Widen Your Travel Window

WIDEN YOUR

TRAVEL

WINDOW

Many of our trips offer a wider travel window than you think – if you’re flexible with your dates. Here our specialists showcase five destinations to visit at a quieter time of year…

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A nose for good value Green season is a great time to explore the Okavango Delta – and meet its big cats

A country might have a perceived travel window, but it often proves more versatile than you’d imagine. Take Japan, known for its cherry blossom, but in bloom with plum blossom earlier in the year. Or Patagonia, which offers a more contemplative time to hike ahead of its busier summer spell. And, the wildlife-spotting benefits of Botswana when it’s at its greenest. Our specialists have chosen five destinations to expand your horizons if your travel dates aren’t binding, with their own seasonal highlights to boot.

OKAVANGO DELTA, BOTSWANA FROM JANUARY TO APRIL

By Mike Herscott Once Botswana’s rains have fallen, the Okavango Delta becomes a verdant oasis. This abundance encourages mammals such as impala, tsessebe, and lechwe to have their young.

There’s so much new life to discover. On one morning game drive, we were following lion tracks when my guide’s radio alerted us to a lion cub sighting. Less than a month old, the cub was playing among the leaves, occasionally pausing to look at us cautiously.

Game drives are the best way to explore the bush at this time of year, though water levels could be high enough in some parts for a boat safari or mokoro (traditional canoe) ride. There’s also the option of taking a scenic flight over the Delta, offering an entirely different view of the landscape. Birdlife is abundant, with migratory species such as southern carmine bee-eaters and African skimmers boosting numbers. Every so often, you hear the screech of a fish eagle or the snort of a hippo. Brief storms are possible, but reward you with incredible sunrises and sunsets, along with the fresh scent of rain.

With your money going further, fewer visitors, and more availability of camps and lodges, I’d say these months are well worth considering for your Botswana safari.

Get me there: A ten-day tailor-made safari in Botswana between January and April, including return flights and time in the Okavango Delta, starts from $6,100pp. For more information, contact Joshua or one of our other Botswana safari specialists on 1-855-838-0530.

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Sunset in Patagonia Condors soar around the peaks of Los Cuernos in Torres del Paine National Park; (below) guanaco in front of Mount Fitz Roy

PATAGONIA IN OCTOBER

By Jeff Barone Patagonia is always unpredictable. On any given day, the likelihood is you’ll encounter wind and rain, so my advice is don’t let the forecast bear down too much on when to go. Patagonia sees most footfall during the South American summer months of November to March; October can be seen as the prelude to high season. However, the lodges start to reopen from the start of the month with plenty of availability, a particular boon in Patagonia’s remoter areas, where options can be few and far between.

Covering a third of Argentina and Chile, Patagonia’s shape-shifting geography starts in open pampas and forests, splintering into fjords and islands as the continent reaches its end. Southern Patagonia claims the star pairing of Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, and across in Argentina, Los Glaciares National Park. You can see the three torres

(towers) of the Paine Massif from almost any trail in Torres. Meanwhile, hiking routes in Los Glaciares skirt below Mount Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre, whose sharp peaks have sparked rivalries between generations of climbers.

Both parks are marked by prescribed routes, but as I found one October afternoon, treading these paths can still be a solitary pleasure at a quieter time of year. Some of the landmarks looked different – a lake that, a month later, would reflect the mountains was masked by snow. However, I found snow can aid wildlife spotting (such as condors). I felt nature was more at hand, and I was privy to an advanced screening.

Get me there: A 13-day tailor-made highlights tour of Patagonia, including Torres del Paine National Park, starts from $5,095pp. For more information, contact one of our Patagonia specialists on 1-855-838-8640.

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OFF-SEASON TRAVEL

NEW ZEALAND IN WINTER

By Lucy Thomas If solitude is the ne plus ultra for you when hiking, you might find visiting New Zealand in its wintry months (May to September) ideal. The key is to choose hubs from where you can take part in a raft of activities, rather than launch yourself on a road trip. Winter snows and rainstorms can make its remoter roads unpassable – especially the alpine areas of the South Island – so you’ll need to be adaptable. However, you’ll also get first pick of its boutique hotels and B&Bs and enjoy good value for money.

