World temperature, sunshine and flying times chart How hot would you like your winter sun this year? And how long are you prepared to spend in the air to feel the sun on your back and warm sand between your toes?
Take a look at our chart, above. We’ve selected 20 of this year’s hottest winter-sun destinations and calculated flying time against the rewards at the other end: average daily highs and how much sunshine you can expect.
Obviously, South America, Australia and Southeast Asia have buckets of hot sun and epic beaches, but we’ve drawn the line to include only destinations within a 12-hour flight — the maximum time most of us wish to spend at 39,000ft for a week’s holiday.
Now it’s up to you. Are you happy to fly for four hours for mild weather and cloudless skies? Or would you spend 10 hours in the air to guarantee searing heat and warm seas?
This winter, it’s not just a question of where, but how. With low-cost airlines venturing ever further south, and more and more charters offering seat-only deals, it’s easier than ever to piece together your own package.
Unless stated, all prices are per person, for a week, B&B, in January, including flights from London. For details of regional departures, contact the tour operator
Up to 4 hours
MARRAKESH, Morocco
Marrakesh may not be as painfully hip as it was a decade ago, but with a unique mix of French chic and Berber mystique, the city repays a return trip.
If, the first time, you were wowed by snake-charmers and charmed by carpet salesmen, this time you can sizzle in backstreet hammams, eat at palatial Dar Moha and explore the little-known Musée de Marrakesh.
This winter, Marrakesh is cheaper to get to than ever. With EasyJet (www.easyjet.com), Thomsonfly (www.thomsonfly.com) and Atlas Blue (www.atlas-blue.com) competing with British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com) and Royal Air Maroc (020 7307 5800, www.royalairmaroc.com), returns start at less than £50. Why book a package? This is DIY heaven.
Aim to stay at a classy riad in the medina, with a sun-drenched roof terrace looking towards the Atlas Mountains. Try Riad de L’Orangeraie, which has doubles from £75 per night, B&B; book through i-escape (020 7652 4625, www.i-escape.com).
Or hit the beach: Essaouira, a two-hour taxi journey (£36) from Marrakesh, is charming. Stay at chic Madada Mogador (00 212 24 47 55 12, www.madada.com), where doubles start at £70 per night, B&B.
DJERBA, Tunisia
There’s a lot to like about Tunisia — spicy souks, Roman ruins, fabulous food and sandy beaches — but if you go in winter, you’ll need to pick your spot. The big resorts in the north can be cloudy and cold, but a 60-minute flight south from Tunis to Djerba should provide crisp, warm sunshine.
Djerba is a low-lying island of white villages and pristine sand where the pace of life veers between languid and torpid. Said to be the land of
the lotus-eaters, it’s ideal for idling away your days, drinking fresh orange juice at pavement cafes, lunching on squid and exploring markets where softly spoken shopkeepers will charm you into buying pieces of antique silver.
Wigmore Holidays (020 7836 4999, www.aspectsoftunisia.co.uk) offers
Dar Dhiafa, a 14-room boutique hotel, for £595, or the recently refurbished five-star Mövenpick Ulysse Palace, which has a thalassotherapy spa,
a heated indoor pool, tennis and riding, for £630.
LANZAROTE
Lanzarote is the classiest of the Canaries. Yes, we know there are nice bits of Tenerife, but they’re mostly in the north of the island, where winter weather is lousy. The south is balmier, but it’s a mess of concrete and all-day English breakfasts.
Lanzarote, on the other hand, has whitewashed villages and black volcanic sands, tapas bars and surf breaks. The island works hard to conserve its natural beauty, especially the dramatic lava patterns in Timanfaya National Park, where you should eat lunch at El Diablo, a restaurant created by a local artist, Cesar Manrique, with a kitchen that uses the volcano’s geothermal heat.
Stay at the Gran Melia Volcan, in Playa Blanca on the sunnier south coast, and you’ll pay £782 with Classic Collection Holidays (0870 787 3377, www.classic-collection.co.uk).
