Escape the chilly winter weather and head to this sunny islandA view of Teresitas beach, Tenerife Tenerife has been named the best destination in Europe for winter sun (Image: Getty Images)

We might not have had a White Christmas but temperatures are certainly taking a tumble this week. According to the latest forecasts from the Met Office, Wednesday will see highs of just 4C, while on New Year’s Day we can expect heavy rain and chilly conditions.

The weather is set to be even colder going into the weekend. On Saturday morning temperatures will drop to -2C, while during the day it won’t be much warmer than 2C. Sunday will be just as cold, with a high of 3C forecast if we’re lucky.

These chilly conditions may have you longing for a sunshine getaway. Of course you could jet off to a far flung destination like the Caribbean or Florida for some winter sun, but there are places closer to home which offer a taste of summer in January.

In fact Tenerife has been named the best place in Europe for a winter sun holiday, according to new research conducted by Luxury France Tours. Researchers ranked European cities by analysing average sunshine hours and the number of sunny days during December, January and February.

Tenerife is a well-known island in the Canaries which enjoys year-round sunshine Tenerife is a well-known island in the Canaries which enjoys year-round sunshine (Image: Shared Content Unit)

Tenerife, one of the most well-known of the Canary Islands, topped the list, with 850.1 hours of winter sunshine. Overall this Spanish Island enjoys 83 sunny days over winter.

At around a four hour flight time from the UK, Tenerife is far easier to reach than longhaul winter sun destinations. The island boasts highs of around 20C in January, much warmer than our chilly winters.

The list of top ten cities for winter sun was dominated by cities in mainland Spain. Almeria came in second, with 834.6 hours of winter sun, followed by Cartagena, with 759.6 hours. Murcia and Tarragona rounded off the top five.

Outside of the top ten, cities in Cyprus and France also featured. Laranca in Cyprus came in 11th place with 705.1 hours of winter sun, followed by Cannes and Nice which have 701.6 and 698.6 respectively. But Spanish locations continued to dominate with 13 in total making up the top 20.

The best European cities for a sunny winter holiday

  1. Tenerife, Spain
  2. Almeria, Spain
  3. Cartagena, Spain
  4. Murcia, Spain
  5. Tarragona, Spain
  6. Valencia, Spain
  7. Turin, Italy
  8. Barcelona, Spain
  9. Cantania, Italy
  10. Malaga, Spain
  11. Larnaca, Cyprus
  12. Cannes, France
  13. Nice, France
  14. Ibiza, Spain
  15. Granada, Spain
  16. Seville, Spain
  17. Marseille, France
  18. Zaragoza, Spain
  19. Limassol, Cyprus
  20. Cadiz, Spain

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