Vacation Reviews

India

For tourists, India presents a bewildering and extraordinary selection of things to see and do.

Tribal women in brightly colored saris, Rajput men with turbans and handle-bar moustaches, majestic palaces, havelis and hilltop forts – the princely desert state of Rajasthan is quintessential India.

Jaipur is known as the Pink City, Jodhpur the Blue City and Jaisalmer the Golden City – the sand dunes and bone-white hills contrast sharply with those colors. Udaipur, with its shining Lake Palace, is one of India’s most romantic towns, while the holy village of Pushkar hosts one of the country’s most colorful events, the Pushkar Camel Fair.

In nearby Agra, one of the world’s greatest monuments, the Taj Mahal, is reason enough to visit India. The astonishingly decorated white marble mausoleum, built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial to his wife Mumtaz Mahal, stands as the ultimate monument to love.

The capital Delhi encapsulates two very different worlds each presenting different wonderful experiences. Spacious and planned, New Delhi was built as the imperial capital of India by the British, while action-packed Old Delhi served as the capital of Islamic India. Visitors can easily dip into both worlds, spending half the day soaking up history at the Red Fort, Jama Masjid and medieval-flavored bazaars of Old Delhi, and the other half refreshing themselves over a frothy cappuccino or ice-cold beer in one of central New Delhi’s high-class restaurants or bars.