Where to go in December

In December the good weather is overwhelmingly north of the equator — 19 of the top 24 destinations below sit in the northern hemisphere. If you are travelling from the southern hemisphere, December is a long flight into someone else's summer. On the scoring used here, the strongest single destination in December is Hurghada — 23.1 °C, rain on 0 days, and 100 out of 100.

Against November, the map has moved: Barranquilla (+26), Munnar (+24) and Cần Thơ (+24) improve most sharply on November, while Daegu (-39), Kansas City (-37) and Beijing (-37) fall away fastest. Those are the places where a fortnight's difference in your dates changes the trip.

Depending on what you are actually after in December: for heat with low odds of rain, Dubbo at 32.8 °C across 8 wet days, for the driest month outright, Hurghada with 0 rain days and for mild rather than hot, Melbourne at 23.9 °C with 9 rain days.

Every strong destination this month is also in its own high season, which is the trade December asks you to accept: the weather is not the constraint, the price is.

Ranked on a 0–100 score combining temperature, rain days, heavy-rain days and humidity, computed from NASA POWER daily data 2001–2020. Capped at three cities per country so the list stays useful rather than becoming one coastline.

Best December destinations

1. 1 Hurghada Egypt 23.1 °C, lows of 17.7 °C, rain on 0 days.
2. 2 Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt 24.8 °C and notably dry air at 49% humidity.
3. 3 Antofagasta Chile 20.1 °C, though at 77% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
4. 4 Mexico City Mexico 21.8 °C by day falling to 7.2 °C overnight — hot afternoons, cool sleeping.
5. 5 Delhi India 23.8 °C and notably dry air at 42% humidity.
6. 6 Cairo Egypt 21.5 °C, lows of 9.8 °C, rain on 1 day.
7. 7 Kolkata India 24.6 °C, though at 74% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
8. 8 Jaipur India 24.9 °C and notably dry air at 35% humidity.
9. 9 Santiago de Querétaro Mexico 23.8 °C by day falling to 8.2 °C overnight — hot afternoons, cool sleeping.
10. 10 Al Ain City United Arab Emirates 27.2 °C, lows of 14.6 °C, rain on 1 day.
11. 11 Hermosillo Mexico 23.9 °C and notably dry air at 45% humidity.
12. 12 Pokhara Nepal 21.9 °C and notably dry air at 48% humidity.
13. 13 Bharatpur Nepal 24.3 °C, lows of 12.7 °C, rain on 1 day.
14. 14 Dubai United Arab Emirates 25.4 °C, lows of 20.2 °C, rain on 2 days.
15. 15 Geraldton Australia 23.6 °C, though at 74% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
16. 16 Cape Town South Africa 20.7 °C, though at 78% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
17. 17 Perth Australia 24.6 °C with 14.2 hours of daylight — long evenings are the draw as much as the weather.
18. 18 Chiang Mai Thailand 27.6 °C, though at 76% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
19. 19 Udon Thani Thailand 28.3 °C, lows of 15.4 °C, rain on 1 day.
20. 20 Shenzhen China 21.4 °C, lows of 14 °C, rain on 4 days.
21. 21 Hanoi Vietnam 21.6 °C, though at 80% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
22. 22 Kathmandu Nepal Cooler than most of this list at 18 °C — the option if heat is the thing you are avoiding.
23. 23 Arequipa Peru 25.7 °C, but wetter than most here at 5 rain days — it earns its place on temperature.
24. 24 Laredo United States 21.6 °C, lows of 8.6 °C, rain on 4 days.

Where to avoid in December

• Tromsø Norway Highs of -3.5 °C, and 29 nights below freezing.
• Akureyri Iceland Highs of -3.9 °C, and 30 nights below freezing.
• Whistler Canada Highs of 0.2 °C, and 25 nights below freezing.
• Sapporo Japan Rain on 24 of 31 days.
• Montréal Canada Highs of -3.8 °C, and 30 nights below freezing.
• Sherbrooke Canada Highs of -2.3 °C, and 29 nights below freezing.
• Trondheim Norway Highs of 1 °C, and 21 nights below freezing.
• Anchorage United States Highs of -3.4 °C, and 28 nights below freezing.

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