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January Destination Guide

Where to Travel in January:
The FlyJanuary.org Guide

Eleven destinations we book every January, with the real monthly averages, the flight times, the booking window that actually applies — and, for each one, the catch nobody puts in the brochure.

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Sunrise over a calm turquoise sea and an empty white-sand beach on a January morning

Start Here

How January Splits the World in Two

Deciding where to travel in January is really a question about latitude. The month sits at the bottom of the northern winter and the top of the southern summer, so the same fortnight that gives Rome its shortest days gives Cape Town a sunset after eight in the evening. Once you can see that split, the January map organises itself into four honest options instead of a hundred brochure ones.

  1. The northern tropical dry belt

    North of the equator, January is the dry season across most of the tropics. The Maldives is mid-way through the iruvai monsoon, Thailand's Andaman coast takes roughly a tenth of its September rainfall, and Egypt and the Gulf get their most walkable weather of the year. This is where reliable January heat lives.

  2. The southern summer

    Below the equator it is high summer: Cape Town, the Winelands and the Garden Route are at their warmest and longest-lit. The trade-off is that January is also their domestic holiday season, so the UK fare is soft while the hotel rate is not — and the second half of the month is markedly easier than the first.

  3. The Arctic night, ending

    At the top of the map the polar night is lifting. Through January the far north wins back a few minutes of daylight every day while the nights stay long enough for serious aurora hunting — the best combination of the whole winter, and the reason Lapland and Lofoten sell out first.

  4. The emptied-out cities

    And then there is the fourth option that most people overlook: the cities that are unbearable in August are close to perfect in January. Cold, bright, cheap and queue-free. Rome, Kyoto, Cairo and Luxor are all better trips in January than they are in high season, for a fraction of the money.

The figures throughout this guide are typical monthly averages. Before you travel, check a live forecast with theMet Officeand read the currentFCDO foreign travel advicefor your destination — both change, and January is the month consulates run their longest post-holiday backlogs. Our visa and entry-support servicedoes that check in writing for every leg of a booking.

Desk globe lit by warm lamplight while planning January travel destinations

The one-line version

Want heat? Go south or to the northern tropics. Want the aurora? Go north. Want a great city for half price? Stay in Europe and pack a coat.

Side By Side

Where to Travel in January at a Glance

Typical January averages, scheduled flight times from the UK and the indicative return fare FlyJanuary.org sees most often on each route. Sort it in your head by whichever column you actually care about.

Comparison of eleven January destinations by average temperature, flight time from the UK, what they suit best and indicative return fare.
DestinationJanuary averageFlight time from the UKBest forFrom*
MaldivesIndian Ocean30°C Winter sun10h 45m direct from LondonDiving, honeymoons, doing nothing at all£640
Krabi & PhuketThailand32°C Winter sun11h 30m direct to Bangkok, then 1h 20m to KrabiIsland-hopping, climbing, a first trip to Asia£520
Cape TownSouth Africa27°C Southern summer11h 40m overnight direct, no jet lag (GMT+2)Hiking, wine country, long summer evenings£580
DubaiUnited Arab Emirates24°C City + sun7h direct from LondonCity and beach combined, stopovers, shopping£290
TenerifeCanary Islands21°C Short-haul sun4h 20m direct from most UK airportsReliable warmth on a short flight, families£95
Finnish LaplandFinland-12°C Aurora3h 30m direct to Kittilä or Rovaniemi (seasonal)Aurora hunting, husky sledding, deep snow£210
Lofoten IslandsNorway1°C Aurora5–6h via Oslo or Bodø to Svolvær or LeknesLandscape photography, milder aurora chasing£180
Cairo & LuxorEgypt20°C Culture5h direct from London to CairoAncient sites, Nile cruising, walking archaeology£260
Ha Long BayVietnam19°C Culture12h direct from London to HanoiCruising, food, two climates in one trip£470
KyotoJapan9°C Culture11h 50m to Tokyo, then 2h 15m by shinkansenTemples without crowds, food, adding a ski week£540
RomeItaly12°C City break2h 40m direct from LondonMuseums, food, the cheapest good city break£65

* Indicative return economy fares from UK airports, tracked by FlyJanuary.org across recent January departures. They are a planning benchmark, not a quote — live pricing moves with date, origin airport and availability. Current windows are on ourJanuary flight deals page, orask us for a live quote.

