Not to miss

Darjeeling

Darjeeling has been a favourite hill station of the British since they established it as an R 'n' R centre for their troops in the mid-1800s. The town offers visits to Buddhist monasteries, tours to tea plantations, shopping in bustling bazaars and trekking in high-altitude spots to the north.

Darjeeling straddles a 2100m (6890ft)-high ridge in the far north of West Bengal. So, like many places in the Himalaya, half the fun is in getting there. A miniature train, which loops its way from the plains up to Darjeeling in a 10-hour grind of soot and smoke, is a treat to ride.

Another option, indeed a town highlight, is the Passenger Ropeway, the first chairlift to be constructed in India, which connects Darjeeling with Singla Bazaar on the Little Ranjit River far below. It's a superb excursion, though not an obvious choice for vertigo sufferers. Unfortunately, the ropeway is not always in use - phone in advance to see when it's running. Nearby is the Zoological Park, which houses snow leopards, Siberian tigers and rare red pandas in less than ideal conditions. The Happy Valley Tea Estate will fill you in on the ins and outs of tea making ; you can also savour some of the crop at the impressive Gymkhana Club.

Jaipur

The capital of Rajasthan is popularly known as the 'pink city' because of the ochre-pink hue of its old buildings and crenellated city walls. The Rajputs associated the colour pink with hospitality, and reputedly daubed the city in preparation for the visit of Britain's Prince Alfred in 1853.

Jaipur is a city of broad avenues and architectural harmony, built on a dry lake bed surrounded by barren hills. It's an extremely colourful city that radiates a magical warm glow in the evening light. The most obvious landmark in the old city is the Iswari Minar Swarga Sul, which overlooks the city.

Jaipur owes its existence to the great warrior-astronomer Maharaja Jai Singh II (1699-1744), who took advantage of declining Mughul power to move his somewhat cramped hillside fortress at nearby Amber to a new site on the plains in 1727. He laid out the city's surrounding walls and its six rectangular blocks with the help of Shilpa-Shastra, an ancient Hindu treatise on architecture.

The city's most striking sight is the stunning artistry of the five-storey facade of the Hawa Mahal, or Palace of the Winds. The palace was built in 1799 to enable ladies of the royal household to watch street life and processions, and is part of the City Palace complex which forms the heart of the old city.

Delhi

Don't let your first impressions of Delhi stick like a sacred cow in a traffic jam: get behind the madcap façade and discover the inner peace of a city rich with culture, architecture and human diversity, deep with history and totally addictive to epicureans.

Both Old and New Delhi exert a beguiling charm on visitors. Lose yourself unwinding the secrets of the city's Mughal past in the labyrinthine streets of Old Delhi before emerging into the wide open spaces of imperial New Delhi, with its ordered governmental vistas and generous leafy avenues.

Delhi's an excellent base for visiting Agra and the Taj Mahal, and the Rajasthani colour of Jaipur is less than five hours away. If you're heading north to the Himalaya or east to the ghats of Varanasi, you'll probably pass through the city.

Mumbai

Mumbai is the bubblegum glamour of Bollywood cinema, shopping malls full of designer labels, cricket on the Oval Maidan, promenading families eating bhelpuri on the beach at Chowpatty, red double-decker buses queuing in grinding traffic jams and the infamous cages of the red-light district.

This pungent drama is played out against a Victorian townscape more reminiscent of a prosperous 19th-century English industrial city than anything you'd expect to find on the edge of the Arabian Sea. It's a city with vibrant streetlife, India's best nightlife, and a wealth of bazaars.

Spread out over a series of interconnected islands, modern Mumbai is an industrial hub, producing everything from textiles to petrochemicals, and is responsible for half of India's foreign trade. The Indian stock market is here, at the Bombay Stock Exchange, as opposed to Delhi, and plans are afoot to transform north Mumbai into a skyscraper city to rival Singapore. This surging wealth acts as a powerful magnet for the rural poor, who flood into the slums, further increasing the tensions in these desperately poor districts.

Agra

The Taj Mahal has become the de facto tourist emblem of India. This poignant Mughal mausoleum was constructed by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his second wife Mumtaz Mahal, whose death in childbirth in 1631 left the emperor so heartbroken that his hair is said to have turned grey overnight.

The city's other major attraction is the massive red sandstone Agra Fort, also on the bank of the Yamuna River. Stunning walls, a maze of superb halls, mosques, chambers and gardens form a small city within a city. Unfortunately, some of these buildings are closed to visitors.

