Winter sun from London: where to fly and when

Five airports, four of them with direct winter-sun routes, and a price spread wide enough that the airport you pick matters as much as the destination.

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Five airports, four of them with direct winter-sun routes, and a price spread wide enough that the airport you pick matters as much as the destination.

Cite this page: Atravel.uk, “Winter sun from London: where to fly and when”, updated 12 November 2026. https://atravel.uk/winter-sun-from-london/

London is the easiest place in the UK to find a winter-sun flight, and the hardest place to know which airport to book from. Heathrow has the long-haul and the Canaries; Gatwick carries most of the charter capacity to the islands; Stansted and Luton are where the cheap seats are, at the cost of an early coach; London City is convenient and expensive.

For a week in Tenerife in January, the difference between the cheapest Stansted seat and a Heathrow departure on the same day is routinely £60–£120 return. That is the whole argument for checking two airports before you book one.

Which London airport for which winter destination

Heathrow: the widest choice, including Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Malta, Cyprus and Dubai. Best if you are connecting or want a mid-morning departure.
Gatwick: the deepest charter capacity to the Canaries and to Malaga. Most winter-sun seats leave from the North Terminal between 06:00 and 09:00.
Stansted: usually the cheapest fare to Tenerife South, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, and the most awkward if you live south of the river.
Luton: thin on the islands, strong on Malaga, Alicante and Malta. Good for a three-night city break rather than a beach week.
London City: a handful of winter routes at a premium. Worth it only if you are ten minutes from Canary Wharf.

Getting to the airport without wrecking the saving

The train is the honest answer for most of London. Stansted Express from Liverpool Street takes 47 minutes; Gatwick Express from Victoria takes 30; Heathrow Express from Paddington takes 15 and costs more than some flights. The coach is slower and cheaper: National Express and Megabus run overnight services to Stansted and Luton that line up with the 06:00 departures.

If you are pricing a 06:30 flight from Stansted, add the cost of a taxi or an airport hotel before you decide it is cheaper than the 10:00 from Heathrow. A £40 saving disappears quickly at 03:00.

What winter sun actually costs from London

January and early February are the cheapest weeks of the winter for the Canaries, and the last week of December is the most expensive by a wide margin. A week in Tenerife in the second week of January is typically the low point; the same week at half-term costs roughly double.

We do not publish a fixed price because there is no such thing: the fare depends on the day, the airport and how far ahead you book. Every card on this page opens the partner's live price for your dates.

Winter sun deals from London

Filter by duration, board and type, then check the live price on the partner page. Fares move by day, so we do not print a fixed one.

Canary Islands