March is the most underrated month in the travel calendar, and we’re prepared to argue about it. Everyone books February for winter sun and May for the Mediterranean, which leaves March in a lovely gap: the deserts haven’t started cooking, the southern hemisphere is sliding into a golden autumn, Japan is just beginning to blush pink, and the northern lights are, statistically, at their most cooperative. Prices on many tours are lower than at Easter, and the crowds at the big sights haven’t fully woken up.
This is not a list of every tour that happens to run in March. It’s where we’d actually send a friend, with the honest drawbacks, and a short list of places we’d leave for another month. Every tour below has March 2027 departures; prices are live from the tour pages.
The quick answer
- If we could only pick one: Jordan. Petra in March is cool, clear and green-edged, before the heat and the Easter crowds. Jordan Discovery does it in eight days.
- For the blossom gamble: Japan in the last week of March. See our cherry blossom guide before you pick a date.
- For the aurora: Iceland, around the equinox.
- For autumn in the south: Patagonia’s W Trek or the Cape and the Garden Route.
- Where we’d skip: the Inca Trail, East African safaris from late March, and South East Asia’s hottest corners.
The March shortlist
| Tour | Days | Price from | Physical rating | Group size | Flights included | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deserts before the heat | ||||||
| Jordan Discovery: Petra, Wadi Rum & the Dead Sea – 8 Days | 8 | £1,296 pp | Medium | Max 12 | No | Our pick for March |
| Egypt Experience: Cairo, Alexandria & a Nile Cruise – 12 Days | 12 | £2,206 pp | Low | Max 12 | No | Temples at a civilised temperature |
| Morocco Highlights: Chefchaouen, Fes & the Sahara – 10 Days | 10 | £656 pp | Medium | Max 16 | No | Morocco on a budget |
| Classic Rajasthan: Agra, Jaipur, Ranthambhore & Udaipur – 15 Days | 15 | £988 pp | Medium | Max 12 | No | Rajasthan, early in the month |
| The Silk Road of Uzbekistan – 11 Days | 11 | £1,875 pp | Moderate | Max 16 | No | Late-March Silk Road |
| Asia in spring | ||||||
| Japan Highlights: Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima & Osaka – 9 Days | 9 | £2,560 pp | Low | Max 12 | No | The blossom gamble |
| Classic Vietnam: Saigon to Hanoi & Ha Long Bay – 15 Days | 15 | £1,737 pp | Low | Max 12 | No | The whole country, end to end |
| Sri Lanka Real Food Adventure: Negombo to Colombo – 12 Days | 12 | £1,526 pp | Medium | Max 12 | No | Sri Lanka through its food |
| China Experience: Beijing to Hong Kong via the Yangtze – 19 Days | 19 | £2,826 pp | Medium | Max 12 | No | China before the summer crowds |
| Autumn in the south | ||||||
| Torres del Paine W Trek: Patagonia Hiking Adventure – 6 Days | 6 | £2,168 pp | Medium | Max 14 | No | Patagonia with fewer people |
| Cape Town & the Garden Route: Addo to Table Mountain – 12 Days | 12 | £1,677 pp | Low | Max 16 | No | Harvest time at the Cape |
| Ice, light and rainforest | ||||||
| Iceland Northern Lights Escape: Vatnajökull & the South Coast – 6 Days | 6 | £1,373 pp | Medium | Max 12 | No | Aurora at the equinox |
| Classic Costa Rica: Tortuguero to Manuel Antonio – 15 Days | 15 | £1,553 pp | Medium | Max 16 | No | The dry season’s last word |
Prices are per person, twin share, live from our tour pages (updated October 2026). The lowest price can apply to a later departure, so check the dates you want on each tour page.
Ask us about March departures →
If we could only pick one: Jordan
Jordan Discovery: Petra, Wadi Rum & the Dead Sea
Jordan Discovery: Petra, Wadi Rum & the Dead Sea – 8 Days
- 8 days
- From £1,296 per person
- Max 12 people
- Starts and ends in Amman, Jordan
- Physical rating: medium
- Flights not included
- Year-round departures
Here’s our case. In summer, the walk from the Siq to the Monastery at Petra is a test of character. In March it’s a pleasure: mild days, cool nights and, after the winter rains, a faint green fuzz on the desert that you won’t see in the brochures. This eight-day trip in a group of up to 12 covers the lot: a jeep tour and a night under the stars in Wadi Rum, a breather on the Red Sea at Aqaba, two nights at Petra with a guided tour and a home-cooked dinner with a local family, then Shobak, the mosaics of Madaba, the Roman city of Jerash and a float in the Dead Sea.
Why March: the best walking weather of the year at Petra, before the spring rush. The honest drawback: Wadi Rum nights can be properly cold, and a desert camp is a desert camp. Pack a fleece and lower your expectations of the plumbing.
A note on timing: Ramadan in 2027 is expected to end around 9 March. Travelling during Ramadan is perfectly possible, and the evenings can be wonderful, but some restaurants keep shorter hours. From mid-March, everything is back to normal.
