Where to go in January

In January 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, January is a long flight into someone else's summer. On the scoring used here, the strongest single destination in January is Hurghada — 21.4 °C, rain on 0 days, and 100 out of 100.

Against December, the map has moved: Jaffna (+26), Nha Trang (+21) and Qui Nhon (+17) improve most sharply on December, while Fortaleza (-21), Griffith (-19) and Mildura (-19) 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 January: for heat with low odds of rain, Ho Chi Minh City at 33 °C across 2 wet days, for the driest month outright, Hurghada with 0 rain days and for mild rather than hot, Taupo at 24 °C with 10 rain days.

Every strong destination this month is also in its own high season, which is the trade January 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 January destinations

1. 1 Hurghada Egypt 21.4 °C, lows of 15.7 °C, rain on 0 days.
2. 2 Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt 23 °C and notably dry air at 49% humidity.
3. 3 Virār India 25.9 °C, lows of 22.2 °C, rain on 0 days.
4. 4 Antofagasta Chile 21.8 °C, though at 77% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
5. 5 Jaipur India 23.1 °C and notably dry air at 36% humidity.
6. 6 Jodhpur India 24.8 °C and notably dry air at 33% humidity.
7. 7 Al Ain City United Arab Emirates 25 °C, lows of 12.4 °C, rain on 1 day.
8. 8 Mexico City Mexico 21.6 °C by day falling to 6.6 °C overnight — hot afternoons, cool sleeping.
9. 9 Perth Australia 26.4 °C with 14 hours of daylight — long evenings are the draw as much as the weather.
10. 10 Santiago de Querétaro Mexico 23.5 °C by day falling to 7.5 °C overnight — hot afternoons, cool sleeping.
11. 11 Zapopan Mexico 24.6 °C by day falling to 9.7 °C overnight — hot afternoons, cool sleeping.
12. 12 Bharatpur Nepal 23.6 °C and notably dry air at 47% humidity.
13. 13 Geraldton Australia 24.7 °C, though at 76% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
14. 14 Cairo Egypt 19.8 °C, lows of 7.5 °C, rain on 2 days.
15. 15 Cape Town South Africa 21.7 °C, though at 78% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
16. 16 Dubai United Arab Emirates 23.1 °C, lows of 17.6 °C, rain on 3 days.
17. 17 Agadir Morocco 22.6 °C, lows of 11.2 °C, rain on 3 days.
18. 18 Pokhara Nepal 20 °C, lows of 9.2 °C, rain on 3 days.
19. 19 Phoenix United States 20.4 °C and notably dry air at 46% humidity.
20. 20 Laredo United States 20.6 °C, lows of 7.9 °C, rain on 4 days.
21. 21 Albany Australia 22.2 °C, though at 73% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
22. 22 Marrakesh Morocco 20.3 °C, lows of 7.6 °C, rain on 5 days.
23. 23 Key West United States 22.7 °C, though at 78% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
24. 24 Shenzhen China 20.1 °C, though at 74% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.

Where to avoid in January

• Sapporo Japan Rain on 24 of 31 days.
• Akureyri Iceland Highs of -4.1 °C, and 31 nights below freezing.
• Tromsø Norway Highs of -5.5 °C, and 29 nights below freezing.
• Whistler Canada Highs of 1.3 °C, and 23 nights below freezing.
• Sendai Japan Highs of 1.7 °C, and 28 nights below freezing.
• Trondheim Norway Highs of -0.2 °C, and 24 nights below freezing.
• St. John's Canada Highs of 0 °C, and 28 nights below freezing.
• Sydney Canada Highs of -0.6 °C, and 29 nights below freezing.

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