The near-perfection of the Taj's architecture does not diminish upon closer inspection; it merely comes into sharper focus. Semiprecious stones were laid into the marble in elaborate designs through a process called pietra dura. If you're planning to check out this marvel, don't forget that it's closed on Friday to all non-Muslims.

Other worthwhile Mughal gems include the Itimad-ud-daulah, many of whose design elements were used in the construction of the Taj, and Akbar's Mausoleum at Sikandra which blends Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Christian motifs, much like the syncretic religious philosophy developed by Akbar attempted to do.

Kolkata

Called Calcutta in British times, Kolkata still conjures up images of squalor, poverty and urban disaster. Don't believe the hype. India's third-largest city is defined not by its poverty but by the energy, imagination and zest for life of its people.

At first glance, the teeming mass of humanity and snarled traffic in Kolkata's streets can seem overpowering. However, peek below the surface and you'll find a city of refinement and charm, rich in culture and home to India's greatest concentration of poets, artists, writers and political activists.

Looking at its crumbling colonial architecture, many people assume that Kolkata is in decline. In fact, the opposite is true. This is one of India's fastest growing cities, fuelled by a recent explosion in technology and manufacturing. Cultural life and wealth in Kolkata is still dominated by a handful of Bengali dynasties - the Rays, Chaudharys, Birlas and Tagores. Probably the most famous Kolkata luminaries are Rabindranath Tagore, poet, artist and composer of the Indian national anthem; film-maker Satyajit Ray; and Independence hero Subhash Chandra Bose.

Goa

It's a shame Goa comes burdened with a reputation for louche living, because there's so much more to it than sun, sand and psychedelia. The allure of Goa is that it remains quite distinct from the rest of India and is small enough to be grasped and explored in a way that other Indian states are not.

Goa has enjoyed a prominent place in the travellers' lexicon since the heady days of the 1960s, but the (in)famous hippies have now been replaced by backpackers, Indian visitors and package tourists on two-week jaunts from Europe. The locals are relaxed and friendly, and skirts outnumber saris.

Gateway of India

The Gateway of India is an exaggerated colonial marker conceived after the visit of King George V in 1911. The yellow basalt arch of triumph, derived from the Islamic styles of 16th-century Gujarat, was officially opened in 1924, only to be made redundant just 24 years later when the last British regiment ceremoniously departed India through its archway.

The gateway has become a popular emblem of the city and is a favourite gathering spot for locals in the evening and on weekends. Boats depart from the gateway's wharfs for Elephanta Island.

Touts, balloon sellers, photographers and snake charmers give the area the hubbub of a bazaar. Nearby are statues of the religious reformer Swami Vivekananda, and of the Maratha leader Shivaji astride his horse.

Taj Mahal

Described as the most extravagant monument ever built for love, this poignant Mughal mausoleum has become the de facto tourist emblem of India. Many have tried to sum up its beauty, but even the poets of the time were unable to do this magnificent building justice.

The spectacular white marble mausoleum seems as immaculate today as when it was first constructed, although in recent years there has been growing concern about the damage that atmospheric pollution is causing the Taj.

The Taj was built by Emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth in 1631. The death of Mumtaz left the emperor so heartbroken that his hair is said to have turned grey overnight.

The Taj is accessed through an outer courtyard which has gates facing west, south and east (most tourists enter from the west gate which is closest to the car park). Entry to the inner compound is through a vast red sandstone gateway on the south side of the forecourt, inscribed with verses from the Quran in Arabic.

The Taj Mahal stands on a raised marble platform at the northern end of the ornamental gardens. Purely decorative white minarets grace each corner of the platform. The red sandstone mosque to the west of the main structure is an important gathering place for Agra's Muslims.

Sunset is an extremely impressive time to see the Taj - the white marble first takes on a rich golden sheen, then slowly turns pink, red and finally blue with the changing light.

Ajanta Caves

The Buddhist caves of Ajanta date from around 200 BC to 650 AD, predating those at Ellora. As Ellora developed and Buddhism gradually declined, the Ajanta caves were abandoned and eventually forgotten. But in 1819 a British hunting party stumbled upon them, and their remote beauty was soon unveiled.

The caves' isolation contributed to the fine state of preservation in which some of their remarkable paintings remain to this day. Ajanta is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Many of the caves are dark and a torch comes in useful. If possible, avoid coming here on weekends or public holidays when Ajanta can get very crowded with tourists and very persistent hawkers.

