India ? a mysterious country rejects rules and has an aversion to change; India that is a subcontinent with a 5000-year old history. A civilization united by its diversity which has made it a land of great liberties. But don't be disorientated but the big number of temples that remind you of the spirituality of Indians. The new India they are usually referring to the shiny new offices and businesses parks on the outskirts of the cities. For the tourist India can be overwhelming, and it has certainly become a more stressful place to visit.



The best travel place and things to do in India

Delhi, India

Delhi is the symbol of old India and new . . . even the stones here whisper to our ears of the ages of long ago and the air we breathe is full of the dust and fragrances of the past, as also of the fresh and piercing winds of the present.

Bangalore, India

Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka. With its salubrious climate, tree-lined avenues, trendy, yuppy downtown, and the software flood, Bangalore truly offers one a picture of striking contrasts. There are old beautiful bungalows, parks, hallowed places of worship and traditional market-places on the one hand, balancing with fashionable shopping malls, pubs, new architectural wonders and modern looking religious centres on the other. Check out what you like here and just get going!

Goa, India

The churches and convents of Goa, the former capital of the Portuguese Indies ? particularly the Church of Bom Jesus, which contains the tomb of St Francis-Xavier ? illustrate the evangelization of Asia. These monuments were influential in spreading forms of Manueline, Mannerist and Baroque art in all the countries of Asia where missions were established.

Mumbai, India

Ever since the opening of the Suez Canal in the 1860s, the principal gateway to the Indian subcontinent has been MUMBAI (Bombay), the city Aldous Huxley famously described as "the most appalling . . . of either hemisphere". Travellers tend to regard time spent here as a rite of passage to be survived rather than savoured.

Chennai, India

Chennai is a seaside (and a major port) city where the sea is a rhapsodist blue, hugging the second largest beach in the world. It has many monuments and temples exemplifying the contributions of the Chola and Pallava Dynasties to the ancient Dravidian civilization. Chennai also has the ancient churches and Cathedrals pointing to British heritage of 150 years.

Jaipur, India

A flamboyant showcase of Rajasthani architecture, the Pink City of JAIPUR has long been established on tourist itineraries as the third corner of India's "Golden Triangle", just 300km southwest of Delhi and 200km west of Agra. Though the "Pink City" label applies specifically to the old walled quarter of the state capital, in the northeast of town, exuberant eighteenth- and nineteenth-century palaces are scattered throughout the whole urban area.

North Bengal

If we have to be poor, we prefer being poor in a place like this. Poverty here is both poetic and picturesque, not heart-breaking, nor revolting as in the slums of Bombay or Calcutta. This is about the villages in the Himalayans. And indeed, what can be more romantic than meet the New Year in a cottage in Himalaya Mountains?

Kolkata, India

One of the four great urban centres of India, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA) is to its proud citizens the equal of any city in the country in charm, variety and interest. Like Mumbai and Chennai, it is not ancient, its roots lying in the European expansion of the seventeenth century. The showpiece capital of the British Raj, this was the greatest colonial city of the Orient.

Agra, India

The splendour of AGRA ? capital of all India under the Moghuls ? remains undiminished, from the massive fort to the magnificent Taj Mahal. Along with Delhi, 204km northwest, and Jaipur in Rajasthan, Agra is the third apex of the "Golden Triangle", India's most popular tourist itinerary. It fully merits that status; the Taj effortlessly transcends all the frippery and commercialism that surrounds it, and continues to have a fresh and immediate impact on all who see it.

Varanasi, India

The great Hindu city of VARANASI, also known as Banaras or Benares, stretches along the crescent of the River Ganges, its waterfront dominated by long flights of stone ghats, where thousands of pilgrims and residents come for their daily ritual ablutions. Known to the devout as Kashi, the Luminous ? the City of Light, founded by Shiva ? Varanasi is one of the oldest living cities in the world. It has maintained its religious life since the sixth century BC in one continuous tradition, in part by remaining outside the mainstream of political activity and historical development of the subcontinent, and stands at the centre of the Hindu universe, the focus of a religious geography that reaches from the Himalayan cave of Amarnath in Kashmir, to India's southern tip at Kanyakumari, Puri to the east, and Dwarka to the west.

Sikkim, India

A place with astounding valleys and spectacular mountains, where you lose mobile connection along with the sense of time. In author's opinion, if Elves and Hobbits can exist anywhere, it has to be in North Sikkim. Now I know where to look for them

Kerala Zone

Call the GOD's gift place, remember Columbus and the Spice Islands?- That's in Kerala! It's one of the most beautiful smelling cities in India. The language is Malayaam, which sounds like if you rolled your tongue indiscriminately and said "blublub". The writing constitutes of what looks like a lot of curly 'm's and 'w's. So nice. Coconuts? Everywhere! Overall? Very fine!