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PAPHOS, Cyprus
It may lie in the Mediterranean, but Cyprus enjoys a Middle Eastern climate, with long, sunny days deep into December and February highs up to 24C. Only in January is there a significant risk of cloud and rain.
The trick in winter is to avoid the seasonal resorts of Ayia Napa and Protaras, and head for Paphos, Limassol or Larnaca, working towns that stay open all year. Paphos is favourite, for its beautifully preserved Roman mosaics. It has an attractive harbour, a long seafront promenade ideal for people-watching, and excellent restaurants — try Hondros, on Apostolos Pavlos Avenue.
Chic, minimalist Almyra is a smart place to stay, and costs £492 with Olympic Holidays (0870 429 4242, www.olympicholidays.com). Or choose a hotel packed with facilities, such as Aphrodite Hills, with its tennis academy, spa and 18-hole golf course; £588, also with Olympic.
LUXOR, Egypt
Amid the undignified scramble to build characterless new resorts along Egypt’s Red Sea coast, it’s easy to forget that the country already has a perfectly charming winter-sun resort with dazzling temples and tombs.
Luxor, in its heyday, was a haunt of Winston Churchill, Agatha Christie and Georges Clemenceau, and it still has a whiff of Victorian elegance, along with feluccas crossing the Nile and calashes clip-clopping the streets.
The Temple of Karnak, from where pharaohs ruled an empire serviced by 80,000 slaves, is awesome. Spend mornings sightseeing, then crash by the pool of the five-star Jolie Ville Mövenpick; £519, with Thomas Cook (0870 111 1111, www.thomascook.com).
THE GAMBIA
Pound for pound, The Gambia offers some of the best winter-sun deals anywhere. The flight is short — with lots of direct regional departures — the hotels offer good value, the weather is nigh-on perfect and there is no jet lag. Admittedly, you won’t find butler suites and infinity pools, but most visitors are happy with endless golden sands and genuinely friendly service.
The Gambia now has decent local restaurants serving dishes such as superkanja — okra, fish, palm oil and peppers — and you can take bird safaris, river cruises and canoe trips through the mangroves of the Makasutu forest.
Stay at the beachfront Kairaba hotel, with 40-acre gardens and the Abuko Nature Reserve next door; £729, with The Gambia Experience (0845 330 2087, www.gambia.co.uk).
OMAN
It’s hard to fathom why so many people drool over Dubai. Sure, the hotels are glitzy, but it is a victim of its own success: overpriced, overcrowded and littered with building sites. Two-hour traffic jams from the beach to downtown (what there is of it) are now common.
If you prefer the mystique and romance of old Arabia, then go to Oman. It has hundreds of miles of beaches, medieval forts, camel markets and Bedouin villages, as well as desert dunes and world-class dive sites. Spend time in the historic mountain town of Nizwa for wonderful sights, including 17th-century Jabrin Fort, the ghostly village of Tanuf, abandoned in the 1950s, and Sinaw, with its weekly market and traditional palm-frond houses.
Oman may go the same way as Dubai, though, with plans for a new £8 billion city devouring 10 miles of coast, with 16 new hotels. Go now, before the builders get there: the Chedi costs £999, with Trailfinders (0845 054 7777, www.trailfinders.com).
8 to 10 hours
ST LUCIA
The prettiest and friendliest of the big Caribbean islands, St Lucia is reinventing itself. No longer merely geared to flying and flopping, it offers ecofriendly activities such as rainforest walks, mountain-biking and zip-wiring through the lush forest canopy. You can even hire a local guide and climb one of the postcard-friendly Pitons.
Avoid the bland hotels of Rodney Bay and head for the fishing village of Soufrière. There you’ll find Ladera (00 1 758-459 7323, www.ladera.com), where £300-per-night rooms open directly onto the rainforest. Nearby, the family-run Stonefield Villas (459 7037, www.stonefieldvillas.com) has lovely French colonial-style cottages with plunge pools and four-poster beds; £150 per night, room-only. Fly for £428 with Virgin Atlantic (0870 380 2007, www.virgin-atlantic.com).
BRAZIL
