rome is Aswan, Egypt, 10.1 h of sun a day and 18.7 °C, about 7h 6m each way by air. Without flying, it is Enna, Italy, 8.0 h of sun a day, about 8h 36m each way by train, for about 46× less carbon (14.9 kg CO₂e return against 687 kg).
The 10 sunniest places within 15 hours of Rome
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 ≈ 7h 6m · 687 kg CO₂e return
Luxor, Egypt10.0 h · 18.0 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 6h 54m · 648 kg CO₂e return
Hurghada, Egypt9.8 h · 19.9 °C · mostly dry · sea 24.7 °Cair ≈ 6h 54m · 636 kg CO₂e return
Maspalomas, Spain9.4 h · 19.7 °C · mostly dry · sea 21.9 °Cair ≈ 7h 30m · 751 kg CO₂e return- Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain9.3 h · 18.9 °C · 1.3 mm rain a day · sea 22.2 °Cair ≈ 7h 30m · 752 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 24m · 742 kg CO₂e return
Ouarzazate, Morocco9.3 h · 10.3 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 6h 18m · 532 kg CO₂e return
Aqaba, Jordan9.2 h · 18.0 °C · mostly dry · sea 23.5 °Cair ≈ 6h 48m · 614 kg CO₂e return- Ifrane, Morocco9.2 h · 6.9 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 5h 54m · 453 kg CO₂e return
Oujda, Morocco9.1 h · 11.9 °C · mostly dryair ≈ 5h 30m · 375 kg CO₂e return
Without flying
The sunniest places the train reaches within 15 hours. Enna is 8.0 h for 14.9 kg — about 46× less carbon than flying to Aswan.
- Enna, Italy8.0 h · 5.8 °C · mostly dryrail ≈ 8h 36m · 14.9 kg CO₂e return
- Catania, Italy7.9 h · 12.6 °C · mostly dry · sea 17.9 °Crail ≈ 8h 48m · 15.8 kg CO₂e return
Agrigento, Italy7.9 h · 11.7 °C · 1.3 mm rain a day · sea 17.6 °Crail ≈ 9h · 15.3 kg CO₂e return- Barcelona, Spain7.7 h · 9.7 °C · mostly dry · sea 15.8 °Crail ≈ 14h 24m · 25.4 kg CO₂e return
Nice, France7.5 h · 9.2 °C · 1.4 mm rain a day · sea 15.8 °Crail ≈ 8h 48m · 14.0 kg CO₂e return
Marseille, France7.5 h · 9.0 °C · mostly dry · sea 14.5 °Crail ≈ 10h 42m · 17.8 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 Rome in December within 15 hours is Aswan, 10.1 h, costing 687 kg CO₂e return. The lowest-carbon option is Grosseto at 4.4 kg — 156× less carbon, for 2.9 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
| Destination | How | CO₂e return | Temp | Sun/day | Rain/day | Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grosseto, Italy | Rail | 4.4 kg | 8.1 °C | 7.2 h | 1.8 mm | 3h 42m |
| Enna, Italy | Rail | 14.9 kg | 5.8 °C | 8.0 h | 1.0 mm | 8h 36m |
| Houmt Souk, Tunisia | Air | 227 kg | 15.2 °C | 8.5 h | 1.3 mm | 4h 42m |
| Oujda, Morocco | Air | 375 kg | 11.9 °C | 9.1 h | 0.1 mm | 5h 30m |
| Bouarfa, Morocco | Air | 414 kg | 8.7 °C | 9.6 h | 0.0 mm | 5h 42m |
| Aswan, Egypt | Air | 687 kg | 18.7 °C | 10.1 h | 0.0 mm | 7h 6m |
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 (414 kg, 9.6 h) to Aswan (687 kg, 10.1 h) buys 0.5 hours more sunshine for an extra 273 kg — 545 kg of CO₂e per hour. That single step is the most expensive sunshine on the whole curve.
The pick of them
AswanEgypt687 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 Rome
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
- 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
- Agrigento: jschoenhofer, CC BY-SA 2.0, 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
Questions
Where is the sunniest place to go from Rome in December?
Aswan, Egypt, at 10.1 h. Reaching it emits 687 kg CO₂e return, travelling 7h 6m each way by air (modelled).
Can I get somewhere sunny from Rome in December without flying?
Yes. Enna reaches 8.0 h and is reachable by rail or ferry in 8h 36m (modelled), emitting 14.9 kg CO₂e return — though Aswan is sunnier still, if you fly.
How much carbon does a return trip from Rome to Aswan produce?
687 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.