Where Is Warm in December? Winter Sun Ranked by Real Weather
Fourteen destinations UK travellers search for in December, ranked by official weather station averages, with the rain, the cool nights and the local differences that matter.
The warmest winter-sun destinations UK travellers search for in December are Dubai (26.5°C, or 79.7°F, average high), Cape Verde (26.1°C on Sal) and Egypt's Red Sea coast (23.9°C at Sharm el-Sheikh, 23.8°C at Hurghada), on official 1991-2020 station averages. Of the Canary Islands, the south of Tenerife is warmest at 23.7°C, while Cyprus, Tunisia, the Algarve, Malta and Antalya sit between 16.7°C and 19.3°C: mild, but rarely beach weather.
Every average in the table is a station normal from a national weather service, published through the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) or by the service itself, so you know where it was measured: 1991-2020 for every station except Malta, which is 1961-1990. An average describes a typical December, not the one you will get.
Where is warmest in December? The ranking
Ranked by average daytime high. Rain is the average December total and, where the filed figure is usable, the average number of days with at least 1 mm.
| Destination (station) | High | Low | Rain | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dubai (Dubai International airport) | 26.5°C | 17.3°C | 15 mm | Warmest days here |
| Cape Verde (Sal airport) | 26.1°C | 20.5°C | 3 mm, 0.5 days | Warmest nights, almost no rain |
| Egypt: Sharm el-Sheikh (airport) | 23.9°C | 15.6°C | 1 mm, 0.1 days | Dry, warm days |
| Egypt: Hurghada (airport) | 23.8°C | 13.4°C | 0.6 mm, 0.1 days | Dry, cool evenings |
| Tenerife south (Tenerife Sur airport) | 23.7°C | 16.5°C | 33 mm, 3.2 days | Warmest of the Canaries |
| Lanzarote (airport) | 22.7°C | 14.9°C | 21 mm, 3.2 days | Sunny, cooler nights |
| Gran Canaria (airport) | 22.3°C | 16.7°C | 26 mm, 4.0 days | Mildest Canary nights |
| Morocco: Agadir (Inezgane) | 22.1°C | 10.1°C | 49 mm, 3.6 days | Warm days, cold nights |
| Fuerteventura (airport) | 22.0°C | 16.3°C | 19 mm, 2.6 days | Driest Canary station |
| Cyprus: Paphos (airport) | 19.3°C | 10.4°C | 98 mm | Mild, wettest month |
| Tunisia: Monastir | 18.1°C | 9.9°C | 41 mm, 4.6 days | Mild, sightseeing weather |
| Portugal: Faro, Algarve | 17.1°C | 9.7°C | 90 mm, 7.0 days | Wettest month |
| Malta (Luqa, 1961-1990) | 16.7°C | 11.0°C | 112 mm | Wettest month, older period |
| Turkey: Antalya (airport) | 16.7°C | 7.4°C | 275 mm, 8.9 days | Wettest month, not winter sun |
Sources: WMO 1991-2020 normals filed by each country (AEMET for the Canaries), IPMA for Faro, and the Malta Meteorological Office's 1961-1990 averages for Luqa, the only official Malta set with separate day and night averages we could find online, so Malta is not strictly comparable. The rain-day counts filed for Cyprus and Dubai are not usable (Cyprus lists more rain days than some months have, and Dubai lists days with 1 mm or more in months whose average total is under 1 mm), so only rainfall is shown for them.
Is Tenerife warm in December? The Canaries compared
Yes, on the south coast. Tenerife Sur airport averages 23.7°C by day and 16.5°C at night, with 215 hours of sunshine in December, about 6.9 hours a day. Where you stay matters:
- South coast: Tenerife Sur airport, 23.7°C, 215 hours of sun, 3.2 rain days.
- North-east coast: Santa Cruz de Tenerife, on the coast, 22.6°C, 178 hours of sun, 4.9 rain days.
- Northern uplands: Tenerife Norte airport, 632 metres up, 17.4°C, 105 hours of sun, 7.8 rain days.
- High centre: Izaña, at 2,371 metres, 9.2°C by day. Take a warm layer for any trip up towards Teide.
