Forts, palaces, monuments and old quarters that carry the story of a place.
56 places
Must visit
The marble mausoleum Shah Jahan built for Mumtaz Mahal, finished in 1653 and still the reference point…
Must visit
The high point of Vijayanagara architecture: a 16th-century temple with a stone chariot in its…
Must visit
A hillside palace-fort of pale yellow and pink sandstone above Maota Lake, with a mirrored hall that…
Must visit
The royal complex of 1782 and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha — gilded, mirrored, crowded and…
Must visit
The Indo-Saracenic seat of the Wadiyars, rebuilt in 1912 after a fire, and lit by 97,000 bulbs on…
Must visit
A 15th-century fort on a sheer 120-metre cliff, never conquered, holding palaces, a first-rate museum…
Must visit
The four-minaret gateway of 1591 that anchors the old city, built to mark the end of a plague and now…
Must visit
A 13th-century temple built as the sun god's chariot, with twenty-four carved stone wheels and seven…
Must visit
Shah Jahan's walled Mughal citadel in red sandstone, the seat of empire until 1857 and the backdrop to…
Must visit
The largest palace complex in Rajasthan, built over 400 years by successive Mewar rulers and still…
Must visit
The 12th-century Sonar Qila, one of the world's last living forts, with houses, temples, shops and…
Must visit
A white marble memorial hall of 1921 set in 64 acres of gardens, now a museum of the colonial city and…
Must visit
The best-preserved of the three royal squares, with the 55-Window Palace, Nyatapola temple and a…
Must visit
The 1799 'palace of winds' — a five-storey screen of 953 latticed windows built so royal women could…
Must visit
A grid of colonial-era streets between the canal and the sea, painted mustard and white, with…
Must visit
The 1924 basalt arch on the harbour that has served as the city's front door, ceremonial entrance and…
Must visit
A granite hill fort with acoustics so precise that a clap at the entrance is heard at the summit…
Must visit
A 73-metre victory tower begun in 1193, surrounded by the ruins of India's earliest mosque complex and…
Must visit
The red sandstone imperial fort where Shah Jahan was later imprisoned by his son, with a view of the…
Must visit
Three heritage quarters within a few MRT stops: shophouses and temples, garland shops and gold, and the…
Must visit
The working royal residence at the centre of the old city, part museum, part private home, with textile…
Must visit
The first great Mughal garden tomb, and the design that the Taj Mahal descends from — quieter, cheaper…
Must visit
The most concentrated collection of Newari architecture anywhere, with a royal palace turned museum…
Must visit
Rock-cut Shaiva cave temples from the 5th to 8th centuries on an island in the harbour, reached by an…