8 best last-minute winter sun holiday destinations just a short flight from the UK

Sign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calder’s Travel email Get Simon Calder’s Travel email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain open image in gallery Southern Tenerife still sees daily highs of 22C come December Flight time: 4h 30m With a reputation for being the cheap and cheerful star of the Canaries archipelago, Tenerife welcomes 23C beach days and eight hours of sunshine well into winter. Sal, Cape Verde open image in gallery Guaranteed sunshine makes Cape Verde the ideal winter destination Flight time: 5h 50m Just shy of a six-hour flight away, Cape Verde promises tourists a tan top-up with temperatures that range up to 26C come winter and mark the end of the island’s rainy season. Banjul, Gambia open image in gallery A tropical climate promises highs of 32C in Banjul throughout the winter period Flight time: 6h 20m West Africa’s Gambia enjoys scorching average temperatures of 34C through winter making it an ideal destination for some guaranteed winter sun at just over six hours away. Valletta, Malta open image in gallery A mild 16C is the perfect temperature to explore the Maltese capital in winter Flight time: 3h 15m One of Europe’s smallest capitals, Valletta, welcomes winter holidaymakers to tour its Baroque architecture, 17th-century fortifications and Grand Harbour in mild average temperatures of 16C come January, which is almost t-shirt weather in comparison to the UK’s single-digit temperatures.