Non Beach Travel Ideas for Spring Break?

Weather in Ireland and Scotland will be fine at that time of year—rainy and cool, but those places are rainy & cool pretty much year round. Ireland, even in the depths of winter, can be green and mild. I went over Mardi Gras a few years back, in mid-Feb, and it was 42 degrees, all day & night. Those temps made for great outdoor walking, with proper clothes. There are some gorgeous coastal walks within easy commuter train ride of Dublin.

Airfare to Dublin routinely goes on sale—RTs from MSY ~$350-$400. You clear US customs in the Dublin airport, so the trip home is pretty simple, just like a domestic arrival.

The Scots say “there is no bad weather, only wrong clothing”, and it’s a country loaded with incredible scenery/hiking. Check out the website Walk Highlands: a compendium of hiking routes, sorted geographically, rated by difficulty & elevation, with route maps, pictures, and other hikers’ reports: LINK

Colorado. Stay low or be prepared for snow

Arizona

-Weather is hot, but at least dry heat
-Great outdoors and hiking (even outside of PHX metro)
-Perhaps get a car up to the GC (although it snowed there in late april )

Late April and May are bad times for the Rockies in general. Its mud season, when the snow melts, ground is soft, and rivers are high. A lot of stuff is closed or very limited hours. I'd stay away personally.

Europe is a fantastic time. Flowers are blooming for the most part, weather is solid.

see some Broadway plays in NYC
Italy and Spain are gorgeous that time of year
Louisiana weather is generally perfect that time of year, so a trip to New Orleans could be nice
Nashville or Austin could be perfect weather as well.

We did this trip for spring break second week of April two years ago and it was one of the best we’ve ever done.

Flew in to Las Vegas, rented car, headed to South Rim of Grand Canyon [saw Hoover Dam and Route 66 on way — there’s a famous diner to get ice cream there] Also stopped in a small town at a WalMart and bought ice chest and breakfast and lunch, drinks, beer and wine for the week.

Spent three nights in one of the GC national park lodges. Hiked the rim trail to get acclimated [awesome free shuttle system], hiked down S. Kaibab a few miles next day. Hiked down Bright Angel Trail day after.

Drove to Page, AZ for one night and did Antelope canyon tour and went to Horsehoe Bend and did private Jeep tour of area.

Drove to Bryce Canyon NP and stayed in the lodge for one night. Did the drive all the way to the end and stopped at overlooks. [you can hike down in at some of these] Did long hike down into the Canyon next day, then drove to Zion.

Stayed in Zion [at Cable Mountain Lodge which I highly recommend because of great location] for three nights. Hiked every day all day. Ate at the Zion Lodge for dinner one night and a couple of cool places in town. Zion is beautiful.

We made sandwiches in our room every day to carry hiking along with a few other snacks. We had camelbaks I had gotten at costco that had water plus room for storage. The weather was PERFECT. At the top of the GC it was chilly, long pants and light fleece. As you hiked down it got hotter. Bryce was amazing — snow all along the top where the lodge and drive are, with pleasant, cool hiking down into the canyon. You will need a coat for Bryce. Zion was hotter. Shorts and short sleeve shirts were fine.

If I had a do-over, I’d probably just drive through Page and not stay there and do Antelope — it was just ok, and we could have shaved a night off the trip. I would instead have added a day at Capitol Reef state park which is near Bryce or added a night in Bryce — Bryce is really underrated. I would have like to have hiked there more. Also, make sure when you head to Zion from Bryce, you do the Canyon Overlook trail hike before you get to the tunnel.

This sounds like a lot of driving. However, driving to each of these places is an adventure in itself as the scenery is spectacular. Lots of “wow” moments just driving along the highways.

Arizona has perfect hiking and camping weather in April and the most of the state is BLM land which is free for recreational use. The desert is in full bloom then and as someone who has traveled the world and was raised in Louisiana until adulthood, no place does sunrises and sunsets like Arizona.

You might consider Big Bend as well. Scenery and hiking are great. Weather is perfect that time of the year, lots of desert flowers in bloom. Davis and Guadalupe Mountains relatively near by.