Chasing the sun: Where to find Europe's most dazzling skies 

BRIGHT skies and warm weather may not have been our only reason for moving to Spain, or even have figured among our top 50 priority reasons, but they certainly help.

Even if you're not a fan of intense heat, it somehow improves a deep-winter morning chill when the heavens are lit up in a radiant, gleaming blue; sunshine might not change the fact that it's -7ºC, but lifts your spirits a little whilst watching your fingers turn to icicles and snap off one by one.

Of course, for some parts of Spain, -7ºC would make international front-page news, although in others, it's no more headline-grabbing than the fact Mondays come straight after the weekend, but that depends upon where you are and, contrary to widespread misconception, there's literally a climate in Spain for any preference – settling here for 'the weather' could just as easily mean your objective was guaranteed snow as it could finding a place where coats were unnecessary for 10 months of the year.

And our lives basically revolve around the sun, even if we live in the Arctic Circle. The sun tells us what day of the week and month of the year it is, and what time of day. It helps crops grow so we can eat – yes, that includes deep-fried chips with tomato ketchup washed down with a pint of beer and a kilo of chocolate for dessert; the main ingredients in all these come from the soil – and even affects our natural skin tone. It's said that the earliest humans, if they lived close enough to the sea to be able to feast off shellfish, got enough vitamin D from their diet, so they were of a darker complexion; those who did not became paler so as to absorb the rays more and get this vital nutrient.

As a sun-worshipping species, it helps to know where we'll get the most of it. And to lead us to the bright lights and soothing thermal comfort, travel accommodation portal Holidu has been busy doing some homework: Compiling a list of the sunniest cities in Europe.

Guess which country the majority of them are in?

Sunseekers don't have to search too hard in Spain

Of the top 10 cities in Europe with the most sunshine, six are in Spain, and of the top 15, a total of 10 are in Spain. So, consistently between a half and two-thirds – despite the fact it's only one of many countries in the south of the continent.

In the top 30 list, Spain's total is 12 – a lower percentage of the whole ranking, but that's because its entries are nearly all close to the peak of the sunny standings – also, it's the country which features the most, pipping Italy at the post with 11.

No other nation gets near Spain or Italy – Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria and Albania each have one entry, and France has two.

And, as well as hogging three-quarters of the top four, Spain, as you'd have expected, takes the number one slot.

Holidu calculated the average number of hours of sunshine per month in the 300 cities in Europe with the most inhabitants, taking data from official weather records from 2009 to 2021 inclusive and in all months of the year, as well as the average temperature in a given month, based upon figures round the clock every single day of the calendar.

Through this, it worked out the mean average temperature and sunshine hours, although there was not a direct relation between the two.

As an example, Spain's – and Europe's – sunniest city has the same temperature as the fifth-sunniest, and even the 21st, whilst the city with the highest per-month temperature in the list came 11th in terms of sunshine hours.

In general, though, the average mercury figures were not far apart among the top 30.

And the sunniest city on an entire continent is...?

It's official – Alicante is Europe's sunniest city. This east-coast metropolitan zone gets an average of 349 hours of sun in a typical month, and an average temperature of 19ºC – although, of course, the latter is only a vague guideline, since it can range from around 12ºC to 15ºC in the depths of winter through to the high 30s in July, but night and early-morning minimum temperatures in the coldest part of winter often remain in double figures, or not much below double figures. In a typical year, it's still warm throughout most of November – T-shirt weather, if not actually bikini weather – making it balmy and pleasant in every season.

Holidu says of Alicante: “The city is well-known for its impressive Costa Blanca coastline, with vast public beaches.

“As if the sunny weather were not enough, Alicante is a beautiful city, with a colourful historic quarter, abundant museums, a variety of excellent restaurants and a vibrant nightlife.”

We would add that a trip to Alicante should include a tour of the enormous hilltop Santa Bárbara Castle – fully intact, with a car park and paved road to get to it – and to the MARQ archaeological museum with the 'Lucentum' Roman ruins in the grounds ('Lucentum' being Alicante's name during the days of this pre-Mediaeval empire), and as a bonus, the city centre is very compact, meaning once you've parked, you can walk from the Corte Inglés department store to the port or the vast El Postiguet urban beach without getting sore feet.

Regular scheduled coaches run to the international airport in nearby El Altet, and city-centre accommodation outside the peak summer months can be cheaper per night than a couple of takeaway pizzas, which is no reflection on their standard or quality.

