Spring-series III.

For travelers seeking affordable prices, small crowds and pleasant weather, spring is the perfect time of year to travel. Many destinations are at their best during the spring, when temperatures are warm but not too hot, lively seasonal festivals are going on, and blooming flowers set parks and gardens ablaze with color.

Our stunning spring destinations are wonderful to visit throughout the year, but each place is especially dazzling and unforgettable in the spring.


Paris, France

There are lots of reasons that the old song lauds Paris in the spring, but here's just one of many: the city's famous gardens and parks are simply breathtaking this time of year.

A few days of strolling past 17th-century fountains, banana trees, roses and majestic sculptures nestled in the leafy hidden corners of Parisian gardens will make you too fall in love with springtime in the City of Lights.

The Netherlands

You've seen pictures of those iconic flower fields in the Dutch countryside, but a real-life look at the massive fields is an unforgettable and astonishing experience.

The Keukenhof Gardens, open from March to May, are one of the best places to see more than seven million tulips in full, vivid splendor.

Another fantastic way to see Holland's flower fields is to take a bicycle tour along the Flower Bulb Route in North Holland.

April is the best month to go to the Netherlands if you want to see blooming daffodils, and for the best views of the tulip fields at their peak, visit in May.

Spring-series

“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.”  Ernest Hemingway

Spring is the most anticipated, exciting, and blessed season of the year.  The cold weather, low temperatures, bracing wind, and even occasional snow and ice all pass away.  The deadness of the trees, the barrenness of the gardens, and the colorless grass pass away, to be replaced with refreshing showers, delightful temperatures, and bright sunshine of March, April, and May.  The summer’s burning rays and burdensome heat have not yet arrived. Spring is a delightful time.

For most people that means getting outside and seeing everything bloom, including us. Spring offers warmer days and lighter and longer evenings, which means we are more inclined to exercise and spend outdoor time and activities with friends.

To make things a little easier, we made this sort for the first week of spring, that will help you keep yourself cheering and enthusiastic!

Those famous Irish falls…

For some places, a certain time of the year beckons visitors. Like Paris in April. But if you want to visit Ireland, go in autumn.

There is a scent in the air particularly Irish.  Special, unhurried, and mixed with the warmth of a peat fire.
The Irish pubs that are filled with music take on a different feel, softer and more textured.  And, the roads to those pubs often belong to you when autumn comes takes over nature’s gate.

Autumn’s Ireland is lush and green and cool. It rains, but mostly intermittent showers.

Touring the southern and western coasts of the Irish Republic is especially wonderful in the fall.
The weather changes roll in off the coast as you pass through picturesque villages like Dunmore East and Ardmore on your way west toward the Ring of Kerry.

While that ring attracts most tourists, the nearby Ring of Beara is equally lovely. Allow at least a day to explore the large druid stone circle on the way to Gleninchaquin, a private park that allows visitors to hike over the huge falls there. It’s worth the muscle strain; the view from up top is breathtaking.

On the Iveragh Peninsula (Ring of Kerry) to the north, the fishing village of Port Magee is a picturesque place to stop and gaze eight miles out to sea at Skellig Michael, a rocky pinnacle once inhabited by sixth-century monks. If the weather cooperates, you can take a boat there and climb the steep, hand-carved steps the monks once trod.

Go inland to enjoy the thatched cottages in the village of Adare southwest of Limerick. Then go north and east, stopping for Dysert O’Dea Castle on your way to the Cliffs of Moher.

You won’t really experience the northwest of Ireland if you don’t visit Donegal Town. There the people are friendly, the pubs are lively and there’s great shopping, too. Wander down side streets to find genuine, old-fashioned Irish pubs if you want to talk to folks not in the tourist industry. It’s not glamorous, but it’s real Ireland.

The Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary is a huge medieval castle set high on a hill and once was the fabled power base of Munster kings. Inside, many ancient carvings remain in wonderful condition. At its foot crouches Hore Abbey, which visitors reach through a farmer’s field.

Consider experiencing Autumn in Ireland. Consider the air, the festivals, the time to be at peace and the time to be part of it all.  Visiting Ireland in the autumn is a natural combination.