The best places to visit this Easter

With weath­er com­fort­ably around 20 degrees C (warm enough to ditch the coat, cool enough to do lots of sight­see­ing), Mar­rakech is the per­fect des­ti­na­tion for some East­er sun­shine, whilst avoid­ing the swel­ter­ing sum­mer months. Take your time to explore the city’s bustling med­i­na and the many side streets that are sim­ply burst­ing with imag­i­na­tive shops. Make sure you vis­it the Musée des Con­flu­ences for stun­ning archi­tec­ture and gar­dens, then head to Le Jardin Secret which is a wel­come respite from the dynam­ic ener­gy that per­me­ates every cor­ner of the city. For a stark alter­na­tive, explore Yves St Laurent’s for­mer home (Jardin Majorelle) and it’s unusu­al desert gar­den. If you’re tired of the city, head out to the hills to wit­ness the almond blos­som in bloom, and enjoy excur­sions to the Atlas Moun­tains to see the best views Moroc­co has to offer.

As the home of the Vat­i­can City (the Catholic Church’s HQ), and sur­round­ed by ancient archi­tec­ture and Renais­sance art, this love­ly holy city sees thou­sands gath­er to wit­ness the icon­ic East­er Mass held at St.Peter’s Basil­i­ca. If you’re after even more cul­ture, this city has it by the buck­et load. While many of the more famous muse­ums are closed or have reduced hours dur­ing East­er week­end, the city itself is an art-lovers’ spec­tac­u­lar. Wan­der the streets to absorb the sights of the Pan­theon and Tre­vi Foun­tain, and make sure you reserve a table for lunch or din­ner, as the restau­rants get booked-up quick­ly. We also love the sug­ges­tion of join­ing the locals in cel­e­brat­ing Lit­tle East­er (East­er Mon­day) with a pic­nic at the gar­den of Vil­la Borgh­ese – make sure you pick up your pic­nic ingre­di­ents on Sat­ur­day as very few shops will be open on East­er Sun­day or Monday.

Locat­ed in the foothills on the Rocky Moun­tains, Boul­der is the per­fect hol­i­day spot for any­one look­ing for a good dose of the great out­doors. The city is an exu­ber­ant cel­e­bra­tion of spring with over 15,000 tulips in bloom through­out the town – cam­eras at the ready! And if you’re still hold­ing onto those win­ter vibes, you can enjoy a spot of ski­ing or snow­board­ing as many of the ski slopes are open until late April. If you’re not a snow-bun­ny, then head to the sand­stone Flatirons or the Chau­tauqua Trail for a spot of hik­ing – while if you fan­cy a more leisure­ly pace of life, then take a stroll along Boul­der Creek Path before indulging in a lit­tle peo­ple watch­ing at Pearl Street which is packed with live­ly bars and great restaurants.

Despite its pop­u­lar­i­ty, Lis­bon is still an afford­able city break in com­par­i­son to some of its more expen­sive Euro­pean cap­i­tal coun­ter­parts – which makes it the per­fect place for an East­er week­end away! Enjoy the spring sun­shine with a pas­tel de nata and an espres­so in one of the many cafes found hid­den down its colour­ful tiled streets. Next, put on your stur­di­est walk­ing shoes, and head to one of the high­er points in town to admire the views. Panorâmi­co de Mon­san­to and Miradouro de Nos­sa Sen­ho­ra do Monte both offer incred­i­ble views of the city. If you fan­cy get­ting away from the hus­tle and bus­tle for a bit, then the Botan­i­cal Gar­dens in Aju­da are both beau­ti­ful and peace­ful, while a gen­tle stroll along the Tagus Riv­er in Belém will pro­vide great views of San­tuário do Cristo Rei (Christ the King) statue.

Canada’s biggest city, Toron­to comes to life in the spring­time after a harsh, cold win­ter. The city is scat­tered with inde­pen­dent shops, trendy cafes and bou­tique gal­leries. If you’re an art lover, we’d rec­om­mend a vis­it to The Muse­um of Con­tem­po­rary Art (MOCA) and the Gallery of Ontario. And for a spot of food you can’t beat a vis­it to the dis­tillery dis­trict which has every­thing from street food to fine din­ing. But to real­ly enjoy Toron­to in spring, you sim­ply need to accept that the great out­doors are spec­tac­u­lar at this time of year. Hire a bike and explore the 56km Mar­tin Good­man trail (it’s on the water­front, so it’s real­ly idyl­lic on a sun­ny day), treat your­self to a vis­it to the Toron­to Botan­i­cal Gar­dens, or head to High Park to admire the incred­i­ble cher­ry blos­soms in bloom – and don’t for­get to tag us with the hash­tag #welove­home­swap in any result­ing Insta­wor­thy snaps, as we’d love to share in your spring city break!

If you’re after a relax­ing break, then you can’t beat Bali in April. Skip the bustling par­ty beach­es and head straight to Cang­gu, which is filled with healthy smooth­ie bars and laid-back cof­fee shops on the beach­side. If you’re look­ing for an adven­ture, rent a scoot­er and explore the island your­self. Spring is the per­fect time to see the island’s water­falls at their best, so we’d rec­om­mend pay­ing a vis­it to a few of them. Tege­nun­gan, Git­git, and Sekumpul are just some of our favourites, and as April is before peak-tourism sea­son, you’ll find them less crowd­ed than usu­al. If you’ve got time to explore more of the island, then take a dol­phin spot­ting tour in Lov­ina, or head to Danau Batur which is the biggest crater lake in Bali, and offers the most excep­tion­al hik­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties and views. Just make sure you take plen­ty of water and stay hydrat­ed, as it can get pret­ty hot at this time of year!