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Spring break, generally before and after Easter Sunday, is observed by a large majority of U.S. schools and colleges. Families with young children head for theme parks and other such attractions, while teens and college-age kids head off in bunches to a beach destination or cruise.

If you have one or more student-age kids in your family, you’re probably already aware of the dates for spring break. But a large number of you who don’t have kids don’t have to worry about school schedules.

Most of you will probably want to make sure you don’t head for the same places the spring break families and kids do.

Spring break shows a pronounced peak of more than 80% on the weekend of Easter Sunday (April 12 this year), according to the folks at Your First Visit (yourfirstvisit.net

), a leading guide to the Disney parks.

But lots of kids are out of school April 4 to 9, and many others are out April 13 to 19. All in all, you’re better off avoiding the entire April 4 to 19 period.

Of course, if you enjoy mingling with raucous, rowdy and often drunken teenagers, head for the popular break spots.

Although the “in” spots may change a bit from year to year, you generally find spring breakers in the U.S. concentrated at beaches in South Florida, especially Daytona, Ft. Lauderdale and Key West; the Florida panhandle around Panama City; and the Texas beaches from Galveston to Padre Island.

Further afield, Cancún, Cabo San Lucas and Punta Cana have become famous (or notorious) spring break centers. A big attraction for offshore destinations is that most beaches in the Caribbean and Mexico either have a minimum drinking age of 18 years or no minimum at all. Non-beach centers such as Las Vegas and Lake Havasu City also attract crowds.

If you’re longing for a relaxed time at sea, your worst nightmare is to get on a cruise overwhelmed by spring-breakers. In general, the kids choose relatively short trips on mass-market lines like Carnival, Princess and Royal Caribbean to destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico.

If you want to cruise during this time, to be safe, book through a travel agency and ask the agent to make sure any cruise you’re considering hasn’t been heavily booked for spring break.

For a cruise, you won’t find many spring breakers in the Mediterranean or on a Danube or Mississippi River cruise.

If you still want to visit a beach center during spring break period, concentrate on centers farther down the Caribbean or Central America than Cancún, or head for Hawaii, which doesn’t seem to get as much spring break traffic as other beaches.

Email Ed Perkins at eperkins@mind.net. © 2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Due to health and safety concerns from the coronavirus, many countries have imposed travel bans. Some states have closed down beaches. Quarantining measures may be necessary. Consult cdc.gov. for more information.