These are the top 10 places to visit in India

02.09.2023 - 17:43 / lonelyplanet.com

India’s astonishing variety of sights has to be seen to be believed. Travelers have devoted lifetimes to exploring the famous places and forgotten corners of India, driven onwards by the certainty that there’s always more to see.

Mughal palaces, towering Hindu temples, mountain monasteries, lost kingdoms, cultured cities, and genteel hill stations in the foothills of the Himalayas all jostle for attention in a country that is proudly shaking off the legacy of colonialism and repositioning itself as a global superpower. With such incredible diversity on offer, there’s just one question – where do you start?

Well, our advice is to not take on too much during a single visit. Pick an area – the tropical south perhaps, or the northern plains, or the mountain valleys of the Himalayas – and give yourself time to pause and soak up the atmosphere as well as rushing around the sights.  

Wherever you go, you’re guaranteed a mind-expanding and exhilarating blast of color, soul-soaring splendor, earth-shaking history and moments of pure serenity. Equal parts magic and mayhem, this mix of the intense and the sublime is what makes traveling to India such an intense and addictive experience.

While this was no easy list to compile, we’re proud to present our pick of the 10 best places to visit in India.

At the top of everyone’s bucket list, the Taj Mahal is every bit as glorious as people imagine it would be – a magnificent monument to lost love, executed in pearl-white marble. Views of the world’s most beautiful building framed by a Mughal archway or floating above the misty Yamuna River will be one of the defining moments of any trip to India.

But there’s more to the former Mughal capital than the Taj. Add on a couple of days and you can tack on a visit to the architecturally stunning tomb of the Emperor Akbar, his rose-red sandstone former capital at Fatehpur Sikri and sprawling Agra Fort, one of India’s most epic fortifications. Thronged by millions of visitors, Agra is not always relaxing, but it’s always fascinating.

There are few places as beguiling and bewitching as the sacred Hindu city of Varanasi. Millennia-old death rituals play out daily at the cremation ghats that line the bank of the sacred River Ganges, while the maze-like alleyways of the nearby old town reveal dizzying surprises at every turn. We defy anyone to visit without some internal soul-searching about their place in the universe.

Be ready for some challenges. The hard-edged realities of life and death and the inequalities that continue to cause hardship for many in India play out daily on the streets of the world’s oldest living city. But there are also moments of gentleness – rise at dawn and wander the ghats (riverside steps) and you’ll see