Carmen
Travel editor at Reisedrop · 2026-09-01
Sometime in late November, it happens every year: you look out the window, see the same grey soup hanging over the Swiss plateau for the fourteenth day in a row — and open a flight search "just for a quick look." We know the feeling. Bad news first: Christmas is peak season, and if you book in December, you’ll pay for it. The good news? There are still affordable sunny escapes out there. You just need to know where — and, above all, when — to strike. Here are our ten favourites from Zurich, ranked with zero romance and plenty of honesty by value for money.
Up to 5 hours: Canary Islands, Egypt, Morocco
The Canaries are still the classic choice, and for good reason: Gran Canaria and Tenerife reliably deliver 22 to 24 degrees in December — this isn’t a Mediterranean weather lottery. If you’re watching the budget, head for Fuerteventura or Lanzarote instead; they’re often 15 to 20 percent cheaper, with the same sunshine. Want even more warmth for your money? Hurghada and Marsa Alam. Egypt is the eternal underdog of winter destinations: 25-degree air, 24-degree water, and all-inclusive prices that on the Canaries often wouldn’t even get you the room alone. And then there’s Agadir — our quiet favourite for anyone who likes to wander through a souk between beach days and eat tajine for a few Franken at lunchtime.
5 to 7 hours: Cape Verde and The Gambia
Sal and Boa Vista feel like the Caribbean without the Caribbean flight time: six hours, 26 degrees, and beaches that seem to go on forever. The Gambia — “The Smiling Coast” — is the more exotic card to play: West Africa with direct charter flights, 32 degrees, and prices that stay surprisingly reasonable even over the holidays. What makes both destinations unbeatable for families is something people often forget: basically no time difference. No jet lag, no children wide awake at three in the morning. Once you’ve experienced that, you don’t book any other way.
Long-haul that adds up: Thailand, Dubai, Zanzibar
Bangkok and Phuket are expensive over Christmas, if we’re being honest. But Khao Lak and Krabi stay surprisingly fair — provided you book by the end of October. Dubai catches people off guard with a flight time of just six and a half hours and a pleasant 26 degrees; hotel prices there swing so wildly that comparing really pays off — sometimes two hotels in the same category are worlds apart. And Zanzibar? Dream beaches, spice markets, 30 degrees. The flight is long, no question. But if you’re staying for two weeks, you’ll get the most out of it.
Timing matters more than the destination
Now for the part most people don’t believe until they try it themselves: for Christmas holidays, the best prices usually show up 8 to 12 weeks before departure — so between early October and mid-November. After that, they tend to climb almost every day. And flexibility is rewarded royally: fly on 25 or 26 December instead of the 19th, and a family can save several hundred Franken in no time. Flying back on 2 January is almost always cheaper than on the 3rd or 4th, when the whole of Switzerland seems to head home at once. We’ve seen the price curves — this effect is the same every single year.