One of three wildlife sanctuaries in the Western Ghats along the Tamil Nadu–Kerala border, this cool, misty mountain park covers almost 1000 sq km of mostly teak forest and evergreen jungle. It’s home to elephants, gaurs, tigers, panthers, spotted deer, wild boars, bears, porcupines and civet cats, and the Nilgiri tahr – commonly known as the ibex – may also be spotted. The park also has a renowned medicinal plant garden and interpretive centre (check out the astrological medicine chart and beauty hints if you’re feeling travel-weary), and is home to the tribal group of Kada people, many of whom work here. The park’s elephant training centre can be visited on the guided vehicle tour.
Author: WorldTravelDB.com
Hyderabad and Secunderabad, City of Pearls, was once the seat of the powerful Qutb Shahi and Asaf Jahi dynasties. Today Hyderabad’s west side is, with Bengaluru (Bangalore), the seat of India’s mighty software dynasty; ‘Cyberabad’ generates jobs, wealth and posh lounges like she was born to do it. Opulence, it would seem, is in this city’s genes.
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Hubli Karnataka India Travel
The busy, prosperous city of Hubli is a hub for rail routes from Mumbai to Bengaluru, Goa and northern Karnataka. Several hotels and restaurants sit close to the train station; others surround the old bus stand, a 15-minute walk from the train station. Long-distance buses usually stop here before heading to the new bus stand 2km away, where there are few amenities.
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Hospet Karnataka India Travel
This busy regional centre is the transport hub for Hampi. There’s no reason to linger unless you desire an air-conditioned hotel room and cable TV.
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Himachal Pradesh India Travel
Crowned by the rugged peaks of the western Himalaya, Himachal Pradesh is North India for the thousands of foreign and domestic travellers who come here every year. Few states can match such incredible diversity – rolling foothills, lofty hill stations, madcap traveller towns, serene pine forests, endless apple orchards and the high-altitude deserts of Lahaul and Spiti, cut off from the outside world by snow for six months of the year.
With one of the Andaman’s most dazzling beaches and plenty of cheap bamboo-hut accommodation, Havelock is the island of choice for travellers wanting to kick back and enjoy the slow (but not comatose) pace of island life. It’s easily accessible from Port Blair, and offers excellent snorkelling and scuba-diving opportunities. Although Havelock is the most developed of the islands, it’s still very low-key and simple – a world away from the beach resorts of mainland India or Southeast Asia.
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Hassan Karnataka India Travel
With a reasonable range of hotels, a railhead and other conveniences, Hassan is a handy base for exploring Belur (38km), Halebid (33km) and Sravanabelagola (48km). When we passed through, the town centre was looking like Beirut on a bad day; hopefully the road widening project will have been completed by the time you arrive.
Propitiously located at the point where the Ganges emerges from the Himalaya, Haridwar (also called Hardwar) is Uttarakhand’s holiest Hindu city and pilgrims arrive here in droves to bathe in the often fast-flowing Ganges. The sheer numbers of people gathering around Har-ki-Pairi Ghat give Haridwar a chaotic but reverent feel – as in Varanasi, it’s easy to get caught up in the spiritual clamour here. Within the religious architecture of India, Haridwar is much more significant than Rishikesh, an hour further north, and every evening the river comes alive with flickering flames as floating offerings are released onto the Ganges.
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Hampi Karnataka India Travel
The fascinating ruins of the 15th-century city of Vijayanagar, near the village of Hampi, are set in an extraordinary landscape of giant granite boulders, lush paddies and banana plantations. The clock seems to have stopped at this World Heritage site, and you can spend a surprisingly large amount of time gazing at the weirdly balanced rocks, wondering how millions of years of erosion could achieve such formations.
Gwalior is famous for its medieval hilltop fort, described by the Mughal emperor Babur as ‘the pearl amongst fortresses in India’. For travellers making a detour from the Golden Triangle, the slow-paced town sprawling around the hill is a good introduction to an un-touristy part of central India. Jai Vilas Palace, home of the Scindia Museum, is the historic seat of the Scindias, one of the country’s most revered families.