Tiruvannamalai
This 10-hectare temple is one of India's largest. Its oldest parts date to the 9th century, but the site was a place of worship long before that. Four…
Must-see attractions in India
Kolkata (Calcutta)
India's biggest and oldest major museum celebrated its bicentenary in February 2014. It's mostly a lovably old-fashioned place that fills a large…
Velavadar Blackbuck National Park
Gujarat & Diu
This beautiful, 34-sq-km park, an hour's drive north of Bhavnagar, encompasses large areas of pale, custard-coloured grassland stretching between two…
Sikkim
All aflutter with prayer flags, the Norbugang 'coronation park' is a historic woodland garden containing a small temple, a huge prayer wheel, a chorten…
Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
While this is not visually the most stunning temple, tagging along behind a conga-line through the underground chambers can be magical. At nonfestival…
Himachal Pradesh
What makes Sarahan so instantly distinctive are the 'twin towers' of its fabulous Bhimakali Temple, best photographed from behind with a backdrop of…
Sikkim
Visible for miles, this 45m-high statue of Padmasambhava (Guru Rimpoche) is painted in shimmering copper and gilt and sits on a lotus plinth high above…
Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Calling the 300m wide and 32m high Chitrakote Falls the 'Indian Niagara' is actually not too far off the mark. Spectacular at any time, India's widest…
Nagaland
The immaculately maintained war cemetery contains the graves of over 1400 British, Indian and other Allied soldiers, killed in or around Kohima in 1944 as…
Dharamsala
Soothingly set amid bamboo, trees and flowing water, the delightful Norbulingka Institute, 6km southeast of Dharamsala, was established in 1988 to teach…
Himachal Pradesh
Between Palampur and Bir, don't miss a stop in Baijnath, whose uninteresting main-street buildings hide one of Himachal's most exquisite ancient temples…
Ahmedabad (Amdavad)
This mosque, tomb and palace complex is dedicated to the memory of Ahmed Shah I’s spiritual adviser, Ahmed Khattu Ganj Baksh. The elegant, dilapidated…
Himachal Pradesh
On a clear November day, it's hard to imagine a more perfectly framed view than that of Bahu's remarkably preserved village core, perched on a ridgetop…
Sikkim
With a breathtaking backdrop of Himalayan peaks, the gigantic, 41m-tall Buddha statue is one of Sikkim's most iconic sights. Finished in 2013, it's…
Valley of Flowers National Park
Uttarakhand
The bugyals (high-altitude meadows) of tall wildflowers in the Unesco World Heritage–listed Valley of Flowers are a glorious sight on a sunny day,…
Himachal Pradesh
A popular day trip from Kullu starts with a 20km uphill drive southeast to Chansari followed by a 2.5km uphill hike to the Bijli Mahadev. The temple…
Hyderabad
This opulent 18th- and 19th-century palace compound, the main residence of several nizams, comprises several grandiose buildings and four garden…
Hampi
The focal point of Hampi Bazaar is this temple, one of the city’s oldest structures, and Hampi’s only remaining working temple. The main gopuram (gateway)…
Lakshmi Narayan Temple Complex
Himachal Pradesh
Far and away Chamba's top historical attraction, this temple compound crowning Dogra Bazaar contains a line of six beautifully sculpted stone sikharas …
Uttar Pradesh
The highlight of this modest temple, rebuilt in 1927 and set among extensive lawns and excavated monastery and stupa ruins with a circumambulatory path,…
Ladakh
Glorious Thiksey Gompa is one of Ladakh’s biggest and most recognisable monasteries, photogenically cascading down a raised rocky promontory. At its heart…
Maharashtra
The saga of the hammer and chisel comes full circle at the Unesco World Heritage-listed Ellora cave temples, located 30km from Aurangabad. The pinnacle of…
Jaisalmer
The biggest fish in the haveli (traditional, ornately decorated residence) pond is Patwa-ki-Haveli, which towers over a narrow lane, its intricate…
Himachal Pradesh
Meaning 'honoured flame', Jawal-Ji is Jawalmukhi's main temple and raison d'être, enshrining natural eternal flames that are said to mark the legendary…
Hyderabad
The aristocratic Paigah family, purportedly descendants of the second Caliph of Islam, were fierce loyalists of the nizams, serving as statespeople,…
Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Emperor Ashoka's 3rd-century BC Great Stupa, and many other stupas, temples, pillars, gateways and monasteries built in succeeding centuries, stand at the…
Northeast States
Agartala’s centrepiece is this striking, dome-capped palace, fronted by two reflecting lakes and housing the large, outstanding Tripura State Museum. The…
Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Pench is made up mostly of teak-tree forest rather than sal, and so has a different flavour from nearby Kanha or Bandhavgarh. It also sees fewer tourists …
New Delhi
This magnificent white-marble gurdwara (Sikh temple), topped by glinting golden onion domes, was constructed at the site where the eighth Sikh guru,…
Mysuru (Mysore)
Small in scale but masterly in detail, the astonishingly beautiful Keshava Temple is one of the finest examples of Hoysala architecture, on par with the…
Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Tigers are making a comeback after being reintroduced in 2009 to Panna Tiger Reserve from other Madhya Pradesh reserves; there are now thought to be more…
Joshi's Museum of Miniature Railway
Pune
Inside the small Soudamini Instruments factory in eastern Pune is what is claimed to be India's only miniature city, the lifelong obsession of model train…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
The stately 1784 family mansion of Rabindranath Tagore has become a shrine-like museum to India’s greatest modern poet. Even if his personal effects don’t…
Orchha
The spectacular soaring spires of the 16th-century Chaturbhuj Temple are visible from all over town. The Chaturbhuj has never been used for its intended…
Ahmedabad (Amdavad)
The Adalaj Vav, 19km north of Ahmedabad, is among the finest of the Gujarati step-wells. Built by Queen Rudabai in 1498, it has three entrances, leading…
National Gallery of Modern Art
Bengaluru (Bangalore)
Housed in a century-old mansion – the former vacation home of the raja of Mysuru – this world-class art museum showcases an impressive permanent…
Northeast States
The vast, low-walled fort at the heart of Imphal was, with a few interruptions, the political and religious heart of Manipur for many centuries until…
Karnataka
The beautiful Ibrahim Rouza is among the most elegant and finely proportioned Islamic monuments in India. Its 24m-high minarets are said to have inspired…
Krishna Balaram Temple Complex
Vrindavan
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (www.iskcon.org), also known as the Hare Krishnas, is based at the Krishna Balaram temple complex…
Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
While there are sculptures carved into the rock at a few points around the fort, including on the way up from the Gwalior Gate, the most impressive is the…
