Although a large business and industrial city, Coimbatore is mainly a transport junction for travellers – a convenient stop if you’re heading to the hill stations of Ooty or Kodaikanal. Sometimes known as the Manchester of India for its textile industry, Coimbatore is an easy-going place with plenty of accommodation and eating options.
The fort at Chittorgarh (known as Chittor) is the greatest in Rajasthan, and is well worth reshuffling an itinerary to explore. The town itself is unspectacular, but the 700-acre complex standing on a rocky mountain plateau feels like the ultimate spot for a History Channel re-enactment. But there are no fallen actors here, just a series of stunning palaces, gates, temples and the startling Jaya Stambha.
Chidambaram’s great temple complex of Nataraja, the dancing Shiva, is a Dravidian architectural highlight and one of the holiest Shiva sites in South India. Chidambaram can be visited as a day trip from Puducherry, or as a stopover between Puducherry and Kumbakonam or Trichy.
Chhattisgarh split from Madhya Pradesh in 2000 and is coming out of the bigger state’s shadow. It’s one of the eastern states associated with the Naxalite guerrillas (an ultra-leftist political movement that began in Naxal Village, West Bengal), but they rarely stray from their remote hideouts on Chhattisgarh’s borders. It also suffers from dire roads and scant buses outside the Raipur–Jagdalpur stretch of Hwy 43, but for intrepid travellers, the state is a forested Adivasi kingdom. The tribes’ pointillist paintings and spindly sculptures are as vivid as the colourful haats (markets) that take place across the Bastar region. The forests also hide waterfalls and unspoilt nature reserves.
Chennai has neither the cosmopolitan, prosperous air of Mumbai (Bombay), the optimistic buzz of Bengaluru (Bangalore) or the historical drama of Delhi. It’s muggy, polluted, hot as hell and difficult to get around. Traditional tourist attractions are few. Even the movie stars are, as one Chennaiker put it, ‘not that hot’.
In the same way as the modernist architect Le Corbusier’s radical design for Chandigarh polarises critics, this anomaly among Indian cities splits visitors. New hotels, department stores, cafés and other air-conditioned hang-outs line the boom town’s straight, clean roads, catering to the fast-living young Indians who emulate Westerners and embrace modernity while gleefully disposing their disposable incomes. While some visitors are unimpressed by Chandigarh’s nontraditionalism, others find the geometric, green city a welcome break from the chaos of other Indian cities, and plunge into the many sights and, of course, glitzy nightlife.
The Chamba Valley is another splendidly isolated valley system, cut off from the Kangra Valley by the Dhauladhar Range and from Kashmir by the Pir Panjal. This area was ruled for centuries as the princely state of Chamba, the most ancient state in North India. Even though good roads connect Chamba with Pathankot and Kangra, surprisingly few foreign visitors make it out here, with even fewer continuing down the valley beyond the old hill station of Dalhousie.
Well off the tourist circuit, the charming capital of Chamba district is dominated by the former palaces of the local maharajas. The princely state of Chamba was founded in AD 920 by Raja Sahil Varman and it survived for 1000 years until finally falling to the British in 1845. Every year since 935, Chamba has celebrated the annual harvest with the Minjar Festival in July/August in honour of Raghuvira (an incarnation of Rama).
The pace of life slows significantly in Tamil Nadu’s sweaty central area. It’s a terrible place to rush around from sight to sight, but an excellent area to slow down, enjoy cooling boat trips down riverlets and visit some truly spectacular Hindu temples.
Central Madhya Pradesh centres on the state capital of Bhopal with its mosques, lakes, museums and bright lights. The area also includes the historic hill station of Pachmarhi and Sanchi known for its oldest Buddhist structures.