Cuisine

The boho-chic coastline of Goa has beckoned visitors for decades, even centuries, if you count the Portuguese colonialists — and for good reason. With white sand beaches, tranquil towns, delicious food and easy transport, Goa is considered the most family-friendly state in India. Gather your brood and head to the northern beaches of Mandrem or Ashvem, where the whole family can nestle into a luxury beach tent retreat with plush bedding and room service from the outstanding nearby French and Indian restaurants. Little ones can swim, surf, parasail or dolphin watch under the watchful eye of on-season lifeguards. Goa also offers intrepid eaters a perfect opportunity to fall in love with Indian cuisine: From crispy dosas to creamy lassis, buttered naan to savory momos, the food in this region is accessible enough to appeal to youngsters and adventurous enough to expand their pallets. Encourage the culinary broadening with a trip to a Goan spice plantation where you can taste cashews, ginger, nutmeg, turmeric and cardamom as well as fruits grown on the property like guava, papaya, pineapple and jackfruit. For lunch on the go, stop at a local paowalla or bread seller to buy fresh poi (bread) with butter and mango jam. Aguada Fort, Dudhsagar Falls and Goa’s Ark Petting Zoo are also on the must-do list for kiddos traveling to this welcoming, beautiful state.

WHEN TO GO: To coastline of Goa is best visited from November to March when the heat is not overwhelming and the weather is clear and cloudless. Take the kids, as it’s the most family-friendly region of India.

FOR KIDS: This is an experience for children of all ages, though younger children may be sensitive to stronger spices. Camping facilities do not offer facilities for infant diaper-changing.

A destination of extraordinary culinary and architectural grandeur, the Chettinad region in Tamil Nadu has a heritage rooted in a certain 17th-century community of wealthy Nattukottai Chettiar merchants who settled as far as Burma, Vietnam and Singapore and made fortunes trading money, gems and spices. They sent back boats laden with lavish furnishings, Burmese teak, Belgian glass, and Italian marble to convert their ancestral homes into mansions, thus blending colonial and Art Deco styles with the Tamil tradition of wide-colonnaded internal courtyards. On their travels, Chettiars developed a taste for a highly-spiced, early version of Indian fusion. They created their own unique tradition of Tamil cuisine, featuring complex combinations of aromatic spices like star anise, nutmeg, cloves, fennel and fenugreek – freshly ground by stone and cooked on open wood fires, giving dishes a distinctive smoky flavor. Many of these dishes, like the generously spiced eral kuzhambu (prawn curry), nandu varuval (crab masala), chicken pepper fry, and palikattu chettinadu (fried paneer cheese in a mustard seed and curry leaf gravy) are now popular all over South India. Karaikudi is the largest village that make up this unique community, has a weekly food market and dozens of antique shops packed with collections of vintage enamel kitchenware.

WHEN TO GO: For a day full of exploration, visit Chettinad when the weather is in the 50s and 60s to enjoy the busy streets and their many scents. October-December will yield the best weather.

Set alongside the Sabarmati River, the Gujarati city of Ahmedabad is a combination of atmospheric old town and modern metropolis known for its sublime street food. Many dishes are prepared according to the principles of Jainism, an ancient Indian religion where followers believe that all life is sacred. To that end, they are not only vegetarian, but also won’t eat anything that grows below ground, as harvesting would mean killing plants like onions, potatoes and carrots. Despite these tight rules, the labyrinth of narrow lanes between ancient mosques, temples, markets and courtyards of the old city buzzes with food stalls selling delicious Jain dishes around the clock. Among the array of mouthwatering options available are a chickpea pasta snack called khandvi, savory Moorish sponge cakes called dhokla, curried yogurt kadhi soup, freshly baked flatbreads and an assortment of perfectly spiced vegetable dishes, daals and chutneys. Thali-style restaurant meals in Ahmedabad offer a taste of several different dishes, which waiters serve on large shared platters in rapid succession.

WHEN TO GO: Set along the river and known for its street food, enjoy Ahmedabad from March to May, before it’s too stuffy, but before the onset of monsoon season.