Places where the middle of winter is cool, dry walking weather rather than cold or wet. 86 towns and cities that draw visitors in North Africa and the Middle East were scored in January, and 42 rate Good or better. The 15 below lead, spread across the region.
Where to go
- 190 · IdealMarrakechMorocco
Rated 90 (Ideal) for active outdoors in January: midday feels like 15°C, with mostly clear skies. Good weather here runs from November to April, so there is room either side. Rain is rare at this time of year. See mid January on the map.
- 287 · IdealAl ‘AqabahJordan
Midday in January feels like 15°C under mostly clear skies, which rates 87, Ideal, for active outdoors. The good spell lasts about four and a half months, from late November to March. Rain is rare at this time of year. Open it on the map at mid January.
- 385 · IdealChefchaoueneMorocco
Midday in January feels like 12°C under partly cloudy skies, which rates 85, Ideal, for active outdoors. Good weather here runs from late October to May, so there is room either side. See mid January on the map.
- 485 · IdealSousseTunisia
A typical midday in January feels like 12°C, and the Active outdoors rating averages 85 over the stretch. The good spell lasts about six and a half months, from November to mid May. Rain is rare at this time of year. Open it on the map at mid January.
- 584 · IdealAgadirMorocco
A typical midday in January feels like 17°C, and the Active outdoors rating averages 84 over the stretch. Good weather here runs from late November to May, so there is room either side. See mid January on the map.
- 684 · IdealMidounTunisia
Rated 84 (Ideal) for active outdoors in January: midday feels like 11°C, with partly cloudy skies. The good spell lasts about six and a half months, from November to early May. Rain is rare at this time of year. Open it on the map at mid January.
- 782 · IdealLuxorEgypt
Rated 82 (Ideal) for active outdoors in January: midday feels like 16°C, with almost cloudless skies. Good weather here runs from late November to February, so there is room either side. Rain is rare at this time of year. See mid January on the map.
- 879 · GoodAl KhubarSaudi Arabia
Midday in January feels like 17°C under mostly clear skies, which rates 79, Good, for active outdoors. The good spell lasts about three months, from mid December to early March. Open it on the map at mid January.
- 978 · GoodAl GhardaqahEgypt
A typical midday in January feels like 16°C, and the Active outdoors rating averages 78 over the stretch. Good weather here runs from December to March, so there is room either side. See mid January on the map.
- 1076 · GoodAlanyaTurkey
Rated 76 (Good) for active outdoors in January: midday feels like 14°C, with partly cloudy skies. The good spell lasts about five months, from late November to mid April. Wet spells are common at this time of year. Open it on the map at mid January.
- 1176 · GoodDohaQatar
A typical midday in January feels like 19°C, and the Active outdoors rating averages 76 over the stretch. The good spell lasts about two and a half months, from mid December to February. Open it on the map at mid January.
- 1273 · GoodKaşTurkey
Midday in January feels like 12°C under partly cloudy skies, which rates 73, Good, for active outdoors. Good weather here runs from mid November to April, so there is room either side. See mid January on the map.
- 1368 · GoodBodrumTurkey
Midday in January feels like 11°C under partly cloudy skies, which rates 68, Good, for active outdoors. The good spell lasts about six and a half months, from late October to early May. Open it on the map at mid January.
- 1468 · GoodDubaiUnited Arab Emirates
Rated 68 (Good) for active outdoors in January: midday feels like 20°C, with mostly clear skies. Rain is rare at this time of year. See mid January on the map.
- 1559 · GoodRizeTurkey
Midday in January feels like 8°C under often cloudy skies, which rates 59, Good, for active outdoors. The good spell lasts about three months, from late October to mid January. Open it on the map at mid January.
How this list is worked out
The data
Every figure comes from a decade of weather-station observations, blended into one typical year and read at midday, local solar time. Scores here are averaged in January; a city missing a reading for any part of that stretch is left out rather than scored on part of it.
The rating
Active outdoors: A mild feels-like gates the score — best 10–20 °C, cool enough for hiking, cycling and running. Dryness matters most, with a penalty for strong wind. A place is also left out when its typical readings contradict its own rating, for example a high score alongside frequent rain.
The spread
To keep one warm corner from filling the list, entries are at least 150 km apart, no more than three sit within 1,000 km of each other, and no more than three come from one country unless the list would otherwise run short.
Only places that draw visitors
Towns and cities with plenty of hotels, guest houses and holiday lets nearby for their size, or a great many of them in all, counted from Overture Maps Places, an open dataset. That keeps out places the weather favours but nobody travels to. Where two places share one resort or city, the one a visitor would name is kept.
The dotted links open the map at that place and time of year, on the same layer. The map remembers the time of day you last chose there; set it to midday to see these exact numbers.