Winter sun: warmest cities in Europe and Japan

TL;DR

Of 117 cities in Europe and Japan, the warmest in winter by average daytime high from December to February are Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Naha. In Europe alone Santa Cruz de Tenerife leads, at 21.9 °C. Figures are 1991 to 2020 averages at one station per city.

Where is it warmest in winter?

Of the 117 cities with a weather page on this site, the warmest in December, January and February, by the average daytime high over those three months, are Santa Cruz de Tenerife (21.9 °C), Gran Canaria (21.6 °C), Naha (20.5 °C), Málaga (17.8 °C) and Seville (17.1 °C). In Europe alone, Santa Cruz de Tenerife comes first (21.9 °C).¹

These are 30-year averages at one weather station per city, not a forecast. The average of the three months is our calculation from the monthly figures.

Cities by average daytime high in winter, 1991 to 2020
City	Where	December	January	February	Average of the three
Santa Cruz de Tenerife	Spain	22.6 °C	21.5 °C	21.6 °C	21.9 °C
Gran Canaria	Spain	22.3 °C	21.1 °C	21.4 °C	21.6 °C
Naha	Okinawa, Japan	21.5 °C	19.8 °C	20.2 °C	20.5 °C
Málaga	Spain	18.0 °C	17.4 °C	18.1 °C	17.8 °C
Seville	Spain	16.8 °C	16.2 °C	18.2 °C	17.1 °C
Valencia	Spain	17.3 °C	16.7 °C	17.4 °C	17.1 °C
Palma	Spain	17.5 °C	16.5 °C	16.5 °C	16.8 °C
Nicosia	Cyprus	17.7 °C	15.8 °C	16.6 °C	16.7 °C
Ibiza	Spain	16.8 °C	15.9 °C	16.1 °C	16.3 °C
Barcelona	Spain	14.7 °C	14.2 °C	14.7 °C	14.5 °C
Kagoshima	Kagoshima, Japan	15.3 °C	13.1 °C	14.6 °C	14.3 °C
Miyazaki	Miyazaki, Japan	15.0 °C	13.0 °C	14.1 °C	14.0 °C
Bilbao	Spain	14.1 °C	13.5 °C	14.1 °C	13.9 °C
Nice	France	14.1 °C	13.3 °C	13.5 °C	13.6 °C
Bari	Italy	14.0 °C	12.6 °C	13.2 °C	13.3 °C
Kochi	Kochi, Japan	14.4 °C	12.2 °C	13.2 °C	13.3 °C
Shizuoka	Shizuoka, Japan	14.1 °C	11.7 °C	12.6 °C	12.8 °C
Rome	Italy	12.7 °C	12.0 °C	12.9 °C	12.5 °C
Marseille	France	12.4 °C	11.8 °C	12.8 °C	12.3 °C
Kumamoto	Kumamoto, Japan	12.9 °C	10.7 °C	12.4 °C	12.0 °C
Nagasaki	Nagasaki, Japan	13.1 °C	10.7 °C	12.0 °C	11.9 °C
Florence	Italy	11.4 °C	11.2 °C	12.7 °C	11.8 °C
Podgorica	Montenegro	11.8 °C	11.0 °C	12.6 °C	11.8 °C
Oita	Oita, Japan	13.0 °C	10.7 °C	11.5 °C	11.7 °C
Fukuoka	Fukuoka, Japan	12.6 °C	10.2 °C	11.6 °C	11.5 °C
Saga	Saga, Japan	12.4 °C	10.1 °C	11.8 °C	11.4 °C
Matsuyama	Ehime, Japan	12.6 °C	10.2 °C	11.0 °C	11.3 °C
Bordeaux	France	11.0 °C	10.5 °C	12.0 °C	11.2 °C
Yokohama	Kanagawa, Japan	12.5 °C	10.2 °C	10.8 °C	11.2 °C
Chiba	Chiba, Japan	12.5 °C	10.1 °C	10.7 °C	11.1 °C
Tokushima	Tokushima, Japan	12.5 °C	10.0 °C	10.8 °C	11.1 °C
