This is entirely based on my experience and places I have visited.
If you have never been to India and are never planning to go again (although hopefully, you’ll love it like I do and will be addicted), These are the places I recommend.
- Mountains - Go to the Himalayas - I recommend Leh, Ladakh. You can fly into Leh and go on some day trips to Pangong Lake which has unbelievably beautiful blue water
Nubra Valley and see two humped camels and beautiful countryside
And one of the highest motorable roads in the world, with snow on the mountains
2. Srinagar which is also in Kashmir (and you fly from Srinagar to Leh) is also very beautiful, there are lots of houseboats on the lake- this is the view from the front of our houseboat
You can buy stuff from the smaller boats too, they come up to your houseboat. I bought these flowers from the flower boat.
3. Backwaters and Beautiful Beaches
Go to Kerala -Alleppey and Marari Beach would be my recommendations. Go on a houseboat, you can stay on the boat and have food cooked for you. They even have fancy ones with a spa bath and air conditioning, these are good if you sleep overnight.
Or more chilled out ones where you can just relax for an afternoon floating around and eating seafood.
This is a house I stayed in on Marari Beach. I have some contacts if you’d like to organise a private house in Marari or other Accommodation.
4. Go to the Jungle and visit a Palace - Mysore and Nagarhole or Masinagudi
I’d recommend Kabini as it’s close to Mysore where you can visit Mysore Palace and even stay in Lalith Mahal Palace.
Mysore Palace - The Maharaja still lives here, and you can visit some areas of the palace. They light it up like this on Sunday Night.
Lalith Mahal Palace - you can stay here, It’s pretty cool to stay in a palace and it’s reasonably priced too!
You can even channel your inner queen and ride in the carriage!
Masinagudi - A couple of hours from Mysore in Karnataka
Stay in a treehouse and do a safari
You can go on a jungle safari and see tigers and elephants in many different areas, Pench, Bandhavgarh, Ranthambore.
This is a tiger I saw in Bhadavgarh.
You can also do a safari in Kabini or Masinagudi, maybe see a tiger or a leopard. You’ll definitely see elephants, deer, monkeys and peacocks.
Something that’s not well known is that there are lions native to India, I would LOVE to see them, in the Gir forest.
5. Go to Goa for seafood, fun and partying, as well as Portuguese architecture.
Goa is different to Marari beach which I mentioned earlier. Marari is more like a white sand quiet, private beach perfect for contemplation, whereas Goa is better for having some seafood, really nice western and Indian food, drinks, making friends, and partying or just sitting on a sun lounge on the beach.
Goa is full of Portuguese heritage. Architecture, food, history.
6. Marari beach in Kerala - near Alleppey, a very quiet tranquil beach
7. Another great beach is Mahabalipuram, This is Me on the beach in Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu not too far from Chennai
(Mahabalipuram also has amazing ruins, and is a UNESCO world heritage site)
8. Agra and the Taj Mahal
If you are only going to India once, I WOULD recommend the Taj Mahal. It’s very busy with tourists, but it’s very iconic and impressive. And everyone is going to ask did you see it, so you may as well if you can organise it in your trip.
8. Visit a city. I’d recommend Bangalore, but I’m biased as I lived there for 6 years :)
If you want to see the real India, visit a city to see street food, go in an auto rickshaw, go to a local pub, some local food places etc.
If you look closely, this rickshaw has two goats as passengers!
Eat some local food
If you get a chance catch a train, it’s great fun and you can meet lots of locals. This is a fancier one, it’s the fast train between Chennai and Bangalore.
The streets of Bangalore. It’s not always hot and busy!
Eating Pani Puri - Yum!
If you can’t make it to Mysore, Bangalore has a palace too!
9. Hampi a UNESCO world heritage site
“described by UNESCO as an "austere, grandiose site" of more than 1,600 surviving remains of the last great Hindu kingdom in South India that includes "forts, riverside features, royal and sacred complexes, temples, shrines, pillared halls, mandapas, memorial structures, water structures and others".
10. You can go to Islands, like the Andamans and Lakshwadeep with breathtaking diving and coral, like the Maldives.
11. You can go to 2000m green hills with tea plantations and English style architecture, as the English used to go and escape the heat. Kodaikanal, Ooty, Munnar and many others.
I stayed in a treehouse in Munnar (and a different one in Masinagudi)
12. You can go to a French colony in Pondicherry, there are little cobblestone streets, people speak French, there is a Catholic Mass in French and French restaurants.
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