In the Northern Hemisphere, the month of March heralds the arrival of spring — with longer days and a beckoning back to the great outdoors. Cherry blossoms burst into blushing colour from Japan to Vancouver and Washington, DC, which has its famous al fresco Japanese sakura festivals and park picnics falling toward the end of the month. Black and grizzly bears rise from their winter beds in places like Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park, while rare Royal Bengal tigers traipse through India’s wildlife parks in search of water during the dry season, making them easier to spot.

It isn’t just wildlife that’s coming out to play. A slew of cultural and religious festivals feature this month throughout the world — in India revellers are painted technicolour during the annual Holi festival. St David’s Day brings traditional dress, daffodils and parades to Wales, while Ireland’s rowdier equivalent of St Patrick’s Day sees folk music, decorated floats and swathes of green pride.

March marks the shoulder season throughout much of the world, allowing affordable trips without the crowds. Surfers can catch guaranteed swells in spots like Morocco, Portugal and Hawaii, while the southern Mediterranean is a hiker’s heaven. The long rains are pummelling Eastern Africa, but strike north to Egypt, where the weather is fine for serene Nile cruises to ancient temples.

Rainbowed revellers take to streets in India and throw gulal pigments into the air to celebrate springtime and the triumph of good over evil during Holi, an annual Hindu festival of colour. There are large public gatherings in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Jaipur, with street food, DJs, singing and dancing. A more serene congregation is set in the Himalayan foothills this month. The week-long International Yoga Festival in Rishikesh features talks from spiritual leaders, daily yoga classes and cultural performances. After spiritual ascension, climb the vertiginous peaks as flora begins to bloom and crowds remain thin.

March is also considered one of the top times of year for a tiger-spotting safari. Pad over to the wilderness of Ranthambore National Park in central India, where elusive Royal Bengal tigers lope across grassy meadows and ancient tombs. Temperatures are pleasantly mild and the end of the dry season means vegetation is sparse, forcing these big cats out into the open in search of a drink from shrinking watering holes.

Just an hour outside Melbourne, over 80 vineyards in the Yarra Valley are entering its harvest season, where vast rows of fruit will be fermented into deep Cabernet Sauvignons and sippable Chardonnays. Taste the terroir as you watch clusters collected from the fields. Along the route are boutique family-owned boltholes like Tokar Estate and behemoth outposts like Domaine Chandon. 

Meanwhile, the capital has bags of cultural clout this month as huge events set up shop: the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the Melbourne Fashion Festival. The free Moomba Long Weekend, a community event, also returns each March with parades, fireworks and live music. Pair the cosmopolitan with the coastal on the Great Ocean Road. This wild and windswept route hugging the southern shores is quieter this month with a comfortably warm centigrade — ideal conditions for driving past coastal cliffs, stopping by plunging waterfalls and spotting koalas clinging to gum groves.

(How to spend a day in Melbourne.)

The almond trees of California’s Central Valley, which spans an area of 1.5 million acres, produce 80% of the world’s almonds and every year, from mid-February to mid-March, the valley’s blooming trees turn the landscape into a sea of light pink and white.

Heading out on the Almond Blossom Cruise self-guided driving tour is a great way to experience this seasonal wonder from the comfort of your own car — or, for those who prefer to sit back and enjoy the views while someone else does the driving, there are bus companies that offer tours along the route, too.

After admiring the orchards of flowering almond trees, visit one of California’s lesser-known wine regions — Lodi. Although not as famous as Napa or Sonoma, Lodi is home to more than 60 wineries and boasts no less than seven different American Viticultural Areas — designated wine grape-growing regions — that enable local winemakers to grow a multitude of varieties of grapes. This makes Lodi very different from the vast majority of wine regions around the world.

(7 places to see cherry blossom in Europe.)

Get behind the wheel on the wind-lashed Wild Atlantic Way. This epic road trip along Ireland’s west coast steers past craggy coastlines and mist-ringed mountains. This month, the Atlantic puffin returns to the route’s crags to nest on the Cliffs of Moher, Horn Head, Great Saltee Island and the Skelligs. Meanwhile, swells are a sure thing near Donegal and Sligo for surfers. Those that prefer drier conditions can take to coastal trails for hillsides flecked with newborn lambs and forests carpeted with bluebells.

It’s not only the landscape greening up this month. St Patrick’s Day paints the country emerald every 17 March. Festivities span five days in Dublin with float-filled parades, contemporary art exhibitions, theatre performances, literature events and fiddle- and flute-filled live music. Iconic buildings are bathed in green at nightfall and revellers blend in, too, for the traditional ‘wearing of the green’. There’s also good craic in medieval Kilkenny, whose five-day TradFest features concerts, a music trail, a themed parade, street food, art workshops and a firework display.

Set sail to the ancient world, where sandy temples, tombs and towering pyramids can all be reached along the meandering Nile. Take in everything from the rock-cut temples at Aswan to the Valley of the Kings burial grounds. Winter retreats this month, leaving warm weather and gentle breezes along the world’s longest river, while shoulder season prices and quieter crowds are ideal for exploring beyond the banks at the Pyramids of Giza, buzzy Cairo or the lapping Red Sea coast.

The Red Sea beaches bask under bags of sunshine with comfy topside weather for snorkelling, scuba diving and swimming this month too. Dive deep from a liveaboard — the Red Sea is one of the planet’s most diverse underwater worlds with vast varieties of colourful coral, fish and invertebrates, many of which are endemic. The waters are also home to graceful manta rays, numerous species of shark and shipwrecks. Splash into the protected Ras Mohammed Marine Park to explore the SS Thistlegorm steamship, which has a truck in its hold and intact cargo on board.

(Sailing to Aswan, Egypt's historic gateaway to the south.)

Hedonists head to the streets of New Orleans for the wild Mardi Gras festival. These Carnival celebrations escalate in the days leading up to Fat Tuesday (on 4 March this year). Large-scale parades with towering floats and quirky independent processions are run by local ‘krewes’. There’s a Krewe of Barkus dog parade, sci-fi themed Krewe of Chewbacchus and the racy Krewe of Vieux, whose handmade floats squeeze between the French Quarter’s balconied townhouses. Costumes are elaborate, brass bands boom and drinks flow easily.

March in Louisiana often marks the start of warmer weather, so head to the southeastern swamps on boat or kayak tour to catch the first spring sightings of alligators while mosquito populations are still low. The scenery this time of year is plaintively peaceful: dark swamps with moss-slung cypress trees, narrow waterways, marshes enmeshed in sunshine and wildflowers beginning to bloom.