Year round sun destinations

There are quite a few advantages to taking your holidays outside of the summer months. For a start, many of the top destinations are full of families taking advantage of the time the children have off school. The summer is also the best time to enjoy the UK, so it can be great to jet off in the colder months.

So where are the places that you can go at any time of the year and be almost guaranteed sunshine? Read on for out suggestions of the best year rounds destinations. Make the most of your summer holiday in 2013.

Lanzarote

Due to its location close to North Africa, Lanzarote enjoys favourable weather conditions throughout the year. This means plenty of sunshine, high temperatures and very little rainfall, which in turn means long days on the beach and evenings dining al fresco.

No matter where you go on the island you will find the weather is relatively consistent, because of the lack of hills and valleys. Unlike the Sahara, which lies on the same latitude as Lanzarote, it enjoys the cooling effect of being surrounded by sea, which can give some gentle relief from the heat.

While the temperature can reach highs of 29 degrees C in the summer months, the mercury is unlikely to rise above 21 in the winter. The evenings can be as low as 13 and 14 degrees in December and January, but this still equates to a good day in the UK.

Photo on Wikipedia

The Algarve

There is a reason that Portugal’s Algarve is such a popular tourist destination and that is its weather. With an average 3,000 hours of sunshine annually it is one of the sunniest places in Europe. In the summer months it can be particularly bustling so going a few weeks before or after the rush can be an advantage.
Head to the eastern coast of the Algarve if you are a total sun worshipper and can handle the highest temperatures as it tends to be the hottest and driest there. Alternatively those who like a little respite may prefer the relatively more moderate west.

Photo by Animaris on Wikipedia

Mainland Spain

It would be a sweeping generalisation to say that the whole of mainland Spain is sunny all year round as the country is quite vast and has a number of separate microclimates. To be sure of warm weather head to Andalucia, otherwise known as the frying pan of Europe.

The highest temperature ever recorded in Seville was 51 degrees C. While this was back in 1876, the thermometers in the region can often show heat in the region of the 30s and 40s during the summer.
This serves to make the autumn and spring look much more appealing as the summer can simply be too hot for some. In fact many of those who live in this part of Spain close their businesses down for a month or so and head to the beach themselves as it is too hot to work.

Even in winter temperatures can reach 26 degrees, but be aware that in the evenings when the sun goes down it can get decidedly cooler.

Goa

If you don’t mind going a little further afield then Goa is a great destination for year round sunshine. The tropical climate of this coastal state in India sees temperatures staying between 26 and 29 degrees C. The only thing to watch is the rainfall.

Unlike the rain in the UK, Goa’s downpours come in a deluge that does not last a long time and it remains warm even when it’s raining. Having said that, it is relatively easy to avoid the wet season by holidaying in Goa between October and May.

Photo source: Wikipedia