Learn to surf, gain coaching and lifesaving qualifications, and work with charities on a three-month adventure in South Africa. You will help in schools, on sports programmes and teach children how to surf.

Kicking off from Cape Town on January 17, participants will stop off at eight surfing hot spots between there and Durban.

The tour costs from £4,850 — which includes accommodation, internal transport, instruction, first-aid course and social events, but not international flights or food.

Ticket to Ride (01428 707287, www.ttride.co.uk).

Indian art

The palaces, forts, temples and tombs of northern India offer huge inspiration to artists. Join a 14-day “Princes and Palaces” painting tour with tutoring by British artist James Horton.

Brush up your skills on the Taj Mahal at sunset, sketch the vibrant bustle of Delhi, and try your hand at miniature painting using only a single hair from a squirrel’s tail in the rose-pink city of Jaipur.

The tour runs from November 4-18, and costs £2,790 for flights, transfers, half board, sightseeing and tuition.

Indus Tours (020-8901 7320, www.industours.co.uk).

Go Gambia

The Gambia, one of Africa’s smallest countries, and until recently a three-star beach package destination, now punches above its weight with new upmarket hotels, eco-lodges and conservation schemes.

New sailing holidays launch in November: a catamaran will make three and seven-day sailings through the country’s maze of mangroves, lagoons, islands and riverside villages. Prices start at £348 full board for each of four sharing for three nights, and £745 for seven nights, excluding flights.

The Gambia Experience is also introducing luxury West Africa cruises from Dakar in Senegal. The 34-passenger yacht Callisto has 17 “state rooms” with marble bathrooms, lounge, dining room and sun decks, and her seven-day voyages will include the River Gambia, and outings to Kiang West National Park, Abuko Nature Reserve and Makasutu Cultural Forest. Prices start at £3,995, excluding flights.

The Gambia Experience (0845 3302044, www.gambia.co.uk).

Baltic beauty

The Lithuanian seaside resort of Palanga, a playground for summer weekenders, is the latest Baltic destination to be offered by Regent Holidays. Lively clubs, bars and cafés attract a young, hip crowd. Near by you can visit a geological oddity, the Curonian Spit, an isolated 95km (60 mile) fringe of sand where you can climb 20-metre dunes or spot deer, wild boar, elk and 34 other mammal species in dense pine forests. The Spit, which is now a national park, includes pretty fishing villages such as Nida, and the wild and beautiful wetlands of the Nemunas Delta. Three-night breaks with flights and B&B start at £395.

Regent Holidays (0870 4990911, www.regent-holidays.co.uk).