September, at the world’s best hotels.

The Adriatic stays warm long after the August crowds have gone.

Late season: the sea is at its warmest and the crowds are gone.

Warm seas and golden light after the season ends.

Quiet island, warm water, open tables.

Late season: the sea is at its warmest and the crowds are gone.

The sea stays warm enough to swim well into October while ferry crowds and room rates fall away before the island's hotels shut for winter.

Late season: the sea is at its warmest and the crowds are gone.

Warm sea, soft light, and Oia's lanes finally quiet.

Larch season: the Dolomites turn gold and the trails empty out.

The islands after the season: warm water, olive harvest, empty coves.

The vendange and golden plane trees, minus the summer set.

The Adriatic stays warm long after the August crowds have gone.

The sea holds its summer warmth and the yachts thin out with the crowds.

September seas at their warmest, meltemi winds gone, tables easy to find.

Summer-warm sea and golden light after the crowds thin.

Warm sea, soft light, and Oia's lanes finally quiet.

Warm sea, soft light, and Oia's lanes finally quiet.

Larch season: the Dolomites turn gold and the trails empty out.

Heather on the hills and stalking-season stillness in Braemar.

Off-season Rajasthan: hot afternoons, yes — and palace hotels at half their winter rates.

Green-season Niseko: alpine hiking and onsen at a fraction of powder-season rates.

Green-season Angkor: moats full, rice paddies electric green, temples uncrowded.

The southwest monsoon barely brushes the high tea country — misty mornings, low rates.

The green season in Lanna country: dramatic skies, full rivers, empty temples.

The shoulder between monsoons: calm seas on the way in, the archipelago near-empty.

The monsoon on the Narmada: the river high, the ghats washed clean, the fort quiet.

Winelands winter: fireside tastings, green vineyards, and the Cape to yourself.

Summer on the west bank: dawn temple visits, pool afternoons, tombs without the queues.

Summer highs top 105F, but this is precisely when Palm Springs rates crater; plan around dawn tee times, misted patios and long pool afternoons and it works.

Big Sky without ski-season prices: hiking, fly fishing, dark-sky nights.

The quiet months: afternoon rains, empty ruins, the peninsula at its greenest.

Fall on the ranch: golden larch and cottonwoods, prime fly-fishing water, the valley at its quietest after summer.

Green season in the rainforest: rivers full, wildlife loud, lodges at their gentlest rates.

Cartagena's quietest months, before the December high season ignites.

New Zealand's quiet season: misty river mornings and the lodge at winter rates.

Wild winter on the Southern Ocean: storm-watching, whales offshore, fires lit.

Golden early autumn is prime hiking and hot-air-balloon weather in the Saanenland, and summer rates ease before the hotels close mid-October.

Spring shoulder keeps Arequipa's trademark sunshine and clear volcano views while high-season crowds and prices ease off.

North Atlantic autumn — berry barrens, storms, and firewood.

Aurora season begins over the fjords, the lodge at its calmest.

The green season under the Pitons — brief showers and the island unhurried.

The green season: warm seas, passing rains, the island near-private.