In Japan, the spring break starts with the end of the academic year in March and ends on April 1 with the beginning of a new academic year.

In Hispanoamerica, spring break usually coincides with Holy Week, the last week of Lent.

From the end of World War II until the 1980s, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was a notorious spring break destination in the United States. On March 19, 2006, the New York Times reported that Fort Lauderdale's reputation as a spring break destination for college students started when the Colgate University men's swimming team went to practice there over break in 1935. Fort Lauderdale became even more popular due to the 1960 film Where the Boys Are, in which college girls met boys while on spring break there.

Spring break's notorieties include increased drinking and sexuality, including public nudity. Residents of the Fort Lauderdale area became so upset at the damage done by vacationers, that the local government passed laws restricting parties in 1985. By 1989, the number of college vacationers fell to 20,000, a far cry from the 350,000 who went to Fort Lauderdale four years prior. Most recently in 2006 the Fort Lauderdale local government passed even more laws to prevent spring breakers from traveling there for Spring Break 2007 and many to come.

Spring break party goers responded by moving to the more liberal community of Daytona Beach area (over 200,000 students traveled there each spring at its peak), but after Daytona's local government undertook similar measures, the crowds of the mid-1990s and early 2000s had fallen to a point where "a few students still come, but officials don't even estimate their numbers." Fort Lauderdale suffered a recession as a result of the self-imposed boycott, but the local hotel industry survived by catering to the retirement population. Panama City Beach, Florida remains a spring break popular destination.