When to go where: a season guide for Indian travellers

Most people plan travel around their own calendar rather than the destination's. That is understandable, but it is also why so many trips are remembered for the heat or the crowds.

Shoulder season, the weeks either side of peak, is usually the sweet spot: better weather than the off-season, lower prices and thinner crowds than peak. Here is how that maps across the destinations we book most.

The Gulf: November to March

Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Oman are all winter destinations. Between June and August, daytime temperatures make the outdoor half of any itinerary genuinely unpleasant, and much of what you came to see is outdoors.

November and March are the shoulder months. Warm enough for beaches, cool enough to walk a souq at midday, and noticeably cheaper than the December to February peak.

Southeast Asia: November to March

Thailand's dry season runs November to March, with December and January the peak. November and March give you nearly the same weather at meaningfully lower prices.

Bali runs on a different calendar. Its dry season is April to October, with July and August peak. April, May, September and October are the value months, and September is the one our consultants pick for themselves.

Singapore is genuinely year round. It is two degrees north of the equator, so there is no real season, though February to April is marginally drier.

Europe: April to June, September to October

Switzerland has two peaks: summer for hiking, winter for snow. June and September are the shoulder months, and June is arguably the best time to be in the Alps at all. The high passes are open, the meadows are in flower, and the July crowds have not arrived.

Turkey is at its best in April to June and September to November. July and August are hot and crowded, and winter closes some Cappadocia balloon operations, which is the thing most travellers are going for.

The Maldives: November to April

Dry season is November to April, with December to March the peak and prices to match. May and October sit in the shoulder with a real trade-off: noticeably cheaper, with a higher chance of rain.

Worth knowing that Maldivian rain tends to arrive in short heavy bursts rather than settling in for days, so a shoulder-season trip is less of a gamble than the rainfall averages suggest.

Planning around Indian holidays

Diwali, Christmas and the summer school break drive Indian outbound pricing more than local conditions at the destination. Fares out of Bengaluru in those windows can run 40 to 60 percent above the same route a fortnight either side.

If your dates are flexible by even one week, moving them out of the Indian holiday peak is usually the single largest saving available on the whole trip.

• Book peak-season travel three to four months ahead
• Shoulder season can be booked six to eight weeks out
• Avoid the fortnight either side of Diwali if price matters
• For Schengen destinations, work backwards from visa appointment availability, not flight prices