Where to travel in April

April is the month where there's all to play for. The Med is back in action for sun and coastal fun, putting short-haul escapes to the beaches within easy reach once again, while the last of the Alpine snow keeps winter sports lovers entertained for just a bit longer. In most resorts across the Alps, the ski season closes this month, with some high-octane, high-altitude festivals to see it out — among them Zermatt Unplugged in Switzerland, which brings nearly 70 different artists to the mountains.

Further afield, Thai new year celebrations see its cities making a splash, Coachella kicks off the summer's music festivals out in the California desert and travel is enriched by Easter celebrations worldwide.

In more northerly latitudes, April sees peak spring displays of tulips and ornamental Japanese flowering cherry trees. You’ll find some of the best of the latter this month in the Cotswolds, on Hamburg's over 5,000 cherry trees and during the cherry blossom festivities in Berlin's Gardens of the World park — with similar celebrations in northern cities such as Copenhagen and Stockholm.

Thailand

Mid-April marks the traditional new year in much of Southeast Asia, and in Thailand the festival of Songkran (13-15 April) sees cities and towns nationwide erupt into a three-day water fight. Alongside solemn rituals at Buddhist temples — where monks use water for spiritual purification, cleansing any grievances from the past year and blessing the one to come — you'll find stalls selling canon-sized water pistols, buckets and cups that become a repository for both watery ammo — a sticky mixture of clay and water — and cocktails. This is the hottest time of year, so a good soaking is always welcome and generally met with good humour. The northern capital of Chiang Mai makes the biggest splash, while the Khao San Road is Bangkok's Songkran centre, with streets of the backpacker district cordoned off for revelries.

(5 ways to experience Thai wellness on Koh Samui and Koh Phangan.)

Tignes & Val d’Isère, French Alps

Late season in the Espace Killy ski area is a safe bet for winter sports lovers as the slopes stay open until the end of the month. Snow coverage isn't as guaranteed as it once was anywhere in the Alps, but the higher you go, the better chance there is for the slopes to remain covered into spring. Dominated by the major resorts of Val d’Isère (6,070ft) and Tignes (6,560ft), the region benefits from the former's largely north-facing slopes and the latter's high-altitude skiing on the Grande Motte glacier (11,338ft) for up to nine months of the year. Add to this a combined 190 miles of slopes with runs to suits all levels of skier and boarder (plus tobogganing, snow shoeing, husky sledding and even ice diving), as well as a good range of lifts allowing you to ride right back into town should your legs, or the snow, give up, and you've something to appeal to pretty much everyone. 

(The inside guide to dining and drinking in the French mountain town of Tignes.)

Amsterdam, Netherlands

April is a bumper month for colourful Dutch celebrations. On the 26th, its Koningsdag when orange-clad revellers take to the streets nationwide to celebrate the king’s birthday during a one-day national holiday, enjoyed in Amsterdam with a maze of flea markets, canal-side parties and myriad music festivals. But if you want to expand your colour spectrum beyond orange (the national hue worn in homage to ‘the House of Oranje’ Dutch monarchy) tulip season will more than satisfy. Blooms are at their peak this month in and around the city, augmented by the March to April stretching Tulip Festival bringing special plantings, parades and events to parks and gardens.

Cotswolds, UK

Batsford Arboretum is home to the UK’s National Collection of Japanese flowering cherry trees — with more than 120 across the gardens, which is based just outside the pretty, honey-hued Cotswold market town of Moreton-in-Marsh. Blossom season is dictated each year, in part, by the weather, but the trees are usually at their best around mid-April. Just an hour's drive south, at Westonbirt, the National Arboretum also offers colourful displays of cherry trees, along with magnolias, camellias and rhododendrons early in spring, after which carpets of native bluebells roll out across woodland glades. Further afield, the Cotswold's numerous nature reserves are prime places for spring flower walks, including Littleworth Wood on the fringes of  Snowshill Manor and Garden, and the Foxholes and Frith Wood nature reserves, which are all awash with bluebells anywhere from late March well into May.

(How to plan a springtime food weekend in the Cotswolds.)

Seville, Spain

Make it to this sunny southern Spanish city to experience its famed Semana Santa celebrations, where countless colourful processions take place at once throughout each day. Bridging the two Sundays leading up to Easter, this Holy Week is one of the most sought out annual events across Spain, attracting both devoted locals and travellers from around the world. With its roots dating back to the 16th century, Semana Santa was, as much as it is today, a way for ordered brotherhoods to celebrate the passion and death of Christ by organising processions as marks of their religious dedication. To this day their grand shows of faith alongside the beat of drums and burnt incense lend Seville an electric atmosphere even non-believers enjoy.

(Dive deeper: a neighbourhood guide to Seville.)