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66 destinations
Water Alleppey
"Nine hundred kilometres of backwater canals where the ferry, the market and your bedroom all float."
City Auroville
"A gold-plated meditation sphere anchoring an experimental forest city that tries to live without cash."
City Badami
"Rock-cut cave temples hewn directly into a blood-red sandstone ravine echoing with monkey calls."
Water Bangaram Atoll
"Teardrop coral atolls where bioluminescent plankton washes up on uncrowded sand in the Arabian Sea."
City Belur
"Soapstone temples carved with such impossible detail that stone links move like metal chains."
Water Bhedaghat
"Rowboats drift silently down a green river walled by hundred-foot cliffs of pure white marble."
Wilderness Bhimbetka
"Prehistoric hunting scenes painted in blood-red ochre across sandstone shelters buried in thick teak forest."
City Bishnupur
"Burnt-red terracotta temples carved with Hindu epics, their clay panels outliving four centuries of monsoon."
City Bodh Gaya
"Maroon-robed monks chanting beneath the descendant of the fig tree where Buddhism itself began."
City Bundi
"A decaying palace of faded frescoes looming over a blue-painted town of fifty stepwells."
City Bylakuppe
"Maroon-robed monks blowing copper horns in a Tibetan exile settlement hidden among South Indian hills."
City Chettinad
"Seventy-three villages hiding mansions built with Burmese teak, Italian marble, and immense spice wealth."
Mountain Chitkul
"The last village before Tibet, its slate roofs weighted against winters that close the road."
Water Dawki
"A border river flowing so transparent that fishing boats appear to float in mid-air."
Water Dhanushkodi
"A cyclone-destroyed ghost town dissolving into the sea at the very edge of the subcontinent."
Wilderness Dholavira
"A geometry-perfect Harappan metropolis excavated from the blinding white expanse of the Great Rann salt-desert."
Wilderness Dzongu
"A protected indigenous reserve where hot springs bubble beneath the sheer ice wall of Kanchenjunga."
Mountain Dzukou Valley
"Endless rolling mounds of dwarf bamboo hiding ice-cold streams and charred skeletons of ancient trees."
Mountain Gandikota
"A red-stone gorge sliced through by a green river, guarded by a ruined fort."
Mountain Gue Village
"A five-hundred-year-old naturally mummified monk sits uncorrupted in a glass box near the Tibetan border."
Wilderness Hampi
"A ruined empire scattered across a landscape of balancing granite boulders and banana plantations."
Mountain Hanle
"India's darkest night skies, where a hilltop observatory and a Buddhist monastery both point upward."
City Jaipur
"A city dyed terracotta pink where carved palace windows let women watch processions unseen."
City Jaisalmer
"A living fortress carved entirely from golden sandstone rising like a mirage from the Thar."
Wilderness Kaas Plateau
"A volcanic plateau that erupts into a violent carpet of wildflowers three weeks a year."
Mountain Kalpa
"Apple orchards clinging to steep ridges directly facing the razor-sharp granite of the Kinnaur Kailash."
Wilderness Kaziranga
"Two-thirds of the world's one-horned rhinos hiding in grass taller than your jeep."
City Khajuraho
"Elaborate sandstone temples covered in explicitly acrobatic carvings rising unexpectedly from the flat central plains."
Wilderness Khonoma
"A warrior village clinging to terraced slopes that traded headhunting for deep forest conservation."
Mountain Kumbhalgarh
"A thirty-six-kilometre fortress wall snaking over the Aravalli peaks like a heavy stone python."
City Lepakshi
"A hanging stone pillar defying gravity in a courtyard watched by a monolithic granite bull."
Wilderness Longwa
"An indigenous village where the chief's wooden longhouse sits exactly on the India-Myanmar border."
Water Majuli
"A disappearing river island where monks perform centuries-old masked dances in bamboo monasteries."
City Mandawa
"Gramophones and steam trains painted on mansion walls, a desert town turned open-air gallery."
City Mandu
"Afghan palaces floating on monsoon reflection pools among ancient baobab trees far from Africa."
Wilderness Mawphlang
"Sacred groves where thick moss absorbs all sound and removing a single leaf is taboo."
Wilderness McCluskieganj
"A crumbling utopian Anglo-Indian settlement being slowly swallowed by the dense forests of Jharkhand."
Mountain Mechuka
"Wild horses grazing a high valley closed to outsiders until 2005, pines climbing to snow."
Water Munroe Island
"A sinking backwater island navigated by silent dugout canoes through arched and claustrophobic mangrove tunnels."
Water Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Island (Ross Island)
"A British colonial headquarters slowly being digested by ficus roots in the Andaman Sea."
City Orchha
"Cenotaphs glowing honey-gold over the Betwa while vultures roost on their medieval spires."
City Patan
"An inverted seven-storey stepwell plunging into the earth, carved with hundreds of subterranean stone deities."
City Raghurajpur
"A village where every house wall is a canvas and nearly every family holds an artist."
Wilderness Rann of Kutch
"A salt marsh stretching to the horizon that turns blinding white under the full moon."
Mountain Rishikesh
"White-water thundering out of the Himalayan foothills toward ghats where sadhus meditate at dawn."
Mountain Sandakphu
"A trekker's ridgeline where four of Earth's five highest peaks stand in one panorama."
City Sidhpur
"Empty streets lined with pastel European mansions built by a globe-trading merchant community."
Mountain Spiti Valley
"A high-altitude desert of wind-sculpted spires hiding Tibetan monasteries older than the borders."
Wilderness Sundarbans
"Mangrove swamps where tigers swim across muddy delta rivers and honey-gatherers wear masks facing backwards."
Mountain Tawang
"India's largest monastery clinging to a Himalayan spur above cloud level, thick with butter-lamp smoke."
Water Tharangambadi
"A decaying Danish fort battered by the Coromandel tide smelling of ozone and forgotten empires."
Mountain Tso Kar
"Black-necked cranes wade through a high-altitude salt lake encrusted with blinding white mineral rings."
Mountain Tso Moriri
"Nomadic herders grazing pashmina goats beside a high-altitude saltwater lake reflecting barren Himalayan peaks."
City Udaipur
"White marble palaces float on still lakes while the Aravalli hills burn copper at sunset."
Wilderness Unakoti
"Massive stone faces of Hindu deities carved into a jungle cliff-face swallowed by vines."
Wilderness Valparai
"Rainforest canopy spills over tea estates where wild elephants have the right of way."
City Varanasi
"Funeral pyres burning beside a sacred river where thousands bathe in the dawn fog."
Water Velas
"Tiny turtle hatchlings scrambling for the Arabian Sea while a whole village stands guard."
Mountain Yumthang Valley
"A high Himalayan basin carpeted in rhododendrons, with a steaming sulphur spring at its heart."
Mountain Zanskar Valley
"Cliff-clinging monasteries above a frozen river that was for centuries the only winter road."
Wilderness Ziro Valley
"Fish swim between rice stalks in a pine-ringed valley farmed by the Apatani for centuries."
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Legendary Destinations
Little-known places, unlike anywhere else, that leave you awestruck and full of stories.
5 destinations
Legendary Destination
Among granite temples, leopards find a place to rest.
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Legendary Destination
After dark, firelight catches dancers carrying a village's sacred stories.
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Legendary Destination
A visitor from space left a lake that sometimes blushes pink.
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Legendary Destination
The bridge is alive. Its roots reach the other bank.
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Legendary Destination
Look up the cliff. Those caves are rooms for contemplation.
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