Easy Getaways For The Independence Day Long Weekend
You've got four days and a passport, and we've got your itinerary
August 15 lands on a Friday this year. That means exactly three precious days — maybe four if your boss believes in patriotism as much as you do — to cross a border and do something worth bragging about back at the office.
But here’s the thing — not all “quick getaway” lists are created equal. Most will chuck out the same tired combos: “Bhutan for the mountains, Sri Lanka for beaches, Vietnam for pho.” But we’ve done the heavy listing – and this is a blueprint to where you should be going on your long weekend getaway.
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Ahangama & Uva, Sri Lanka
Visa: ETA online
Sri Lanka can be a checklist trip — Galle Fort, Yala, tea plantations — but if you want something more curated for a long weekend, base yourself in Ahangama, a surf town that’s just graduated from backpacker hangout to boutique-chic.
Start with a sunrise paddle out (even if you’re not a surfer, the local instructors will have you standing on a board before your second cup of coffee). Then ditch the coast for a drive up into Uva, where the Amba Estate offers tea tastings that go beyond “sip and nod” — you’ll be rolling leaves, plucking tips, and learning why your supermarket tea bags taste like damp cardboard. Add a night in Kandy to squeeze in a personalised yoga session at Santani Wellness, and you’ve essentially designed a beach-to-mountain detox in 72 hours.
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Kuala Lumpur & Genting Highlands, Malaysia
Visa: E-visa (valid for 30 days)
Kuala Lumpur is a food city first, skyline city second. You can spend your first evening grazing through Jalan Alor — imagine smoky satay skewers, char kway teow stir-fried to wok-hei perfection, and mango sticky rice that tastes like it was made to be eaten at 1 a.m.
Come morning, we suggest you go vertical — the Petronas Towers Skybridge is a tourist trap worth the view.
But here’s the hack: trade the city heat for a quick, 45-minute drive into the Genting Highlands. The air is cool, the clouds are low, and you can split your time between hiking the forest trails of Awana Bio Park and sampling single-origin beans at the local coffee roasteries. Stay at the boutique Geo Resort Hotel and watch the mist roll past your balcony — it’s like Manali but oh, so much better.
Salalah, Oman
Visa: E-visa
I bet this destination is so offbeat, you haven’t even heard of it. But isn’t that the best part? Oman in August sounds like madness — unless you know about Salalah. Thanks to the khareef monsoon, the southern Dhofar region turns emerald, waterfalls appear in the desert, and the air smells strongly of frankincense (Seriously, don’t even think about coming back without this). You can rent a 4x4 and chase the mist up into Wadi Darbat, where camels wander through meadows and waterfalls crash into turquoise pools.
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Skip Muscat entirely this time, it’s too hot — Salalah is its own mood. You can spend your afternoons at the Haffa Souq trying out the mouth-watering Omani halwa, and your mornings spotting dolphins off Mughsayl Beach.
Ha Long Bay & Hanoi, Vietnam
Visa: E-visa (30 days)
Base in Hanoi for the food — pho at Pho Bat Dan, egg coffee at Cafe Giang — but you just need to reserve one full day for Ha Long Bay. Skip the big cruise ships and book a day-long private junk or even better, a kayak trip that snakes into the limestone caves and lagoons the big boats can’t reach.
Evenings back in Hanoi are for bia hoi (fresh beer) on tiny stools in the Old Quarter, and late-night banh mi from Banh Mi 25. There’s always something new to discover in this city – a rustic alley, a hidden shrine, a noodle shop. You never know.
Thimphu, Bhutan
Visa: None for Indians
Bhutan is marketed as a trekker’s paradise, but if you’re not here for altitude headaches, do Thimphu as a city escape. You can start with the Centenary Farmers’ Market over the weekend — two floors of vegetables, incense, yak cheese, and the country’s obsession: ema datshi (chilli cheese).
Afternoons are for slow museum-hopping — you can visit the the Folk Heritage Museum for rural life, the National Textile Museum for handwoven ghos and kiras. Evenings, walk up to the Buddha Dordenma statue for a beautiful mountain sunset. But even without the hikes and the food, Bhutan is just a beautiful place if you’re just looking for a quiet getaway.
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Kathmandu & Bhaktapur, Nepal — Courtyards, chaos, and quiet gardens
Visa: None for Indians
Kathmandu wakes up to incense and temple bells, and you should too — start at Pashupatinath, then take the short drive to Bhaktapur, where brick-paved alleys and open squares feel like they’ve been frozen mid-century. Back in the city, the Patan Museum is a restored palace worth lingering in, before retreating to the Garden of Dreams — shaded, quiet, and nothing like Thamel’s chaos.
Evenings, dive into Thamel’s warren of trekking shops, brassware stalls, and rooftop cafes serving momos. If you can, buy a secondhand book from Pilgrims Book House — part souvenir, part future coffee-table brag.
Hong Kong
Visa: Pre-arrival Registration (PAR) for Indians
What else is there to do in Hong Kong except go on hikes, go on shopping sprees, eat dimsums, and then do it all over again the next day?
Hong Kong doesn’t need an intro, but it does need a better long-weekend script. If you’re into hikes, then Dragon’s Back hike is a game changer – it offers views that stretch from the coastline to the skyscrapers. You can grab dim sums after at Tim Ho Wan, and then take the ferry to Lantau Island for the Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery. Evenings belong to Temple Street Night Market, where fortune tellers, vintage jade, and sizzling claypot rice all compete for your attention. If you want the skyline cliché shot, go to the Ozone Bar at the Ritz-Carlton.