Kerala

Kerala is the easiest long holiday we sell: a direct flight from Ahmedabad to Kochi, one car for the week, and a route that has been refined by thousands of families before yours. Munnar for the tea estates and cool air, Thekkady for the Periyar lake and a spice garden, a night on a houseboat at Alleppey, and a last day on the beach at Kovalam or Marari.

The houseboat is what people ask about first. There are hundreds; the ones we use have proper bedrooms, a cook who will make Gujarati food if you ask in advance, and a crew that moors in a quiet stretch rather than the crowded canal. Two nights on a boat is too many; one is right.

October to March is the season. The monsoon (June to September) is beautiful and cheap, but the beach is off and the roads to Munnar are slow — we say so before you book.