15 winter sun holidays less than four hours away from UK - destinations where you can find the most sunshine
As the UK goes through the darkest winter months, new analysis reveals that travellers could enjoy up to four times more sunshine than at home by heading to a range of winter sun destinations.
All of the destinations are less than four hours flight time from the UK. January is typically one of the gloomiest months for the UK, with London seeing sun just two hours per day on average.
In contrast, new analysis from a travel eSIM app Saily shows that destinations across southern Europe and North Africa offer almost eight daily hours of sunshine, making them increasingly popular choices for winter escapes. “A lot of people assume you need to fly long-haul to escape the winter gloom, but that’s simply not the case,” says Matas Cenys, Head of product at Saily.
“In just a few hours, UK travellers can land somewhere that’s significantly brighter, warmer and far more uplifting at this time of year.” Southern Spain, the Canary Islands and Morocco remain particularly popular thanks to frequent flights from UK airports, mild winter temperatures and strong sunshine levels even in mid-winter.
The following destinations top the list for winter sunshine, reachable within four hours:
- Marrakech, Morocco – 7.6 daily hours of sunshine in January (3.9x more than in the UK)
- Agadir, Morocco – 7.4 hours (3.8x more)
- Cairo, Egypt – 6.9 hours (3.5x more)
- Lanzarote, Spain – 6.9 hours (3.3x more)
- Rabat, Morocco – 6.4 hours (3.2x more)
- Almería, Spain – 6.3 hours (3.2x more)
- Murcia, Spain – 6.3 hours (3.2x more)
- Fuerteventura, Spain – 6.2 hours (3.2x more)
- Gran Canaria, Spain – 6 hours (3.1x more)
- Alicante, Spain – 6 hours (3.1x more)
- Tenerife, Spain – 6 hours (3.0x more)
- Faro, Portugal – 6 hours (3.0x more)
- Larnaca, Cyprus – 5.9 hours (3.0x more)
- Málaga, Spain – 5.8 hours (3.0x more)
- Seville, Spain – 5.7 hours (2.9x more)