Coolcation
Where it's cool in December
Ibiza, Spain 17°C · Dali, China 17°C · Palermo, Italy 16°C. Typical daytime highs in December, using the 2016 to 2025 record.
Explore the mapTop 10 destinations in December
1.Ibiza, Spain
17°4° daily spread5 rain dayscouplesWhy Ibiza, Spain?
The historical record averages 17° in December, with a 4° daily-high spread and 5 average rain days.
2.Dali, China
17°5° daily spread3 rain dayscultureWhy Dali, China?
The historical record averages 17° in December, with a 5° daily-high spread and 3 average rain days.
3.Palermo, Italy
16°5° daily spread8 rain dayscultureWhy Palermo, Italy?
The historical record averages 16° in December, with a 5° daily-high spread and 8 average rain days.
4.Lisbon, Portugal
16°5° daily spread9 rain dayscultureWhy Lisbon, Portugal?
The historical record averages 16° in December, with a 5° daily-high spread and 9 average rain days.
5.Montserrat, Spain
15°4 rain dayshikingWhy Montserrat, Spain?
The historical record averages 15° in December, with a 6° daily-high spread and 4 average rain days.
6.Elba, Italy
13°8 rain dayscouplesWhy Elba, Italy?
The historical record averages 13° in December, with a 6° daily-high spread and 8 average rain days.
7.San Francisco, United States
14°8 rain dayscultureWhy San Francisco, United States?
The historical record averages 14° in December, with a 6° daily-high spread and 8 average rain days.
8.Poreč, Croatia
11°9 rain dayscultureWhy Poreč, Croatia?
The historical record averages 11° in December, with a 7° daily-high spread and 8 average rain days.
9.Santorini, Greece
16°9 rain dayscouplesWhy Santorini, Greece?
The historical record averages 16° in December, with a 6° daily-high spread and 9 average rain days.
10.Baku, Azerbaijan
10°10 rain dayscultureWhy Baku, Azerbaijan?
The historical record averages 10° in December, with a 6° daily-high spread and 10 average rain days.
More about December
A coolcation, on this site, is anywhere with a mean daily high at or below 18°C. December gives you 64 of the 295 curated destinations with a ten-year record this month (of 497 curated in total). The ranking below is by low day-to-day swing, not by which is coldest.
December coolcation options on the ten-year record: 64 of 295 curated destinations with ten-year daily records sit at or below 18°C mean daily high (of 497 curated in total; the remainder do not yet have a full ten-year series for December). The list below ranks them by day-to-day steadiness, not raw temperature.
The coldest reading in the dataset for December is Kanas Lake at -16°. The warmest still inside the cool band is Ghardaïa and the M'zab Valley at 18°. Pack layers, not a coat.
Coolcation is defined here as mean daily high at or below 18°C. That threshold is a firm number, chosen for room-temperature comfort with a light layer. Nothing on this page describes forecasts. The averages are climate.
Displaying historical averages for the month of December.
View full interactive mapAverage temperatures by destination
Showing 80 of 80 destinations
| Destination | Country | Avg high | Swings | Rain days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Churchill | Canada | -16° | 22° width | 2 |
| Fairbanks | United States | -16° | 25° width | 3 |
| Kanas Lake | China | -18° | 14° width | 10 |
| Iqaluit | Canada | -12° | 17° width | 4 |
| Harbin | China | -10° | 15° width | 3 |
| Mount Paektu | North Korea | -10° | 15° width | 5 |
| Lake Baikal | Russia | -9° | 14° width | 10 |
| Astana | Kazakhstan | -8° | 17° width | 8 |
| Svalbard | Svalbard and Jan Mayen | -9° | 19° width | 15 |
| Anchorage | United States | -5° | 13° width | 5 |
| Ilulissat | Greenland | -5° | 15° width | 7 |
| Kazan | Russia | -5° | 14° width | 10 |
| Longyearbyen | Norway | -5° | 15° width | 11 |
| Vladivostok | Russia | -5° | 14° width | 2 |
| Abisko National Park | Sweden | -4° | 12° width | 13 |
| Jasper | Canada | -4° | 19° width | 6 |
| Leh | India | -5° | 25° width | 6 |
| Yellowstone National Park | United States | -4° | 12° width | 12 |
| High Tatras | Slovakia | -3° | 11° width | 18 |
| Quebec City | Canada | -3° | 13° width | 14 |
