Search for the sunniest place in December and the top of the list is often somewhere you were not going to fly to: the Namib desert, central Chile, the coast of Oman. Those rankings answer a different question from the one you have, which is where it is warm enough, on the days you are free, within a trip you will actually take.
From Europe, between December and February, that list is short.
What “warm” means in winter
A place can be the sunniest spot in a table and still be a bad holiday.
- A beach day needs daytime highs around 22 °C or more, a warm sea, and little rain. In winter, that is the Red Sea, not Málaga.
- A mild trip is about 18–22 °C by day. You can eat outside and walk a coast. Swimming is optional. This is the Canaries and Agadir.
- A sunny city break is 14–17 °C with bright spells. Pleasant if home is grey and near freezing. It is not a beach holiday, however many sun icons the forecast shows.
Evenings are cool in all three. Pack a layer. The figures below are typical winter daytime highs, rounded, not a forecast for your week.
The shortlist that is actually reachable
The Red Sea, if you want to swim
Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh are the warm beach answer. Days are often 22–25 °C, rain is rare, and the sea stays in the low 20s. Luxor and Aswan are as dry and often as warm by day, but nights fall to around 10 °C, so they suit ruins and the river more than a beach.
The flight is the long one on this list. From much of central and northern Europe it is a full day once you count the airports. That only pays if you want beach weather, not merely “less grey than home”.
The Canaries, if you want reliable mild sun
The south coasts of Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote are the dependable European option: about 20–22 °C by day, drier and brighter than the north of the same islands. The sea is around 19–21 °C, which is a swim for some people and a short dip for others. It is rarely hot.
Agadir, if you want the same mildness on the Atlantic
Agadir sits in the same temperature band as the Canaries, often 20–22 °C, and winter rain is uncommon. The Atlantic is cooler than the Red Sea, so treat it as a sunny coast rather than a swimming holiday. Marrakesh is not a substitute: the days are fine, the nights are cold.
Tunis and the Tunisian coast are milder than northern Europe and usually cooler than Agadir. In December they behave more like a southern Mediterranean city than like a beach.
Southern Europe, if a city is enough
Málaga, the Algarve, Valletta, Cyprus and Crete can all deliver bright days in the mid-teens, and Cyprus is often the warmest of that group. They are good long weekends. They are a poor answer to “I want to lie on a beach”. A rainy week is also normal somewhere in this band every winter. Averages hide that.
The month pages for December, January and February put the same places in order. Temperatures for the cities themselves are in Warmest cities in Europe in winter.
Why the world ranking misleads
A sunshine score usually rewards clear skies and dry days. It does not ask:
- whether you can get there and back in the time you have,
- whether 32 °C in a desert is the holiday you wanted,
- whether home is already fine, so the flight buys you nothing.
Santiago in high summer and a North Sea city in December are not a useful comparison. Neither is “the sunniest place on earth this month” if the flight is fourteen hours and you have four days off.
How to choose for your dates
Look at the forecast, not only the climate, once you are inside two weeks. Winter around the Mediterranean comes in wet spells and bright spells. The Canaries and the Red Sea move less, but a windy week still feels different from a calm one.
Then ask one question: is the weather better enough to justify the journey from where you are? A 15 °C afternoon in Seville is a real upgrade from a dark 3 °C at home, and it can still be the wrong trip if the flight eats the weekend. When the sun is not worth the trip is the longer version of that test.
If the beach is the point, compare the three warm options directly in Canaries, Agadir or the Red Sea.
SunFinder runs the same check from your town: places you can reach on the days you picked, with a plain verdict when staying home is the better idea. For a winter beach, start with a flight of up to 8 hours and the beach filter: find winter sun from where you are.