The best places to visit in India

The Taj Mahal, Agra. Yes, it is the obvious one, and it earns it. Go at sunrise, when the marble changes colour and the crowds are thinnest, and give Agra Fort the same morning — it is a remarkable Mughal fort in its own right, and it holds the view Shah Jahan reportedly spent his last years looking at. Closed on Fridays.

Rajasthan. Jaipur's palaces and Amber Fort, Udaipur's lakes, Jodhpur's blue city under Mehrangarh — which is among the finest forts anywhere — and Jaisalmer, a living fort city in the Thar desert. This is the most rewarding first-time circuit in India, and it is well set up for travellers.

Kerala. The backwaters around Alleppey and Kumarakom by houseboat, the tea hills of Munnar, the Periyar reserve, and a coastline that runs from Kochi's Chinese fishing nets and colonial quarter down to Varkala's cliffs. The most relaxed introduction to India there is.

Varanasi. Among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, and the most intense place in the country. The evening Ganga aarti at Dashashwamedh ghat and a boat at dawn along the ghats are the experiences people remember longest. Not a gentle first stop, but an unforgettable one.

Ladakh. High-altitude desert at the top of the country — Leh, the Nubra valley, Pangong Tso, and monasteries at Thiksey and Hemis. Accessible roughly June to September by road; flying in requires two days of acclimatisation before doing anything strenuous, and that is not optional advice.

Hampi. The ruins of Vijayanagara scattered across an extraordinary boulder landscape in Karnataka — vast, walkable, and far less visited than it deserves.

Goa. Beaches, Portuguese churches and a distinct culture; the north for activity, the south for quiet, and the interior for the spice plantations and old Goan houses almost nobody sees.

Underrated and worth the detour: Meghalaya's living root bridges and Cherrapunji; Spiti valley, harder to reach than Ladakh and emptier; Khajuraho's temples; the Andaman Islands for diving; Bundi in Rajasthan, which has Udaipur's charm without its crowds; Pondicherry's French quarter; and Ahmedabad's old city, India's first UNESCO World Heritage city, which almost no foreign itinerary includes.

Overrated relative to the effort, in our view: the Delhi–Agra–Jaipur circuit done in three days, which reduces three substantial cities to photo stops; and any hill station in peak season, where the traffic can exceed the city you left.

Permits catch people out. Indian citizens need an Inner Line Permit for Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur, and parts of Ladakh and Sikkim have their own permit requirements. Foreign nationals need a Protected Area Permit for several of these, and it can take time. Check before booking anything.

Foreign nationals need a visa; an e-Visa is available to many nationalities through the official government portal — use indianvisaonline.gov.in and not the many lookalike sites that charge a markup for the same thing.

Season is decisive rather than advisory. October to March suits most of the country. April to June is dangerously hot across the plains, with heatwaves that kill. June to September is the monsoon — beautiful in the Western Ghats, difficult in the hills where landslides close roads, and the only window for Ladakh and Spiti.

National parks largely close during the monsoon, typically July to September, and reopen in October. Tiger sightings are best in the hot months of March to May when animals concentrate at water sources — the trade-off is real.

Book trains well ahead through IRCTC; reservations open months in advance and popular routes fill. Tatkal quota opens one day before departure and is a scramble. AC classes are comfortable and inexpensive by international standards; overnight sleeper trains are one of the genuine pleasures of Indian travel.

Domestic flights are competitive and often cheaper than a long train journey booked late — fly between regions, travel by road or rail within them.

Many monuments are closed one day a week — the Taj Mahal on Fridays, most Archaeological Survey sites on Mondays or Fridays — and ticket prices differ substantially between Indian citizens and foreign nationals, which is standard and posted.

Food is one of the main reasons to come, and stomach trouble is the main thing that disrupts trips. The reliable rules: eat where there is turnover and a queue, prefer freshly cooked hot food over anything sitting out, be careful with cut fruit and salads washed in tap water, and drink sealed bottled or filtered water. Street food from a busy stall is often safer than a quiet restaurant.

Travel insurance with medical evacuation cover is genuinely worth it, particularly for the Himalaya where evacuation is by helicopter and expensive.

Book accommodation and transport through established platforms, and use app-based cabs or prepaid taxi counters at airports and stations rather than negotiating at the kerb.

Solo women travellers do travel widely in India, and the practical advice is the same as anywhere but applied more consistently: pre-booked airport transfers, avoiding arriving anywhere late at night, dressing more conservatively than at home, and using women-only train compartments and metro carriages where provided. The tourist helpline on 1363 operates in multiple languages, and 181 is the women's helpline.

Carry a scarf, modest clothing for religious sites, and remember that footwear comes off at temples, mosques, gurdwaras and most homes.

Cash is still useful in small towns, but UPI is accepted almost everywhere including by street vendors — international visitors can now access UPI through prescribed routes, which is worth setting up.

The distances are the thing to plan around. Look up the actual travel time between your stops before committing to an itinerary, not the map distance — Indian road speeds are much lower than the kilometres suggest.