Europe is warming up in April, with smaller resorts starting to open after the winter lull; buds are opening, and many trees are laden with beautiful coloured blossom…

Paris in April is beautiful with the parks awash with cherry blossom and a carpet of colourful flowering bulbs.  Pack a suitcase for the warm, wet and chilly weather, slip on your walking shoes and discover spring time in the French capital.  Book ahead for Le Grand Monde d’Andy Warhol, and visit the annual Foire du Trone, a huge market and funfair combined.

For beach holidays in Europe, look at Cyprus and the resorts of Limassol and Paphos, the southern Greek islands of Crete or Rhodes, the unspoilt Cape Verde Islands off Africa, southern Italy or the Canary Islands.

Travel in April to the Cayman Islands south of Cuba in the Caribbean Sea, and stay on the stunning islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac or Little Cayman, where the fauna and flora is spectacular. Relax on Seven Mile Beach and visit the Pedro St James Castle; sail around the islands and swim with the stingrays.

For the active and fit, a trip to the Mount Everest base camp in Nepal at the beginning of April is an experience never to be forgotten.  Fly into Kathmandu, then onto Lukla a Sherpa village before a 10 day return trek to Base Camp.

Travel in April to explore Egypt, and combine a Red Sea holiday relaxing on the beach and scuba diving amongst the beautiful coral reefs around Sharm el Sheikh, with a Nile Cruise between Cairo, Aswan and Luxor, visiting the spectacular pyramids and Sphinx, bazaars and temples.

Easter is celebrated in India with the territory of Goa, particularly popular.  As the Arabian Sea laps Goa’s shores, spend time on the endless warm sandy beaches and take time discovering the delights of the”North”  capital of Panjim, Fort Aguada and Candolim. Colva and Bogmalo are popular resorts in South Goa.  Make sure you pack lots of high factor sun lotion!

The Easter school holidays, at the end of March/beginning of April, is the perfect time for day trips in the UK.  You don’t need to spend a fortune, you can return home if the weather is too bad and you can usually make plans at the last minute!

If you love movies, how about visiting the National Trust properties used for filming? Ham House in Surrey is where The Young Victoria was filmed, whilst a White Rabbit Easter trail will be held 2nd to 9th April at Antony, six miles from Plymouth where Walt Disney’s quirky Alice in Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton was filmed. During the Easter school holidays visit Cliveden in Berkshire where Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law played Holmes and Watson, or Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire; the location of two Harry Potter films.

In London take a flight on the London Eye. With spectacular views over London’s many landmarks, book a 10am Standard Flight and the cost is a mere £10 per adult compared to £17.88 at any other time of day, as the London Eye celebrates 10 years. During the Easter school holidays, take the kids to Kew Gardens on Easter Sunday morning for an Easter Egg Hunt or to the Bank of England Museum for a treasure trail through the Museum.  Enjoy roller skating? Join the Bunny Stroll on Easter Sunday, which covers a relaxed 8 miles of London’s West End.

Easter holiday thrill seekers may prefer the delights of Thorpe Park (opens 18 March at 10am) or Chessington World of Adventures in Surrey; in the heart of England, Thorpe Park opens on 20 March as does the award winning Drayton Manor Theme Park.  In the north of England, Blackpool Pleasure Beach on the west coast of Lancashire is great for the whole family, whilst younger children may prefer the exciting yet sedate Legoland Windsor (Berkshire), with plenty for the young ‘uns at both Chessington and Drayton.

On the 27 March, the Cardiff International White Water in Cardiff Bay, south Wales is opening which will offer courses and activities for all levels of water sports persons wishing to white water raft, hotdog, hydrospeed, canoe or kayak.  Also in Cardiff over Easter, Techniquest has an eggsciting show all about the egg, with fun and science explaining how to cushion a fragile spacecraft – amongst other exhibits!

There are tonnes of cheap flights in March, flying to numerous European destinations from key UK airport locations.

Cheap flights to Spain in March are easy to come by.  Through Thomas Cook, fly from Gatwick to Malaga return for under £150 per person leaving around the 17 March for 7 nights with seats departing Gatwick on 10 March currently selling for £136 per person.

For a cheap city break flight, Jet2 have availability right now from Leeds Bradford to Amsterdam on Monday 22 March for £4.99 and if you returned on either Thursday 25 or Tuesday 30 March, that flight costs 99p!  Sadly taxes are £54, bags £19.98 and online check in £6.00 (all prices per person) so the full cost is £85.96 per person.

Fly from Manchester with Thomson Holidays on Thursday 18 March to Lanzarote (ACE) in the Spanish Canary Islands and the low cost flight price is £167.98 per person returning on 25 March – including taxes and baggage (20kg of hold bags, 5kg in flight)! Meals cost £15.00 per person and reserved seats £15 (£7 per child). Flights from Manchester to Malaga start from £138.98 per person departing on 26 March for one week. Cheap!

