Cheap Winter Sun Destinations from the UK: Real Temperatures and Fares

• 1,136

  Deals logged to 15 winter sun airports for Nov–Mar departures (19 Sep–17 Oct 2026)

• £26

  Lowest return logged: Lanzarote, including Bristol 11–16 December

• 21.7°C

  Average January high at Tenerife Sur airport (AEMET, 1981–2010)

• £109

  Lowest Egypt return logged (Sharm El-Sheikh, December)

Looking for cheap winter sun destinations from the UK usually comes down to one trade-off. The places with the cheapest flights are not always warm enough to sit by a pool in January, and the places that are properly warm need a longer, pricier flight. This guide puts real climate averages from national weather services next to the fares Blame the Fare’s deal scanner logged from UK airports between 19 September and 17 October 2026, so you can see both sides at once.

It covers short and mid-haul winter sun from the UK: the Canaries, Morocco, Egypt, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal and mainland Spain. If you are flying from the US, our guide to cheap warm places to fly in winter is the one you want.

How warm is winter sun, really?

“Winter sun” covers a wide range. A sunny 17°C in Málaga is lovely for a walk along the front and a long lunch outside. It is not sunbathing weather, and the evenings need a jumper. A 22°C day in Hurghada or Tenerife is different: most people will happily swim.

The table uses the average daily maximum, which is the figure that matters for daytime plans. It also shows the January average minimum, because that is where Marrakech surprises people. Each station is the official one closest to where holidaymakers stay, usually the airport. These are long-run averages, not forecasts. Any single week can be several degrees off, and the Canaries in particular get the odd windy, wet spell.

Three groups fall out of that. The Red Sea, the Canaries, Agadir and Madeira hold 20–22°C highs through the darkest months. Cyprus and Marrakech are warm in November and March but drop to 17–20°C in midwinter. Mainland Spain, the Algarve and Malta sit at 15–17°C in January, which is pleasant city-break weather rather than beach weather. Faro also has its wettest months then: IPMA’s normals show 90 mm of rain in an average December, against under 1 mm in July.

The cheapest winter sun in our deal data

Blame the Fare’s deal scanner flags round trips priced below the typical fare a provider shows for that route. Between 19 September and 17 October 2026 it logged 1,136 such deals from UK airports to the 15 winter sun airports in this guide, for departures from November 2026 to March 2027. The table shows the lowest fare logged, the median for December departures (the month with the most data), how many UK airports the deals left from, and the cheapest deal still in the feed overnight into 17 October.

Read the “lowest” column as what appeared, not what you should expect to pay. Each floor is a single deal on specific dates, and budget fares like these often exclude a checked bag. The December median is a better guide to a normal deal, and it shows a clear split: the Canaries, Málaga, Faro and Marrakech cluster around £37–£46 return, Cyprus around £66–£74, and Egypt from about £138.

Two medians look odd, and both have a simple cause. Malta’s £124 reflects 26 deals from Heathrow on one-stop Vueling itineraries (median £127), which swamped the cheaper nonstop fares from Gatwick, Bristol and Manchester at £43–£54. Agadir’s £169 comes from 21 Newcastle deals on Jet2 and KLM, while Manchester, Luton, Gatwick and Edinburgh deals to Agadir sat between £27 and £52. The cheap fares exist; they were just outnumbered.

Canary Islands: the cheap, reliable default

If you want the best warmth per pound, the Canaries win on both measures. Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote each logged deals from eight to ten UK airports, with December medians of £37–£43 return. Tenerife Sur airport averages a 21.7°C high in January and, unlike Marrakech, it barely cools at night: the January average minimum is 15.2°C.

The deals covered almost every corner of the UK. Tenerife deals left from Belfast International, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Gatwick, Luton, Manchester, Newcastle and Stansted. On 17 October the feed had Manchester to Tenerife for £34 (6–8 December, easyJet) and Edinburgh to Tenerife for £37 (6–10 December). Lanzarote showed £32 from Liverpool (12–15 December, easyJet) and £33 from Birmingham.

The catch is distance. Listed nonstop durations on Canaries deals in the feed ran from 3 hours 55 minutes to 4 hours 50 minutes each way, longer from Scotland and the North East. That is fine for a week but heavy for a long weekend. The Canaries are part of Spain and the Schengen area, so the usual EU rules for British passports apply, including the Entry/Exit System checks covered in our EES explainer.

