Srinagar

Kashmir earns its old title of Paradise on Earth within an hour of landing. Srinagar is the base of the trip, and the first night is spent on a hand-carved cedar houseboat on Dal Lake, where a shikara ride at sunset drifts past floating vegetable gardens, lotus beds and boat-borne shops selling saffron, shawls and kahwa. The next morning, you can see the Mughal gardens of Nishat, Shalimar and Chashme Shahi, laid out in terraces down to the lake against the Zabarwan hills.

From Srinagar the trip fans out to three very different valleys. Gulmarg, a two-hour drive away, is a high meadow ringed by pine forest, and its gondola climbs in two phases towards Apharwat peak, where there is snow for much of the year. Pahalgam sits on the Lidder river among tall pines; local union cabs take you to Betaab Valley, Aru and Chandanwari. Sonmarg, on the road to Ladakh, ends at the foot of the Thajiwas glacier, reached on foot or by pony.

Spring is the best-loved season, with almond blossom in March and the Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden, Asia's largest, in full bloom from late March into April. Summer is green and cool while the plains bake, autumn turns the chinar trees copper, and winter brings snow and skiing to Gulmarg. Travellers from Hyderabad usually fly via Delhi or take a direct flight when one is running, and a private car with a local driver handles the valleys. Five nights is the right length to see all three valleys without feeling rushed.