India Travel Map — Track Every State You've Visited

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Based on Countries Been user data.

1

Delhi

India's capital has worn many faces — Mughal imperial seat, British colonial hub, independent republic's nerve centre — and you can walk between all three in a single afternoon. The Red Fort and Jama Masjid anchor Old Delhi's sensory labyrinth of spice markets and street food, while Lutyens's New Delhi and the soaring Qutub Minar represent two very different visions of power.
2

Rajasthan

India's largest state is a theatre of desert splendour — the Pink City of Jaipur, the Blue City of Jodhpur, the White City of Udaipur, and the Golden City of Jaisalmer each offer a distinct palette and era of Rajput grandeur within a single itinerary. Camel safaris through the Thar Desert dunes, haveli architecture, and palace-hotel conversions make Rajasthan the single most photogenic destination on the subcontinent.
3

Uttar Pradesh

Home to the Taj Mahal and the sacred ghats of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh contains more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than most sovereign nations. Varanasi — one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities — offers an unforgettable encounter with Hindu ritual at the river's edge, while Agra and the ghost capital of Fatehpur Sikri preserve the Mughal empire's most enduring monuments.
4

Goa

India's smallest state punches far above its weight as the country's premier leisure destination — Baroque Portuguese churches in Old Goa share a UNESCO listing with some of Asia's most beautiful beaches. The contrast between the energetic northern scene at Anjuna and Vagator and the quieter, palm-fringed coves of Palolem and Agonda in the south is part of Goa's enduring and near-impossible balancing act.
5

Maharashtra

Home to Mumbai — Bollywood's beating heart and India's undisputed financial engine — Maharashtra commands a cultural authority that extends far beyond its borders. The Ajanta and Ellora cave complexes, carved from living basalt over more than a thousand years, are among humanity's most astonishing artistic achievements, while Pune's café culture and the Daulatabad Fort near Aurangabad add further chapters to a state of inexhaustible depth.
6

Kerala

Often described as "God's Own Country," Kerala makes good on the claim: houseboats drifting through rice-paddy backwaters in Alleppey, Ayurvedic retreats on forested hillsides in Wayanad, and the Western Ghats' spice plantations enveloping Munnar in mist. Kochi's Fort area layers Portuguese churches, Dutch palaces, and Chinese fishing nets into one of India's most historically textured port cities.
7

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is the custodian of Dravidian civilisation — its great temples at Madurai, Thanjavur, and Chidambaram, with their towering gopurams painted in exuberant sculptural detail, have defined South Indian culture for two millennia. From the pilgrimage city of Madurai to the Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram gazing out to sea, and Chennai's classical Carnatic music scene, the state is an unbroken continuum of living tradition.
8

Karnataka

Karnataka holds some of India's most compelling contrasts — the tech-fuelled energy of Bengaluru, the medieval granite ruins of Vijayanagara at Hampi (a UNESCO site of surreal scale), and the incense-heavy grandeur of Mysore's Amba Vilas Palace illuminated by 100,000 bulbs on festive nights. The coffee estates of Coorg and Chikmagalur's mist-wrapped hills offer an aromatic counterpoint that few other states can match.
9

West Bengal

West Bengal carries the weight of an extraordinary intellectual legacy — Rabindranath Tagore's Shantiniketan, the films of Satyajit Ray, the journalism and politics that shaped the independence movement — all flowing from this single, mercurial state. Kolkata's crumbling colonial grandeur and Bengali culinary culture, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway winding through tea gardens, and the Sundarbans' mangrove wilderness — the world's largest tiger habitat — make it one of India's richest and most contradictory destinations.
10

Gujarat

The birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, Gujarat offers a potent mix of Gandhian heritage at Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, Asia's last wild Asiatic lions in the Gir Forest, and the architectural brilliance of what became India's first UNESCO World Heritage City. The Rann of Kutch's infinite white salt desert — especially lit at full moon during the seasonal Rann Utsav festival — is one of South Asia's most visually arresting landscapes.
11

Himachal Pradesh

Cradled by the outer Himalayan ranges, Himachal Pradesh delivers snow-capped peaks, cedar forests, and sacred temple towns at every elevation. Shimla retains its Victorian-era hill-station charm as the former British summer capital, while Dharamshala hosts the Tibetan government-in-exile and McLeod Ganj's monasteries, and Manali anchors high-altitude adventure routes toward Spiti and Ladakh.
12

