This City Gets More Sunshine Than Anywhere Else In The World

Warm, sunny weather is a major selling point for travel destinations. In fact, travel agents will even use data about how many sunny hours a locale receives each year to draw more tourists to an underrated city or coastal town. The more sunny days in a place like Barbados or Antigua, the better. But the city in the world that gets the most sunlight isn't a beach town at all. It's Yuma, Arizona.

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Yuma, which has a hot desert climate, is located in the southwest corner of Arizona near the border of Mexico. According to 42 years of collected data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Yuma sees an average of 4,015.3 hours of sunlight per year, meaning that 90 percent of Yuma's days are sunny. That's a lot of sun, especially when you compare it to some of the cities closest to the equator such as Bogota, Columbia, and Nairobi, Kenya, which receive 1,328 hours and 2,491.9 hours, respectively.

Of course, that's not to say that those seeking a fun-filled beach vacation should venture to Yuma. The heat is oppressive (in summer, the highs can reach over 120 degrees Fahrenheit) and the air is dry. While tourists can enjoy the city's charming downtown, sand dunes, river tubing and state parks, those seeking a beachy paradise will most likely be disappointed. If it's white sands and beachside cocktails you're looking for, you'd be better off traveling to one of these destinations where it's summer all the time.