Warmest places to go from Copenhagen in January
In January, the warmest well-known place within 15 hours of Copenhagen is Maspalomas, Spain, averaging 19.6 °C across day and night and 9.6 h sun a day, about 8h 36m each way by air. Without flying, it is Dunkirk, France, averaging 5.5 °C across day and night, about 14h 18m each way by train, for about 36× less carbon (25.1 kg CO₂e return against 897 kg).
Every city at once, with and without flying: where is hot in January.
The 10 warmest places within 15 hours of Copenhagen
Ranked on warmth in January 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.
Maspalomas, Spain19.6 °C · 9.6 h sun a day · mostly dry · sea 21.2 °Cair ≈ 8h 36m · 897 kg CO₂e return
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt18.9 °C · 9.9 h sun a day · mostly dry · sea 24.1 °Cair ≈ 8h 12m · 891 kg CO₂e return
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain18.8 °C · 9.4 h sun a day · 1.8 mm rain a day · sea 21.2 °Cair ≈ 8h 36m · 887 kg CO₂e return- Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain18.3 °C · 9.5 h sun a day · mostly dry · sea 21.3 °Cair ≈ 8h 36m · 888 kg CO₂e return
Hurghada, Egypt18.2 °C · 10.0 h sun a day · mostly dry · sea 23.6 °Cair ≈ 8h 18m · 903 kg CO₂e return
Agadir, Morocco17.1 °C · 9.6 h sun a day · mostly dry · sea 18.7 °Cair ≈ 7h 54m · 831 kg CO₂e return
Aqaba, Jordan16.8 °C · 9.8 h sun a day · mostly dry · sea 23.0 °Cair ≈ 8h · 857 kg CO₂e return
Aswan, Egypt16.8 °C · 10.0 h sun a day · mostly dryair ≈ 8h 42m · 909 kg CO₂e return
Essaouira, Morocco16.0 °C · 9.5 h sun a day · mostly dry · sea 18.1 °Cair ≈ 7h 48m · 805 kg CO₂e return
Ponta Delgada, Portugal15.2 °C · 7.0 h sun a day · 4.6 mm rain a day · sea 17.4 °Cair ≈ 8h 6m · 871 kg CO₂e return
Without flying
The warmest places the train reaches within 15 hours. Dunkirk is 5.5 °C for 25.1 kg — about 36× less carbon than flying to Maspalomas.
Dunkirk, France5.5 °C · 4.2 h sun a day · 2.8 mm rain a day · sea 9.2 °Crail ≈ 14h 18m · 25.1 kg CO₂e return- Middelburg, The Netherlands5.4 °C · 4.1 h sun a day · 3.2 mm rain a day · sea 7.9 °Crail ≈ 12h 48m · 22.1 kg CO₂e return
Rotterdam, The Netherlands4.9 °C · 3.9 h sun a day · 3.2 mm rain a day · sea 7.8 °Crail ≈ 11h 42m · 19.9 kg CO₂e return
Bruges, Belgium4.9 °C · 4.1 h sun a day · 3.1 mm rain a day · sea 8.2 °Crail ≈ 13h 24m · 23.4 kg CO₂e return- Amsterdam, The Netherlands4.7 °C · 3.8 h sun a day · 3.5 mm rain a dayrail ≈ 11h · 18.3 kg CO₂e return
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands4.6 °C · 3.9 h sun a day · 3.3 mm rain a day · sea 7.1 °Crail ≈ 9h 24m · 15.2 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 January within 15 hours is Sharm el-Sheikh, 18.9 °C, costing 891 kg CO₂e return. The lowest-carbon option is Karlshamn at 4.5 kg — 198× less carbon, for 17.9 degrees less warmth.
Every destination here is on the efficiency frontier: nowhere else this site covers is both warmer in January 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 Sanremo can only be reached by air — 343 kg CO₂e, in 5h 18m. Allow up to 24 hours and the train does the same journey for 40.2 kg in 21h 42m — 9× less carbon for 16h 24m more travelling.
| Destination | How | CO₂e return | Temp | Sun/day | Rain/day | Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karlshamn, Sweden | Rail | 4.5 kg | 1.0 °C | 3.1 h | 3.1 mm | 4h 12m |
| Stralsund, Germany | Rail | 4.6 kg | 3.1 °C | 2.8 h | 2.7 mm | 4h 12m |
| Cuxhaven, Germany | Rail | 9.4 kg | 4.1 °C | 3.1 h | 3.5 mm | 6h 36m |
| Den Helder, The Netherlands | Rail | 17.4 kg | 5.7 °C | 3.9 h | 3.2 mm | 10h 30m |
| Calais, France | Rail | 26.1 kg | 5.8 °C | 4.2 h | 2.9 mm | 14h 42m |
| Cherbourg, France | Air | 293 kg | 7.0 °C | 4.1 h | 3.8 mm | 5h 6m |
| Genoa, Italy | Air | 322 kg | 8.3 °C | 6.0 h | 3.2 mm | 5h 12m |
| Sanremo, Italy | Air | 343 kg | 9.6 °C | 7.0 h | 1.8 mm | 5h 18m |
| Bastia, France | Air | 367 kg | 10.3 °C | 7.1 h | 2.1 mm | 5h 24m |
| Alghero, Italy | Air | 430 kg | 11.6 °C | 7.4 h | 2.3 mm | 5h 48m |
| Milazzo, Italy | Air | 491 kg | 12.9 °C | 7.7 h | 4.1 mm | 6h 6m |
| Bizerte, Tunisia | Air | 517 kg | 13.3 °C | 7.7 h | 1.8 mm | 6h 12m |
| San Pawl il-Bahar, Malta | Air | 553 kg | 14.4 °C | 8.8 h | 1.1 mm | 6h 24m |
| Essaouira, Morocco | Air | 805 kg | 16.0 °C | 9.5 h | 0.3 mm | 7h 48m |
| Taroudant, Morocco | Air | 823 kg | 17.7 °C | 9.5 h | 0.0 mm | 7h 54m |
| Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt | Air | 891 kg | 18.9 °C | 9.9 h | 0.0 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 Calais (26.1 kg, 5.8 °C) to Cherbourg (293 kg, 7.0 °C) buys 1.2 °C more warmth for an extra 267 kg — 222 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 returngrey and wetCalaisFrance26.1 kg CO₂e returncoolSharm el-SheikhEgypt891 kg CO₂e returnwarm, bright and dryThe same month, asked differently
January 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
January 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
- 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
- Hurghada: Marc Ryckaert, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Agadir: Marco Riss, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Aqaba: Sana Janakat, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Aswan: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, 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
- Rotterdam: Mlefter, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Bruges: Jean-Christophe BENOIST, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
- Leeuwarden: C messier, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Questions
Where is the warmest place to go from Copenhagen in January?
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, at 18.9 °C. Reaching it emits 891 kg CO₂e return, travelling 8h 12m each way by air (modelled).
Can I get somewhere warm from Copenhagen in January without flying?
Yes. Calais reaches 5.8 °C and is reachable by rail or ferry in 14h 42m (modelled), emitting 26.1 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.