It's not called 'the warm coast' for nothing

After Catania, on the Italian island of Sicily (347 hours of sunshine and an average temperature of 20ºC), Europe's third and Spain's second sunniest city is Murcia (346 hours of sun and 20ºC), just under an hour south of Alicante on the east of the mainland, on the Costa Cálida (which translates as 'warm coast), the capital of a region which includes the balmy paradise known as La Manga del Mar Menor, an almost-inland sea, bordered by a 'Baja California-like' strip on three sides, with waters that are warm enough in autumn and early spring to make it a Mecca for anyone with joint pains – and also home to some plush, professional-standard golf courses.

Close to both, the large port town of Cartagena is steeped in Naval history, and its Roman theatre looks like something straight out of Ephesus, Mérida or even the Italian capital itself.

Holidu mentions the Costa Cálida's 'year-round warm sea water', as well as its 'endless beaches with remote bays', which it says are 'perfect for swimming, watersports and relaxing in the sun'.

“The city also has an historic quarter and some splendid works of architecture, such as the Plaza Cardenal Belluga,” Holidu says.

Murcia's cathedral is a must-see, particularly from the outside, although in it you'll find works by the city's most famous Baroque artist, Francisco Salzillo, a highly-lauded 18th-century sculptor – more of his stunningly-painted saints and biblical figures can be found in the Salzillo Museum, including his much-loved Nativity scene.

How 'the sun coast' gets its name

Between the Costa Blanca, Costa Cálida and Costa del Sol, there's not much in it in terms of sunshine and temperature – Málaga, capital of the province of the same name whose shoreline translates as 'Sun Coast', has 345 hours of the big fiery ball of vitamin D per month, one hour less than Murcia and two hours less than Alicante, and an average temperature of 20ºC.

As a result, Málaga is Europe's fourth-sunniest city and Spain's third, and radiating from it in every direction are a series of excellent holiday hotspot towns, very established and geared up to international tourists and residents. As is usually the case with parts of any country that regularly feature in travel brochures, the province of Málaga is replete with attractions that make it worth the international flight even without the weather – beautiful architecture, quaint and floral villages, breathtaking countryside (including a National Park) are enough of a hook in themselves.

Holidu says of Málaga city: “[Its] modern horizon houses a huge variety of hotels and holiday complexes that sit along its sandy beaches, making it perfect for a city break with the option of the seaside nearby.

“Málaga also has plenty of culture – it's the birthplace of the artist Pablo Picasso, so make sure you visit the Picasso Museum whilst you're there.”

We just thought we'd mention, too, that the province of Málaga has the most square feet (or metres) of golf courses anywhere in Europe, the majority of them on the coast – even beating the provinces of Alicante and Murcia, which are famous for their high-quality and interminable oceans of velvet green unfolding at the feet of iron-men and women who love their clubbing and swinging.

Spain's largest 'sun city'

After Sicily's third-largest city, Messina, with the same number of hours of sun as Málaga but a slightly lower average temperature (19ºC), the sixth-sunniest in Europe and the fourth-sunniest in Spain is, also, a third-largest city. 

Valencia (343 hours of sun and an average temperature of 20ºC) is only beaten in size and number of inhabitants by Barcelona and Madrid, but it's hard to believe that's the case when you stroll along its stately-looking streets and car-free side lanes with their pavement cafés and paella restaurants, or around the cosy little pedestrianised square with the cathedral, fountain, basilica and Micalet bell-tower (climb it for an unrivalled cityscape panorama). 

Far from getting the sense of being in a high-pressure metropolis where everyone's in a rush, working every waking hour and having to be somewhere super-important yesterday without fail, Valencia's centre is fairly compact and easy to get about on foot, with a very European feel, an air of treading the paths of landed gentry and aristocracy from centuries ago – it's easy to imagine leisurely upper-class Victorian-era life happening behind those ornate balconies, palatial façades and lavish French windows – and, although you could quite contentedly hang out there for months on end, just 'being' rather than 'doing', those who are pushed for time can get around Valencia's key attractions in a day or two.

Holidu mentions paella, Agua de Valencia (a much more sophisticated version of Bucks' Fizz, made with freshly-squeezed, locally-grown oranges) and the iconic, futuristic City of Arts and Sciences complex which is often compared with Sydney Opera House (and it's usually a close call), but clearly, there's more; most of it is walkable, and what isn't walkable is typically somewhere along the city metro, or underground rail network.

