Spring blossoms in shoulder season: The best places to visit in April

Spring is in the air in the northern hemisphere; the flowers are blooming, and the worst of the tourist crowds have yet to build up, offering you plenty of reasons to get going in April.

Spain

Historical towns and brilliant beaches await in the Canary Islands.Credit: iStock

Why you should go: Daytime temperatures are pleasant, hovering around 20 degrees. Cafe terraces have emerged after winter hibernation, and raucous northern European beach hordes have yet to swamp the coast. It’s also festival time, particularly over Semana Santa or Easter Week, during which Andalusian cities in particular (such as Seville, Cordoba and Malaga) host startling religious processions featuring floats and palanquins carrying statues of saints. Seville follows it with an April Fair, one of the biggest festivals in Spain.

Don’t miss: For something different, Spain’s Canary Islands will have guaranteed great weather. The islands feature dramatic volcanic landscapes, occasionally snow-capped mountains, historical towns and brilliant beaches, and is also a notable stargazing destination. See spain.info

Bhutan

Don’t miss the gorgeous Paro Valley, featuring Bhutan’s most famous tourist attraction, Tiger’s Nest.Credit: Alamy

Why you should go: Rhododendron-popping mountain landscapes are gorgeous and monasteries rich in colour. Spring brings pleasant temperatures and lower humidity, and is a lively time for festivals such as the popular Gomphu Kora festival. It’s the high season, but this Himalayan kingdom renowned for calculating Gross National Happiness aims at low-volume, high-quality tourism, so tourist numbers are never bothersome.

Don’t miss: The glorious Paro Valley, and particularly its cliff-clinging Taktshang Goemba (Tiger’s Nest) monastery, a significant Buddhist sacred site dating to the 8th century and reached on a clamber unsuited for those with vertigo. Punakha Dzong in western Bhutan might be the most beautiful monastery, however, even if its location isn’t as spectacular. See bhutan.travel

Bolivia

Vividly blue Lake Titicaca.Credit: iStock

Why you should go: The rainy season has just ended. The landscape is verdant while, in the starkly beautiful desert region, the Salar de Uyuni salt flats are flooded, offering magnificent mirror-like reflections and flocks of flamingos that will drive you into a photo frenzy. Capital La Paz and colonial-era Sucre are two contrasting cities worth visiting.

Don’t miss: Vividly blue Lake Titicaca, ringed by the Cordillera Real mountains. Isla del Sol, the birthplace of the sun according to Incan legend, is scattered with Incan ruins and crisscrossed by hiking trails. The Peruvian side of the lake has floating villages made from reeds inhabited by indigenous Uros people in colourful blue and yellow clothes. See southamericatourism.com

Malaysia

Rock pinnacles in the jungles of Sarawak.Credit: iStock

Why you should go: Malaysia doesn’t have a true dry season, but in April you avoid the monsoon and take advantage of a shoulder season with fewer visitors and cheaper hotels. The weather is especially good on peninsular Malaysia’s east coast, and in Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo, which offer white-water rafting, mountain hiking, national parks and great snorkelling on reefs.

Don’t miss: Orangutans are a prime reason for visiting Sabah, most easily seen at Sepilok Orang-utan Centre. Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak has spectacular karst landscapes, vast cave networks, and rainforest dense with gibbons, monkeys, hornbills and other creatures. The capital Kuching highlights Borneo’s cultural diversity and has bustling markets. See malaysia.travel

Zambia

Victoria Falls is better admired in April when less obscured by spray.Credit: iStock

Why you should go: It isn’t all about the northern hemisphere, with April a great time to visit Southern Africa. Zambia is less visited than South Africa, Namibia or Botswana apart from Victoria Falls – which incidentally is better admired in April when less obscured by spray. But the dry season in Zambia concentrates wildlife at waterholes for easy safari spotting in destinations such as South Luangwa National Park, one of the most spectacular in Africa.

