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Destinations, read the way you’d read a map.

“Best time to visit” is a different answer at 910 metres than at 4,270. Every destination here states its altitude, terrain, the months that genuinely work, and what permits you need before you go.

Key Monastery stacked on a hillside above the snow-covered Spiti valleyHimachal Pradesh

Spiti Valley

Monasteries above the treeline, the world's highest post office, and a road window that shuts by October.

3,800 m · best Jun–SepTrekking & adventure
A living root bridge of trained ficus roots spanning a stream in MeghalayaMeghalaya

Living Root Bridges

Ficus roots trained across river gorges over sixty years by Khasi families. The wettest place on earth, still growing.

1,180 m · best Oct–AprTrekking & adventure
The Zanskar valley in Ladakh, green fields below bare mountain ridgesLadakh

Zanskar & the Chadar

Frozen-river walking in January, monastery circuits in July, the same valley, two completely different trips.

4,270 m · best Jan–Feb, Jun–SepTrekking & adventure
Forested hills of the Araku valley in the Eastern GhatsAndhra Pradesh

Araku Valley

Coffee-estate trails through the Eastern Ghats, and a Thursday tribal market that has run for generations.

910 m · best Oct–FebHill stations & coffee
Granite boulder fields and Vijayanagara ruins at Hampi in evening lightKarnataka

Hampi

Vijayanagara ruins scattered across boulder fields, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a world-class bouldering ground at once.

467 m · best Nov–FebHeritage & ruins
Suðurland

Þórsmörk

A valley ringed by three glaciers, reachable only by river-crossing bus. Ash, moss and braided meltwater.

340 m · best Jun–SepTrekking & adventure
Nagano

Kamikōchi

The Northern Japan Alps' front door. Closed to private cars, closed entirely all winter.

1,500 m · best Apr–NovTrekking & adventure
Shikaras on Dal lake in Srinagar with snow-covered mountains behindJammu & Kashmir

Kashmir Valley

Shikara-worked lakes, Mughal gardens and alpine meadows, and the Great Lakes trek, one of the finest walks in the Himalaya.

1,585 m · best Apr–OctTrekking & adventure
A Sikkim village street hung with prayer flags below snow peaksSikkim

Sikkim

Kanchenjunga on the skyline, rhododendron forest in spring, and the permit rules that decide where you can actually go.

1,650 m · best Mar–May, Oct–DecTrekking & adventure
Mist over palm and coffee plantations in KodaguKarnataka

Coorg (Kodagu)

India's coffee heartland, estate walks, misted Western Ghats ridges, and a distinct Kodava culture that predates the plantations.

1,170 m · best Oct–MarHill stations & coffee
A wet hill road curving below a green grassland ridge with cloud lying across the top, in the Chandra Drona range near ChikkamagaluruKarnataka

Chikkamagaluru

The district where Indian coffee started, holding the highest peak in Karnataka. Two separate days out from one town: the Chandra Drona ridge above Chikkamagaluru, and the Kemmangundi falls an hour and a half north.

1,090 m · best Sep–FebHill stations & coffee
The Chennakeshava temple at Belur across a rain-wet courtyard, a gilded pillar standing before the carved facadeKarnataka

Belur

The Hoysala capital, and a temple begun in 1117 CE that is still in daily worship nine centuries later. Inscribed by UNESCO in 2023 as part of the Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas.

900 m · best Oct–FebHeritage & ruins
A white sand beach fringed with forest in the Andaman IslandsAndaman & Nicobar

Andaman Islands

Radhanagar's sand, some of Asia's best-value diving, and a colonial prison whose history is the reason most Indians come.

0 m · best Oct–MayBeaches & islands
The Godavari narrowing between forested hills at Papikondalu, with a sandbank in the foregroundAndhra Pradesh

Papikondalu

A 130 km river gorge where the Godavari narrows between forested hills. Reached only by boat, and the booking is more confusing than the trip.

60 m · best Oct–FebWildlife & nature
Aerial view of the Godavari winding past a sandbank through the green Konaseema deltaAndhra Pradesh

Konaseema

The Godavari delta: coconut groves, canals and backwaters between two arms of the river. Kerala's landscape without Kerala's prices or crowds.

5 m · best Nov–FebBeaches & islands