| Kizhi Island | Russia | -2° | 11° width | 16 |
| Moscow | Russia | -2° | 11° width | 14 |
| Nuuk | Greenland | -2° | 11° width | 10 |
| Tadoussac | Canada | -2° | 12° width | 5 |
| Valley of Geysers, Kamchatka | Russia | -2° | - | - |
| Bamiyan | Afghanistan | -1° | 14° width | 4 |
| Bran Castle | Romania | -1° | 11° width | 14 |
| Charyn Canyon | Kazakhstan | 0° | 12° width | 7 |
| Mogao Caves, Dunhuang | China | 0° | - | - |
| Qaqortoq | Greenland | 0° | 15° width | 10 |
| Tromsø | Norway | 0° | 9° width | 16 |
| Turpan | China | 0° | 8° width | 0 |
| Whistler | Canada | 0° | 11° width | 16 |
| Sapporo | Japan | 1° | 10° width | 15 |
| Vilnius | Lithuania | 1° | 9° width | 11 |
| Almaty | Kazakhstan | 1° | 13° width | 10 |
| Chernobyl Exclusion Zone | Ukraine | 2° | 9° width | 13 |
| Kashgar | China | 2° | 11° width | 4 |
| Pyongyang | North Korea | 2° | 12° width | 4 |
| Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park | Belarus | 3° | 10° width | 10 |
| Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon | Iceland | 3° | 9° width | 13 |
| Lviv | Ukraine | 3° | 10° width | 13 |
| Mount Elbrus | Russia | 3° | 13° width | 13 |
| Niagara Falls | Canada | 3° | 13° width | 9 |
| Stockholm | Sweden | 3° | 10° width | 10 |
| Bishkek | Kyrgyzstan | 3° | 17° width | 8 |
| Curonian Spit | Russia | 4° | 8° width | 12 |
| Great Wall of China, Mutianyu | China | 4° | - | - |
| Ketchikan | United States | 4° | 10° width | 18 |
| Mount Everest North Base Camp | China | 4° | 14° width | 1 |
| Neuschwanstein Castle | Germany | 4° | 10° width | 12 |
| Turkistan | Kazakhstan | 4° | 12° width | 6 |
| Aalborg | Denmark | 5° | 8° width | 13 |
| Lake Issyk-Kul | Kyrgyzstan | 5° | 6° width | 12 |
| Sarajevo | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 5° | 12° width | 14 |
| Świnoujście | Poland | 5° | 9° width | 9 |
| Bergen | Norway | 6° | 8° width | 19 |
| Dresden | Germany | 6° | 10° width | 9 |
| Jiuzhaigou Valley | China | 6° | 9° width | 4 |
| Odesa | Ukraine | 6° | 11° width | 7 |
| Rila Monastery | Bulgaria | 6° | 10° width | 10 |
| Vienna | Austria | 6° | 10° width | 7 |
| Danube Delta | Romania | 7° | 11° width | 7 |
| Turin | Italy | 7° | 9° width | 4 |
| Cappadocia | Turkey | 8° | 12° width | 7 |
| Goes | Netherlands | 8° | 6° width | 13 |
| Lake District | United Kingdom | 8° | 7° width | 17 |
| Seattle | United States | 8° | 8° width | 14 |
| Xi'an | China | 8° | 10° width | 1 |
| Yosemite National Park | United States | 8° | 14° width | 6 |
| Bukhara | Uzbekistan | 9° | 15° width | 3 |
| Dublin | Ireland | 9° | 8° width | 10 |
| Mount Fuji | Japan | 9° | 16° width | 5 |
| Washington, D.C. | United States | 9° | - | - |
| Baku | Azerbaijan | 10° | 6° width | 10 |
| Huangshan | China | 10° | 12° width | 9 |
| L'Aquila | Italy | 10° | 8° width | 9 |
| Lhasa | China | 10° | 10° width | 1 |
| Mont Saint-Michel | France | 10° | 8° width | 12 |
| Mount Nemrut | Turkey | 10° | 8° width | 9 |
Readings summarise observed daily weather from 2016 to 2025. They are a historical reference, not a forecast. Data: Visual Crossing global historical archive. How we compute this
Frequently asked
- Where is reliably cool in December?
- The driest 12-18°C cool-comfort picks in December, all with a wider day-to-day spread, are: Ghardaïa and the M'zab Valley (18°C, about 1 rain day, an 8° spread); Las Vegas (15°C, about 1 rain day, a 9° spread); Yazd (16°C, about 2 rain days, an 11° spread); Dali (17°C, about 3 rain days, a 5° spread).
- What counts as a coolcation in December?
- On this site, a coolcation is anywhere with a mean daily high at or below 18°C. In December that filters 64 of 295 curated destinations with a ten-year record. The warmest in-band pick is Ghardaïa and the M'zab Valley at 18°; the steadiest day-to-day is Ibiza with a 4° spread.
- Is December the right month for a coolcation?
- It depends on where you go. In December the ten-year record puts 64 curated destinations at or below 18°C mean daily high. If that count is small, the northern hemisphere is warming and southern-hemisphere hill stations or high-latitude coasts do most of the work. If it is large, the reverse.