Places for this
ChennaiTamil temples, a very long city beach and some of India's best breakfasts, in a big, warm, unshowy city.KolkataColonial buildings, bookstalls, street food and festivals in a big, old, argumentative city on the Hooghly river.KutchA white salt desert, craft villages and an ancient city site, in a remote district that's best from November to February.MaduraiTowering temple gateways and night food, in a busy temple city in the heart of Tamil Nadu.MajuliA large Brahmaputra river island you can only reach by ferry, with villages, potters and Hindu monasteries called satras.ShantiniketanRabindranath Tagore's university town in rural Bengal, with open-air classes, a UNESCO listing and almost no nightlife.AhmedabadA walled old city of mosques, Jain carving and Gandhi's ashram, in dry Gujarat, with very good vegetarian food.AmritsarThe Golden Temple, the great Sikh shrine with a free kitchen open day and night, plus the Partition Museum and the old city.GuwahatiA busy Brahmaputra river city with one famous hill temple, and your main way into Northeast India.HyderabadCharminar, Golconda Fort and the Qutb Shahi Tombs: the Deccan's great Muslim dynasties, all in one city.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.Kohima and HornbillNagaland's hill capital and the Hornbill Festival, ten days of Naga tribal culture each December. Permit required.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.PuneMaratha history, a hill fort, good cafes and bars, in a calm city that works as a stop on the way to Ajanta.PushkarA holy lake ringed by stone steps, sunrise from a hilltop temple, and a camel fair that fills the town once a year.ShillongA cool hill capital you'll use as a comfortable base for the waterfalls and rivers of Meghalaya.UdaipurPalaces on still lakes, a sunset boat, rooftop dinners, and a long day out to a hill fort and a Jain temple.ZiroA quiet high valley in Arunachal Pradesh, with Apatani villages, pine groves and a lake. You'll need a permit.AjmerJoin the crowds at a Sufi saint's shrine that draws people of every faith, then take the short road to Pushkar.Anandpur SahibWhere the Khalsa, the Sikh order, began in 1699, with a Moshe Safdie museum that tells you the whole story.BengaluruLeafy parks, old breakfast houses and India's easiest nightlife, in a mild, modern city with its own relaxed pace.BundiPainted palace rooms, stepwells and a hill fort, in a small town much quieter than Rajasthan's big cities.Dharamshala-McLeod GanjThe home of the Tibetan exile community in India, in pine hills below the snow-capped Dhauladhar range.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.LucknowGrand imambaras, halls built for Shia gatherings, and Awadhi food, in a city few foreigners reach.Patna SahibThe birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, in Bihar's capital on the Ganges.SohraTall waterfalls on a rain-soaked Khasi Hills ridge, and thousands of steps down to bridges grown from living roots.VaranasiBoats at dawn, fire on the river at dusk, and life and death in plain sight on the same stone steps.