We’ve all been there: waking up mid-vacation, hoping to walk to the nearest beach or hike to a beautiful waterfall, but it’s hot – too hot. Or rather, it’s humid: the kind of thick, wet heat where the humidity in the air makes you clammy and easily out of breath. You give up on the plan and retreat to the shade of the pool. Again.
Social media can make tropical islands look like paradise, but no one seems to talk about the humidity factor. Filtered Instagram images of couples kayaking through mangroves or sipping cocktails in the full sun fail to capture the sweat marks, mosquito bites and frizzy hair that can be a reality for many in such locations.
As a passionate winter sun lover, I can no longer hack high humidity. When I went to beautiful Mauritius last January, I was hoping for some pleasant sunshine, but when a cyclone rolled in, the beach became suffocating. There was nothing to do but sit up to my neck in the pool, or retreat to the hotel room for a while.
Meanwhile, during a romantic spring trip to Miami, my barnet grew bigger and frizzier with every sultry patio dinner and rooftop cocktail, eventually reaching comical, Sideshow Bob proportions. As we walked between bars and restaurants, with a bead of sweat on our foreheads, I have never felt so elegant. In Jamaica, I gave up makeup after it melted off my face for the second time.
I still love tropical landscapes, and of course there are plenty of destinations worth experiencing regardless of the weather conditions. Many vacationers have no problem embracing humidity, and if they live in a humid country themselves, they may be used to it. Humidity is also beneficial for skin health. But now I actively seek out the dry heat: that blissful, breezy kind of sunshine that warms your blood and tousles your hair without making you nervous. More like the warm glow of a pine sauna than the watery clouds of a Turkish bath.
We humidity haters have to be cunning about timing and geography. In the winter months from December to March you can enjoy a dry, breezy holiday in the Caribbean or the Indian Ocean; but booking also coincides with the busiest and most expensive months. I made a mistake seeing a great value September package to Barbados and then endured a clammy week.
Not only is it extremely humid, but the mosquitoes are vicious (you might even get the trifecta of a hurricane). Choosing the right part of Australia or Mexico can help you decide whether you swelter in humidity or swoon in dry breezes: Perth or Adelaide and Baja California, for example, rather than Queensland and the Yucatan coast.
Dry heat is actually a category unto itself for winter sun. You’re looking for arid, desert-surrounded locations with enough cool winters to enjoy the sun. US sun areas such as Arizona, New Mexico and Palm Springs in California are all known as dry heat havens; or you can head to the dusty Middle East instead of the verdant Caribbean or Asia, laze in a resort in the UAE or see desert wadis and turtles in rugged Oman.
North African places like Morocco and Tunisia also meet the dry heat requirements. These are places where you can spend most of the day outside and charge your metaphorical solar panels without worrying about your mascara turning into Gene Simmons’ stage makeup from circa 1976. In short, it’s bliss in the winter sun.
Where you can go for wonderfully dry heat
Red Sea, Egypt
January is Egypt’s driest month, meaning the mild winter has minimal or no humidity. This is when the country’s Red Sea coast comes into its own, with sun-drenched hotel terraces, generous loungers and excellent snorkelling just meters from the beach. The clarity and warmth of the water here – not to mention the bright corals, manta rays and dolphins – also makes it a fantastic place to learn to dive. El Gouna’s new Chedi resort has a beautiful beach full of palm trees, beautiful modern rooms and a romantic spa.
Stay at: The Chedi El Gouna, which offers doubles from £185, B&B
Palm Springs, California
This glamorous, arid enclave, deep in California’s Sonoran Desert, is where big spenders go to escape the more humid areas of the state, where they can lounge by the pool in the middle of winter in pleasant temperatures of 21-25 degrees Celsius. You can also explore in the fresh warmth, see modernist villas owned by the likes of Elvis and Elizabeth Taylor, view Native American art at the city’s main museum and visit Joshua Tree National Park, an hour’s drive away.
Stay at: Modernist-style ARRIVE, with its vintage-cool swimming pool. Double rooms from £226, room only
Ras Al-Khaimah, UAE
A step further than Dubai and all the more tranquil and stylish, Ras Al-Khaimah is one of the UAE’s lesser-known Emirates. As in the rest of the Gulf, winters are comfortably warm and dry, with temperatures in the low twenties, and there are plenty of resorts and idyllic pools to enjoy. A luxurious new Anantara will open this winter, located on a natural white beach surrounded by mangrove forests – and just a 45-minute drive from Dubai.
Stay at: Anantara Mina Al Arab, which offers double deals from £343, B&B
Baja California, Mexico
Baja California, a chili-pepper-shaped patch of subtropical desert jutting out of northwestern Mexico, gets the double blessing of dry heat and Pacific breezes. Daytime temperatures of around 19-24 degrees Celsius extend across January and February, with wine tasting, surfer beaches, horse riding and whale watching excursions making the most of the sun. The majority of the resorts are clustered on the south side of the peninsula; try the Viceroy for its modernist design and outback safari options.
Stay at: Viceroy Los Cabos, which offers double rooms from £410, room only