India, Sept. 13 -- I think I have been doing short holidays wrong. For years, a three-day trip meant one of two things. Either I would pack the itinerary so tightly that by the time I was heading home, I needed another holiday to recover. Or I would book a lovely hotel, stay put for three days, eat, swim, sleep and eventually start wondering what we were supposed to do next. My three-day stay at Club Mahindra Virajpet in Coorg made me realise there is a third option. Find a property where the holiday is already happening. And suddenly, three days felt like a lot more.

This was the first thing that struck me at Club Mahindra Virajpet. The property is enormous, surrounded by the green hills of Coorg, with its own coffee plantation, private...