Winter destinations with guaranteed sunshine £ - under £180 In the 80s Barbados The classic Caribbean destination for excellent beaches, a sophisticated social life and some first class restaurants, Barbados is at its best at this time of year. The thermometer peaks at 84-86F until the end of March and you won't be holding your breath as you wade into the water: the sea temperature is a steady 79-81F. Our expert, Fred Mawer, recommends: The Coral Reef Club, on the west coast. It has the atmosphere of a country-house hotel in the tropics. Spread over 12 acres of glorious gardens, it delivers graceful, old-school luxury in a way no other Barbados hotel can. ££ Flight time: Eight to nine hours Getting there: Flights with British Airways (ba.com) and Virgin Atlantic (virgin-atlantic.com) for more information and advice on booking a holiday to Barbados see our expert guide at telegraph.co.uk/barbados St Kitts St Kitts has all the staples of the small island Caribbean holiday − with splendid plantation houses, rainforest hikes, ramshackle rum shacks and blissfully warm swimming. The climate here is similar to Barbados, but slightly cooler with average daytime highs consistently hitting 81-82F until the end of March. Our expert, Nigel Tisdall, recommends: Ottley's Plantation Inn a smart and characterful 18th century, luxury hotel with bags of Caribbean charm, and the most luxurious place to stay on St Kitts. ££ Flight time: ten hours Getting there: Flights with BA via Antigua; for more information and advice on booking a holiday to St Kitts see our expert guide at telegraph.co.uk/stkitts Dubai Dubai is booming as a holiday destination, and while it doesn't appeal to everyone, the hotels are first class and there is an upbeat vibe which few winter sun destinations can match. Here "winter" lasts only about six weeks, and the desert city is already beginning to warm up. Catch it before it gets too hot. Currently temperatures are around 75F at midday, but in two or three weeks" time they will be above 80F. Our expert, Lara Dunston, recommends: The Grosvenor House, a cosmopolitan hotel that is on the beach but has a big-city feel: colossal lobby, plush rooms, sophisticated bars, and plenty of fine-dining restaurants. £ Flight time: Seven hours Getting there: Flights with BA and Emirates (emirates.com); for more information and advice on booking a holiday to Dubai see telegraph.co.uk/dubai Cape Town Basking in one of the most stunning settings of any port, Cape Town enjoys that rare distinction of being a true resort city, with both immaculate white beaches, a glorious rural hinterland with grazing zebra and wildebeest on Table Mountain, and a bustling urban centre. It's high summer in South Africa now, and Cape Town enjoys a long, golden autumn with nine or 10 hours of sunshine a day. Daily maximums don't start to drop below 80F until the end of March. Our expert, Pippa De Bruyn, recommends: The Mount Nelson hotel, with its English colonial décor, dating originally from its opening in 1899. Charming, discreetly glamorous, the Nellie is a class act (unless you like only minimalist modernism). £££ Flight time: 13 hours Getting there: Flights with BA and Virgin Atlantic; for more information and advice on booking a holiday to Cape Town see our expert guide at telegraph.co.uk/capetown In the 70s Miami America's hippest, most design conscious and most intriguing resort is adorned by an eight and a half mile stretch of white sand beach. It isn't a place for dreamy peace and quiet, but there is a great buzz to the place, especially at weekends and around South Beach (SoBe), the Art Deco district which are popular with New Yorkers on short winter breaks. Expect daytime temperatures to peak in the mid-seventies until April, when the mercury starts to rise over the 80F mark. You might see the odd shower, but with an average of eight or nine hours a day of steady sunshine, you almost certainly won't mind too much. Our expert, Lucie Young, recommends: the newly renovated Betsy hotel (formerly the Betsy Ross) in the Art Deco district. It's small enough to feel intimate, but super-stylish and right on the ocean front in South Beach. ££ Flight time: Nine hours Getting there: Flights with BA, Virgin Atlantic, and Continental Airlines (continental.com); for more information and advice on booking a holiday to Cape Town see our expert guide at telegraph.co.uk/miami Tenerife The largest and most varied of the Canaries, Tenerife offers the full gamut of winter sun holidays, from brash busy resorts, to chic five-star boutique hotels, historic ports and lush green mountains. The weather is pretty good too, peaking at 68-70F in January and February, and warming up steadily after that. It is warmer and drier in the south of the island compared with the north. Our expert, Andrea Montgomery, recomnends The Abama Golf & Spa Resort, which offers a choice of 10 restaurants, two with Michelin stars, private villas and a non-stuffy atmosphere, on the island's south-west coast. £ Flight time: Four-and-a-half hours Getting there: Flights with Monarch Airlines (monarch.co.uk), BA, easyJet (easyJet.com), Ryanair (ryanair.com), Jet2 (jet2.com), Thomas Cook (flythomascook.com) and Thomson Airways (flights.thomson.co.uk); for more information and advice on booking a holiday to Tenerife see our expert guide at telegraph.co.uk/tenerife Marrakesh One of the nearest reliably warm destinations to the UK in winter, with some excellent boutique hotels and riads, Marrakesh is also a fascinating and historic desert city. The setting is lovely, too: even though you may be basking by the pool, or sweating in the souks, the distant Atlas mountains may be capped with snow. Winter temperatures in this desert city rarely fall below a daily peak of 65F. They start to break through the 70F barrier in February - a lovely time of year to come. Our expert, Alison Bing, recommends: the Ksar Char-Bagh hotel - a thoroughly modern castle, with architect-designed ramparts, organic gardens, moats meandering through marble floors, and all the 21st-century amenities hidden behind carved cedar panels. £££ Flight time: four hours Getting there: Flights with BA, Ryanair and EasyJet; for more information and advice on booking a holiday to Marrakesh see our expert guide at telegraph.co.uk/marrakesh Warming up nicely Cyprus Cyprus is the warmest island in the Mediterranean, and the only one to offer reliably decent weather all year round. But if you want to sunbathe on the beach, you would do best to wait until April. However, if you like the idea of long, dry, sunny days with temperatures in the mid 60s, you won't find a many better bets so close to home, especially in the more attractive side of the island to the north and west of Paphos. Our expert, Marc Dubin, recommends: the Almyra hotel on the seafront in Paphos, the nicest of the larger resorts. It's a smart, stylish, revamp of a former package hotel in an excellent location. ££ Flight time: Four hours Getting there: Flights with BA, easyJet, Jet2, Monarch, Ryanair, Thomas Cook and Thomson Airways; for more information and advice on booking a holiday to Cyprus see our expert guide at telegraph.co.uk/cyprus.