A weekend from Delhi, done properly

The mistake most people make with a Delhi weekend is treating every direction as equivalent. They aren't. Two nights spent driving is not two nights away.

If you want quiet, go south-west

The farmhouses around Sohna and the Aravalli fringe are the closest thing to proper silence within two hours of Gurgaon. Low hills, kikar scrub, and enough distance from the highway that you stop hearing it by the second evening. Best between October and March; the summer here is genuinely punishing.

Good for: groups who want to cook, swim and not get in a car again until Sunday.

If you want altitude, go north

Uttarakhand starts paying off at around the five-hour mark. Below that you are in the foothills and the traffic; above it the air changes. Mussoorie and the ridge beyond it are the reliable choice, and the road is good almost the whole way now.

Good for: couples, families with older children, anyone who wants a fire in the evening.

If you want a change of scene rather than a change of climate, go west

Rajasthan within a weekend means Neemrana and around — close enough to reach before dinner on Friday, and different enough in texture that it registers as travel rather than a drive.

Good for: first-time visitors, and anyone who wants photographs that don't look like home.

The practical part

Leave Friday before four or after eight; the window between is the worst of it. Two nights means arriving in daylight on Friday, which is worth more than an extra hour in the office. And check whether the house has staff on Sunday — a lot of the disappointment in a short trip comes from the last morning.