Which island? Tenerife and Gran Canaria had the most deals and the most departure airports. Lanzarote is a degree cooler than Tenerife Sur in the AEMET January normals, which few people would notice. Pick the island that suits the holiday you want, then let the cheapest airport and date decide the rest. Our Canary Islands booking guide compares the four islands and the peak UK school-holiday weeks.

Egypt's Red Sea: warmest, but rarely under £100

Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada are the warmest options in this guide: the Egyptian Meteorological Authority’s averages give January highs just under 22°C and November highs above 27°C. They are also the only destinations here where the deal scanner logged nothing under £100.

Sharm deals started at £109 and Hurghada at £120. December medians were £138 and £167. That is two to four times a typical Canaries deal, for a flight of 5 hours 20 minutes to just under 6 hours each way. Egypt is good value when the hotel or all-inclusive price is low enough to make up the gap, so price the whole trip rather than the flight.

Deals to Egypt left from ten UK airports, including Belfast International, Birmingham and Bristol. In the 17 October feed, Birmingham to Sharm El-Sheikh was £155 for 6–10 December and Bristol to Hurghada £164 for 8–17 December.

Marrakech and Agadir: cheap flights, cold nights

Marrakech was one of the most widely available cheap winter routes: 92 deals from ten UK airports, from £30, with a December median of £46. In the feed on 17 October, Glasgow to Marrakech was £39 (30 November – 4 December, easyJet) and Stansted was £37 for a two-week trip on 6–20 December.

Pack for two seasons. Marrakech averages a 19.1°C high in January, but the average January low is 5.9°C. Riad mornings and desert trips are cold. It is a sunny city break more than a beach holiday.

Agadir, on the coast, is the beach alternative: a 21.1°C January high and milder nights. It had fewer deals (41, from five airports) and prices were patchy. November departures had a median of £43, but December’s was £169, and the only Agadir deal in the 17 October feed was Newcastle at £120 with Jet2. GOV.UK says British tourists can visit Morocco without a visa for up to 90 days, with a passport valid for at least three months after arrival.

Faro and Madeira: Portugal in winter

Faro had more deals than any other destination here: 111, from nine UK airports, from £30, with a December median of £46. Newcastle to Faro was £32 in the 17 October feed for a two-week trip (22 November – 6 December, Ryanair), and Edinburgh £42. Flights take a little over three hours.

Be honest with yourself about the weather. The Algarve averages 16–17°C highs from December to February, the same as Málaga, and those are its wettest months. It suits golf, walking and quiet towns. If you want guaranteed shorts weather, look elsewhere.

Madeira is the warmer Portuguese option, with Funchal averaging 20°C in January and 14.3°C overnight. Our data for it is thin: 28 deals from Bristol, Gatwick and Luton, from £45, with a December median of £51, and nothing in the feed on 17 October. Treat it as promising but under-sampled.

Málaga and Alicante: mild, not hot

Málaga and Alicante are the cheapest short-hop winter options. Málaga logged 90 deals from £28, Alicante 40 from £30, with December medians of £39 and £41. The listed nonstop durations were 2 hours 45 minutes to 3 hours 25 minutes, so a long weekend is realistic.

You will get sunshine and around 17°C at midday in January, then single figures at night. That works for a mild city break with outdoor lunches. Our guide to the best time to book Spain flights from the UK covers mainland seasonality. For ideas on making a short trip fit around work, see our cheap weekend flights from the UK guide.

One pattern in the data is worth knowing. The cheap Málaga deals were on easyJet and Ryanair, from Luton (median £29), Newcastle (£33), Liverpool, Glasgow, Gatwick and Belfast. The January and February Málaga deals in our history were almost all London City flights on British Airways, with a median around £159. They were real below-average fares for that route, but not budget prices. If you are near London, Gatwick or Luton is likely to be the cheaper starting point for Málaga.

Cyprus and Malta: autumn yes, January maybe

Cyprus is excellent in November, when Paphos and Larnaca average 23°C, and again by late March. In January the Cyprus Department of Meteorology’s figures drop to about 17.5°C highs and 8–9°C lows. Flights are long for Europe, at 4 hours 25 minutes to 5 hours on the deals in the feed.

