travellers' checks

l Just opened in India is a brand new luxury hotel which offers its guests multiple incentives for making the trip there. Set in 30 acres of orchards, decorative pools and fountains in Jaipur, the Rajvilas is India's first luxury spa. Despite its newness, the hotel spa specalises in the tradition Indian ayurvedic principles as well as the western art of aromatherapy.

Greaves Travel, which specialises in holidays to India, is offering a seven-night stay at Rajvilas from #1224 per person. This price is based on room-only accommodation and includes return scheduled flights with British Airways, from London to Delhi, and internal flights to Jaipur.

For more information call Greaves Travel on 0171 487 9111.

l For grandeur of a different kind, and on a different scale, Travelpack is offering two fly-drive holidays which feature the Grand Canyon as the main attraction. The 15-day Best of the West itinerary begins and ends in Los Angeles and includes two nights in Phoenix or Scottsdale, one night in Flagstaff and a night at the Grand Canyon. Prices, based on two people sharing a twin room, start at #393 per person. Other highlights on this trip are the drive across the Nevada desert, with a night in Death valley, a trip into Yosemite National park, and two nights in San Francisco.

Los Angeles is also the starting point for the 14-day circular Western Values tour which takes in Williams, the Grand Canyon and - via a route through the Navajo Indian Reservation - Lake Powell. Prices for this trip start at #291 per person, based on two people sharing a twin room.

For both tours, flights and car hire are not included in the prices given. For more information call Travelpack on 0161 707 4405.

l Self-catering holidays are a popular and logical choice for families - though possibly not the number one choice of mothers who invariably end up doing just as much cooking and cleaning on holiday as they do at home. If that doesn't put you off, and you are still contemplating self-catering then the best thing you can do is reach for The Good Holiday Cottage Guide.

The Good Holiday Cottage Guide is basically a ''warts and all'' look at the best self-catering accommodation in the British Isles. It spans everything from stone shepherds' cottages in the Highlands to converted mills in sight of Snowdonia, via half-timbered cottages at the end of quite lanes in Suffolk.

The guide is especially helpful for families as a many of the cottages, and not just farms, have animals to fuss over. And many are by the sea - in several cases almost in it - so there are plenty of paddling opportunities.

The Good Holiday Cottage Guide costs #5.95 in shops or direct from Swallow Press, PO Box 21, Hertford, Herts, SG2 7BX.