Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Madhya Pradesh is the king of the jungle when it comes to tiger parks, and Kanha is its most famous. The forests are vast, and while your chances of…
Must-see attractions in Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
If your only reason for visiting a tiger reserve in India is to see a tiger, look no further. A couple of days at Bandhavgarh should net you a tiger…
Khajuraho
The large Lakshmana Temple took 20 years to build and was completed in about AD 954 during the reign of Dhanga, according to an inscription in its mandapa…
Khajuraho
The 30.5m-long Kandariya-Mahadev, built between 1025 and 1050, is the largest Western Group temple and represents the high point of Chandela architecture…
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Khajuraho
Khajuraho’s most striking and best-preserved temples are those within the fenced-off section of the Western Group. An Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)…
Khajuraho
Believed to have been built in 1002, the Vishvanath Temple anticipates the plan and style of the Kandariya-Mahadev Temple. Dedicated to Shiva, it's a…
Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Step through the looking glass into what feels like an enchanted forest at this surreal place that is unlike any museum you will have visited before…
Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Stretched majestically along the top of a 3km-long plateau overlooking Gwalior, the fort is a dominant, unmissable sight, full of fascinating palaces,…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Emperor Ashoka's 3rd-century BC Great Stupa, and many other stupas, temples, pillars, gateways and monasteries built in succeeding centuries, stand at the…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Pench is made up mostly of teak-tree forest rather than sal, and so has a different flavour from nearby Kanha or Bandhavgarh. It also sees fewer tourists …
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Tigers are making a comeback after being reintroduced in 2009 to Panna Tiger Reserve from other Madhya Pradesh reserves; there are now thought to be more…
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Orchha
The spectacular soaring spires of the 16th-century Chaturbhuj Temple are visible from all over town. The Chaturbhuj has never been used for its intended…
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Orchha
The Jehangir Mahal, an assault course of steep staircases and precipitous walkways, represents a zenith of Indo-Islamic architecture. More decorative than…
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Orchha
Funerary monuments to Orchha royalty, the huge and serene chhatris rise beside the Betwa River at the south end of town. They’re best seen at dusk, when…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
The Royal Enclave is the largest group of monuments, with several beautiful buildings from the 15th- and 16th-century Ghuri and Khilji dynasties set near…
Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Bhopal’s third female ruler, Shah Jahan Begum, wanted to create the largest mosque in the world, so in 1877 she set about building the Taj-ul-Masjid…
Orchha
At the west end of a lively square is the pink- and tangerine-domed Ram Raja Temple, the only temple where Rama is worshipped as a king and busy with…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Cut into a sandstone hill 5km northwest of Vidisha are some 20 remarkable, mostly Hindu, cave shrines from the 4th century AD (Gupta period). The first…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
This imperial-style palace, built by Tomar ruler Man Singh between 1486 and 1516, is definitely one of India's more quirkily decorated monuments: its…
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Jai Vilas Palace & Scindia Museum
Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
The museum occupies some 35 rooms of the Scindias’ opulent Jai Vilas Palace, built by Maharaja Jayajirao in 1874 using prisoners from the fort. The…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
While this is not visually the most stunning temple, tagging along behind a conga-line through the underground chambers can be magical. At nonfestival…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Calling the 300m wide and 32m high Chitrakote Falls the 'Indian Niagara' is actually not too far off the mark. Spectacular at any time, India's widest…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
While there are sculptures carved into the rock at a few points around the fort, including on the way up from the Gwalior Gate, the most impressive is the…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
This first-class archaeological museum spread over numerous galleries includes some wonderful temple sculptures as well as 87 10th- and 11th-century Jain…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Down to the right of the ramp descending towards the ghats are the chhatris (cenotaphs) of Ahilyabai and Vithoji Rao, a Holkar prince who was trampled to…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Running along the banks of the holy Narmada River and shadowed by the daunting walls of the fort, the ghats are the life and spiritual soul of the town…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
The most central and popular of Ujjain’s river ghats, strung with orange- and pink-roofed shrines, is busy all day with people bathing and presenting…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
An almost mandatory final stop on 4WD tours, Dhoopgarh looks west over endless valleys, hills and forests and has a broad stepped terrace for everyone to…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
A short distance downstream from the Apsara Vihar pools, the stream plunges off the cliff in central India's highest single-drop fall (107m), Rajat Prapat…
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Orchha
In several rooms of the 16th-century Raj Mahal, deities such as Brahma, Vishnu, the Buddha, Rama, Krishna, Sita and Ganesh, plus Orchha royalty, wrestle,…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
A pleasant 4km cycle south of Mandu village brings you to the Rewa Kund tank and the two monuments of the Rewa Kund Group, Baz Bahadur's Palace and…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
This group, straddling the main road in the centre of the village, comprises three grand edifices constructed in the 15th-century by the Ghuri and Khilji…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
A pool underneath a small waterfall, above a canyon southeast of town, this is the best of Pachmarhi’s natural pools for swimming. It's a drive of about 1…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
The back-to-back lions on the pillars of the monuments compound's Southern Gateway (the oldest) were a favourite Ashokan motif and now form the state…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
The breathtakingly carved figure of a yakshi (mythical fairylike beings), hanging from an architrave on the Eastern Gateway, is one of Sanchi’s best-known…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Standing at the top of an escarpment falling 366m to the plains, Rupmati’s Pavilion has a delicacy of design and beauty of location unmatched by Mandu's…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
The Northern Gateway, topped by a broken wheel of law, is the best preserved of the toranas. Elephants support the architraves above the columns, while…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Pot-bellied dwarves support the architraves of the Western Gateway, which has some of the site’s most interesting scenes. The back of the bottom…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Entered by a flight of steps leading to a 17m-high domed porch, this disused red-stone mosque dominates Mandu village centre. Hoshang Shah begun its…
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Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
Beautifully proportioned, the Great Stupa is the centrepiece of the monumental area, directly ahead as you enter the complex from the north. Originally…
