ANYONE WHO HAS TRAVELLED DURING PEAK HOLIDAY TIMES knows the pitfalls only too well: overcrowded airports and stop-start motorways, sky-high flight prices and exorbitant room rates, packed beaches and rammed cities, colossal queues for museums and landmarks. It’s also no secret that some of the world’s most amazing destinations are feeling the tourism squeeze. But that’s no reason to stay put; you just need to get strategic about where to go and when. Embracing the off-season is one such game plan. Beyond the obvious perks of cheaper accommodation and flights, many destinations come into their own in the low and shoulder seasons, without the nerve-fraying hordes detracting from their charms and authenticity.
PHOTOGRAPH: DHAVAL DHAIRYAWAN
If you do your research, you can apply this approach to pretty much anywhere. Paris is indeed lovable in April. The Taj Mahal sees crowds thin in September, at the tail end of the monsoon and just before the high-season rush. Italy’s cultural mother-lode cities, Rome, Venice and Florence, heave and swelter in summer, but they can be glorious on a crisp November day. Then there are the honeymoon favourites - the Caribbean islands, the Maldives and Mauritius, where the risk of the odd shower in the low season is a small price to pay for comparatively great deals and blissfully empty beaches.