Traveling in the spring not only means fewer crowds and pleasant weather, but it also brings some exceptionally breathtaking scenery, including lush meadows and powerfully flowing waterfalls to brilliant blooming flowers. These incredibly stunning springtime destinations might inspire you to plan your next trip.

Portland, Oregon
Spring is the best time to visit Portland if you want to see why it’s called the “City of Roses”. With Portland’s climate perfect for growing roses, you’ll see and smell thousands and thousands across the landscape – blooms begin in April and peak in June. This is also the time of year for the Portland Rose Festival, a month-long event running from mid-May through mid-June, featuring stunning flower shows, fireworks, parades, thrill rides, live music and more.

Paris, France
You may roll your eyes at the cliché ‘Paris in the springtime’, but there’s a reason for it being a classic. This truly is the loveliest time for a trip to the “City of Lights”, with its spectacular colours and mild weather, in addition to its famous parks and gardens being absolutely breathtaking. It’s hard not to fall in love with Paris after a few days of gazing at roses, majestic sculptures, 17th-century fountains, and banana trees hiding in the magnificent corners of Parisian gardens. You won’t want to miss the Louvre, with its collection not only including drawings and paintings but the Carrousel gardens and Tuileries with explosions of spring colour and fragrant paths.

Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica
This national park just south of Quepos on the Pacific coast offers expansive white sand beaches bordering a lush, tropical rain forest, home to nearly 200 different bird species and more than 100 species of mammals, including monkeys, iguanas, sloths and toucans. Dolphins and whales can sometimes be observed just offshore. By travelling in the spring, you’ll miss the high season, otherwise known as the dry season, avoiding the biggest crowds as well as the peak of the rainy season.

Joshua Tree National Park, California
Spring may also be the best time to enjoy outdoor adventures in Joshua Tree National Park, located in the Mojave Desert of California. Step into this other-worldly-like landscape, and you may feel like you’re on another planet, with the thousands of bizarrely-shaped trees, unusual plants and gigantic boulders that tower hundreds of feet into the sky. Temperatures in the springtime are often idyllic, with highs that average around 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. You’ll also see colourful wildflowers splashed throughout the region.

Sognefjord, Norway
Sognefjord is the longest fjord in Europe, stretching for more than 127 miles. When the snow melts in the spring, brilliant wildflowers are revealed. In Indre Sogn, the climate is suitable for growing berries and other fruits, and it’s one of the major areas of fruit production in the country. The region is also known for its azure-coloured glaciers and magnificent waterfalls, as well as towering mountains with breathtaking jagged peaks.

Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is captivating all year round, but with blooming magnolia trees and idyllic temperatures, it makes a fabulous spring destination. Steeped in history with antebellum plantations and centuries-old homes that are highlighted by brightly coloured azaleas, while fragrant wisteria wafts through the air, you’ll feel as if you’ve stepped into paradise. The Spring Festival of Houses and Gardens is one of the region’s most anticipated annual events when some of the most magnificent homes in the historic district open their doors to the public, who can peek inside and at the gardens which sit behind classic iron gates.

Yosemite National Park, California
While it’s usually still a little early to see wildflowers in the park, spring is the best season to see Yosemite’s many magnificent waterfalls. As warmer weather begins to melt the snow, you’ll see numerous falls and cascades of all sizes along the Valley, including legendary falls like Yosemite Falls, Bridalveil Fall and Vernal Fall, along with plenty of small, unnamed waterfalls. And you’ll be able to enjoy them without the big crowds that won’t arrive until summer.

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Spring may be the best time of year to visit Victoria, the capital of the British Columbia province. Winter frosts give way to beautiful cherry blossoms and azaleas in this garden city, with some 37,000 cherry trees in full bloom in springtime, lighting up the streets with their bright bursts of pink. You’ll see spectacular colours almost everywhere you look. It goes without saying that world-renowned Butchart Gardens is at its best in the spring, coming alive with some of nature’s finest displays on the planet. Victoria’s fantastic farmer’s markets open in April and May, featuring an amazing selection of produce, baked goods, homemade jams, delectable sweets and more.

Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, Japan
Fuji-Hakone-Izu is Japan’s most visited national park, home to the nation’s iconic Mount Fuji, along with volcanic islands, deep lakes, hot springs and waterfalls. It’s a glorious destination any time of the year, but early spring means cherry blossom season, with the plum and cherry blossom trees beginning to bloom in late February, typically lasting through March and into early April. Gazing at majestic Mount Fuji through the pale lavender and rose-hued branches in the park, you’ll realise that the long flight was more than worth it.

Bonn, Germany
This laid-back city on the Rhine is famous as the birthplace of Ludwig van Beethoven, drawing travellers with its world-class museums and lovely riverside setting in addition to making a great jumping-off point to the Siebengebirge nature reserve, and other attractions in the region. In the springtime, cherry blossoms burst into millions of pink flowers in Bonn, creating a magical tunnel avenue in the hip Nordstadt quarter, just a five-minute walk from Beethoven’s House that lasts for just two to three precious weeks each year. Cherry Blossom Avenue is filled with ornamental Japanese cherry blossom trees on both sides of the narrow street, planted back in the 1980s, extending over the street, at some points into a full canopy.