There's a free guarded cloakroom near the entrance where you can safely leave gear, so it is possible to arrive on a morning bus from Jalgaon, look around the caves, and continue to Aurangabad in the evening, or vice versa.

Khajuraho temples

Khajuraho's temples were built during the Chandela period, a dynasty that survived for five centuries before falling to the Mughal onslaught. Most date from one century-long burst of creative genius from 950 to 1050 AD. Almost as intriguing as the sheer beauty and size of the temples is the question of why and how they were built here.

The temples are superb examples of Indo-Aryan architecture, but it's the decorations with which they are so liberally embellished that have made Khajuraho famous, especially the erotic sculptures. Around the temples are bands of stonework showing many aspects of Indian life a millennium ago - gods and goddesses, warriors and musicians, real and mythological animals.

The temples are divided into three groups, with the western group the most popular and the only group that attracts an entry fee. You can wander the eastern and southern groups for free.

Kerala Backwaters

Fringing the coast of Kerala and winding far inland is a vast network of lagoons, lakes, rivers and canals. Travelling the backwaters is one of the highlights of a visit to Kerala. The larger boats are motorised but there are numerous smaller boats propelled by punting with a long bamboo pole.

The boats cross shallow, palm-fringed lakes studded with cantilevered Chinese fishing nets, and travel along narrow, shady canals where coir (coconut fibre), copra (dried coconut meat) and cashews are loaded onto boats. Along the way are small settlements where people live on narrow spits of reclaimed land only a few metres wide.

Although practically surrounded by water, they still manage to keep cows, pigs, chickens and ducks and cultivate small vegetable gardens. Prawns and fish, including the prized karimeen, are also farmed, and shellfish are dredged by hand to be later burnt with coal dust to produce lime.

A comprehensive listing of backwater tours throughout Kerala is available in the brochure The Backwaters of Kerala Tourist Guide, available from tourist offices. The brochure includes prices and telephone booking contacts. More information is available on their website.

Crawford Market

The colourful indoor Crawford Market (officially known as the Mahatma Phule Market) is the last outpost of British Bombay before the tumult of the central bazaars begins. It used to be the city's wholesale produce market before this was strategically moved to New Bombay. Today it's where central Mumbai goes shopping for its fruit, vegetables and meat.

Bas reliefs by Rudyard Kipling's father, Lockwood Kipling, adorn the Norman-Gothic exterior, and an ornate fountain he designed stands buried beneath old fruit boxes at the market's centre.

The animal market at the rear sells everything from sausage dogs to cockatoos, most kept in cruelly small cages. The meat market is for the brave only, though it's one of the few places you can expect to be accosted and asked if you want to buy a bloody goat's head. Just south of the market is the J J School of Art, where Rudyard Kipling was born in 1865.

Jaisalmer Fort

This is perhaps the liveliest fort in India - about 25% of the old city's population resides within the fort walls. There are homes hidden in the laneways, and shops and stalls are swaddled in the kaleidoscopic mirrors and embroideries of brilliant Rajasthani cloth.

Sadly, the fort is suffering from tourism numbers and government indifference and is on the World Monuments Watch list of 100 endangered sites worldwide. Built in 1156 by the Rajput ruler Jaisala, the fort crowns the 80m/262ft-high Trikuta Hill. The fort is entered through a forbidding series of massive gates leading to a large courtyard. The former maharaja's seven-storey palace fronts onto this. The 360° views from the summit are spectacular.

Humayun's Tomb

Built in the mid-16th century by the senior wife of the second Mughal emperor, this is the first important example of Mughal architecture in India. It's also one of the most beautiful buildings in the city and should not be missed. The elements of its design are echoed in the later Taj Mahal.

It comprises a squat building with high arched entrances topped by a bulbous dome and surrounded by formal gardens. The gardens also contain the red-and-white sandstone and black-and-yellow marble tomb of Humayun's wife and, somewhat surprisingly, the tomb of Humayun's barber.

US Embassy

The Confederation of Voluntary Associations

An umbrella organisation for around 800 NGOs, predominantly based in Andhra Pradesh. These organisations deal with a wide range of issues from civil liberties to sustainable agriculture. COVA can help place volunteers. The work is broad, spanning youth development to community-health programmes.

Vatsalya Foundation

Works with Mumbai's street children, focusing on rehabilitation and reintroducing them to mainstream society.

UK High Commission

Good As You

Good As You runs a weekly support group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.