Punjab

The Golden Temple at Amritsar — Sikhism's holiest shrine — serves a free community meal (langar) to 100,000 people daily and glows with an otherworldly luminosity at dusk that strikes even the irreligious. Punjab's landscape of wheat fields and irrigation canals was the engine of India's Green Revolution, and the state's exuberant Bhangra culture pulses from roadside dhabas to international concert halls.
13

Jammu and Kashmir

Few landscapes rival the Dal Lake at dawn — shikaras gliding through mirror-still water, the Zabarwan Range rising amber behind them, houseboats moored in rows of carved woodwork. The region encompasses the ancient Shiva temples of Jammu, the Mughal gardens of Srinagar laid out by Jahangir, and high-altitude passes into the trans-Himalayan world.
14

Uttarakhand

Pilgrims have walked the Char Dham circuit — Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, Yamunotri — for centuries, tracing routes through some of the Himalaya's most sacred and scenically overwhelming terrain. Rishikesh, the self-styled Yoga Capital of the World, draws a different kind of seeker along the Ganges, while the Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve — India's oldest national park — anchors the western foothills.
15

Andhra Pradesh

Stretched across the Deccan Plateau and a long Bay of Bengal coastline, Andhra Pradesh draws pilgrims by the millions to Tirupati — home to the world's most-visited religious site. The state's spice-laden cuisine and the ruins of ancient Amaravati, once a thriving Buddhist metropolis, add civilisational depth to every journey.
16

Madhya Pradesh

The Heart of India delivers on its sobriquet — Khajuraho's temple sculptures, UNESCO-listed and startlingly explicit in their celebration of the human form, are among medieval art's most accomplished achievements. Kanha and Bandhavgarh national parks offer some of the continent's best tiger-spotting odds, while Bhimbetka's rock shelters, inhabited for 300,000 years and painted for at least 30,000, ground everything in deep geological time.
17

Telangana

Carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, Telangana wears its heritage proudly in Hyderabad's Charminar and the crumbling ramparts of Golconda Fort — twin anchors of the Nizams' golden age. Beyond the old city's legendary biryani and pearl bazaars, the Nallamala forests and Nagarjuna Sagar dam reveal a landscape of surprising contrasts.
18

Odisha

Odisha's three great temples — Jagannath at Puri, the Sun Temple at Konark, and the Lingaraj at Bhubaneswar — represent the zenith of Kalinga architecture and form one of India's richest pilgrimage circuits. Chilika Lake, Asia's largest coastal lagoon, shelters flamingos, Irrawaddy dolphins, and hundreds of thousands of migratory birds between November and February.
19

Bihar

Bihar is the heartland of India's spiritual geography: Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha attained enlightenment beneath the Bodhi Tree, draws Buddhist pilgrims from Japan to Sri Lanka to California. The ruins of Nalanda University — once the world's greatest centre of learning — and Rajgir's ancient cyclopean walls speak to a civilisational depth that few places on earth can begin to match.
20

Assam

Assam is synonymous with tea: its Brahmaputra Valley gardens produce a third of India's annual output, and wandering one at sunrise — mist over endless rows of green — is quietly unforgettable. Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO site sheltering nearly 2,500 Indian one-horned rhinoceroses, is the state's international calling card and one of Asia's great conservation success stories.
21

Sikkim

India's smallest state sits beneath the third-highest peak on earth — Kangchenjunga — and its monasteries, rhododendron forests, and mist-wrapped valleys feel closer in atmosphere to Bhutan than to the plains below. Rumtek Monastery outside Gangtok is the most important Kagyu Buddhist seat in the world outside Tibet, its butter lamps burning in a silence broken only by ritual horns.
22

Meghalaya

The Abode of Clouds earns its name honestly: Mawsynram and Cherrapunji take turns claiming the title of the world's wettest place, their rainfall engineering the famous living root bridges of the Khasi Hills — centuries-old fig tree roots trained across streams into biological architecture. Shillong, the small but culturally vibrant capital, has a long reputation for live music, a temperate climate, and more than a little of the Scotland of the East about it.
23

Arunachal Pradesh

India's most easterly state — sharing borders with China, Myanmar, and Bhutan — is a biodiversity frontier of cloud forests, rare orchids, and tribal communities whose traditions remain largely intact. Tawang Monastery, perched at 3,048 metres near the disputed border, is the largest monastery in India and one of the most atmospherically remote in the entire Himalayan world.
24

Puducherry

Once a French colonial outpost, Puducherry's White Town still breathes Gallic calm — bougainvillea-draped villas, French-named streets, and the Sri Aurobindo Ashram drawing philosophers as much as tourists. The experimental township of Auroville just outside, envisioned as a universal city beyond nationality, remains one of India's most genuinely fascinating and quietly radical social experiments.
25