Deserts before the heat
Egypt Experience: Cairo, Alexandria & a Nile Cruise
Egypt Experience: Cairo, Alexandria & a Nile Cruise – 12 Days
- 12 days
- From £2,206 per person
- Max 12 people
- Starts and ends in Cairo, Egypt
- Physical rating: low
- Flights not included
- Year-round departures
By May, Luxor is flirting with 40°C. In March it’s warm, bright and entirely reasonable. Twelve days in a group of up to 12: the Pyramids and the Egyptian Museum, Alexandria on the Mediterranean, the desert monasteries of Wadi El Natrun, a sleeper train south, dinner with a Nubian family in Aswan, Abu Simbel, three nights on a Nile riverboat, and the Valley of the Kings to finish.
Why March: comfortable temple weather and long, golden afternoons on the river. The honest drawback: spring can bring the khamsin, a hot, sandy wind that turns a blue sky beige for a day or two.
Morocco Highlights: Chefchaouen, Fes & the Sahara
Morocco Highlights: Chefchaouen, Fes & the Sahara – 10 Days
- 10 days
- From £656 per person
- Max 16 people
- Starts and ends in Marrakech, Morocco
- Physical rating: medium
- Flights not included
- Year-round departures
Ten days from Marrakech in a group of up to 16, and the price is frankly a bargain: Casablanca, the blue town of Chefchaouen at sunset, the Roman ruins of Volubilis, the medina of Fes with a local guide, a night in a Sahara desert camp, and the Todra Gorge and Dades Valley on foot. In March the Atlas still has snow on top and the valleys are turning green underneath. It’s Morocco’s best-looking month.
Why March: spring colour, warm days and no summer furnace. The honest drawback: long drives, and only one dinner included, which in Morocco is less a drawback than an opportunity.
Two more for the shortlist. Classic Rajasthan (15 days) is excellent in early March, with a night in a hilltop fort, Jaipur, a tiger safari in Ranthambhore and Udaipur’s City Palace. Go early in the month, though: by the end of March the plains are heading into the 30s. And the Silk Road season starts in late March, when The Silk Road of Uzbekistan (11 days) has its first departures, with Khiva, Bukhara and a desert camp evening before Samarkand. It’s cool, quiet and our tip for anyone who hates queues. See our Uzbekistan tours guide.
Asia in spring
Japan Highlights: Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima & Osaka
Japan Highlights: Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima & Osaka – 9 Days
- 9 days
- From £2,560 per person
- Max 12 people
- Tokyo, Japan to Osaka, Japan
- Physical rating: low
- Flights not included
- Year-round departures
March in Japan is a gamble with very good odds. The plum blossom is finishing, and in an average year the cherry blossom reaches Tokyo and Kyoto in the last week of March. This nine-day trip in a group of up to 12 covers Tokyo, a night with a family in the tea country of Kawane, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Miyajima, and Osaka’s street food, and it has several departures a week in March.
Why March: the start of the blossom, without the full April crush. The honest drawback: nobody can promise the blossom on your dates, and late-March departures cost more. Our cherry blossom guide explains which departures give you the best chance.
Classic Vietnam: Saigon to Hanoi & Ha Long Bay
Classic Vietnam: Saigon to Hanoi & Ha Long Bay – 15 Days
- 15 days
- From £1,737 per person
- Max 12 people
- Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Hanoi, Vietnam
- Physical rating: low
- Flights not included
- Year-round departures
March is one of the few months when the whole of Vietnam is in decent shape at once: the south is dry, the centre is warming up, and the north has shaken off the worst of winter. Fifteen days from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi in a group of up to 12, with the Cu Chi Tunnels, a night in the Mekong Delta, three nights in Hoi An, Hue’s Imperial City, Ninh Binh and a night on a boat in Ha Long Bay.
Why March: the best chance of good weather from top to bottom. The honest drawback: early March in the north can still be grey and drizzly, so Ha Long Bay may be moodier than the postcards.
Also in Asia: Sri Lanka Real Food Adventure (12 days) is still in the dry season for Sigiriya, Kandy, the hill-country train and the south coast, with many meals included and very few disappointing ones. And China Experience (19 days) starts its spring season in March, from the Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors to the pandas, the Yangtze and Yangshuo, before the summer crowds arrive.
Autumn in the south
Torres del Paine W Trek: Patagonia Hiking Adventure
Torres del Paine W Trek: Patagonia Hiking Adventure – 6 Days
- 6 days
- From £2,168 per person
- Max 14 people
- Starts and ends in Puerto Natales, Chile
- Physical rating: medium
- Flights not included
- Departures in January, February, March, April, October, November, December
Patagonia in January is spectacular and busy. In March, the summer crowds have gone home, the light turns golden and the first autumn colour creeps into the beech forests. Six days with a qualified trekking guide on the W, the park’s most famous route: Grey Glacier, the French Valley and, on the last morning, the granite towers above their glacial lagoon. You sleep in mountain refuges or full-service camps, with your tent put up for you.
