March is when the winter-sun map starts handing over to the spring one. The Red Sea exits its chilly evenings and hits the year's first sweet spot. Marrakech becomes correct again. Thailand plays its final reliable weeks before the April heat build-up. And somewhere in there sits Easter, which can land in March or April and drags a week of peak pricing wherever it goes — check the year's calendar before you blame the destination.

Our climate study recommends twenty-three destinations in March. These ten are the bridge, walked from west to east.

The ten for March

1. Hurghada · 26°C · sea 23°C

The Red Sea's best-balanced month: warm enough to call hot, evenings no longer cold, the water clearing toward its spring visibility peak. March here outperforms its reputation every year.

2. Sharm el-Sheikh · 27°C · sea 23°C

Same story with steeper reef walls. The study moves Sharm onto its recommended list from March — the first month the whole day, dawn dive to dinner, runs warm.

3. Marrakech · 24°C · sea —

One of the two correct Marrakech months begins (October is the other). Souks at 24 degrees, orange blossom starting, the Atlas still snow-capped behind the medina — the postcard assembles itself in March.

4. Agadir · 24°C · sea 18°C

Morocco's beach answer: 300-plus sunny days a year and a March that feels like a northern European June. The Atlantic at 18 is for the committed; the beach itself, all six kilometres, is for everyone.

5. Tenerife South · 22°C · sea 19°C

The Canaries begin their slow spring climb. March is the value window: winter-break pricing gone, Easter not yet arrived (most years), weather a degree kinder than February's.

6. Phuket · 33°C · sea 29°C

Last call for the Andaman's dry season — March is hot, calm and reliable, with April's burning build-up still ahead. The sea hits 29; island boats run full schedule.

7. Krabi · 33°C · sea 29°C

Identical window, quieter geometry. March mornings on Railay before the longtails arrive are the version of Thailand people fly back for.

8. Dubai · 28°C · sea 23°C

The closing weeks of the Gulf's outdoor season: 28 and dry, the desert nights still cool, the Gulf finally warm enough to swim without commitment. By May this becomes an indoor city; March is the last full-comfort month.

9. Cancún and Tulum · 29°C · sea 26°C

Dry season, pre-sargassum, post-hurricane: the Yucatán's cleanest window. The cenotes are the trick the beach crowd misses — at 25 degrees of spring-fed clarity, they don't care what month it is. March also brings US spring break to Cancún proper; Tulum and the coast south absorb it better.

10. Cape Verde · 27°C · sea 23°C

Sal keeps doing what Sal does — the steadiest warm-dry-windy formula in the Atlantic, six hours from the north. March adds a degree and loses nothing.

Skip these in March

• The Mediterranean for swimming — still. The sea bottomed out in February and needs until May to recover. City weather improves everywhere; the water doesn't know yet.
• Bali. The monsoon's tail. April begins the dry side.
• Mauritius. The study's cyclone flag runs through March. From April the southwest Indian Ocean opens properly.

Bridge months reward watching the live picture — the wheel shows which side of the handover is delivering this fortnight, and every destination page pre-fills hotels and flights for its best window. Affiliate links throughout; same price for you, details on the disclosure page.