Andaman and Nicobar

Strung across the Bay of Bengal far closer to Myanmar than to mainland India, the Andaman Islands offer some of the most pristine beaches and scuba diving in Asia — Radhanagar Beach on Havelock regularly tops lists of the continent's finest. Cellular Jail in Port Blair stands as a haunting monument to colonial brutality, where thousands of India's independence fighters were imprisoned.
26

Manipur

Manipur's Loktak Lake, dotted with floating phumdis — self-sustaining islands of matted vegetation — shelters the endangered Sangai deer and forms the ecological and cultural heart of the state. Imphal carries considerable WWII weight: the Battle of Imphal in 1944 was one of the war's most decisive turning points, and the Allied war cemetery there is moving in its quiet precision.
27

Nagaland

Each December, the Hornbill Festival in Kohima transforms Nagaland into a showcase of sixteen Naga warrior traditions — handwoven textiles, brass jewellery, chanting, and smoked meat unlike anything else in India. The state's emerald hills, terraced paddy fields, and the meticulous Commonwealth War Cemetery at Kohima reward every traveller willing to venture into India's deeply individual northeast.
28

Chandigarh

Designed by Le Corbusier in the 1950s as independent India's first planned city, Chandigarh stands apart from every other city on the subcontinent — wide tree-lined boulevards, a serene Rock Garden of recycled industrial art, and manicured Rose Garden lend it a European calm. Serving as the shared capital of both Punjab and Haryana, it wears its modernist ambition lightly.
29

Jharkhand

Separated from Bihar in 2000 to give tribal communities a political voice of their own, Jharkhand's forested plateau harbours spectacular waterfalls — Hundru, Dassam — and the sacred Deoghar temple complex that draws Shiva devotees year-round. The Santali, Munda, and Ho peoples sustain oral and artistic traditions that stretch back to the very edge of recorded Indian history.
30

Tripura

Surrounded on three sides by Bangladesh, Tripura is one of India's most isolated states, its identity shaped by both Bengali literary culture and the distinct Borok tribal traditions of the hills. Neermahal, a royal water palace rising from the centre of Rudrasagar Lake, is one of the subcontinent's most photogenic structures — and rewards the effort of getting there.
31

Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh is India's most forested large state, its Gond, Baiga, and Maria tribal cultures sustaining ancient traditions around colourful weekly haats that function as living anthropological encounters. Chitrakoot Falls — a wide, thundering horseshoe that earns its comparison to Niagara — and the Bastar region's cave temples reward the travellers willing to seek out one of the subcontinent's most genuinely off-the-trail destinations.
32

Mizoram

Mizoram's bamboo-covered hills, near-universal literacy, and predominantly Christian population set it dramatically apart from the popular image of India. Aizawl, the vertical capital cascading down steep ridges in a way that recalls hill towns of Southeast Asia, and the state's celebrated Anthurium Festival reveal a culture both deeply Indian and richly distinctive.
33

Haryana

Haryana occupies a pivotal position on the Gangetic plain, its soil soaked in the mythology of the Mahabharata at Kurukshetra — where the great war is said to have been fought. Though overshadowed by its famous neighbours, the state's agricultural heartland, the birding haven of Sultanpur National Park, and thriving dairy culture offer an authentically unhurried Indian experience.
34

Lakshadweep

India's smallest union territory is an archipelago of 36 coral atolls scattered across the Laccadive Sea, where lagoons grade through every shade of aquamarine and reef ecosystems rank among the healthiest in Asia. Strict entry regulations preserve a marine environment of extraordinary fragility — permits required, crowds nonexistent.
35

Dadra and Nagar Haveli

An inland enclave north of Mumbai, Dadra and Nagar Haveli is among India's least-visited territories — yet its tribal festivals, bamboo forests, and the Satmalia Deer Sanctuary offer an unexpectedly wild counterpoint to the industrial corridors that surround it. The Warli tribal art tradition, practised here for millennia, has gained worldwide recognition in galleries far beyond this small enclave.
36

Daman and Diu

This split union territory comprises two small coastal enclaves separated by the Gulf of Khambhat, both bearing the quiet imprint of Portuguese colonization in their forts, churches, and the relaxed pace that set them apart from the Gujarat surrounding them. Diu's beaches, fresh seafood, and relative freedoms draw Indian visitors seeking the unhurried coastal escape that the mainland cannot always provide.