Ryanair has a seat sale of cheap flights to Europe. Book by the night of Monday 8 March for flights from £9.99 each way. The travel period is 23 March and 31 May with a selection of blackout dates over both UK May Bank Holidays. Check their website for full details.  From Stansted you could fly to Figari, Girona (Barcelona), Pula or Pisa from £9.99, with flights to Rimini, Carcassonne, Rome, Alghero, Brindisi, Palermo, Alicante, Faro, Ibiza, Malaga and Palma for budget prices of under £20.00 each way.  Taxes, baggage, check in etc are extra. Ryanair also have cheap seats from a number of UK airports including Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Gatwick and Luton, as well as Manchester and Newquay.

Head to the Costa del Sol, and First Choice has very low cost seats from Gatwick to Malaga for £101.71 plus taxes of £26.25 (total return price £127.96) travelling from 23 March to 4 April. Fly to Faro in the Algarve, south Portugal on Saturday 27 March for 2 weeks and the cheap flight is a mere £77.13 plus £31.83 tax (total £108.96 per person).  Extras include in flight meals, reserved seats and seats with extra space.

Head into central London to honour the patron Saint of Ireland, with St Patrick’s Day celebrations on Sunday 14th March, although do note that St Patrick’s Day is actually on Wednesday 17th March (2010)!

Noon on Piccadilly, close to Hyde Park Corner tube station is where London’s St Patrick’s Parade (on the 14th) will start, with colourful floats, marching bands, characters dressed in costume, and street theatre acts from the UK and each of the 32 Irish counties.  Watch out for the huge St Patrick and the Snake Pageant, and the Emerald Queen as the parade travels along Piccadilly past Green Park to Piccadilly Circus, where it turns right down Lower Regent Street, left along Pall Mall East and Cockspur Street, along the south west corner of Trafalgar Square, to finish at Whitehall Palace.

For a great family day out, head to Trafalgar Square on Sunday 14th for St Patrick’s Celebrations in London.  Starting at 11.30am, kids will love the Children’s Culture Corner where there will be storytelling, poetry and animation. You will also be able to watch traditional Irish ceili dancing and celebrity MCs; an event finishing at 6pm.

For St Patrick’s Day celebrations on Wednesday 17th March 2010, the north west London Borough of Brent will be celebrating in the town of Willesdon Green (on the Jubilee tube line) with the Brent St Patrick’s Day Festival running from 4pm to 7.30pm and a Parade starting at 4.30pm.

Will there be April showers or April sunshine? Could be April snow…who knows?!

What there will be is Easter and long school holidays; the perfect time to explore many April holiday ideas and dust off your suitcases…

Easter Day is Sunday 4th April, with Good Friday the 2nd and Easter Monday the 5th, making for a fabulous long weekend.  Should you wish to holiday outside of the school holidays when holiday prices tend to drop, then stick to the last two weeks of April.

For warm April beach holidays, the Costa del Sol in the south of Spain and the Algarve in the south of Portugal are very popular Easter holiday destinations, as the temperatures rise and the smaller resorts start to open after the winter.  Book a low cost flight into Malaga or Faro, pick up a bargain car hire deal with easyCar and add cheap hotel or self catering accommodation for your cheap April holiday!

If you wish to explore, why not discover the delights of at the Neapolitan Riviera on the western coast of Italy?  Fly into Naples Airport and base your holiday on the steep hillside resort of Sorrento with its pretty maze of footpaths, many bathing platforms and pebble beaches. Visit the fishing town of Amalfi and spectacular cliff faced Positano and take a boat tour to Mount Vesuvius and the island of Ischia.  Don’t forget to spend an April day at Pompeii!

For a luxurious holiday or honeymoon in April, Tahiti in the French Polynesia is a superb holiday idea. Beautiful, romantic, full of adventure and the perfect location to escape the rat race, Tahiti could be your own paradise!  Fly into Faa’a International Airport half way between California and Australia, and explore a few of the fabulous 118 islands set in five archipelagos. On the exotic Tahiti islands, book an all inclusive package in a stunning resort, water ski, sail and snorkel, or jump in a 4×4 or quad bike, or take a tour of the islands by helicopter or speed canoe.

If the sun is too hot, then you may be in luck and the high European Ski Resorts may still have a good sprinkling of snow at the beginning of April!  High factor sun block will be a must but head to Tignes or Val d’Isere, Obergurgl or Obertauern, Les Arcs or Chamonix and you should be able to enjoy end of season skiing and boarding.  Best to look out for last minute cheap deals – just in case!