INDIA
Avast repository of fascinating historical delights, India’s heritage spans millennia and lives today through its patchwork of people, faiths and traditions. Whatever image you have in your head of India, whether it’s crumbling palaces, delicately carved temples or chugging steam trains, you will find that and countless treasures besides. The Taj Mahal and rest of the Golden Triangle’s world-famous attractions may be the first thing that spring to mind, but don’t even come close to scratching the surface of what awaits visitors seeking the country’s past.
If time is limited, pick a region like Rajasthan and explore it in some detail. Udaipur’s magnificent palace and the magical cities of Jaipur, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur offer one splendid fort after another. It’s easily combined with Delhi, Agra and the Mughal city of Fatehpur Sikri. With a little more time, India’s tropical south offers ornately carved temples at Mamallapuram, the French colonial city of Puducherry (Pondicherry) and Madurai’s towers, one of the wonders of the subcontinent.
This being India, there are remarkable differences on offer at the other end of the country. Anyone on the trail of colonial India will thrill to the train ride from Delhi to Shimla, where a narrow-gauge railway forms the last part of the journey. A high-altitude highlights reel takes in the loop through the Himalayas to Leh and then on to the mountain retreat of Dalhousie and the centre of Buddhist culture at Dharamsala. There are dozens of other world-class destinations. We haven’t even mentioned the surreal and beautiful ruins at Hampi, Mumbai’s exciting cityscape and Kerala’s backwaters.