India

India's sprawling capital blends Mughal grandeur with modern chaos — from the Red Fort and Jama Masjid to the bustling lanes of Old Delhi and the leafy avenues of New Delhi designed by Lutyens.

India's financial capital and Bollywood headquarters is a city of dreams built on seven islands — colonial architecture along Marine Drive, street food paradise, and relentless energy.

The Pink City of Rajasthan dazzles with its terracotta-hued old town, hilltop forts, and opulent palaces. Part of India's famous Golden Triangle with Delhi and Agra.

India's smallest state packs in golden beaches, Portuguese colonial churches, spice plantations, and a laid-back tropical vibe that draws backpackers and luxury seekers alike.

One of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities, Varanasi is the spiritual heart of Hinduism. The ghats along the Ganges, evening aarti ceremonies, and silk weaving tradition create an unforgettable experience.

Home to the Taj Mahal — the white-marble Mughal mausoleum Shah Jahan built for Mumtaz Mahal between 1632-1653, and one of the planet's most familiar buildings. UNESCO 1983. Agra Fort + the Baby Taj round out the trio of Mughal masterpieces; Fatehpur Sikri 40km west adds another UNESCO site for day-trippers. Sits on the Golden Triangle between Delhi (200km north) and Jaipur (240km southwest). The Gatimaan Express does Delhi-Agra in 1h40m, India's fastest train. Air pollution and aggressive touts are real downsides.

Rajasthan's "City of Lakes" is India at its most romantic — white-marble palaces ring Lake Pichola, with the Taj Lake Palace floating on its own island. Founded 1559 by Mewar king Maharana Udai Singh II. The City Palace is Rajasthan's largest, Bagore-ki-Haveli puts on a nightly folk-dance show, and the Monsoon Palace crowns the sunset hill. James Bond Octopussy filmed here. Day trip to Kumbhalgarh Fort (UNESCO, second-longest wall after China). Cleaner air and saner traffic than Delhi or Agra.

The ruined capital of the Vijayanagara Empire (14th-16th century) scattered across a surreal landscape of 500 million-year-old granite boulders in northern Karnataka. UNESCO since 1986. The Virupaksha Temple still functions as an active Hindu shrine; the Vittala Temple's musical pillars and Stone Chariot are the postcard images. The Tungabhadra River divides the bazaar-and-temple side from the Hippie Island (Virupapur Gaddi) backpacker scene. Reached via overnight sleeper bus from Bangalore or Goa.

"God's Own Country" — India's tropical southwestern coast, where 900 km of palm-fringed beaches meet a 1,500 km maze of backwater canals. Overnight kettuvallam houseboat cruises out of Alleppey (Alappuzha), tea plantations blanketing the Munnar hills at 1,500m, the colonial spice port of Fort Kochi, Kathakali face-painted dance, and Periyar Tiger Reserve. Ayurvedic massage is everywhere. Monsoon June-September is dramatic but most travel is October-March.

South India's temple capital — Meenakshi Amman Temple is one of the world's great Hindu complexes, with 14 gopuram towers encrusted in 33,000 painted stucco figures, the tallest soaring 52 metres above the old city. 15,000 pilgrims visit daily; the temple never closes. Madurai is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities, with Greek accounts from 300 BCE, and is nicknamed 'the city that never sleeps.' The Gandhi Museum houses the dhoti the Mahatma was wearing when assassinated.

The self-styled Yoga Capital of the World sits where the Ganges descends from the Himalayas into the plains of north India — 280+ ashrams, 100+ yoga schools, the iconic Lakshman Jhula and Ram Jhula suspension bridges, and the abandoned Beatles Ashram (Chaurasi Kutia) where Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr wrote much of the White Album in February-April 1968. The entire city is officially vegetarian and alcohol-free by municipal law. Add white-water rafting on the Class III-IV upper Ganges, the nightly Ganga Aarti fire ceremonies at Triveni Ghat and Parmarth Niketan, and the spectacular setting in the Himalayan foothills, and Rishikesh is the most spiritually distinctive destination in India that doesn't require pilgrim-level commitment.

The high-altitude Buddhist kingdom of Ladakh, separated from Jammu & Kashmir as its own Union Territory in 2019, is more Tibetan than Indian — a 3,524 m capital city in Leh, 17th-century palaces and 12-storey monasteries terraced up cliff faces, the 134 km turquoise saltwater Pangong Lake on the Tibet border, the white-sand dunes and Bactrian camels of Nubra Valley, and passes (Khardung La 5,359 m, Chang La 5,360 m) among the highest paved roads anywhere. The temperatures swing 50°C between summer days and winter nights; rainfall is under 100 mm annually. The only practical visiting season for most travellers is June through September, and acclimatisation to the altitude is the most important first 48 hours. The most spectacular Indian destination most foreign travellers haven't been to.

Karnataka's heritage capital, a 3-hour drive south of Bangalore on the Deccan Plateau, organized around the Indo-Saracenic Mysore Palace - the Wodeyar royal residence rebuilt in 1912 and lit by 100,000 incandescent bulbs every Sunday evening and on every public holiday. Beyond the palace gates, Mysore is the country's silk, sandalwood, and agarbathi (incense) capital, with Devaraja Market piling jasmine garlands and turmeric pyramids in the centre of the old town. Chamundi Hill and its 12th-century temple watches the city from a 1,000-step staircase to the south, and the city's slower pace and cleaner air make it the standard cultural counterweight to Bangalore's tech sprawl.

Kerala's port city and commercial capital, where four centuries of Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonial layers stack on top of a much older Arab and Chinese spice-trade harbour. Fort Kochi - the historic peninsula across the harbour from the modern mainland - holds the Chinese fishing nets along Vasco da Gama Square, St Francis Church (where Vasco da Gama was first buried in 1524, the oldest European-built church in India), the 1568 Paradesi Synagogue in Jew Town, and the Mattancherry Palace with its Hindu mythology murals. The city is also the standard launching point for Kerala's backwater houseboats out of Alleppey, 90 minutes south.

A small Hindu pilgrimage town in central Rajasthan built around a sacred lake ringed by 52 ghats and dominated by the only major Brahma temple in India - the rare temple to the creator god in a country that overwhelmingly favours Vishnu and Shiva. Pushkar is a strict vegetarian and alcohol-free zone year round, anchoring a slow backpacker scene of rooftop cafes and Aravalli sunset hikes for most of the calendar. Once a year, on the November full moon, the desert outside town fills with the Pushkar Camel Fair: 50,000-plus camels, horses, and cattle traded over five days in the year's flagship Rajasthani spectacle. Ajmer railhead is 30 minutes east.