The world's sunniest islands in 2026, ranked

Name: The world's sunniest islands 2026 — Sunshine Atlas ranking
Creator: Sunshine Atlas
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

55 of the world's best-loved holiday islands ranked by annual sunshine, from long-term climate normals, by Sunshine Atlas. Published July 2026. The cross-archipelago companion to our Greek-island and Canary-island guides.

Key findings
• Bali (Indonesia) is the world's sunniest island: 3,373 hours of sun a year.
• Kos and Cyprus follow, at 3,110 and 3,110 h.
• Best island for winter sun: St. Maarten (Sint Maarten), 90/100 on the November–February Sunshine Score, sea 29°C.

The full ranking — annual sunshine

#	Island	Country	Sun h/yr	Mean sea
1	Bali	🇮🇩 Indonesia	3,373	30°C
2	Kos	🇬🇷 Greece	3,110	22°C
3	Cyprus	🇨🇾 Cyprus	3,110	24°C
4	Samos	🇬🇷 Greece	3,110	21°C
5	Malta	🇲🇹 Malta	3,054	22°C
6	Oahu	🇺🇸 United States	3,036	26°C
7	Curaçao	🇨🇼 Curaçao	3,022	29°C
8	Rhodes	🇬🇷 Greece	2,994	22°C
9	Aruba	🇦🇼 Aruba	2,978	28°C
10	Barbados	🇧🇧 Barbados	2,978	29°C
11	Mykonos	🇬🇷 Greece	2,978	20°C
12	St. Maarten	🇸🇽 Sint Maarten	2,978	29°C
13	Puerto Rico	🇵🇷 Puerto Rico	2,964	29°C
14	Santorini	🇬🇷 Greece	2,891	21°C
15	Maui	🇺🇸 United States	2,891	26°C
16	Bahamas	🇧🇸 Bahamas	2,847	28°C
17	Isla Margarita	🇻🇪 Venezuela	2,847	28°C
18	Kythira	🇬🇷 Greece	2,847	21°C
19	Zanzibar	🇹🇿 Tanzania	2,838	29°C
20	Zakynthos	🇬🇷 Greece	2,803	21°C
21	Martinique	🇲🇶 Martinique	2,803	29°C
22	Lanzarote	🇪🇸 Spain	2,759	21°C
23	Antigua	🇦🇬 Antigua & Barbuda	2,759	29°C
24	Kefalonia	🇬🇷 Greece	2,759	21°C
25	Fuerteventura	🇪🇸 Spain	2,759	21°C
26	Skiathos	🇬🇷 Greece	2,759	20°C
27	Crete	🇬🇷 Greece	2,726	22°C
28	Gran Canaria	🇪🇸 Spain	2,716	22°C
29	Tenerife	🇪🇸 Spain	2,716	22°C
30	Ibiza	🇪🇸 Spain	2,672	21°C
31	Guadeloupe	🇬🇵 Guadeloupe	2,672	29°C
32	Sri Lanka	🇱🇰 Sri Lanka	2,621	30°C
33	Sardinia	🇮🇹 Italy	2,612	20°C
34	Jamaica	🇯🇲 Jamaica	2,584	29°C
35	Mallorca	🇪🇸 Spain	2,584	21°C
36	Sicily	🇮🇹 Italy	2,540	22°C
37	Menorca	🇪🇸 Spain	2,540	21°C
38	La Palma	🇪🇸 Spain	2,540	23°C
39	Phuket	🇹🇭 Thailand	2,497	30°C
40	Seychelles	🇸🇨 Seychelles	2,497	29°C
41	Corsica	🇫🇷 France	2,453	20°C
42	Penang	🇲🇾 Malaysia	2,453	31°C
43	Langkawi	🇲🇾 Malaysia	2,453	31°C
44	Corfu	🇬🇷 Greece	2,409	22°C
45	Fiji	🇫🇯 Fiji	2,409	29°C
46	New Caledonia	🇳🇨 New Caledonia	2,409	26°C
47	Réunion	🇷🇪 Réunion	2,409	27°C
48	Koh Samui	🇹🇭 Thailand	2,365	31°C
49	Cebu	🇵🇭 Philippines	2,321	30°C
50	Mauritius	🇲🇺 Mauritius	2,321	26°C
51	Hawaii (Big Island)	🇺🇸 United States	2,234	27°C
52	Madeira	🇵🇹 Portugal	2,146	22°C
53	Jersey	🇯🇪 Jersey	1,752	14°C
54	Azores	🇵🇹 Portugal	1,730	20°C
55	Guernsey	🇬🇬 Guernsey	1,708	14°C

Explore all 3,833 destinations on the interactive globe →

Best islands for winter sun

The same islands re-ranked by the November–February Sunshine Score — where to escape the northern winter.

