Warmest places to go from Copenhagen in December
In December, the warmest well-known place within 15 hours of Copenhagen is Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, averaging 20.4 °C across day and night and 9.7 h sun a day, about 8h 12m each way by air. Without flying, it is Dunkirk, France, averaging 7.5 °C across day and night, about 14h 18m each way by train, for about 35× less carbon (25.1 kg CO₂e return against 891 kg).
Every city at once, with and without flying: where is hot in December.
The 10 warmest places within 15 hours of Copenhagen
Ranked on warmth 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 warmth each extra kilogram buys.
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt20.4 °C · 9.7 h sun a day · mostly dry · sea 25.2 °Cair ≈ 8h 12m · 891 kg CO₂e return
Hurghada, Egypt19.9 °C · 9.8 h sun a day · mostly dry · sea 24.7 °Cair ≈ 8h 18m · 903 kg CO₂e return
Maspalomas, Spain19.7 °C · 9.4 h sun a day · mostly dry · sea 21.9 °Cair ≈ 8h 36m · 897 kg CO₂e return
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain19.1 °C · 9.3 h sun a day · 2.8 mm rain a day · sea 21.9 °Cair ≈ 8h 36m · 887 kg CO₂e return- Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain18.9 °C · 9.3 h sun a day · 1.3 mm rain a day · sea 22.2 °Cair ≈ 8h 36m · 888 kg CO₂e return
Aswan, Egypt18.7 °C · 10.1 h sun a day · mostly dryair ≈ 8h 42m · 909 kg CO₂e return
Aqaba, Jordan18.0 °C · 9.2 h sun a day · mostly dry · sea 23.5 °Cair ≈ 8h · 857 kg CO₂e return
Agadir, Morocco17.4 °C · 9.1 h sun a day · mostly dry · sea 19.1 °Cair ≈ 7h 54m · 831 kg CO₂e return
Essaouira, Morocco16.4 °C · 9.0 h sun a day · mostly dry · sea 18.4 °Cair ≈ 7h 48m · 805 kg CO₂e return
Ponta Delgada, Portugal15.8 °C · 7.0 h sun a day · 4.1 mm rain a day · sea 19.1 °Cair ≈ 8h 6m · 871 kg CO₂e return
Without flying
The warmest places the train reaches within 15 hours. Dunkirk is 7.5 °C for 25.1 kg — about 35× less carbon than flying to Sharm el-Sheikh.
Dunkirk, France7.5 °C · 2.7 h sun a day · 3.0 mm rain a day · sea 10.2 °Crail ≈ 14h 18m · 25.1 kg CO₂e return- Middelburg, The Netherlands7.1 °C · 2.4 h sun a day · 3.2 mm rain a day · sea 8.4 °Crail ≈ 12h 48m · 22.1 kg CO₂e return
Bruges, Belgium6.8 °C · 2.3 h sun a day · 3.0 mm rain a day · sea 8.6 °Crail ≈ 13h 24m · 23.4 kg CO₂e return
Rotterdam, The Netherlands6.6 °C · 2.2 h sun a day · 3.3 mm rain a day · sea 8.8 °Crail ≈ 11h 42m · 19.9 kg CO₂e return- Amsterdam, The Netherlands6.6 °C · 2.2 h sun a day · 3.4 mm rain a dayrail ≈ 11h · 18.3 kg CO₂e return
Lille, France6.6 °C · 2.2 h sun a day · 2.2 mm rain a dayrail ≈ 14h 12m · 24.9 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 Copenhagen in December within 15 hours is Sharm el-Sheikh, 20.4 °C, costing 891 kg CO₂e return. The lowest-carbon option is Karlshamn at 4.5 kg — 198× less carbon, for 17.6 degrees less warmth.