Rotorua, a lakeside town in the North Island, is one good place to base yourself. You can explore its geysers, fumaroles, and mud pools to your heart’s content – they don’t have a seasonal downtime. You could also go on a private guided tour with a Maori elder. They’ll take you into meeting houses and

show you how to make poi balls (used in traditional dances). If the weather holds, you could get out on Lake Rotorua to paddle a waka, a traditional Maori canoe. There are numerous good wineries nearby, too, as well as hot springs and geothermal spas.

Rotorua’s surrounds are laced with well-marked walking trails, which receive dramatically less footfall in the winter. I really like the Redwoods Treewalk, which sees you weave among huge redwoods on suspension bridges. The walk is rightly popular in the summer months, but in winter you can have these sylvan giants virtually to yourself.

Get me there: A 16-day tailor-made New Zealand trip, including Rotorua, the Bay of Islands and Abel Tasman National Park, starts from £6,900pp. For more information, contact Lucy or one of our other New Zealand specialists on 1-844-250-3440.

Winter wonderland Steam and boiling hot springs at Te Puia geothermal area, Rotorua; (above) Maori art

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JAPAN IN FEBRUARY

By Tamatha Frederick Cherry blossom. Japan’s feted flower unfurls first on the southern islands of Okinawa as early as January and the wave of blooming slowly journeys north, arriving in Kyoto in March. As the flowers open, thousands of visitors arrive. Skip back a few weeks, though, and you could be walking beneath clouds of white and pink star-shaped flowers in Kyoto, at a quieter time for the city, and in Japan at large. I’m not describing cherry trees, but plum trees, and speaking as someone who lived in Japan, I can vouch that most people can’t tell the difference.

February is also a great time to see Japan’s snow monkeys. The macaques unwind (the spa-like conditions soothe them) in their own purpose-made hot spring in Jigokudani Monkey Park. Although they’re so-called for living in cold climes, you can only see them

in the snow for a few months a year. I’d visit early in the day to beat the rush. What always strikes me about the monkeys, which commune to bathe in their hundreds, is the humanlike expression of satisfaction they derive from sinking into the thermal water.

Kicking off in late January and running into February is the Sapporo Snow Festival. The event is deservedly popular, so plan it into your trip well ahead, but it’s worth the effort. Creation after creation of snow sculptures run for a mile along the city’s square, playing to particular themes – I still remember standing among a tableau of ballerinas, frozen in their movement.

Get me there: A 15-day tailor-made tour of the Japanese Alps in plum-blossom season starts from $9,185pp. For more information, contact Tamatha or one of our other Japan specialists on 1-855-838-8210.

Bathing in off-season Snow monkeys chill out in Jigokudani Monkey Park; (above) plum blossom – not cherry – but can you tell the difference?

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Amazing Andalusia A field of almond blossom near Velez Blanco; (below) seeing the Alhambra palace and Sierra Nevada mountains in Granada

ANDALUSIA IN JANUARY & FEBRUARY

By Kevin Crotty A happy confluence of geography means that Andalusia is sunny year-round, with bright golden sunshine more than 300 days of the year, and warm even in late January and February. That time also coincides with almond-blossom season, when the countryside is awash in drifts of snow-white trees for as far as the eye can see. The few showers that do fall serve to brighten the sunbaked foliage, making it a sprightly green. All of this makes Spain’s winter one of the best times to visit Andalusia.

In fact, I find the winter weather is more pleasant than what you’ll find during the summer months of July and August, when the region practically sizzles in the blazing sun. Wintertime temperatures hover in the high 50s and low 60s during the day, and

don’t usually drop below freezing at night, unless you’re up in the mountains.

The crowds can be thinner, too, even at blockbuster sights such as the Mezquita in Córdoba and the Alhambra in Granada. Do take a sweater to the Alhambra, though – the same architecture that cools the palace in summer still works in winter, making it much cooler than the ambient temperature.

Some excellent Andalusian cooking classes in Seville aren’t available during summer, either. Here, you’ll learn to make the region’s signature dishes, sip local wine, let slices of jamón ibérico melt slowly on your tongue and master the art of cooking briny sweet shrimp caught in nearby Huelva.

Get me there: A 10-day tailor-made trip to Andalusia this winter, including a cooking class in Seville, starts at $4,550pp. For more information, contact Kevin or one of our other Spain and Portugal specialists on 1-855-491-0682.

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