Vacation 2024: These are the best beach destinations in January
Want to start the new year with a trip to the warmth? For everyone who doesn’t feel like winter, snow, ice and cold, we present the solution. Five dream destinations for your first beach holiday in 2024.
The one with one
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Far away. Leave the stress of Christmas and New Year’s Eve behind you and get off to a dream start in the new year. For many Germans this means warm weather, sun, beach, splashing around in the sea and relaxing. We reveal five exotic beach destinations whose best travel time is in January. This is how 2024 can begin.
1. Sri Lanka: Pearl of the Indian Ocean
It is shaped like a pearl and is not quite as big as the state of Bavaria. The island of Sri Lanka lies in the Indian Ocean at the southern tip of India and has so much to offer that a mere beach holiday would almost be a waste: ancient royal cities, tea plantations, jungle, Lion Rock in the mountains, leopards, elephants, authentic Ayurveda – and beaches that make everyone cheer.
In January it is neither extremely hot nor too cold for the endless sandy beaches in their typical yellow tones on the west and south coast below the capital Colombo, with average temperatures of 25 degrees. What else speaks for the travel month of January: The cyclone season is over from November.
2. Seychelles: dream destination off the coast of Africa
At the level of the Kenyan city of Mombasa, the Seychelles archipelago shines out of the Indian Ocean: 42 granite islands and 73 coral islands with small, white sandy bays between rounded granite blocks, jungle-covered hills and a sea that shines in the colors of turquoise, bottle green and baby blue. There is bathing weather here all year round. In January the daytime temperatures are between 24 and 30 degrees, it is humid and warm and there are often short, heavy rain showers.
But these are also what give the islands their lush, permanent green. Even then, swimming in the sea is still fun because the water temperature is 28 degrees. How about one of the most beautiful beaches in the world? The Anse Source d’Argent is located on the small romantic island of La Digue and is known from Bacardi advertising. For anyone who wants more than a beach holiday, there is the “Morne Seychellois Park” nature reserve with spectacular hiking trails on the mountainous main island of Mahé.
3. Philippines: Paradise in the Pacific
7107 Robinson Crusoe Islands with volcanoes, rice terraces and dream beaches scattered throughout Pacific Ocean – these are the Philippines. The tropical island state in Southeast Asia extends west of Vietnam and north of Borneo and Indonesia and the best travel time is from January to March. Then it is dry season with average temperatures of 27 degrees. Perfect bathing weather. These pleasant temperatures are not only on land, but also in the water. At night you can sleep well at around 20 degrees and dream about the many beautiful palm beaches.
With more than 7,000 islands, the number of beaches is huge. The beaches on the island of Palawan, the beaches on the east coast of the island of Mindanao, on the relatively unknown island of Siargao, but also classics like on Boracay look like something out of a picture book are considered insider tips. If you have time, you should change the islands by ship at least once – even trips lasting several days in first class cost little money and offer a relaxed way to get to know the Pacific Ocean, the many small islands and the locals.
4. Vietnam: Fabulous beaches in the south
A country, narrow and no mass tourism: With a north-south extension of 1,650 kilometers and less than 600 kilometers wide (the narrowest point is 50 kilometers), Vietnam meanders like a worm along the South China Sea to the Gulf of Thailand. The coastline is around 3,400 kilometers long, which means there are plenty of beach options. Like in the south of the country. The best time to travel here is between December and February.
The tropical climate then shows its drier and sunny side with daytime temperatures of around 28 degrees and nighttime temperatures of around 20 degrees. Perfect conditions for trips to the Mekong Delta, to the capital Saigon or for swimming on the island of Phu Quoc or to the beach and water sports resort of Mui Ne. The former fishing town is also popular with wind and kite surfers as it has consistent winds at this time of year – making the beach weather even more pleasant. The South China Sea contributes to this at 27 degrees.
5. Dominican Republic: Caribbean bathing weather
One island, two countries, more than 200 beaches: part of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola belongs to Haiti, the larger part belongs to the Dominican Republic. The best weather dominates here on the south coast from November to April and in the east on the beaches around Punta Cana from December to July. This means for the holiday month of January: The hurricane season is over, there is only a little rain left.
The water temperatures on both the Atlantic and Caribbean coasts are around 26 degrees and with six hours of sunshine every day the thermometer climbs to a maximum of 28 degrees. Windsurfers will find good wind conditions in the bay of Cabarete in the north of the island. If you want to see humpback whales, you have a good chance in the Bay of Samana from mid-January to the end of March.