December is the wettest month of the year at all four Canary airports in the table, yet that still means only 2.6 to 4.0 days with 1 mm or more. Lanzarote is the sunniest of the other three (208 hours) but has the coolest nights (14.9°C). Fuerteventura is the driest, with 19 mm. Gran Canaria's figures come from the airport on the east coast; the WMO set has no station in the southern resorts, so treat 22.3°C as a guide.
Who it suits: anyone who wants dependable 22 to 24°C afternoons and mild nights without leaving Spain, as long as a warm December day, not a hot one, is enough.
Is Egypt hot in December? The Red Sea, Dubai and Cape Verde
Warm by day, cool after dark. On the Egyptian Red Sea coast, Sharm el-Sheikh airport averages 23.9°C and Hurghada 23.8°C, and rain barely registers: Hurghada collects 0.6 mm in an average December. The catch is the evening. Hurghada's average low is 13.4°C, more than 10°C below the afternoon, and Sharm's is 15.6°C, so pack a jumper for dinner outdoors.
Dubai is warmer still, with 26.5°C by day, 17.3°C at night and 257 hours of sunshine, about 8.3 hours a day, the most of any station here that reports sunshine. Dubai International airport averages only 15 mm of rain in December.
Cape Verde is the most even of all. Sal airport averages 26.1°C by day and 20.5°C at night, the warmest nights in this guide, with half a day of measurable rain in a typical December. Boa Vista has no station in the WMO 1991-2020 set, so Sal is the reference for both islands' resorts here.
Who it suits: Dubai and Cape Verde for the warmest days; the Red Sea for dry, sunny days with cooler evenings.
What is the weather like in Morocco and Tunisia in December?
Agadir has the days but not the nights. Agadir Inezgane averages 22.1°C in the afternoon and 10.1°C overnight, a swing of 12°C, and December is its wettest month, with 49 mm over 3.6 days. Marrakech, inland at 464 metres, reaches 20.1°C by day but falls to 7.3°C at night.
Tunisia is mild rather than warm. Monastir, on the coast near Sousse, averages 18.1°C by day and 9.9°C at night, and Djerba in the south 18.3°C and 11.4°C. That suits walking and sightseeing better than sunbathing.
Is Malta or Cyprus warm enough in December?
Warm enough for lunch outside on a good day, but this is their wet season. Paphos airport averages 19.3°C by day and 10.4°C at night, with 181 hours of sunshine, about 5.8 hours a day. Malta's official 1961-1990 averages give 16.7°C and 11.0°C.
December is the wettest month of the year at Paphos (98 mm), in Malta (112 mm), at Faro (90 mm) and at Antalya, where 275 mm falls over 8.9 days. The rain arrives with passing storms. The Cyprus Department of Meteorology's report for December 2024 lists unstable weather on 21 days, and on 25 and 26 December 2024 storm Elena brought heavy rain, hail and gusts of up to 33 knots (38 mph) to Paphos.
Who it suits: sightseeing, walking and Christmas markets rather than beach days. The Algarve (17.1°C, 7 rain days) and Antalya (16.7°C, with 7.4°C nights) fit the same description.
How should you check the forecast before you fly?
Use the averages to choose where to go and the forecast to decide what to pack. A 30-year average cannot tell you whether your week will catch a storm like Elena, and forecasts lose accuracy steadily the further ahead they look. When we graded forecasts for 40 UK cities between 11 September and 6 October 2026, the European model's temperature forecast was out by 0.61°C on average one day ahead and by 1.74°C seven days ahead, roughly 2.9 times the error (see our forecast accuracy by day page). Resorts abroad were not in that test, but past about ten days a single forecast carries little more information than the seasonal average, which is the table above.
- Two weeks out or more: plan on the averages. A 14-day daily temperature is closer to a climate guess than a forecast.
- About a week out: look for big signals, such as a named storm or a run of wet days, and check whether the models agree.
- Two or three days out: the detail firms up, including evening temperatures and wind.
Our destination pages show long-run averages and a live forecast with every model compared, so you can see when the forecasts agree and when they do not.
For the warmest December days, choose Dubai, Cape Verde or the Red Sea; for the warmest of the Canaries, the south of Tenerife. Cyprus, Malta, Tunisia, the Algarve and Antalya offer mild and often bright days in what is, for most of them, the wettest month of the year, so pack for rain as well as sun.