Where You Can Still Swim at Christmas

While the North Sea is freezing in December, elsewhere the sea is still warm enough to swim. In Lombok, the water averages 29.7 °C in December – with air temperatures around 31 °C.

This ranking shows the destinations with the warmest sea water in December – limited to places where the water, at 23 °C or more, is genuinely swimmable. Almost all are tropical and near-equatorial destinations, plus Southern-Hemisphere countries where Christmas falls in midsummer.

#	Destination	Sea temp (Dec)	Avg high
1	LombokIndonesia	29.7 °C	31 °C
2	BaliIndonesia	29.4 °C	31 °C
3	FijiFiji	28.9 °C	31 °C
4	ZanzibarTanzania	28.9 °C	32 °C
5	SingaporeSingapore	28.8 °C	30 °C
6	MaldivesMaldives	28.7 °C	31 °C
7	SeychellesSeychelles	28.6 °C	30 °C
8	Thailand (Phuket)Thailand	28.4 °C	31 °C
9	Philippines (Cebu)Philippines	28.3 °C	30 °C
10	India (Goa)India	28.2 °C	32 °C
11	Sri LankaSri Lanka	28.2 °C	31 °C
12	Colombia (Cartagena)Colombia	28.1 °C	32 °C
13	JamaicaJamaica	28.0 °C	29 °C
14	Thailand (Koh Samui)Thailand	28.0 °C	30 °C
15	BarbadosBarbados	27.7 °C	29 °C
16	St. LuciaSt. Lucia	27.7 °C	30 °C
17	ArubaAruba	27.4 °C	30 °C
18	Dominican RepublicDominican Republic	27.4 °C	29 °C

Averages from 20 years of climate data (2005–2025). About the methodology

Where You Can Still Swim at Christmas

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Where You Can Still Swim at Christmas

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