Group 01

Long-Haul Winter Sun

Eight hours of flying or more, in exchange for genuine heat, warm sea and a hemisphere that is in the middle of its summer. Book these eight to sixteen weeks out and expect the accommodation, not the fare, to be the budget line that hurts.

Aerial view of overwater villas above turquoise lagoon water in the MaldivesWinter sun30°C

Indian Ocean

Maldives

30°C days · 26°C nights · sea 28°C

January sits in the dry north-east monsoon — the calmest seas and clearest visibility of the year for diving and snorkelling.

January sits in the middle of the iruvai, the dry north-east monsoon, so the wind drops, the sea flattens and visibility on the outer reefs is the best of the year. It is a strong month for manta and whale-shark encounters around Baa and South Ari atolls, and the calm crossings make speedboat island-hopping pleasant rather than a soaking.

The catch

Flights soften in the second and third weeks of January; resort rates do not. This is peak villa season, so the room is the expensive half of the trip. Seaplane transfers also fly in daylight only, which means an evening arrival into Malé can cost you an unplanned airport-hotel night — we route around that when we ticket it.

From (return)
£640*
Book
8–12 weeks ahead
Flight time
10h 45m direct from London
Best for
Diving, honeymoons, doing nothing at all
Price Maldives →See the fare window →
Traditional longtail boats moored on Railay Beach beneath limestone cliffs in ThailandWinter sun32°C

Thailand

Krabi & Phuket

32°C days · 23°C nights · sea 29°C

Peak dry season on the Andaman coast — reliable sunshine, flat seas and the best island-hopping conditions of the year.

The Andaman coast takes under 30mm of rain in a typical January against more than 300mm in September. The sea sits near 29°C, the limestone at Railay is dry enough for the best climbing conditions of the year, and the day boats to Hong Island and Phi Phi run full schedules — the 08:00 departures reach the lagoons a clear hour ahead of the crowd.

The catch

Two catches. Peak season means Railay and Phi Phi are genuinely busy from 10:00 to 15:00, so staying overnight on the islands buys you the dawn instead. And the Gulf coast — Koh Samui, Koh Phangan — sits on the opposite monsoon: it can rain there in early January while Krabi is flawless. Do not combine the two coasts without checking the dates.

From (return)
£520*
Book
10–16 weeks ahead
Flight time
11h 30m direct to Bangkok, then 1h 20m to Krabi
Best for
Island-hopping, climbing, a first trip to Asia
Price Krabi & Phuket →See the fare window →
Aerial view of Cape Town with Table Mountain rising behind the city and Atlantic coastSouthern summer27°C

South Africa

Cape Town

27°C days · 17°C nights · sunset after 20:00

Deep southern-hemisphere summer: long evenings, harvest season in the Winelands and warm, dry hiking weather.

This is deep southern-hemisphere summer. Table Mountain is climbable at 06:00 before the heat arrives, the Kirstenbosch summer concerts run on Sundays, and late January is the start of the Winelands harvest in Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. Because South Africa is only two hours ahead of the UK, you land and start your holiday the same morning.

The catch

The south-easterly known as the Cape Doctor can blow for three days at a stretch, closing the cableway and making the Atlantic beaches unusable — always hold an inland plan such as Franschhoek or Cape Point. South African school holidays also run to roughly the middle of January; restaurant tables and beach parking get noticeably easier after the 15th.

From (return)
£580*
Book
12–20 weeks ahead
Flight time
11h 40m overnight direct, no jet lag (GMT+2)
Best for
Hiking, wine country, long summer evenings
Price Cape Town →See the fare window →

Group 02

Short-Haul and Mid-Haul Winter Sun

Under seven hours from the UK for warmth you can actually use. This group wins on total cost and on the amount of holiday you get per day off work — a Friday-night departure to Tenerife has you on a beach before lunch on Saturday.

Dubai skyline at sunset with the Burj Khalifa above the city interchangeCity + sun24°C

United Arab Emirates

Dubai

24°C days · 15°C nights · sea 22°C

The most comfortable month to actually walk around Dubai, and the Dubai Shopping Festival runs through January.

