MONTHS WE LIKE

Actually we like all the months of the year; any month of the year is good for travelling. But each month has, in some part of the world, one or more iconic events which are worth using a focus, an excuse, for designing a trip. 

This selection of  months of the year that we like is not a scientific selection or even a graded one – it’s a serendipitous list of travel ideas; some of them can be added together or mixed one with another where geography, or an aircraft allows.  If you just want to book something yourself that’s fine, but if you want us to design something into a wider itinerary just let us know.

"They took the time to get to know us before designing anything and as a result they totally understood what would work for us. Then the ideas started coming. Without their inside knowledge we would never have experienced the incredible things they dreamed up for us."

Mike Lappin

January

Sundance Film Festival, Utah USA. Over some 10 days there’s usually about 200 movies screened. See www.sundance.org.

Chinese New Year, Hong Kong. Though the date varies… HK has some of the most spectacular celebrations and a major firework display over Victoria Harbour.

February

Arctic: Peak time for whale-watching in the Weddell Sea.

Carnival in Rio Brasil. The biggest party on the planet. Five days of legal mayhem, with spectacular parades in the Sambadrome, and blocos, neighbourhood street parties – there’s over 500 of them and you can join in. Build in some recovery time at the beaches before you fly home. We need to book this well ahead of time.

Kumbh Mela, Allahabad, India. Held in 2019 between 15 January and 04 March, this 2000-year-old festival sees the largest congregation of pilgrims for a religious festival to be seen anywhere. Amidst the sea of fervent devotees are saddhus and seers, happy to meet with visitors, or if it is preferable just to watch the crowds, the best view is from a tented camp on the hillside above the crowds. Try to be at the Mela on one of the special bathing days; just to observe the bathing and the activities from the terrace is a moving sight.

Orange Festival in Ivrea, Italy. Like Tomatina in Spain, but with oranges, the Battaglia delle Arance is said to date back to the 12th century and sees nine teams of 5000 locals and 400 tons of oranges in action.

Sapporo Snow festival, Japan. Massive ice carvings dominate this festival, which in 2019 starts on January 31 but runs through until the middle of February in Odori Park.

March

Las Fallas, Valencia, Spain. With recovery time this needs a week. Parades, amazing art, and above all the pyrotechnics – ninots, puppet statues, are created by competing teams from different areas of town – rather like the samba schools in Rio. They are filled with fireworks and all except one – the winning entry – will be set ablaze. With brass bands, fire and all-night parties it’s a long, tiring, but ultimately mad few days.

Pepe Sanchez Trova Festival, Santiago De Cuba, Cuba. Pepe Sanchez is said to have invented the trova genre of Cuban music and the town celebrates its local boy made famous.

Antarctic – best chance to see the southern Lights.

April

Cherry Blossom time, Japan. This is the time of the sakura, when the cherry trees blossom. This is not just about flowers, to the Japanese It’s much more than that; more like a religion. Find the best hanami, or cherry blossom viewing spots then enjoy the colours but also the joy of the Japanese as they picnic in the parks.

Lapland - reindeer migrate to the North. 

Reindeer Herding Festival, Siberia. Like the Sami in Lapland, the Nenet people of Siberia are historically nomadic. Each year in April they move their large reindeer herds across the taiga, around the Yamal Peninsula, a region devoid of roads, and difficult to visit without hard to obtain visas. The Nenet community of Seyakha is reachable by helicopter, whist the encampment at Yar Sale is reachable from the railway station at Labytnangi by sledge. The degree to which their livestock governs their year is best seen at the April Reindeer Herding Festival.

May 

Venice Biennale, Italy. Arguably the most important art exhibition in the world kicks off in May (but not every year!) and runs through the summer.

Cruces de Mayo Festival, Cordoba, Spain. For the Festival of the Crosses, people in Cordoba vie to decorate 3-metre high crosses with floral displays. They then set up bars and invite local passers-by to judge their work. A chance to join is with the local craft scene.

The Arctic cruise season starts. 

June

Sardine Run, Natal, South Africa. Millions of sardines appear off the coast of Natal each June. Not un-naturally this silver trail in the water is followed by hungry whales, seals, sharks, dolphins, gannets, gulls, terns and cormorants all eager to enjoy a fish supper. A great time to snorkel, or dive, or just watch form a comfortable boat.

St Anthony Iceberg Festival, Canada. The town of St Anthony, in Newfoundland and Labrador, is the place to head for in June each year as the town celebrates the arrival of the first of the huge icebergs that drift down from the Arctic. There are ice carvings to see, but also excursions and entertainment are on offer, and of course seafood fresh from the Atlantic.