Don’t miss: Lusaka National Park, very small and just outside the capital, but the best place to see rare white rhinos. A contrast is Kafue National Park, one of the world’s biggest, but easily visited on public transport rather than expensive safaris. See zambiatourism.com

Cities

Tokyo, Japan

This is the best time of year to be in Japan for cherry blossoms.Credit: iStock

Why you should go: The flowering of one particular cherry tree in Tokyo heralds the official beginning of the nation’s famed cherry-blossom season. Japan’s concrete capital looks beautiful, with parks covered in blossoms. The prime minister hosts an official hanami or blossom-viewing party in jam-packed Shinjuku Park, and numerous festivals are held across the city.

Don’t miss: Sumida Park comes alive with a weekend festival, folk dancing and boating along the blossom-lined river. Ueno Park is the place to be in the evening, when lantern-hung trees throw a red glow on picnickers. It’s worth taking a half-hour train ride to Yokohama, where the classical Sankei-en Gardens see 2000 cherry trees erupt in fabulous display. See gotokyo.org

Bangkok, Thailand

Thailand is the epicentre of fun during Songkran.Credit: Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images

Why you should go: Bangkok is sizzling hot, but time a stopover for mid-April’s five-day Songkran Festival, which celebrates Thai new year, and you’ll soon cool off. Locals emerge for a giant water fight in which everyone gets soaked with water thrown from buckets or fired from water pistols. Siam Square, Silom Road and backpacker hangout Khao San Road are epicentres of the fun.

Don’t miss: Take time out from revelry to visit the Grand Palace with its upswept roofs, decorative tile work and blend of Thai, Chinese and Western architectural influences. Wat Pho and Wat Arun are two glorious temples, the first with a reclining giant Buddha, the second a porcelain-clad monument overlooking the river. See tourismthailand.org

Rome, Italy

The view from Janiculum Hill in Rome.Credit: iStock

Why you should go: The main tourist season hasn’t picked up yet, and museums are especially uncrowded. Rome is warm but not too hot, and its parks are just beginning to erupt in blooms and greenery. Easter is also a big occasion in the city, with churches looking their best and Easter Sunday mass held by the pope in St Peter’s Square – quite the spectacle, even if you aren’t Catholic.

Don’t miss: The view from Janiculum Hill, Sistine Chapel and artworks in the Vatican Museums, and Galleria Borghese for Bernini sculptures and glorious Caravaggio canvasses. Then soak up the atmosphere in Rome’s finest squares: Piazza del Campidoglio, Piazza Farnese and Piazza Navona. See italia.it

Washington DC, USA

Washington’s cherry trees were a gift from Japan.Credit: Alamy

Why you should go: You avoid the US capital’s unbearable humidity, and another bonus in balmy springtime is thousands of blossoming cherry trees. The National Cherry Blossom Festival runs from late-March to mid- or sometimes late-April and culminates in the marching bands, floats and street artists of the Cherry Blossom Festival Parade. Washington’s cherry trees were a 1912 gift from Japan, and Sakura Matsuri street festival highlights traditional and contemporary Japanese culture.

Don’t miss: The great symbols of America, from the Washington Monument and Capitol to the impressive Lincoln Memorial. Near the Jefferson Memorial, the Tidal Basin along the Potomac River is a top spot to admire the cherry blossoms. See washington.org

Leiden, Netherlands

Millions of tulips flower in a tapestry of vivid colours at Keukenhof Gardens.Credit: iStock

Why you should go: Rembrandt’s birthplace might remind you of his paintings. Handsome Dutch mansions and prim churches line canals lined by promenades and crossed by innumerable wooden bridges. You’ll also find a hilltop fortress, little yacht harbour and one of the world’s oldest botanical gardens (1590). April can be chilly but you’re compensated by magnificent fields of tulips beyond town. April 27 is King’s Day, a time for Dutch street parties.

Don’t miss: Keukenhof, 18 kilometres north. The renowned garden’s millions of tulips flower in April to create one of the world’s best horticultural displays in a tapestry of vivid colours, while rare and unusual types of tulips are displayed in glasshouses. See visitleiden.nl