Getting warmer – your guide to the best global hotspots in May

May is always an alluring time to reach for the passport; Europe and the United States are waking from hibernation, the Caribbean is still in a happy storm-free mood, and the rain has yet to hit many tropical zones.

But where to go? And do you want to spend your days in warm, hot or utterly scorching temperatures? Here’s a steer. Set sail on the crystal waters of Zanzibar, above; be smitten by the beauty of Bali, below left; relax in Rhodes, below right

Greco-Roman amphitheatre – scarcely needs clement conditions to be a sliver of Italian elegance. A sevennight stay at the four-star Hotel Excelsior Palace, with its genteel gardens, flying from Birmingham on May 21, starts at £1,069 a head, via Citalia (01293 733491; citalia.com).

strips of Kallithea Beach and Tsambika Beach. James Villas (0800 074 0122; jamesvillas.co.uk) offers the circular Villa Panacea, built around a pool in the capital: from £653 a head, with flights at full capacity of six people.

Zanzibar

The coming weeks can be opportune for a trip Tanzania’s Indian Ocean archipelago. The rainy season tails off in May, There may be a wet afternoon or two, but a warmth hovers in the air, prices are lower and there’s a sense of calm. Expert Africa (020 8232 9777; expertafrica.com) sells a “Ginger Beach Holiday” that mixes five nights on the east coast at the Breezes Beach Club with two at the Dhow Palace Hotel in Stone Town. From £1,384 a head with flights. Bali is at its best between April and September, when the dry season brings cooler temperatures, and the day is free of the stickiness and downpours which come with the wet months (October-March). Scott Dunn (020 8682 5400; scottdunn.com) offers a seven-night stay at the five-star Samaya Seminyak resort from £3,900 a head, including flights.

Nevis

May is an ideal month to visit the Caribbean. The hurricane window of JuneNovember lies ahead; the high season of DecemberApril has ended. Now is the time of quieter weather and softer prices which cast, for example, Nevis in a seductive light. St Kitts’s smaller partner keeps things simple. It is, in effect, a volcano fringed by powdery sands (accessible by BA flights, via Antigua). Elegant Resorts (01244 897991; elegantresorts. co.uk) offers Montpelier Plantation – a former sugar estate where Horatio Nelson married Frances Nisbet in 1787. One-week stays from £1,665 a head.