Every destination here is on the efficiency frontier: nowhere else this site covers is both warmer 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 Boulogne-sur-Mer can only be reached by air — 229 kg CO₂e, in 4h 42m. Allow up to 24 hours and the train does the same journey for 26.9 kg in 15h 12m — 9× less carbon for 10h 30m more travelling.
| Destination | How | CO₂e return | Temp | Sun/day | Rain/day | Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karlshamn, Sweden | Rail | 4.5 kg | 2.8 °C | 1.8 h | 1.9 mm | 4h 12m |
| Stralsund, Germany | Rail | 4.6 kg | 4.1 °C | 1.4 h | 1.9 mm | 4h 12m |
| Cuxhaven, Germany | Rail | 9.4 kg | 5.2 °C | 1.8 h | 3.7 mm | 6h 36m |
| Leeuwarden, The Netherlands | Rail | 15.2 kg | 6.3 °C | 1.9 h | 3.8 mm | 9h 24m |
| Den Helder, The Netherlands | Rail | 17.4 kg | 7.3 °C | 2.6 h | 3.5 mm | 10h 30m |
| Boulogne-sur-Mer, France | Air | 229 kg | 8.1 °C | 2.8 h | 3.8 mm | 4h 42m |
| Cherbourg, France | Air | 293 kg | 9.1 °C | 2.9 h | 2.8 mm | 5h 6m |
| Saint Helier, Jersey | Air | 308 kg | 10.0 °C | 3.8 h | 3.0 mm | 5h 6m |
| Fondi, Italy | Air | 401 kg | 11.2 °C | 7.3 h | 2.4 mm | 5h 36m |
| Cagliari, Italy | Air | 464 kg | 12.2 °C | 8.0 h | 0.6 mm | 6h |
| Ciutadella, Spain | Air | 467 kg | 13.5 °C | 7.8 h | 0.5 mm | 6h |
| Milazzo, Italy | Air | 491 kg | 14.7 °C | 7.1 h | 8.2 mm | 6h 6m |
| San Pawl il-Bahar, Malta | Air | 553 kg | 16.0 °C | 7.9 h | 1.3 mm | 6h 24m |
| Rosetta, Egypt | Air | 764 kg | 17.4 °C | 9.2 h | 1.0 mm | 7h 36m |
| Ras Gharib, Egypt | Air | 868 kg | 18.6 °C | 9.7 h | 0.0 mm | 8h 6m |
| Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt | Air | 891 kg | 20.4 °C | 9.7 h | 0.1 mm | 8h 12m |
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 Den Helder (17.4 kg, 7.3 °C) to Boulogne-sur-Mer (229 kg, 8.1 °C) buys 0.8 °C more warmth for an extra 212 kg — 265 kg of CO₂e per degree. That single step is the most expensive warmth on the whole curve.
The pick of them
KarlshamnSweden4.5 kg CO₂e returncoolDen HelderThe Netherlands17.4 kg CO₂e returngrey and wetSharm el-SheikhEgypt891 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 Sharm el-Sheikh
Places to stay in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on a live map. Prices and availability come from Stay22 and its booking partners.
Search places to stay in Sharm el-Sheikh →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 Copenhagen
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
- Karlshamn: Entheta, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Sharm el-Sheikh: Tanya Dedyukhina, CC BY 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
- Aswan: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Aqaba: Sana Janakat, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Agadir: Marco Riss, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Essaouira: Kayaky, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Ponta Delgada: Maximilian Schönherr, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Dunkirk: Pichasso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Bruges: Jean-Christophe BENOIST, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
- Rotterdam: Mlefter, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Lille: Velvet, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Questions
Where is the warmest place to go from Copenhagen in December?
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, at 20.4 °C. Reaching it emits 891 kg CO₂e return, travelling 8h 12m each way by air (modelled).
Can I get somewhere warm from Copenhagen in December without flying?
Yes. Den Helder reaches 7.3 °C and is reachable by rail or ferry in 10h 30m (modelled), emitting 17.4 kg CO₂e return — though Sharm el-Sheikh is warmer still, if you fly.
How much carbon does a return trip from Copenhagen to Sharm el-Sheikh produce?
891 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.