Sunniest Cities in Europe

Many of Europe's sunniest cities rim the Mediterranean, or are located nearby. Valletta, the capital of Malta, an island nation south of Italy, outshines all others with 2957 hours of sun on average a year. That works out to over eight hours a day. Valletta gets 99 hours more sunshine annually than the next sunniest city, Marseille.

Here you'll find lists of major European cities with the clearest climates, along with the sunniest five cities by region: Western, Northern, Eastern and Southern Europe. The ratings are based on average hours of sunshine annually.

All but one of the top ten sunniest cities typically enjoy over 2500 hours of sun a year, or about seven hours of sun daily on average. For these places, sunny weather is the norm year round. During most months, they rank high among cities in Europe for receiving the most hours of sunshine.

The rankings are for the 60 major European cities which have sunshine data. The cities include national capitals plus urban areas with a metropolitan population of over one million people. You can also see the full list of European cities and their sunshine totals that these rankings are based on.

Hours of sunshine a year on average for Europe's ten sunniest major cities
City Hours of Sun
Valletta, Malta 2957
Marseille, France 2858
Lisbon, Portugal 2799
Athens, Greece 2771
Madrid, Spain 2769
Monaco, Monaco 2724
Nice, France 2724
Tirana, Albania 2544
Barcelona, Spain 2524
Podgorica, Montenegro 2480

Sunniest Cities by European Region

Southern areas of Europe, including the south of France, overall enjoy many more hours of sun than other regions. Many eastern European cities also bask in sunny climates, with the top five boasting over 2000 hours of sun a year.

Northern Europe, even with its long summer days, can't keep up with cities elsewhere. The city there with the most sun is Stockholm, which measures just 1821 hours a year.

Sun shines on waterfront buildings in Stockholm Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden enjoys the clearest skies of any major city in Northern Europe.

Western Europe

Annual hours of sun on average for Western Europe's five sunniest cities
City Hours of Sun
Marseille, France 2858
Nice, France 2724
Lyon, France 2002
Vienna, Austria 1930
Munich, Germany 1709

Northern Europe

Annual hours of sun on average for Northern Europe's five sunniest cities
City Hours of Sun
Stockholm, Sweden 1821
Tallinn, Estonia 1783
Copenhagen, Denmark 1780
Helsinki, Finland 1780
Riga, Latvia 1757

Eastern Europe

Annual hours of sun on average for Eastern Europe's five sunniest cities
City Hours of Sun
Odessa, Ukraine 2183
Chisinau, Moldova 2126
Rostov-on-Don, Russia 2122
Bucharest, Romania 2112
Sofia, Bulgaria 2035

Southern Europe

Annual hours of sun on average for Southern Europe's five sunniest cities
City Hours of Sun
Valletta, Malta 2957
Lisbon, Portugal 2799
Athens, Greece 2771
Madrid, Spain 2769
Monaco, Monaco 2724
Reference

The data are provided by national meteorological agencies.

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