#	Island	Country	Winter sun /100	Mean sea
1	St. Maarten	🇸🇽 Sint Maarten	90	29°C
2	Aruba	🇦🇼 Aruba	88	28°C
3	Bahamas	🇧🇸 Bahamas	88	28°C
4	Barbados	🇧🇧 Barbados	87	29°C
5	Lanzarote	🇪🇸 Spain	87	21°C
6	Fuerteventura	🇪🇸 Spain	87	21°C
7	Curaçao	🇨🇼 Curaçao	86	29°C
8	Maui	🇺🇸 United States	84	26°C
9	Puerto Rico	🇵🇷 Puerto Rico	83	29°C
10	Antigua	🇦🇬 Antigua & Barbuda	83	29°C
11	Oahu	🇺🇸 United States	82	26°C
12	Isla Margarita	🇻🇪 Venezuela	82	28°C
13	Zanzibar	🇹🇿 Tanzania	82	29°C
14	Guadeloupe	🇬🇵 Guadeloupe	82	29°C
15	Jamaica	🇯🇲 Jamaica	82	29°C
16	Martinique	🇲🇶 Martinique	79	29°C
17	Gran Canaria	🇪🇸 Spain	79	22°C
18	Mauritius	🇲🇺 Mauritius	78	26°C
19	Réunion	🇷🇪 Réunion	77	27°C
20	Phuket	🇹🇭 Thailand	76	30°C
21	Langkawi	🇲🇾 Malaysia	75	31°C
22	New Caledonia	🇳🇨 New Caledonia	75	26°C
23	Sri Lanka	🇱🇰 Sri Lanka	74	30°C
24	Hawaii (Big Island)	🇺🇸 United States	74	27°C
25	Bali	🇮🇩 Indonesia	73	30°C
26	Penang	🇲🇾 Malaysia	73	31°C
27	Tenerife	🇪🇸 Spain	71	22°C
28	Koh Samui	🇹🇭 Thailand	71	31°C
29	Seychelles	🇸🇨 Seychelles	69	29°C
30	Cebu	🇵🇭 Philippines	67	30°C
31	Fiji	🇫🇯 Fiji	65	29°C
32	La Palma	🇪🇸 Spain	62	23°C
33	Madeira	🇵🇹 Portugal	55	22°C
34	Cyprus	🇨🇾 Cyprus	51	24°C
35	Malta	🇲🇹 Malta	50	22°C
36	Santorini	🇬🇷 Greece	46	21°C
37	Azores	🇵🇹 Portugal	45	20°C
38	Kos	🇬🇷 Greece	44	22°C
39	Kythira	🇬🇷 Greece	44	21°C
40	Sicily	🇮🇹 Italy	44	22°C
41	Mykonos	🇬🇷 Greece	43	20°C
42	Crete	🇬🇷 Greece	42	22°C
43	Sardinia	🇮🇹 Italy	41	20°C
44	Menorca	🇪🇸 Spain	41	21°C
45	Zakynthos	🇬🇷 Greece	40	21°C
46	Rhodes	🇬🇷 Greece	39	22°C
47	Ibiza	🇪🇸 Spain	37	21°C
48	Samos	🇬🇷 Greece	35	21°C
49	Mallorca	🇪🇸 Spain	29	21°C
50	Kefalonia	🇬🇷 Greece	27	21°C
51	Corfu	🇬🇷 Greece	24	22°C
52	Skiathos	🇬🇷 Greece	21	20°C
53	Corsica	🇫🇷 France	19	20°C
54	Guernsey	🇬🇬 Guernsey	9	14°C
55	Jersey	🇯🇪 Jersey	6	14°C

Methodology

A curated set of the world's best-known holiday islands — islands aren't a field in the data, so the list is hand-picked and not exhaustive — each ranked by annual sunshine hours from long-term climate normals (CRU climatology), not a forecast. Islands with more than one airport (Cyprus, Crete, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the Azores) are averaged into a single entry. Sea temperature is the annual mean where coastal data exists. See also the world's sunniest countries and sunniest cities in Europe.

Republish this data

Free to use under CC BY 4.0: credit Sunshine Atlas and link to this page. Download the full ranking as CSV: sunshine-atlas-sunniest-islands.csv (55 islands).

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