April is a great month for travel. It’s already warm in Western Europe, everything is blooming, holidays and festivals are taking place. And in hot countries, the stuffy summer has not yet arrived; the air temperature does not rise above +28°C. We’ll tell you where to go to relax, have fun and get an unforgettable experience.
To Holland, for tulips and fun
Photo: tulpfestival.com
Amsterdam will host the Tulip Festival from March 31 to April 30 – flower beds and flower sculptures will be installed at 85 locations. You can see the rarest and most beautiful tulips in the Keukenhof Royal Flower Park and in the tulip fields between the cities of Leiden and Haarlem.
April 18-22 – dates of the famous Bloemencorso Flower Parade. Fifty figures and compositions, collected from thousands of tulips of all colors of the rainbow, will be installed on the roofs of cars that will leave Noordwijk on the morning of April 18, finish in Haarlem at 9 pm and remain in the city until 5 pm on April 22.
And on April 27, all of Holland will be painted orange (the color of the royal house),
the streets will be decorated with flags, balloons, flowers and garlands. On this day, the country celebrates King’s Day – with festive processions, boat rides, concerts in squares and flea markets on every corner.
To China, to the tropics and to the water festival
Photo: kalapangha/Shutterstock.com
For fans of beach holidays and Chinese traditional medicine, the tropical island of Hainan in southern China is ideal: healing thermal springs, traditional medicine centers, beaches, rifting and fishing. Water and air temperature in April +28°C.
In the south of Yunnan Province, the Water Splash Festival will be held for three days (April 13-16), a folk festival on the eve of the New Year.
On the first day of the event, a costume parade is planned on the banks of the Mekong River, followed by races along the river on boats decorated with paper dragons. The second day is the culmination of the holiday, when everyone goes out and pours water on each other. The meaning of the ritual is to cleanse yourself before the New Year. On the third day, young people in traditional costumes will gather on the river bank and dance and pour water on each other.
To Malta, to the parade of knights
Photo: Anibal Trejo/Shutterstock.com
Malta is an island with a mild Mediterranean climate, hundreds of historical monuments and ancient traditions. The capital of Malta is the fortified city of Valletta, founded in the 16th century by the Knights of the Order of Malta. The city has dozens of churches, palaces and cathedrals built in the 16th to 18th centuries, an art museum housing Michelangelo’s masterpieces, and a fort. And Fort St. Elmo is home to the National War Museum, where In Guardia, a costumed parade of the Knights of the Order of Malta, will take place on April 8, 15, 22 and 29. 50 parade participants in historical costumes will demonstrate their skills in fencing, firing cannons, arrange a guard change and, unfurling banners, will march in front of the public.
4. To France, to the international kite festival
Photo: © Office de Tourisme de Berck Sur Mer
In France, everything blooms in April; in the south, in Provence, the air warms up to +25 degrees, and even in the north of the country the temperature does not drop below +13°C. Nord-pas-de-Calais is one of the northern regions of France on the border with Belgium, with harsh nature, hearty cuisine and hospitable people. The regional capital, Lille, has many historical monuments: the Riourt Palace, the Old Bourse and the Palace of Fine Arts with masterpieces by Rubens, Van Dyck, Goya, Rodin and Raphael. The city of Amiens is famous for its majestic cathedral in the classical Gothic style and the Picardy Museum, with a unique collection of ancient Egyptian art. It was founded by Jules Verne, who lived in Amiens for 18 years.
In Berck-sur-Mer, a popular resort on the Opal Coast (250 kilometers of French Channel coastline),
On April 14, the International Kite Festival starts, in which teams from different countries participate. The festival will last 9 days. The culmination of the holiday is night kite flying with music, illumination and pyrotechnic show.
5. To New Orleans, USA, for jazz and Creole cuisine
Photo: Aris Vrakas
New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz with 18th century colonial architecture, Creole cuisine, hundreds of jazz bars and street musicians. In April, the weather in Louisiana is beautiful – sunny, dry, +25-28°C during the day. From April 12 to April 15, the city hosts the French Quarter Festival, one of the largest free festivals in America. Hundreds of local jazz and blues bands perform in outdoor venues throughout the French Quarter.
Three weeks later, on April 27, the international jazz and traditional music festival Jazz Fest kicks off in New Orleans and runs until May 6. In 2017, the main guests of the festival will be Aerosmith, Sting, Beck, LL COOL J feat. DJ Z-Trip, Khalid, Common, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Charlie Wilson, Lionel Richie, Anita Baker, Sturgill Simpson and several hundred more performers.
Preview photo: Anibal Trejo/Shutterstock.com