January is the only stretch of the year when Dubai works as a walking city: 24°C by day, 15°C after dark, and desert that can be hiked rather than endured. The Dubai Shopping Festival runs from mid-December to the end of January, and three nights here pairs neatly onto a Maldives or Thailand itinerary — on the right carrier a stopover often adds nothing to the fare at all.

The catch

January is also Dubai’s wettest month. The total is small, but it arrives as one or two heavy downpours that flood roads and close outdoor attractions for a day. Evenings need a jacket, the sea is around 22°C, and hotel rates are at their annual peak — here the flight is the cheap part of the trip.

From (return)
£290*
Book
6–10 weeks ahead
Flight time
7h direct from London
Best for
City and beach combined, stopovers, shopping
Price Dubai →See the fare window →
Palm trees framing a calm turquoise bay on a Canary Islands beachShort-haul sun21°C

Canary Islands

Tenerife

21°C days · 15°C nights · sea 19–20°C

Four hours from northern Europe for genuine winter warmth — the cheapest reliable sunshine on the January board.

Four hours and twenty minutes for 21°C and ten hours of daylight is the best warmth-per-flying-hour on the whole January board. Base yourself on the south coast — Costa Adeje and Los Cristianos sit below the cloud line — and use the island properly: Teide National Park at 2,300m stands above the inversion layer, and the almond blossom around Santiago del Teide opens in the last week of the month.

The catch

The north of the island, Puerto de la Cruz and the Anaga hills, is a different climate: greener because it is cloudier and wetter. The sea at 19–20°C is swimmable for ten minutes rather than an afternoon, so check that your hotel pool is genuinely heated — many advertise a pool and heat it only from March.

From (return)
£95*
Book
4–8 weeks ahead
Flight time
4h 20m direct from most UK airports
Best for
Reliable warmth on a short flight, families
Price Tenerife →See the fare window →

Group 03

Aurora and the Arctic

January is the other half of the split: the darkest, longest nights of the northern year, which is precisely what aurora hunting needs. These are the trips where the accommodation sells out first and the flight is almost an afterthought.

Green and violet aurora borealis above a snow-covered pine forest in LaplandAurora-12°C

Finland

Finnish Lapland

−12°C average · clear nights to −25°C

Long polar nights and stable, dry cold make January one of the strongest months of the season for aurora viewing.

The polar night is over by the first week of January in Rovaniemi and the light comes back quickly — from roughly four usable hours mid-month to six by the end of it, with the rest of the day spent in a long blue twilight. Dry continental cold delivers more clear nights than coastal Norway manages, and the snow base is deep enough for husky and reindeer sledding from day one.

The catch

That −12°C monthly average hides the real number: an aurora-friendly night is often −25°C or colder, because the clear sky that lets you see the lights is the same sky that lets the heat escape. Proper thermal layers are essential and most operators include them. No honest agency will guarantee an aurora either — budget three nights minimum to give the weather a fair chance.

From (return)
£210*
Book
16–24 weeks ahead
Flight time
3h 30m direct to Kittilä or Rovaniemi (seasonal)
Best for
Aurora hunting, husky sledding, deep snow
Price Finnish Lapland →See the fare window →
Red fishermen cabins on a rocky shore beneath snow-covered peaks in Lofoten, NorwayAurora1°C

Norway

Lofoten Islands

1°C days · −2°C nights · sea stays ice-free

Warmed by the Gulf Stream, so it is milder than Lapland at the same latitude — aurora overhead without the extreme cold.

The Gulf Stream holds Lofoten around freezing in January while Finnish Lapland, at the same latitude, is twenty degrees colder — the sea never ices over and the working fishing villages stay open all winter. The sun returns to the islands in the first week of the month, after which you get hours of low pink light that photographers come here specifically for, and the skrei cod season opens at the end of January.

The catch

This is the open Atlantic. Storms and cloud can close the E10 and cancel the ferries, and a full week here might give you two or three genuinely clear nights. If you self-drive, you are on studded tyres in the dark for much of the day — if that does not appeal, base yourself in Reine or Svolvær and take guided trips instead.