July

Nadaam Festival, Mongolia. This is essentially a festival of sport; a sort of local Olympic games. Every summer at Nadaam there are wrestling, horse-riding and archery competitions, with locals from all over Mongolia taking part.

Tour de France, France. You can follow the route around Germany, Belgium and the Alps and the Pyrenees, but the best part for non-fanatics is the final part of the route into Paris. You need three nights there to take it all in and booking needs to be done well ahead of time.

August 

Carreras de Caballos Festival, Spain. Held on the beach at Sanlucar De Barrameda, near Cadiz, this was once just a competition between fish-delivery boys to see who could get their wares to market fastest. Now its an international event with big prize money. You can watch the racing for free; allow 4 nights to take it all in.

September

The Great Migration, Kenya. The annual migration of hundreds of thousands of zebra and wildebeest is arguably the biggest wildlife spectacle in the world. They thunder across the distance between the Serengeti and the Masai Mara, crossing several rivers on the way. In the rivers are crocodiles and on the plains are lions and leopards – all are hungry and in for the kill. What they kill but fail to eat will be tidied up by the jackals, hyenas, storks and vultures. It’s primitive, dramatic and awesome to watch.  But you need to book early to find space in camps at the best migration viewing places.

Northern Lights season in Norway, until April.

October

Sonoma County Harvest Fair, California. This is harvest time in the Sonoma Valleyand there are parties, wine-tastings, festivals and produce from over 100 wineries on offer. Allow 3 or 4 nights in Sonoma.

Takayama Festival, Japan. The Japanese mountain village of Takayama has two festivals each year; one in the spring and one in the autumn, the latter honouring the Gods for providing a bountiful harvest. These are harvest festivals which started in the Edo period, in the 1600s, when wealthy merchants would create elaborate floats for their communities. Today, elaborate carriages, yatai, are flanked by locals in Edo period dress; there are mechanised puppets, and at night paper lanterns. And after the Festival, Takayama is a gateway to the hiking routes of the Japanese Alps.

Rajasthan Camel Fair, Pushkar, India. Originally a camel-trading event, the fair, based around the otherwise quiet desert town of Pushkar, has become a lot more touristy in recent years but remains an amazing spectacle. It’s essentially just a mass gathering of camels, owners and buyers. It lasts for two weeks, attracts some 4000 visitors who eat, drink, talk camels. There is also a moustache contest. The festival assails the eyes, the ears and the nostrils – a full sensory overload.

November

Antarctic - Best for big icebergs, and penguin chicks hatch from now and into December.

Dia De Los Muertos, Mexico. The Day of the Dead is a strange mixture of the religious, gothic horror and family parties and picnics as Mexico celebrates those who have gone before. Oaxaca, in the highlands of Chiapas, is one of the best places to see all this. Night-time comparsas, processions, wind their way to the cemetaries where the living party with the dead.

Loy Krathong Festival, Thailand. Locals send off candle-laden rafts on the Mekong, the Chao Prya, or any other Thai river. Chiang Mai is a good place to see this festival, but it happens all over Thailand.

Nagaland Hornbill festival. Sixteen tribes from across Nagaland in North-east India come together for this annual festival of warrior dances, music and pageantry. Whilst in the area it’s worth visiting Kaziranga National park, famed for its one-horned rhinos.

December

Fiesta De Santo Tomas, Guatemala. Chichicastenango celebrates the patron saint of the town annually on December 21. It’s a mixture of Catholic and Mayan tradition and the highlights is the palo volador, when locals climb a 100 feet high pole, slip a hand or a foot through a loop in a rope and spin around as they fly round and downwards.

Harbin Snow and Ice festival, China. This festival is claimed to be the world’s biggest winter festival. There are ice sculptures, an ice palace, and even ice hotels but the action is all about winter swimming displays.

Hornbill Festival, Nagaland, India. In the village of Kisama, near Kohima, Nagaland, in India’s far north-east, the Naga people hold their Hornbill Festival. 2019 dates are 01 to 10 December. The warrior tribes of Nagaland wear traditional ceremonial costumes for days of drinking, eating (there’s even a chilly-eating competition), dancing and singing. The area also offers interesting village walks if more exploration is wanted. Accommodation during the festival can be difficult to find, but Luxury tented camp accommodation is available a short distance from the festival site.

Northern Lights, Sweden. Spend three nights north of the Arctic Circle, at Bjorkliden for example, which is a full 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and there’s a 50% chance – nothing is guaranteed – that you will see the Northern Lights. Best place is at the Aurora Sky Station, 3000 feet up a mountain. Whilst in the area you could try some dog-sledding.

Trips crossing the Antarctic Circle begin.