Paphos logged 59 deals from nine UK airports, from £50, with a December median of £66. Larnaca logged 40 from £49 (December median £74). In the feed on 17 October, Stansted to Paphos was £56 for 6–14 December and Luton to Larnaca £74 for 4–14 December on Wizz Air.

Malta is the coolest place in this guide in midwinter, with a January high around 15°C in the Malta Meteorological Office’s averages. It is a strong cheap break in November (median £44 from four airports) and a good history and food trip in winter. The 17 October feed had Gatwick to Malta at £43 for 6–8 December and Glasgow at £63 for 22–26 February.

Flight times and which UK airports to try

The deals with the widest spread of departure airports were Tenerife, Marrakech and Hurghada (ten UK airports each) and Gran Canaria, Faro and Paphos (nine). In other words, you rarely need to go to London for a cheap winter sun fare. Start with your nearest airport page, then add one or two neighbours you could realistically reach:

• London: Gatwick, Stansted and Luton all had sub-£40 Canaries deals in the feed.
• North: Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle, with Newcastle showing £29 Málaga and £32 Faro.
• Midlands and South West: Birmingham and Bristol, with Bristol showing the £26 Lanzarote deal.
• Scotland: Edinburgh and Glasgow, the main source of our February and March deals.

For a full list of origins, start at the UK departures hub. Our guide to finding the cheapest flights from your airport covers how to compare a nearby airport fairly, including the cost of getting there.

Budget the flight time as well as the fare. Listed nonstop durations on deals in the 17 October feed were roughly: Málaga and Alicante 2 hours 45 minutes to 3 hours 25 minutes; Faro about 3 hours; Malta 3 hours 15 minutes to 3 hours 45 minutes; Marrakech 3 hours 35 minutes to 4 hours 5 minutes; the Canaries 3 hours 55 minutes to 4 hours 50 minutes; Cyprus 4 hours 25 minutes to 5 hours; and Egypt 5 hours 20 minutes to 5 hours 55 minutes. The longer times are generally from Scotland and the North East.

January to March: what the data can and can't say

Here is the honest limit of our data. Of the 1,136 deals in the history table, 1,029 were for November or December departures and only 107 for January to March. That is not because late-winter flights are scarce or expensive. The scanner’s history only covers four weeks, and most deals it logged departed around 45 to 70 days after they were seen. A February trip is simply further out than most of what it caught.

The few late-winter deals were mostly from Scotland: Glasgow to Malta in February (15 deals, median £61), Edinburgh and Glasgow to Paphos in March (14 deals, median £123), and Glasgow to Hurghada in January (19 deals, median £185). Those samples are too small to say what a February fare “should” cost, and deal observations cannot prove when is cheapest to book. Our guide to the cheapest time of year to fly explains why seasonal patterns are a starting point, not a rule.

A practical way to approach a January to March trip:

1. Choose the warmth band first. If you need 20°C or more in January, your shortlist is the Canaries, Madeira, Agadir and the Red Sea.
2. Pick two or three UK airports you can actually use. Include the cost and time of getting there.
3. Compare half-term with the weeks either side. If you are not tied to school dates, check the week before and after February half-term too.
4. Set a target fare from the December medians above. Around £40–£50 return is a good Canaries, Faro or Marrakech deal; around £140–£170 for Egypt.
5. Price bags and transfers before you commit. Most of the cheapest deals with a named airline were on easyJet or Ryanair, so check whether the fare includes the bag you need.
6. Book when a fare you are happy with appears. No tool can promise it will drop further.

Over the Christmas and New Year period, prices behave differently again. Our UK bank holidays 2027 guide shows how to stretch annual leave around fixed dates, and our cheap flights to Europe guide covers wider European fare benchmarks.

Watch a winter sun trip instead of checking daily

If you already know the trip, such as Manchester to Tenerife for the week before February half-term, a deal feed is a lucky-dip way to find it. A Watch is more direct: save the exact route, dates and the most you want to pay, and you get an email when a matching fare appears.

If you are open on destination, browse the current deal feed, where up to five deals are visible without an account. Either way, the fares are found and bought from airlines or agents. Blame the Fare does not sell tickets, so always check the final price, baggage and times on the seller’s page before paying. For price alerts more generally, see our flight price alerts page.