From (return)
£180*
Book
16–24 weeks ahead
Flight time
5–6h via Oslo or Bodø to Svolvær or Leknes
Best for
Landscape photography, milder aurora chasing
Price Lofoten Islands →See the fare window →

Group 04

Culture and City Breaks

Not warm, but transformed. January strips the queues out of the places that are unbearable in August and drops the hotel rates with them. Bring a coat and get the Sistine Chapel, the Valley of the Kings or Fushimi Inari on something close to your own terms.

The Great Sphinx of Giza with the Pyramid of Khafre behind it under a pale skyCulture20°C

Egypt

Cairo & Luxor

Cairo 20°C · Luxor 23°C · almost no rain

The coolest, most walkable month for the Giza plateau and the Valley of the Kings — the difference between 20°C and 40°C is the whole trip.

Twenty degrees on the Giza plateau instead of forty is not a detail — it is the difference between spending the afternoon at the pyramids and retreating to the coach. Luxor is warmer still at around 23°C, the tombs in the Valley of the Kings stay bearable well past 11:00, and the full Luxor-to-Aswan cruise schedule operates through the month.

The catch

Luxor nights drop to about 6°C and Nile boats are not built for heating, so pack a proper layer for evenings on deck. January is peak cruise season, and cabins on the better boats go eight to fourteen weeks ahead. Red Sea water at roughly 22°C is a wetsuit proposition rather than a lounging-in-the-shallows one.

From (return)
£260*
Book
8–14 weeks ahead
Flight time
5h direct from London to Cairo
Best for
Ancient sites, Nile cruising, walking archaeology
Price Cairo & Luxor →See the fare window →
Limestone karst islands and cruise boats scattered across Ha Long Bay in VietnamCulture19°C

Vietnam

Ha Long Bay

Hanoi 19°C · Mekong Delta 32°C · bay 17°C

Cool, dry and atmospheric in the north — and if you want heat, the Mekong Delta is at its best in the same fortnight.

Northern Vietnam in January is cool, largely dry and deeply atmospheric: 19°C in Hanoi and the fine drizzle locals call mua phun, which hangs the karsts of Ha Long Bay in the mist you see in the photographs. Fly north to south and you collect two climates in a fortnight — Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong Delta and Phu Quoc are in full dry season at around 32°C.

The catch

Nobody swims in the north in January; the bay is about 17°C, and cruises are occasionally cancelled by the port authority for fog or wind, so keep a spare day in Hanoi. Watch the lunar calendar too: Tet falls in February in 2026 and 2027, but it lands on 26 January in 2028 — and when it does, the whole country travels and domestic flights and trains sell out weeks ahead.

From (return)
£470*
Book
10–16 weeks ahead
Flight time
12h direct from London to Hanoi
Best for
Cruising, food, two climates in one trip
Price Ha Long Bay →See the fare window →
Lantern-lit lane in Kyoto leading towards the Yasaka Pagoda at duskCulture9°C

Japan

Kyoto

9°C days · 1°C nights · occasional snow

The quietest month at the temples. Cold and occasionally snowy, but you get Fushimi Inari almost to yourself — and the ski season is two hours away.

Kyoto in January divides cleanly in two. Until roughly the 3rd it is hatsumode, the Japanese New Year shrine visit: Fushimi Inari and Yasaka are shoulder to shoulder and many restaurants and museums close. From about the 8th the city empties and you get the quietest fortnight of the entire year at the temples — and the ski resorts of Hakuba and Nozawa are a few hours away by train if you want to split the trip.

The catch

It is genuinely cold, and the older temples and machiya townhouses are barely heated, so this is a wool-and-layers trip rather than a light-jacket one. Ryokan rates also spike over New Year and the best rooms go six months ahead — if you want the traditional stay, book that before the flight.

From (return)
£540*
Book
12–20 weeks ahead
Flight time
11h 50m to Tokyo, then 2h 15m by shinkansen
Best for
Temples without crowds, food, adding a ski week
Price Kyoto →See the fare window →
Aerial view over St Peter’s Square and the colonnade in RomeCity break12°C

Italy

Rome

12°C days · 4°C nights · around 8 rain days

January is Rome without the queues. Crisp, bright days, half the summer crowd at the Vatican, and the lowest hotel rates of the year.

