Hiking

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. The Best Time to Visit Georgia, in One Sentence There’s a moment I keep coming back to: late September in a Kakheti courtyard, a farmer pressing a glass of cloudy, just-fermenting wine into my hand, the air smelling of crushed grapes and woodsmoke, a long table of strangers turning into friends over a supra that ran past midnight. I’d booked the trip almost on a whim, mostly because the flights were absurdly cheap and the visa rules meant I could stay as long as I liked. I’ll come back to that visa detail, because it changes how you plan here. ...

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. The Best Time to Visit Peru, in One Sentence The guide at our hostel in Cusco frowned when I showed him our dates. “October? You know that’s the edge of the rains.” I did know, and I’d booked it on purpose, because the June and July fares had made my eyes water. So we gambled on the shoulder. And on the morning we finally reached the Sun Gate above Machu Picchu, the clouds tore open right on cue, the ruins floated below us in hard golden light, and there were maybe a third of the crowds the high-season photos always show. I’ll come back to why that gamble worked further down. ...

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. The Best Time to Visit Switzerland, in One Sentence It was a July morning above Grindelwald, and the cog railway had just spat us out into a meadow so green it looked retouched. Cowbells clanked somewhere below, the Eiger’s north face loomed grey and enormous across the valley, and we ate bread and Gruyère on a bench while paragliders drifted past at eye level. Idyllic — and, I’ll admit, eye-wateringly expensive once the lift tickets and the hotel were tallied. That bill taught me something about timing Switzerland that I’ll come back to, because the season you choose changes everything here. ...