Where do you find a warm winter in Spain? Not just the afternoon counts: we compared nights, sunshine and rain from December to February, and what you need for a long stay.
Short answer: the warmest winters in Spain are on the Canary Islands. From December to February, afternoons in Candelaria, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Puerto de la Cruz
average 21.5°C to 21.7°C and nights stay at 15.5°C to 16.1°C.
On the mainland the warmest winters are on the coast of Almería, Granada and Málaga: Adra, Almuñécar, Roquetas de Mar, Fuengirola, El Ejido,
with afternoons of 17.3°C to 19.2°C but nights of only 9.7°C to 11.6°C.
We compared all 333 places on AEMET's 1991-2020 averages: afternoon highs, night lows, sunshine and rainy days. The 52 places without a station of their own nearby are estimated from the three nearest stations (marked *).
Winter day and night: December to February
average night low average afternoon high
Average of the daily lows and highs over December, January and February. AEMET station averages 1991-2020. Bold: Canary Islands.
Warmest by island and coast
The same figures grouped the way people search: by island and by coast, warmest first (December to February averages).
Month by month: where is it warmest in November, December, January, February and March?
The warmest place by average afternoon high, with that month's average night low. From November to February the mainland winner is Adra; in March inland Andalusia takes over, led by Camas.
The two best-known winter coasts, the Costa Blanca and the Costa del Sol, have almost the same winter afternoons but different nights.
On the Costa Blanca the median winter afternoon is 17.4°C and the median night 7.2°C; on the Costa del Sol 17.3°C and 9.8°C: about the same afternoons, but nights 2.6 °C warmer on the Costa del Sol.
Coastal towns only (within 5 km of the sea; all towns on the islands); medians over the towns with their own station.
Coast
Places
Afternoon
Night
Sun per day
Rainy days (3 months)
Costa Blanca (Alicante)
11
17.4°C
7.2°C
6.2 h
9
Costa Cálida (Murcia)
5
16.6°C
8.4°C
6.1 h
9
Costa de Almería
3
19.2°C
10.2°C
6.4 h
10
Costa Tropical (Granada)
2
18.1°C
10.9°C
–
14
Costa del Sol (Málaga)
8
17.3°C
9.8°C
5.9 h
14
Costa de la Luz (Cádiz, Huelva)
7
16.9°C
7.3°C
5.9 h
19
Valencia coast
4
16.8°C
7.5°C
5.7 h
12
Costa del Azahar (Castellón)
3
16.6°C
5.3°C
6.1 h
10
Catalan coast
20
14.6°C
6.2°C
5.6 h
11
Balearic Islands
12
15.6°C
8.2°C
5.5 h
17
Canary Islands
20
19.9°C
14.0°C
6.2 h
15
The cold-night trap
A warm winter afternoon does not mean a warm night.
Murcia averages 17.3°C on January afternoons, about the same as Fuengirola (17.2°C), but its January nights average 5.4°C against 11.3°C, and it has 3 frost nights a year against 0.
On the mainland, 10 places have January afternoons of 16°C or more but January nights of 5°C or less: Lebrija, Jerez de la Frontera, Alcantarilla, Utrera, Cieza*, Xàtiva, Benicarló, Bétera and 2 more.
6 of them are more than 15 km from the sea.
Sun and rain
Winter sunshine differs more within the Canary Islands than between the islands and the mainland coast:
in the south of Tenerife Adeje gets 6.8 hours of sun a day from December to February, in the north Puerto de la Cruz 4.8.
On the mainland coasts it is 5.5 to 6.4 hours a day (coast medians).
More in winter sun.
What else matters for a long winter stay
For the warmest places on the islands and on the mainland: is there a direct flight home all winter (many routes only fly in summer),
how many homes are holiday apartments (where you will find a winter rental), how many of the over-65s are foreign residents, and how far it is to a public hospital.
* Estimated from the three nearest weather stations: no station of its own within 25 km at a similar altitude. Tested on towns that do have a station, such estimates are off by about 1 °C on average. Some towns use a station more than 15 km away: Candelaria: Sta.Cruz De Tenerife, 16 km; Adra: El Ejido, 18 km; Roquetas de Mar: El Ejido, 18 km; Estepona: Marbella, Puerto, 18 km; Adeje: Tenerife Sur Aeropuerto, 18 km; Gáldar: Las Palmas De G.C. (Tafira Cmt), 21 km. Flights: year-round direct routes from the airport route tables of 4 October 2026.
Holiday lets: INE, May 2026. Foreign residents: INE register, 2022.
How we did this
AEMET 1991-2020 station averages for all 333 places: the town's own station within 25 km and at a similar altitude, or (*) the distance-weighted average of the three nearest stations. Winter = December, January and February: the average of the three monthly average highs and lows; places ranked by the mean of the two. Sunshine: the town's station or the nearest one that measures it (within 40 km). Coasts: towns within 5 km of the sea in the provinces named. Built 2026-10-18.
Real rents in the 105 towns with January afternoons of 16 °C+, the cheapest with a flight home and a hospital, the Canaries, where winter lets are plentiful, and what a seasonal let really costs.
Appraised home values in 333 towns: cheapest and dearest, cheap towns by the sea, five-year rises, rental yields, and a buyers' shortlist that stays liveable in 2055.
Two data-picked shortlists: 298 towns within reach of year-round London flights, 106 within reach of US flights, scored on winter, hospitals, waits, price and walkability, plus the healthcare and visa basics.