Places for this
AhmedabadA walled old city of mosques, Jain carving and Gandhi's ashram, in dry Gujarat, with very good vegetarian food.Bijapur (Vijayapura)A giant dome that carries your whisper across the room, and the tomb people call the Taj Mahal of the Deccan.BundiPainted palace rooms, stepwells and a hill fort, in a small town much quieter than Rajasthan's big cities.JaipurHill forts, bazaars and rooftop evenings in Rajasthan's pink-walled royal capital.JodhpurThe Blue City: a huge hill fort above a maze of lanes, and your way into the Thar desert.KochiAn old trading port you can walk, with Dutch, Portuguese and Jewish history, good food and harbour ferries.MahabalipuramTemples cut from single rocks, a huge carved rock face and a fishing beach, all in one small town south of Chennai.MysuruA royal city with a grand palace, a busy old market and a hill above the town, easy to do in two days.PondicherryA former French town on the Tamil coast: colour-washed streets, cafes, a long seafront and Auroville nearby.UdaipurPalaces on still lakes, a sunset boat, rooftop dinners, and a long day out to a hill fort and a Jain temple.AgraThe Taj Mahal plus two more Mughal sites, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri. One or two days is plenty.HampiThe ruins of a lost empire scattered among huge boulders, best seen on foot in the cool months.HyderabadCharminar, Golconda Fort and the Qutb Shahi Tombs: the Deccan's great Muslim dynasties, all in one city.JaisalmerA golden sandstone fort people still live in, at the edge of the Thar desert, with dunes and camel rides close by.KhajurahoHindu and Jain temples covered in carved stone figures, in a small town you can see in two days.KolkataColonial buildings, bookstalls, street food and festivals in a big, old, argumentative city on the Hooghly river.LucknowGrand imambaras, halls built for Shia gatherings, and Awadhi food, in a city few foreigners reach.OrchhaPalaces, working temples and memorial domes on the Betwa river, with fewer crowds than Agra or Khajuraho.ShantiniketanRabindranath Tagore's university town in rural Bengal, with open-air classes, a UNESCO listing and almost no nightlife.ShimlaStroll the ridge of a British-era hill capital at about 2,200 m, with a colonial church and deodar forest all around.Ajanta-ElloraBuddhist wall paintings at Ajanta, and Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temples cut into a hillside at Ellora.Alibaug-KonkanPalm trees, quiet beaches and old sea forts, one ferry ride from Mumbai.BengaluruLeafy parks, old breakfast houses and India's easiest nightlife, in a mild, modern city with its own relaxed pace.ChennaiTamil temples, a very long city beach and some of India's best breakfasts, in a big, warm, unshowy city.MumbaiBig and loud: colonial stone, street food, late nights, and a boat to Hindu carvings at Elephanta.OotyCool air, tea slopes, gardens and a historic mountain railway you can't count on, in the Nilgiri hills.PuneMaratha history, a hill fort, good cafes and bars, in a calm city that works as a stop on the way to Ajanta.Puri, Konark, BhubaneswarA pilgrimage beach town, Konark's stone chariot temple and the old temples of Bhubaneswar, close together in Odisha.