Where to go in April

In April the good weather is overwhelmingly north of the equator — 18 of the top 24 destinations below sit in the northern hemisphere. If you are travelling from the southern hemisphere, April is a long flight into someone else's summer. On the scoring used here, the strongest single destination in April is Antofagasta — 19.8 °C, rain on 0 days, and 99 out of 100.

Against March, the map has moved: Alice Springs (+33), Sapporo (+30) and Sendai (+30) improve most sharply on March, while Ludhiana (-44), Jaipur (-42) and Delhi (-39) fall away fastest. Those are the places where a fortnight's difference in your dates changes the trip.

Depending on what you are actually after in April: for heat with low odds of rain, Torreón at 33 °C across 1 wet day, for the driest month outright, Hurghada with 0 rain days and for mild rather than hot, Murcia at 24 °C with 5 rain days.

Every strong destination this month is also in its own high season, which is the trade April asks you to accept: the weather is not the constraint, the price is.

Ranked on a 0–100 score combining temperature, rain days, heavy-rain days and humidity, computed from NASA POWER daily data 2001–2020. Capped at three cities per country so the list stays useful rather than becoming one coastline.

Best April destinations

1. 1 Antofagasta Chile Drier than the rest at 0 wet days, 19.8 °C.
2. 2 Alexandria Egypt 26.2 °C, lows of 14 °C, rain on 1 day.
3. 3 Arequipa Peru 25.6 °C by day falling to 11.9 °C overnight — hot afternoons, cool sleeping.
4. 4 El Paso United States 26.9 °C and notably dry air at 28% humidity.
5. 5 Las Vegas United States 26.9 °C and notably dry air at 29% humidity.
6. 6 Hurghada Egypt Drier than the rest at 0 wet days, 27.9 °C.
7. 7 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Spain 19.9 °C, though at 76% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
8. 8 Sedona United States 22.1 °C and notably dry air at 42% humidity.
9. 9 Wuzhong China 20.7 °C and notably dry air at 35% humidity.
10. 10 Port Said Egypt Cooler than most of this list at 19 °C — the option if heat is the thing you are avoiding.
11. 11 Geraldton Australia 23.9 °C, though at 71% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
12. 12 Mildura Australia 25.5 °C by day falling to 11.9 °C overnight — hot afternoons, cool sleeping.
13. 13 Whyalla Australia 24.6 °C, lows of 15.4 °C, rain on 4 days.
14. 14 Beijing China 22.8 °C and notably dry air at 39% humidity.
15. 15 Shimla India 24.3 °C and notably dry air at 34% humidity.
16. 16 Santiago Chile 28 °C and notably dry air at 33% humidity.
17. 17 Agadir Morocco 28 °C, lows of 15.5 °C, rain on 3 days.
18. 18 Murcia Spain 24 °C, lows of 11.2 °C, rain on 5 days.
19. 19 Cartagena Spain 20.7 °C, lows of 13.5 °C, rain on 5 days.
20. 20 Marrakesh Morocco 27.4 °C by day falling to 12.4 °C overnight — hot afternoons, cool sleeping.
21. 21 Casablanca Morocco 22.8 °C, though at 75% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
22. 22 Lárisa Greece 21.1 °C, lows of 9.3 °C, rain on 6 days.
23. 23 Kalamata Greece 20.5 °C, though at 72% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.
24. 24 Chaniá Greece 19.4 °C, though at 74% humidity it feels heavier than the number suggests.

Where to avoid in April

• Akureyri Iceland Highs of -1 °C, and 29 nights below freezing.
• Tromsø Norway Highs of 0.6 °C, and 25 nights below freezing.
• Banff Canada Highs of 3.5 °C, and 27 nights below freezing.
• Whistler Canada Highs of 4.5 °C, and 16 nights below freezing.
• Reykjavík Iceland 19 rain days, 3 of them heavy.
• St. John's Canada Highs of 2.8 °C, and 19 nights below freezing.
• Rovaniemi Finland Highs of 1.7 °C, and 26 nights below freezing.
• Bergen Norway 8.6 °C and rain on 17 days — nothing works in its favour.

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