Why March: quieter trails and softer light than high summer. The honest drawback: days are getting shorter and colder, the wind never really takes a holiday, and refuges mean shared dormitories.
Cape Town & the Garden Route: Addo to Table Mountain
Cape Town & the Garden Route: Addo to Table Mountain – 12 Days
- 12 days
- From £1,677 per person
- Max 16 people
- Port Elizabeth, South Africa to Cape Town, South Africa
- Physical rating: low
- Flights not included
- Departures in January, February, March, April, September, October, November, December
March is late summer at the Cape and harvest time in the Winelands, with warm days, settled weather and the schools back after the summer holidays. Twelve days from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town in a group of up to 16: game drives among the elephants of Addo, forest trails and suspension bridges at Tsitsikamma, the Knysna Heads, the Cango Caves, a sommelier-led wine tour in Stellenbosch, Table Mountain and the penguins of Boulders Beach.
Why March: reliable weather and the grape harvest. The honest drawback: the whales don’t arrive at Hermanus until winter, so your free day there is for the coast, not the whales.
Ice, light and rainforest
Iceland Northern Lights Escape: Vatnajökull & the South Coast
Iceland Northern Lights Escape: Vatnajökull & the South Coast – 6 Days
- 6 days
- From £1,373 per person
- Max 12 people
- Starts and ends in Reykjavik, Iceland
- Physical rating: medium
- Flights not included
- Departures in January, February, March, October, November, December
Here’s a fact we love: the northern lights tend to be a little more active around the spring and autumn equinoxes, and in March you still have long, dark nights to see them in. This six-day trip stays in the countryside along the south coast, away from city lights, with the Golden Circle, Iceland’s biggest waterfalls, a guided hike on Vatnajökull and the icebergs of Jökulsárlón.
Why March: dark skies, more daylight than midwinter and an active aurora season. The honest drawback: the lights are never guaranteed, and Icelandic weather has a sense of humour.
And for wildlife, Classic Costa Rica (15 days) catches the end of the dry season, with Tortuguero’s canals, the turquoise Rio Celeste, Arenal, the Monteverde cloud forest and the monkeys of Manuel Antonio. Expect heat on the Pacific coast and the odd downpour at Tortuguero, which is wet all year round. That’s what makes it a rainforest.
Where we’d skip in March
The Inca Trail. The trail reopens in March after its February closure, but it’s the tail end of the rainy season in the Andes: muddy paths and a good chance that Machu Picchu is wrapped in cloud. Wait for May. See our Machu Picchu tours guide.
East African safaris from late March. The long rains usually arrive in Kenya and Tanzania in late March or April. Early March can still be very good, but we wouldn’t plan a once-in-a-lifetime safari around the end of the month.
Cambodia and Thailand’s plains. March to May is the hottest stretch of the year. Angkor at 35°C is still Angkor, but you’ll be visiting it at sunrise and hiding by lunchtime.
Easter week, almost anywhere. Easter Sunday is 28 March in 2027. Prices and crowds jump around the school holidays, so if you can travel earlier in the month, do.
Tips for March travel
Book the Easter dates first. Late-March departures sell out first, especially in Japan and Jordan.
Pack for two seasons. Desert nights, Patagonian wind and Icelandic sleet can all turn up in the same month.
Check the extras. Visas, tourist taxes and park fees are often paid locally, and entry rules change, so check the FCDO travel advice for every country on your route.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the best place to go in March?
Our pick is Jordan, for Petra in perfect walking weather. Egypt, Morocco, early-March Rajasthan, Japan at the start of the blossom, Patagonia and the Cape are all excellent too.
Where is warm in March?
Egypt, Jordan, Morocco’s valleys, Sri Lanka, southern Vietnam, Costa Rica and South Africa’s Cape are all warm without being punishing. Rajasthan is warm early in the month and hot by the end.
Is March a good time to see the northern lights?
Yes. The nights are still long and dark, and the aurora tends to be a little more active around the equinox. Try Iceland Northern Lights Escape.
Is March a good time to visit Japan?
Yes, especially the last week, when the cherry blossom usually reaches Tokyo and Kyoto. Book early, as these dates are the most popular of the year.
Is March a good time for Patagonia?
It’s early autumn: quieter than summer, with softer light and the first autumn colours, though the days are shorter and the weather is changeable.
When is Easter 2027?
Easter Sunday is 28 March 2027, so prices and demand rise around the school holidays at the end of the month.
Thinking about March?
Tell us what you’re after, from desert to blossom to aurora, and a Travelisto specialist will find the March departure that suits you.
Keep planning
- All escorted tours
- Petra tours compared
- Japan cherry blossom tours
- Patagonia tours compared
- Where to go in February 2027
Prices are live from our tour pages (updated October 2026). Tour details and dates can change; your specialist will confirm everything before you book.