Helpfully, the airport is, too. A metro station sits right inside the terminal, and drops you off in the heart of the city.

To find out more, read all about why CNN thinks Valencia is one of 'the best destinations' for 2022 (and, incidentally, why we do, too – not just for 2022, either. Valencia isn't going to go away any time soon, so there's no rush to visit this year, and even if you did, you'll certainly want to pop back there again and again in the future).

Sunshine island

Following southern France's 'pebble-beach' city of Nice (342 hours of the bright stuff and 17ºC), the sun takes a seafaring 'road'-trip off Spain's mainland and heads into the sub-tropics: Las Palmas, the biggest city on the island of Gran Canaria and capital of one of the Canaries' two provinces (the other being Santa Cruz de Tenerife), gets 341 hours of the rays in an average month, with a mean temperature of 20ºC.

In practice, although the average temperature is the same on the list as those of Murcia, Málaga and Valencia, in the Canary Islands in general the extremes are closer together – high summer does not normally see the mercury climb much above 30ºC, and winters are typically around 15ºC to 21ºC, with less rain and not so many cold snaps as the Iberian peninsula experiences over the chillier months.

Holidu found Las Palmas to sit at an average temperature of 21ºC in October and November, and mentions that its three-kilometre (two-mile) Playa de las Canteras – a beach of golden, not volcanic, sand – 'attracts visitors year-round'.

Las Palmas is a delight to stroll around, with its elaborate, pastel-coloured, classical architecture, and the island is also home to one of Spain's 44 UNESCO heritage sites, the Risco Caído archaeological dig.

As an aside, these 44, of which the newest entry is Madrid's Retiro Park and El Prado boulevard combined (added last July), make Spain the country with the third-highest number of UNESCO heritage sites on earth – another two and it would be second, as China has 45; if Spain could find an extra five down the back of the national sofa or in the State hoover-bag, it would be world number one, a crown currently sported by Italy with 49.

Palace of the sun 

Talking of UNESCO sites, one of Spain's, and Europe's, most famous – the gigantic Mediaeval Alhambra Palace, seat of centuries' worth of powerful Arab dynasties before the Inquisition – is within the boundaries of Europe's ninth-sunniest city, and the sixth-sunniest nationally: Granada, with 341 hours of it a month and an average temperature of 17ºC. 

Although it's a few kilometres inland, the province itself has a coastline – the Costa Tropical, which runs into the Costa del Sol to the west and yet retains enough of a 'real Spain' feel that it's the perfect answer to those who want to live or spend their holidays in a mature beach enclave without being surrounded by hundreds of northern European package tourists.

'Tropical' it isn't, but the coast is on the very edge of the sub-tropics, which means warmth is guaranteed for most of the year – although winter and autumn can be very chilly inland from the shores.

But this is an essential feature of one of Granada province's other greatest attractions: The Sierra Nevada ski resorts, which act as a romantic background to the vast Alhambra Palace skyline.

A shuttle-bus from Granada city to the Alhambra and back runs regularly and daily – the complex itself is not walkable from the centre – but all the information you need about where and when to hop on it is there for the taking in a metropolis which makes most of its tourism income from this majestic fortress.

From the centre, narrow lanes leading up various hills are flanked with tiny shops that resemble an Arab-style souk with a roof – it truly feels as though you're wandering around the back streets of Marrakech or Tangiers, and if you were dropped there from the sky without any details about your location, you'd be convinced you'd landed in Morocco. 

Classical Spain and total North African immersion merge seamlessly in a city that milks its Arab history to the point that visitors start to believe it never went away.

But it's most definitely as 'hardcore' Spanish as anywhere else on the mainland: It's where iconic poet and playwright Federico García Lorca spent his summers.

You can't get more Spanish than having Lorca's second home in your town – and the house itself, largely still as this 'Generation of '27' literary legend left it when he was murdered by the fascist régime during the Civil War, is open to visitors.

Check days and times to make sure you'll be in Granada at the right moment to be able to explore, since it frequently closes over bank holidays or Sundays.

Holidu adds: “You can also enjoy a magical stroll along the Paseo de los Tristes boulevard as far as the Sacromonte, with its beautiful lanes filled with the scent of its flamenco atmosphere.”
 

