Sunniest places to go from Southampton in December
The sunniest place you can reach from Southampton in December within 15 hours is Luxor, 10.0 h, costing 941 kg CO₂e return. The lowest-carbon option is Exeter at 12.1 kg — 78× less carbon, for 7.2 hours less sunshine.
The 10 sunniest places within 15 hours of Southampton
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 °Cair 9h 6m · 979 kg CO₂e return
Luxor, Egypt10.0 h · 18.0 °Cair 8h 54m · 941 kg CO₂e return
Hurghada, Egypt9.8 h · 19.9 °Cair 8h 48m · 926 kg CO₂e return
Maspalomas, Spain9.4 h · 19.7 °Cair 7h 18m · 713 kg CO₂e return- Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain9.3 h · 18.9 °Cair 7h 12m · 701 kg CO₂e return
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain9.3 h · 19.1 °Cair 7h 12m · 703 kg CO₂e return
Ouarzazate, Morocco9.3 h · 10.3 °Cair 6h 30m · 571 kg CO₂e return
Aqaba, Jordan9.2 h · 18.0 °Cair 8h 36m · 898 kg CO₂e return- Ifrane, Morocco9.2 h · 6.9 °Cair 6h 6m · 492 kg CO₂e return
Oujda, Morocco9.1 h · 11.9 °Cair 5h 54m · 454 kg CO₂e return
Without flying
The sunniest places the train reaches within 15 hours. Nice is 7.5 h for 39.3 kg — about 25× less carbon than flying to Aswan.
Nice, France7.5 h · 9.2 °Crail 14h 12m · 39.3 kg CO₂e return
Marseille, France7.5 h · 9.0 °Crail 11h 36m · 38.5 kg CO₂e return
Toulon, France7.4 h · 10.2 °Crail 12h 24m · 39.6 kg CO₂e return
Avignon, France6.8 h · 6.9 °Crail 11h 12m · 36.0 kg CO₂e return- Turin, Italy6.6 h · 3.0 °Crail 14h 12m · 36.1 kg CO₂e return
Bellinzona, Switzerland6.5 h · 5.9 °Crail 14h 54m · 35.3 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 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 Alicante can only be reached by air — 352 kg CO₂e, in 5h 24m. Allow up to 24 hours and the train does the same journey for 52.2 kg in 21h 42m — 7× less carbon for 16h 18m more travelling.
| Destination | How | CO₂e return | Temp | Sun/day | Rain/day | Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exeter, United Kingdom | Rail | 12.1 kg | 8.1 °C | 2.8 h | 3.1 mm | 3h 42m |
| Torquay, United Kingdom | Rail | 12.6 kg | 9.0 °C | 3.4 h | 3.3 mm | 3h 48m |
| Angers, France | Rail | 22.2 kg | 7.5 °C | 4.2 h | 1.6 mm | 11h 36m |
| Saint-Nazaire, France | Rail | 23.5 kg | 9.0 °C | 4.5 h | 2.5 mm | 11h 54m |
| Geneva, Switzerland | Rail | 31.0 kg | 3.3 °C | 5.0 h | 4.9 mm | 11h 36m |
| Romans-sur-Isère, France | Rail | 33.0 kg | 4.7 °C | 5.5 h | 3.0 mm | 12h 6m |
| Montélimar, France | Rail | 34.1 kg | 6.4 °C | 6.2 h | 1.6 mm | 12h 48m |
| Avignon, France | Rail | 36.0 kg | 6.9 °C | 6.8 h | 1.0 mm | 11h 12m |
| Marseille, France | Rail | 38.5 kg | 9.0 °C | 7.5 h | 1.1 mm | 11h 36m |
| Tortosa, Spain | Air | 285 kg | 11.0 °C | 7.9 h | 0.4 mm | 5h |
| Alicante, Spain | Air | 352 kg | 13.3 °C | 8.5 h | 0.2 mm | 5h 24m |
| Almería, Spain | Air | 394 kg | 13.5 °C | 8.9 h | 0.2 mm | 5h 36m |
| Bouarfa, Morocco | Air | 514 kg | 8.7 °C | 9.6 h | 0.0 mm | 6h 12m |
| Luxor, Egypt | Air | 941 kg | 18.0 °C | 10.0 h | 0.0 mm | 8h 54m |
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 (514 kg, 9.6 h) to Luxor (941 kg, 10.0 h) buys 0.4 hours more sunshine for an extra 427 kg — 1068 kg of CO₂e per hour. That single step is the most expensive sunshine on the whole curve.
The pick of them
ExeterUnited Kingdom12.1 kg CO₂e returngrey and wetMarseilleFrance38.5 kg CO₂e returncold but brightLuxorEgypt941 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 Luxor
Places to stay in Luxor, Egypt, on a live map. Prices and availability come from Stay22 and its booking partners.
Search places to stay in Luxor →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 Southampton
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
- Exeter: Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Marseille: kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Luxor: Roland Unger, 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
- 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
- Nice: Moody Dreiza (Moody751 at English Wikipedia), CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
- Toulon: Rafi88, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Avignon: Jean-Marc Rosier (de/from http://www.cjrosier.com + http://www.gordes-immobilier.com), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Bellinzona: Alex Barrow, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Questions
Where is the sunniest place to go from Southampton in December?
Luxor, Egypt, at 10.0 h. Reaching it emits 941 kg CO₂e return, travelling 8h 54m each way by air (modelled).
Can I get somewhere sunny from Southampton in December without flying?
Yes. Marseille reaches 7.5 h and is reachable by rail or ferry in 11h 36m (modelled), emitting 38.5 kg CO₂e return — though Luxor is sunnier still, if you fly.
How much carbon does a return trip from Southampton to Luxor produce?
941 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.