Warmest places to go from Brussels in May
In May, the warmest well-known place within 15 hours of Brussels is Aswan, Egypt, averaging 31.5 °C across day and night and 12.0 h sun a day, about 8h 36m each way by air. Without flying, it is Lleida, Spain, averaging 19.1 °C across day and night, about 12h 48m each way by train, for about 29× less carbon (31.4 kg CO₂e return against 901 kg).
Every city at once, with and without flying: where is hot in May.
The 10 warmest places within 15 hours of Brussels
Ranked on warmth in May 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 warmth each extra kilogram buys.
Aswan, Egypt31.5 °C · 12.0 h sun a day · mostly dryair ≈ 8h 36m · 901 kg CO₂e return
Luxor, Egypt31.2 °C · 12.0 h sun a day · mostly dryair ≈ 8h 24m · 927 kg CO₂e return
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt30.0 °C · 12.6 h sun a day · mostly dry · sea 24.5 °Cair ≈ 8h 18m · 900 kg CO₂e return
Aqaba, Jordan28.2 °C · 12.6 h sun a day · mostly dry · sea 23.5 °Cair ≈ 8h 6m · 875 kg CO₂e return
Ouarzazate, Morocco23.0 °C · 12.4 h sun a day · mostly dryair ≈ 6h 42m · 604 kg CO₂e return
Tataouine, Tunisia22.9 °C · 11.4 h sun a day · mostly dryair ≈ 6h 12m · 517 kg CO₂e return
Marrakesh, Morocco22.5 °C · 12.0 h sun a day · mostly dryair ≈ 6h 42m · 595 kg CO₂e return
Adana, Turkey22.0 °C · 11.6 h sun a day · 3.6 mm rain a dayair ≈ 7h 24m · 727 kg CO₂e return- Nicosia, Cyprus21.9 °C · 12.5 h sun a day · mostly dry · sea 21.0 °Cair ≈ 7h 24m · 730 kg CO₂e return
Limassol, Cyprus21.9 °C · 12.8 h sun a day · mostly dry · sea 20.3 °Cair ≈ 7h 24m · 735 kg CO₂e return
Without flying
The warmest places the train reaches within 15 hours. Lleida is 19.1 °C for 31.4 kg — about 29× less carbon than flying to Aswan.
Lleida, Spain19.1 °C · 13.0 h sun a day · 1.4 mm rain a dayrail ≈ 12h 48m · 31.4 kg CO₂e return
Zaragoza, Spain18.8 °C · 13.1 h sun a day · mostly dryrail ≈ 12h 30m · 32.4 kg CO₂e return- Reus, Spain18.1 °C · 13.0 h sun a day · 1.9 mm rain a day · sea 18.2 °Crail ≈ 12h 54m · 32.6 kg CO₂e return
Perpignan, France17.9 °C · 11.3 h sun a day · 1.6 mm rain a day · sea 16.0 °Crail ≈ 9h 18m · 26.9 kg CO₂e return
Nice, France17.6 °C · 11.5 h sun a day · 2.4 mm rain a day · sea 17.8 °Crail ≈ 10h · 24.3 kg CO₂e return- Barcelona, Spain17.2 °C · 12.5 h sun a day · 2.0 mm rain a day · sea 17.8 °Crail ≈ 11h · 31.4 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 warmest place you can reach from Brussels in May within 15 hours is Edfu, 31.4 °C, costing 882 kg CO₂e return. The lowest-carbon option is Nijmegen at 4.5 kg — 196× less carbon, for 16.8 degrees less warmth.
Every destination here is on the efficiency frontier: nowhere else this site covers is both warmer in May 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 Alzira can only be reached by air — 340 kg CO₂e, in 5h 18m. Allow up to 24 hours and the train does the same journey for 39.9 kg in 16h 12m — 9× less carbon for 10h 54m more travelling.
| Destination | How | CO₂e return | Temp | Sun/day | Rain/day | Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nijmegen, The Netherlands | Rail | 4.5 kg | 14.6 °C | 11.0 h | 3.5 mm | 4h 12m |
| Koblenz, Germany | Rail | 6.9 kg | 14.9 °C | 10.8 h | 3.5 mm | 5h 6m |
| Bellinzona, Switzerland | Rail | 18.3 kg | 16.3 °C | 9.4 h | 8.3 mm | 10h 42m |
| Mantua, Italy | Rail | 23.4 kg | 17.5 °C | 10.0 h | 6.9 mm | 13h 30m |
| Cannes, France | Rail | 24.7 kg | 18.0 °C | 11.8 h | 2.1 mm | 9h 54m |
| Lleida, Spain | Rail | 31.4 kg | 19.1 °C | 13.0 h | 1.4 mm | 12h 48m |
| Alzira, Spain | Air | 340 kg | 20.3 °C | 12.2 h | 1.3 mm | 5h 18m |
| Córdoba, Spain | Air | 405 kg | 21.3 °C | 12.2 h | 1.0 mm | 5h 36m |
| Palma del Rio, Spain | Air | 415 kg | 22.3 °C | 12.1 h | 1.2 mm | 5h 42m |
| Metlaoui, Tunisia | Air | 470 kg | 23.8 °C | 11.8 h | 0.8 mm | 6h |
| Tozeur, Tunisia | Air | 480 kg | 25.8 °C | 11.6 h | 0.6 mm | 6h |
| Recani, Morocco | Air | 576 kg | 26.6 °C | 12.1 h | 0.1 mm | 6h 36m |
| Zagora, Morocco | Air | 612 kg | 27.6 °C | 12.4 h | 0.0 mm | 6h 42m |
| Mallawi, Egypt | Air | 855 kg | 28.6 °C | 11.8 h | 0.1 mm | 8h |
| Edfu, Egypt | Air | 882 kg | 31.4 °C | 12.1 h | 0.0 mm | 8h 30m |
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 Lleida (31.4 kg, 19.1 °C) to Alzira (340 kg, 20.3 °C) buys 1.2 °C more warmth for an extra 309 kg — 258 kg of CO₂e per degree. That single step is the most expensive warmth on the whole curve.
The pick of them
LleidaSpain31.4 kg CO₂e returnwarm overall
EdfuEgypt882 kg CO₂e returnwarm, bright and dryThe same month, asked differently
May 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 Edfu
Places to stay in Edfu, Egypt, on a live map. Prices and availability come from Stay22 and its booking partners.
Search places to stay in Edfu →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 Brussels
May 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
- Lleida: Jorge Franganillo from Barcelona, Spain, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Edfu: Olaf Tausch, CC BY 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
- Sharm el-Sheikh: Tanya Dedyukhina, CC BY 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
- Tataouine: Averater, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Marrakesh: Donar Reiskoffer, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Adana: Anatolianpride, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Limassol: Xaris333, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Zaragoza: Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Perpignan: Jean Tosti, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Nice: Moody Dreiza (Moody751 at English Wikipedia), CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
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Questions
Where is the warmest place to go from Brussels in May?
Edfu, Egypt, at 31.4 °C. Reaching it emits 882 kg CO₂e return, travelling 8h 30m each way by air (modelled).
Can I get somewhere warm from Brussels in May without flying?
Yes. Lleida reaches 19.1 °C and is reachable by rail or ferry in 12h 48m (modelled), emitting 31.4 kg CO₂e return — though Edfu is warmer still, if you fly.
How much carbon does a return trip from Brussels to Edfu produce?
882 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.