10 unique places to see and celebrate spring

The depths of winter, with its long, long, long nights are finally behind us, and spring has sprung.

21 March (or thereabouts) marks the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, and countries across the world celebrate the occasion in myriad ways.

Read on for the best places to see and celebrate spring.

From late March until May, woodland up and down the UK is transformed by carpets of bluebells. Walking in bluebell-woods provided inspiration for Romantic poets including Keats and Tennyson; they’re also a great opportunity for photographers and make for a nice family day out.

The National Trust can help you find beauty spots near you. If you can’t wait until bluebell time, the snowdrops come out towards the end of January; their appearance in the woods is one of the first signs that winter’s on the way out.

Holi, the Hindu celebration of spring is quite literally one of the world’s most colourful festivals. To mark the end of winter and the triumph of ‘good’ over ‘evil’, people take to the streets of India for mass water and paint fights. As the date depends on the Hindu luni-solar calendar month, it changes each year. In 2025, Holi fell on 14 March; in 2026, it will be on 4 March.

Wear clothes you’re not worried about ruining if you’re planning on joining in the festivities, and be careful with your camera gear, too.

Read next: 5 things to know about Holi, India’s Festival of Colours

The Lantern Festival highlights the end of Chinese New Year celebrations, and is marked by lighting colourful paper lanterns and letting them off into the night sky. Hong Kong, which is lit-up in neon throughout the year, takes on a softer glow from the displays of lanterns in public spaces.

Tuck into yuan xiao (glutinous rice balls) and guess the answers to riddles tied to lanterns to get into the spirit of the festival. The festivals occurs around the end of February or the beginning of March each year – 15 days after Chinese New Year.

Read next: 5 things you didn’t know about Chinese New Year

Each year thousands of locals and travellers congregate at El Castillo, a massive pyramid in the Mayan city of Chichén Itzá in Mexico, to witness the descent of Kukulcán, the Mayan snake deity.

The alignment of the sun and El Castillo at the spring equinox make the shadows of feathered serpents on the northern staircase appear to run down the sides of the edifice, so it appears as though the snake god has come to life.

The date of spring equinox changes each year, but it’s usually on or a few days either side of 20 March.

Keukenhof (between Amsterdam and The Hague in the Netherlands) is one of the best places in Europe to see spring flowers, especially tulips – the most famous flower in the Netherlands.

Including over 7 million individually planted bulbs, the gardens are one of the most popular attractions in the Netherlands and have clocked up more than 44 million visitors in the last 60 years. The park is open annually from mid-March to mid-May.

Watch flocks of starlings on their spring migration block-out the setting sun in Denmark’s Tønder Marsh. The spectacle of over a million birds finding somewhere to nest for the night has been dubbed ‘Black Sun’ as the manoeuvres of the huge flocks take over the skies.

The exact locations of the nightly displays are impossible to predict in advance; Tønder tourist board recommends you visit with a guide to get the best possible chance of seeing the spectacle. This natural phenomenon occurs around sunset from mid-March to mid-April.

The indigenous cherry blossoms of Eastern Asia have come to represent spring, and Japan is the iconic home of hanami (cherry blossom viewing festivals). But as the country suffers from overtourism in many of destinations, it might be time to look elsewhere.

South Korea is also known for its blooms, as is China. Closer to home, you can catch blossoms across the UK and in Copenhagen, Germany and Spain. In the US, both Washington D.C. and Macan in Georgia have hundreds of blooming trees, too.

Read next: Where to see cherry blossoms outside of Japan

Namaqualand (also referred to as Namaqua National Park) is an arid landscape in South Africa’s Northern Cape, and while it is sparse for most of the year, spring (which falls in August and September) brings with it a blanket of colourful flowers. Covering the region’s scenery, more than 1,000 of Namaqualand’s 3,500 species of plants growing at this time are found no where else on earth.

Take two or three days to drive through the park and surrounding area to enjoy the rainbow views – its signature orange blooms are the most common, but with some exploration you should find variation in colour.

Traditionally a celebration of the pleasures of the flesh before the austerity of Lent, Mardi Gras is one of the world’s most iconic carnivals and a great excuse for a party. Arguably the two most well-known Mardi Gras celebrations are held in New Orleans, the capital of Louisiana, USA and in Rio de Janerio, Brazil – both in mid-to-late late February or early March each year, depending on when Easter is.

Fling bead necklaces and wear purple in the New Orleans French Quarter or samba the night away in feathers and sequins at the Rio Carnival and you’ll be ready for 40 quiet nights afterwards.

Edinburgh’s Beltane festival, which pays homage to the ancient Gaelic festival of the same name, is held on Carlton Hill in Edinburgh on 30 April each year.

Traditionally a celebration of fertility, ‘beltane’ derives from a Gaelic term meaning ‘bright/sacred fire’, which organisers have taken to heart in the modern celebrations.

Expect dazzling fire displays, pounding drums and a lot of body paint as the procession of the May Queen and Green Man enact the birth of summer.

This article was first published in April 2015.