Hiroshima	Hiroshima, Japan	12.1 °C	9.9 °C	10.9 °C	11.0 °C
Madrid	Spain	10.4 °C	10.2 °C	12.3 °C	11.0 °C
Wakayama	Wakayama, Japan	12.5 °C	9.8 °C	10.7 °C	11.0 °C
Tokyo	Tokyo, Japan	12.0 °C	9.8 °C	10.9 °C	10.9 °C
Osaka	Osaka, Japan	12.3 °C	9.7 °C	10.5 °C	10.8 °C
Takamatsu	Kagawa, Japan	12.1 °C	9.7 °C	10.5 °C	10.8 °C
Yamaguchi	Yamaguchi, Japan	11.6 °C	9.4 °C	11.1 °C	10.7 °C
Okayama	Okayama, Japan	11.7 °C	9.6 °C	10.5 °C	10.6 °C
Kobe	Hyogo, Japan	12.0 °C	9.4 °C	10.1 °C	10.5 °C
Kofu	Yamanashi, Japan	11.4 °C	9.1 °C	10.9 °C	10.5 °C
Nagoya	Aichi, Japan	11.7 °C	9.3 °C	10.5 °C	10.5 °C
Saitama	Saitama, Japan	11.7 °C	9.4 °C	10.3 °C	10.5 °C
Tsu	Mie, Japan	12.0 °C	9.5 °C	10.0 °C	10.5 °C
Toulouse	France	10.4 °C	9.7 °C	11.2 °C	10.4 °C
Gifu	Gifu, Japan	11.6 °C	9.1 °C	10.3 °C	10.3 °C
Kyoto	Kyoto, Japan	11.6 °C	9.1 °C	10.0 °C	10.2 °C
Maebashi	Gunma, Japan	11.5 °C	9.1 °C	10.0 °C	10.2 °C
Mito	Ibaraki, Japan	11.4 °C	9.2 °C	9.8 °C	10.1 °C
Nara	Nara, Japan	11.6 °C	8.7 °C	9.9 °C	10.1 °C
Utsunomiya	Tochigi, Japan	10.8 °C	8.6 °C	9.7 °C	9.7 °C
Matsue	Shimane, Japan	10.9 °C	8.3 °C	9.4 °C	9.5 °C
Tottori	Tottori, Japan	10.9 °C	8.1 °C	9.1 °C	9.4 °C
Otsu	Shiga, Japan	10.5 °C	7.9 °C	8.5 °C	9.0 °C
Cork	Ireland	8.7 °C	8.2 °C	8.5 °C	8.5 °C
Kanazawa	Ishikawa, Japan	10.2 °C	7.1 °C	7.8 °C	8.4 °C
Dublin	Ireland	8.3 °C	8.0 °C	8.5 °C	8.3 °C
Milan	Italy	7.5 °C	7.3 °C	10.2 °C	8.3 °C
Fukui	Fukui, Japan	9.8 °C	6.7 °C	7.8 °C	8.1 °C
Paris	France	8.0 °C	7.6 °C	8.8 °C	8.1 °C
Lyon	France	7.7 °C	7.1 °C	9.0 °C	7.9 °C
Toyama	Toyama, Japan	9.5 °C	6.3 °C	7.4 °C	7.7 °C
Varna	Bulgaria	8.2 °C	6.6 °C	8.1 °C	7.6 °C
Fukushima	Fukushima, Japan	8.6 °C	5.8 °C	7.1 °C	7.2 °C
Antwerp	Belgium	7.0 °C	6.6 °C	7.6 °C	7.1 °C
Niigata	Niigata, Japan	8.7 °C	5.3 °C	6.4 °C	6.8 °C
Rotterdam	Netherlands	7.0 °C	6.4 °C	7.1 °C	6.8 °C
Sendai	Miyagi, Japan	8.3 °C	5.6 °C	6.5 °C	6.8 °C
Amsterdam	Netherlands	6.9 °C	6.2 °C	6.9 °C	6.7 °C
Brussels	Belgium	6.6 °C	6.1 °C	7.1 °C	6.6 °C
Eindhoven	Netherlands	6.6 °C	6.1 °C	7.2 °C	6.6 °C
Cologne	Germany	6.5 °C	5.9 °C	7.2 °C	6.5 °C
Belgrade	Serbia	6.1 °C	5.2 °C	7.8 °C	6.4 °C
Ankara	Türkiye	6.7 °C	4.7 °C	7.4 °C	6.3 °C
Strasbourg	France	5.9 °C	5.2 °C	7.3 °C	6.1 °C
Zagreb	Croatia	5.3 °C	5.0 °C	7.8 °C	6.0 °C
Geneva	Switzerland	5.6 °C	5.1 °C	7.0 °C	5.9 °C
Vaduz	Liechtenstein	5.5 °C	5.0 °C	6.8 °C	5.8 °C
Frankfurt	Germany	5.5 °C	4.9 °C	6.6 °C	5.7 °C
Budapest	Hungary	5.1 °C	4.7 °C	7.1 °C	5.6 °C
Nagano	Nagano, Japan	6.9 °C	3.8 °C	5.3 °C	5.3 °C
Innsbruck	Austria	4.1 °C	3.9 °C	7.2 °C	5.1 °C
Ljubljana	Slovenia	4.2 °C	4.1 °C	7.0 °C	5.1 °C
Bergen	Norway	5.3 °C	4.7 °C	4.9 °C	5.0 °C
