September

A surprisingly difficult month to travel, with many regions either just coming out of, or not quite yet in, their best seasons. Europe still ticks a lot of boxes and the family invasion will mercifully have abated, but further afield such winners as Tanzania are also perfect.

Nearer to home, St Petersburg – somewhere everyone should visit – is ideal in September before the long hard but beautiful winter kicks in. Last but categorically not least, September sees arguably the single most spectacular natural phenomenon on the planet as two million wildebeest, zebra and gazelle cross the Mara river separating the Serengeti in Tanzania from the Masai Mara in Kenya, braving the claws and jaws of the waiting predators on route.