Central Kerala covers the small strip of territory running from Kochi (Cochin) in the south up to Thrissur (Trichur) in the north east. The obvious highlight is the captivating trading-post city of Kochi but this area includes the lovely beach at Cherai and the towns of Parur and Chennamangalam.
Central Karnataka includes territory from the popular tourist destination of Hampi across to the border with Andhra Pradesh. This area also includes the bustling regional centre of Hospet.
Running north towards Lahaul, the Kullu and Parvati Valleys are popular with hippies, honeymooners and adrenaline junkies. Many people continue north over Rohtang La (3978m) to Lahaul, Spiti and Ladakh.
A melange of minority cultures and terrain types renders Central Arunachal Pradesh your best bet for visiting tiny tribal villages while working up a sweat.
Calangute and Baga were the first beaches to attract hippies travelling overland in the ’60s, then the first to secure the rampant package- and charter-tourist market in the ’90s. Today they are India’s ‘kiss me quick’ hat capital and the most popular beach resorts in the country with holidaying Indians. For many people it’s just a busy, noisy and tacky Indian Costa del Sol and the thought of spending a single night here is enough to make them shudder. For others, the very fact that it is so alien to anything else in India is an attraction in itself, there’s certainly no denying that the town has a certain character to it and, if you’re searching for a glimpse of how the much-hyped ‘New India’ holidays, then here she is in all her glory.
With narrow Brahmin-blue lanes, assorted temples, classic havelis, and a picturesque hillside lake, Bundi is the kind of effortlessly charming Indian town you wish you dreamed of – or at least stumbled upon – first. There’s an air of the wonderful here – as Kipling found when he moved here to write – which is most readily felt around the fairy-tale palace looming large and cupola-clad.
Buddhist pilgrims from around the world are drawn to Bodhgaya. It was here, 26 centuries ago, that Prince Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment beneath a bodhi tree and so became the Buddha. A beautifully serene temple marks the spot and a descendent of that original Bodhi Tree remains, its roots happily clutching the same soil as its celebrated ancestor.
Bikaner is a vibrant, dust-swirling desert town with a fabulous fort, a refreshing outpost feel and a burgeoning tourist trade. Close to the fort lies the rickety old walled city, a medieval maze of narrow, dark and uneven streets decorated with rubbish heaps, medicine men, gambling dens, dark-red sandstone havelis and some exquisitely painted Jain temples.
Ruins and still-intact gems of 15th- to 17th-century Islamic architecture embellish old, dusty Bijapur like so many tatters of faded sultans’ finery. It’s a fascinating place to explore, blessed by a wealth of mosques, mausoleums, palaces and fortifications, whose austere grace is in complete contrast to the sculptural extravagance of the Chalukyan and Hoysala temples further south.
After a controversial vote in the Indian Parliament in August 2000, Bihar was split along tribal lines, creating the new southern state of Jharkhand. Home to numerous waterfalls and lush forests, Jharkhand is notable as the key Jain pilgrimage site in east India, though the state’s best-kept secret is Betla National Park, where you can ride atop an elephant into the forest’s depths in search of an elusive tiger.