Europe's sunshine ranges from under 1,600 hours/year in Bergen to over 3,200 in Cyprus. These rankings use calibrated ERA5 data corrected against 56 WMO ground stations — not raw satellite estimates.
Top 25 European cities
| # | City | Country | hr/yr | hr/day | Sunny days | Scale |
|---|
Seasonal spotlight
January sunshine hours — the key metric for winter escape planning. These cities stay above 150 hours of sunshine in January.
| # | City | Country | Jan hr | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Las Palmas | Spain (Canaries) | 204 | Best winter sun in Europe |
| 2 | Tenerife South | Spain (Canaries) | 196 | Very sunny even in winter |
| 3 | Paphos | Cyprus | 178 | Warm + sunny Jan–Mar |
| 4 | Lanzarote | Spain (Canaries) | 192 | Consistent year-round |
| 5 | Faro | Portugal | 162 | Algarve winter is mild |
| 6 | Malaga | Spain | 158 | Costa del Sol year-round |
| 7 | Valletta | Malta | 154 | Mediterranean island |
| 8 | Seville | Spain | 151 | Warmer winters than coast |
| 9 | Athens | Greece | 148 | Clear skies most of Jan |
| 10 | Valencia | Spain | 144 | ~250 sunny days/yr |
Country comparison
| Country | Avg hr/yr | Sunniest city | Cloudiest city |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cyprus | 3,000 | Paphos 3,206 | Nicosia 3,030 |
| Spain | 2,700 | Seville 2,900 | San Sebastián 1,667 |
| Portugal | 2,853 | Algarve 3,141 | Porto 2,451 |
| Greece | 2,700 | Crete 2,800 | Thessaloniki 2,200 |
| Malta | 2,928 | Valletta 2,928 | — |
| Italy | 2,300 | Sicily 2,600 | Milan 1,776 |
| France | 2,100 | Nice 2,694 | Brest 1,601 |
| Germany | 1,650 | Munich 1,735 | Hamburg 1,571 |
| UK | 1,450 | Eastbourne 1,870 | Glasgow 1,203 |
| Norway | 1,500 | Oslo 1,668 | Bergen 1,413 |
Pan, zoom, and filter 0.5° sunshine data across every European country. Compare any two cities side by side.
Common questions
Paphos, Cyprus leads European cities with 3,206 calibrated sunshine hours per year. That's roughly 8.8 hours of sunshine per day averaged across all 365 days. The Canary Islands (Las Palmas, Tenerife) rank close behind at ~3,000 hr/yr and have the added advantage of consistent winter sun.
Cyprus averages approximately 3,000 sunshine hours per year across the island — the highest country-level average in Europe. Spain ranks second (national average ~2,700 hr/yr), though its best spots like Seville approach 2,900 hr/yr. Portugal's Algarve region exceeds Cyprus for regional maximums at 3,141 hr/yr.
The Canary Islands (Spain) are the clear winner for winter sun — Las Palmas averages 204 sunshine hours in January, more than most European cities get in July. The Algarve (Portugal), Cyprus, and Malta all maintain 150+ sunny hours in January. Continental Spain (Seville, Malaga) gets 151–158 hours in January.
London averages approximately 1,477 sunshine hours per year — about 4.0 hr/day. For comparison: Paris gets 1,662 hr/yr, Berlin 1,625 hr/yr, and Amsterdam 1,662 hr/yr. All are roughly half of what Paphos or the Canary Islands receive.
Raw ERA5 satellite data overestimates sunshine by 16–73% in cloudy regions. GeoRank applies IDW calibration against 56 WMO and KNMI reference stations, using the correction formula: actual ≈ 1.14 × ERA5 − 1550 (R² = 0.82). This means cloudy cities like Bergen and Glasgow are corrected downward — matching real observed values rather than inflated satellite readings.