The Vatican Museums queue that runs to two hours in July is twenty minutes on a Tuesday in mid-January, and the Colosseum, the Forum and the Borghese are all comfortable at 12°C in a coat. Epiphany on 6 January closes the Christmas season with the Befana market in Piazza Navona, and the saldi — Italy’s fixed-date winter sales — start in the first week.

The catch

A fair number of family-run restaurants close for a fortnight after Epiphany, so check before you walk across the city for one. Daylight goes at about 17:00, which means the outdoor sites want your mornings. And the first Sunday of the month is free-entry day at the state museums, which makes the Colosseum busier than an August afternoon.

From (return)
£65*
Book
4–8 weeks ahead
Flight time
2h 40m direct from London
Best for
Museums, food, the cheapest good city break
Price Rome →See the fare window →

Timing

Three Rules That Decide Your January

Choosing the destination is the enjoyable half. Choosing the week is the half that decides what it costs — and the two are not independent, which is why FlyJanuary.org prices the whole window before recommending dates.

How we plan it →
  1. 01

    Book the bed-limited trips first

    Lapland and Lofoten are constrained by cabins, not by seats. Sixteen to twenty-four weeks out is normal, and the good glass-roofed and waterside properties go earlier than that. Secure the accommodation, then let us work the flight.

  2. 02

    For long-haul, move the date before the destination

    Fares hold up until about 5 or 6 January, then fall off a cliff. In a recent January we tracked returns to Krabi at roughly £780 on the 3rd against £540 on the 10th — a week's patience worth close to £480 across two tickets, on an identical routing.

  3. 03

    For short-haul, four to eight weeks is plenty

    Rome and Tenerife rarely reward booking in August. Fares on these routes stay soft until the last month, so the sensible play is to fix the accommodation you want and let the seat come to you.

Good To Know

January Destination Questions

The questions travellers ask us most when they are still deciding where to go. More January planning detail is on the FlyJanuary.org blog, and there is background on how we work on the about page.

Ask Us Something Else →
Where is the best place to travel in January?

There is no single answer, but there are three honest ones. For the most warmth per hour of flying, Tenerife at 21°C and 4h 20m is unbeaten. For guaranteed heat and warm sea, the Maldives and Thailand’s Andaman coast are both in their driest, calmest month. And if you would rather see something than lie on it, January is the best month of the year to visit Cairo, Luxor, Rome or Kyoto, because the crowds and the heat have both gone.

Where is hot in January without a very long flight?

Tenerife (4h 20m, 21°C), Cairo (5h, 20°C) and Dubai (7h, 24°C) are the three that reliably deliver warmth inside a working day of travel. Below about 20°C you are into pleasant-walking rather than sunbathing weather, which is the honest way to describe a January Mediterranean city break.

Which week of January is cheapest to fly?

The second and third weeks. Fares stay elevated until roughly 5 or 6 January because of returning holiday traffic, then fall sharply and stay low until the end of the month. Moving a long-haul departure from 2 January to 9 January routinely changes a return fare by a three-figure sum per passenger. Our January flight deals page tracks that window in detail.

Which destinations should I avoid in January?

Bali and Lombok are in their wettest month, the Gulf of Thailand coast — Koh Samui and Koh Phangan — sits on the opposite monsoon to Krabi, and northern Australia is in its wet and cyclone season. Mediterranean beach resorts are not dangerous, simply shut: half the businesses in a Greek island or southern Spanish resort town do not open until Easter.

Is January a good month to see the Northern Lights?

It is one of the strongest, because the nights are at their longest and the cold air is dry and clear. No one can guarantee an aurora, though — it needs solar activity and a cloudless sky on the same night. Allow at least three nights, choose a base with several escape routes for clear sky, and treat any sighting as a bonus on top of a trip you would enjoy anyway.

How far ahead should I book a January trip?

Aurora trips in Lapland and Lofoten first, sixteen to twenty-four weeks out, because the cabins and lodges sell out long before the flights get expensive. Long-haul sun eight to sixteen weeks out. Short-haul sun and European city breaks four to eight weeks out — booking Rome or Tenerife in August rarely saves you anything.

Narrow It Down

Two destinations in mind? We will price both.

Tell us your dates, your budget and how far you are willing to fly. You will get a written comparison — fares, the weeks that are cheaper, the entry requirements and what each option actually feels like in January.

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