Sofia	Bulgaria	4.6 °C	3.5 °C	6.5 °C	4.9 °C
Hamburg	Germany	5.0 °C	4.2 °C	5.2 °C	4.8 °C
Munich	Germany	4.8 °C	4.0 °C	5.6 °C	4.8 °C
Vienna	Austria	4.0 °C	3.5 °C	6.5 °C	4.7 °C
Yamagata	Yamagata, Japan	6.1 °C	3.3 °C	4.4 °C	4.6 °C
Bucharest	Romania	4.2 °C	3.0 °C	6.3 °C	4.5 °C
Luxembourg	Luxembourg	4.5 °C	3.8 °C	5.2 °C	4.5 °C
Akita	Akita, Japan	5.9 °C	3.1 °C	4.0 °C	4.3 °C
Berlin	Germany	4.2 °C	3.4 °C	5.1 °C	4.2 °C
Malmö	Sweden	4.5 °C	3.2 °C	3.5 °C	3.7 °C
Bratislava	Slovakia	2.9 °C	2.5 °C	5.5 °C	3.6 °C
Prague	Czechia	3.5 °C	2.7 °C	4.7 °C	3.6 °C
Debrecen	Hungary	3.2 °C	2.3 °C	5.0 °C	3.5 °C
Gothenburg	Sweden	4.2 °C	3.0 °C	3.2 °C	3.5 °C
Reykjavik	Iceland	3.3 °C	3.2 °C	3.3 °C	3.3 °C
Morioka	Iwate, Japan	4.5 °C	2.0 °C	3.2 °C	3.2 °C
Aomori	Aomori, Japan	4.5 °C	1.8 °C	2.7 °C	3.0 °C
Brno	Czechia	2.6 °C	1.9 °C	4.5 °C	3.0 °C
Akureyri	Iceland	2.6 °C	2.7 °C	2.6 °C	2.6 °C
Cluj-Napoca	Romania	1.9 °C	0.9 °C	4.1 °C	2.3 °C
Košice	Slovakia	1.8 °C	1.0 °C	3.7 °C	2.2 °C
Warsaw	Poland	2.3 °C	1.0 °C	2.6 °C	2.0 °C
Stockholm	Sweden	2.5 °C	1.0 °C	1.2 °C	1.6 °C
Oslo	Norway	0.9 °C	0.1 °C	1.1 °C	0.7 °C
Sapporo	Hokkaido, Japan	2.0 °C	−0.4 °C	0.4 °C	0.7 °C
Riga	Latvia	1.4 °C	−0.1 °C	0.3 °C	0.5 °C
Helsinki	Finland	1.4 °C	−0.7 °C	−1.3 °C	−0.2 °C
Tallinn	Estonia	1.2 °C	−0.7 °C	−1.0 °C	−0.2 °C
Tromsø	Norway	0.3 °C	−1.0 °C	−1.1 °C	−0.6 °C
Daugavpils	Latvia	−0.2 °C	−1.8 °C	−1.1 °C	−1.0 °C
Tartu	Estonia	0.0 °C	−1.8 °C	−1.6 °C	−1.1 °C
Rovaniemi	Finland	−4.9 °C	−7.3 °C	−7.3 °C	−6.5 °C
Kiruna	Sweden	−5.5 °C	−7.2 °C	−7.1 °C	−6.6 °C

For rain and daylight in each city, see rain and daylight by city; for the sea, sea temperature by month; for how busy each place is in winter, where to go in January.

Key takeaways

Warmest in winter overall: Santa Cruz de Tenerife; in Europe: Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
These are long-term averages, not a forecast for any year.
What we would skip: booking on a single figure; check rain and daylight for the same city too.

Sources

Monthly highs copied from our city weather pages; the three-month average is ours. See how we research.

The weather table on each city's page on this site, which names its station and source: WMO Climatological Standard Normals for 1991–2020 (NOAA NCEI, released under CC0) for Europe, and the Japan Meteorological Agency's 1991–2020 normals for Japan. Each city in the tables links to its page.

Modified data: the three-month average, rounded once to one decimal place, and the ranking are ours.

Winter sun: the warmest cities in Europe and Japan

Where is it warmest in winter?

Key takeaways

Sources