All's Fair in sunny Sevilla 

Right on Granada's tail is another inland city in Andalucía – Sevilla, at number 11 in Europe, after the Sicilian city of Palermo at number 10, both of which enjoy 340 hours of sunshine every month.

But whilst Palermo's average temperature is 19ºC, Sevilla's is the highest in the whole top 30, at 21ºC; indeed, it gets extremely hot in summer, being one of Spain's joint-most sweltering cities along with Córdoba and Jaén, albeit with mild winters that make exploring its wealth of extraordinary attractions very pleasurable.

Holidu calls Sevilla 'a dream of an historic city for lovers of culture, tradition and delicious tapas', and recommends visiting in May or October when temperatures hover at around 23ºC, rather than in high summer, given that it does not have a coast and is, in fact, a good hour or so by car from the nearest beach.

That said, modern homes in the province will automatically be fitted with combined air-conditioning and heating units throughout, and beyond the immediate city boundaries, plenty of them have their own or communal swimming pools, so you might not feel the need for a beach.

Europe's oldest bull-ring, the world's third-largest cathedral, the colossal open-air Plaza de España with a nod to every province in its décor, and the famous, colourful, flamenco-filled Feria de Abril, or 'April Fair' (taking place in early May this year) are just a handful of the reasons for Sevilla's floods of international visitors pouring in almost daily.

It's also Spain's least-polluted city and the one with the 23rd-cleanest air in the world, as well as the seventh-least polluted city in Europe after Saint Petersburg (Russia), Helsinki and Espöö (Finland), Glasgow (Scotland, UK), Tallinn (Estonia), and Stockholm (Sweden), in that order. 

A cold region with a hot sun 

On the subject of cities bathed in fresh air, the one with the ninth-cleanest in Europe, second-cleanest in Spain and 31st worldwide is Valladolid (just above Málaga in the 'least-polluted' stakes), in the centre-northern region of Castilla y León – which is the Spanish city that ranks lowest among Europe's 30 sunniest.

Given how Castilla y León is one of the coldest parts of Spain, with the lowest average mid-winter temperatures (around 6ºC to 7ºC in the middle of the day and down to around -1ºC or -2ºC at night – similar to those of the Icelandic capital of Reykjavík), it's quite surprising to see anywhere in this vast high plain being singled out for its sunshine hours. 

But, as we already know, Spain is frequently sun-drenched even when the temperature falls to below that of the average domestic fridge.

And Valladolid's average monthly temperature of 14ºC means it's comparatively warm, despite its altitude of nearly 700 metres; when it's not, though, it's still likely to be dazzling in the rays, with 329 hours of sun per month. 

This attractive, classical provincial capital, with its stately architecture, wide-open plazas, museum dedicated to Don Quijote's creator Miguel de Cervantes and enormous green park (complete with resident peacocks), has more hours of sun per month than four cities in Italy – Verona (number 26, with 323 hours and an average temperature of 16ºC), Venice (317 hours and 16ºC, at number 28), Milan (313 hours and 16ºC, at number 29), and Florence, closing the ranking at number 30 with 310 hours of sunshine and an average temperature of 16ºC.

Valladolid is also well above the Portuguese capital of Lisbon (at number 27, with 321 hours of sun and 18ºC), and just above Bulgaria's capital, Sofia (12ºC, with 327 hours of sunshine, at number 24) and Zürich, Switzerland (at number 25 with an average temperature of 11ºC and 326 of sun per month).

Where else in Spain is in Europe's sunniest top 30?

Zaragoza, in the region of Aragón and the fourth-biggest city in Spain, equals Sevilla on number of hours of sunshine (340), but is lower in temperature (typically 17ºC), putting it at number 12, above the southern French port city of Marseille, with 339 hours of sun and the same average temperature.

Next come Spain's second city, Barcelona, followed by the biggest city in the Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca, with 339 and 337 hours of sunlight and temperatures of 18ºC and 19ºC respectively.

They complete the top 15, and beat the Albanian capital of Tirana (16ºC) and Italy's capital of Rome (18ºC), both with 336 hours of sun, and Greece's only entry, its capital, Athens, with 335 hours of sun and an average temperature of 20ºC.

Madrid, at number 19, only falls behind Athens on temperature (18ºC), given that their sunshine hours are the same, and higher than three Italian cities – Naples and Bari, both 19ºC with 334 and 333 hours of sunshine, and Torino, with a temperature of 14ºC and 331 hours of sun.