The Best Trips to Take in Spring

The best time of year to visit Japan, without a shadow of doubt, is in the thick of cherry blossom season. The light shade of pink that explodes everywhere you look, usually in late March and April, gives locals and travellers alike a spring in their step, be it in city parks, traditional gardens or tree-lined streets. Our completist 12-day Rail Trip, starting in Osaka, calls at Hiroshima, Kyoto, the Japanese Alps and Lake Ashi en route to Tokyo. Every city and stretch of countryside looks that much better when framed by cherry blossom, especially as views flash past your Bullet Train window, but our pick of the bunch has to be the charming old streets of Kyoto, which look truly stunning this time of year.

As the camel’s feet kick sand across the Sahara, and you sway gently on its back, you’ll wonder why it took you so long to explore this marvellous sun-warmed landscape. Spring is an excellent time to make the most of Morocco, and though the Sahara will be dry no matter the season, the heat elsewhere in the country hasn’t yet soared to uncomfortable summer temperatures. This nearly two-week tour ensures you stay cool and collected while hiking the Rif Mountains, shopping in the medina in Marrakech and scrambling through the Dades Gorge in the High Atlas.

If Tbilisi isn’t on your list of best European cities to visit in spring, this nine-day tour will immediately make that correction. How better to warm up from a long winter than in the city’s geothermal baths? Continue the pampering with a kisa massage and a delicious dinner – the cherries on top of this grand tour through rural Georgia, which also features epic hikes and fairytale churches in the mountains, plus the oldest wine scene on the planet.