Let’s be honest: no one likes the cold. You might like wrapping up warm, or coming home to fairy lights and a cup of hot chocolate, but even then what you really like is getting out of the cold. If you’re looking for an escape from northern Europe’s single digit temperatures this winter, we’ve got some good news: you don’t need to go far.
There are plenty of places in Europe that get sun all year round, and we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 to help you choose which one to jet off to. Although you might not get the blazing 30C heat that you could expect in summer, a trip to any of these spots will offer some welcome respite from the wind and rains you’re used to this time of year.
The ‘undisputed champion of European heat’, according to travel experts at Time Out and, more broadly, facts about the weather, is the Canary Islands. Geographically, these islands are closer to Africa than mainland Europe, so it’s no wonder that temperatures generally stay around a toasty 18-20C, even throughout the cooler months.
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According to Liv Kelly, a travel writer for Time Out, ‘winter is barely a concept in this beach-lined, sun-kissed Spanish archipelago’, making it the ideal place if you fancy Christmas or New Year’s Eve on the beach.
If sunshine is your main concern, we recommend you choose Tenerife, ‘the largest and most visited island, home to plenty of resort options’. But there are other options too – eight of them in total. La Palma is the best bet if you fancy a ‘laidback holiday’, Lanzarote is ideal for any nature-lovers, and Fuerteventura is ‘the place to be for water sports’.
The Albanian Riviera was our second choice thanks to its ever-aqua waters and quaint towns, which ‘shine brighter without the summer crowds’. Madeira, the appropriately nicknamed ‘island of eternal spring’, claimed the bronze.
The world’s best spots for winter sun
It isn’t winter everywhere. If you’re willing to go a bit further afield, we’ve also created a list of the best places on Earth to catch a tan this time of year, with Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh taking the top spot. You can read the full worldwide list of the best winter sun destinations here.
Check out the rest of Time Out’s top picks for European winter sun.
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