1

Delhi

India's capital layers 3,000 years of continuous habitation into a single, vertiginous experience — the Red Fort and Jama Masjid of the Mughal old city sit minutes from Lutyens's imperial New Delhi and the glass towers of Gurgaon beyond. No other city in the country concentrates so much history, so many UNESCO monuments, and such intense street-level energy into one place.
2

Agra

Agra exists, for most visitors, because of one building — and the Taj Mahal, seen at first light from across the Yamuna, is one of those rare monuments that exceeds every expectation set by a lifetime of photographs. The nearby Agra Fort and the abandoned Mughal capital of Fatehpur Sikri add sufficient depth to turn a day trip into a proper stay.
3

Jaipur

The Pink City earns its nickname — Sawai Jai Singh II ordered the old city's buildings painted terracotta-rose in 1876 for a royal visit, and it never quite returned to normal. The Amber Fort perched above the town, the Jantar Mantar astronomical observatory, and the City Palace's museum of Rajput weaponry and costumes make Jaipur the natural anchor of any Golden Triangle itinerary.
4

Mumbai

India's most cosmopolitan city compresses extreme wealth and extreme hardship into a narrow peninsula that has always attracted dreamers — the Gateway of India, Marine Drive at sunset, and the Victorian Gothic grandeur of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus all face each other across a few square kilometres of maximum-density urbanism. Bollywood studios, Dharavi's cottage industries, and the seafood shacks of Versova make it one of the world's great cities of perpetual reinvention.
5

Varanasi

One of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities, Varanasi confronts visitors with the full cycle of human existence in a way almost no other place on earth manages — dawn boat rides along the Ganges pass burning ghats, bathing pilgrims, and temple bells in a procession that has continued for thousands of years. The old city's labyrinthine lanes, silk weavers, and chai stalls form a sensory world almost impossible to leave quickly.
6

Goa

India's smallest state offers the country's most relaxed coastal experience, from the broad sands of Baga and Calangute in the north to the quieter coves of Palolem in the south. Old Goa's Baroque churches — the Basilica of Bom Jesus housing the remains of St. Francis Xavier — are UNESCO-listed and genuinely magnificent, while the state's Portuguese-influenced cuisine and cashew feni set it apart from anything else in the country.
7

Chennai

The gateway to South India, Chennai combines a rich Carnatic music tradition, world-class Bharatanatyam dance, and some of the country's finest Dravidian temples — Kapaleeshwarar in Mylapore and the Parthasarathy in Triplicane are centuries-old living temples in an active urban neighbourhood. Marina Beach, at 13 kilometres the longest urban beach in India, stretches past colonial buildings and street food vendors in an unlikely but effective juxtaposition.
8

Bengaluru

India's technology capital blends Silicon Valley ambition with a colonial-era garden city infrastructure — Cubbon Park, Lalbagh Botanical Garden, and the art deco Vidhana Soudha give the city an unexpected openness. Beyond the startup campuses, Bengaluru's craft beer scene, experimental restaurant culture, and proximity to Mysuru, Hampi, and Coorg make it a base worth lingering in.
9

Kolkata

India's most intellectually and artistically charged city, Kolkata was the British colonial capital until 1911 and wears that history in its crumbling Indo-Saracenic and neoclassical buildings, its European-style parks, and its ferociously argued cafe debates. The Durga Puja festival in October transforms the city into one of the world's most spectacular public art events — thousands of temporary shrines compete in a citywide creative festival unlike anything else in India.
10

Udaipur

Built around a series of interconnected lakes in the Aravalli hills, Udaipur is often called the most romantic city in India — and the City Palace rising directly from Lake Pichola's edge, gondola-like boats crossing at dusk, and white-painted havelis reflected in still water make that reputation hard to dispute. The Lake Palace Hotel, floating on its own island, is one of the most photographed buildings on the subcontinent.
11

Amritsar

The Golden Temple — Harmandir Sahib — is Sikhism's holiest shrine and one of the most genuinely moving spaces in the world, its gilded dome reflected in the Amrit Sarovar at all hours of the day and night. The free community kitchen (langar) serves 100,000 meals daily without distinction of faith or background — and the experience of joining that line is among the most humbling a traveller can have in India.
12

Rishikesh

Where the Ganges sweeps out of the Shivalik Hills into the plains, Rishikesh has drawn spiritual seekers for centuries and Beatles-era yoga pilgrims for decades — the ashrams of Swarg Ashram and the famous Beatles Ashram now derelict and reclaimed by jungle. Ram Jhula and Laxman Jhula, the two iconic suspension bridges, frame a town of temples, river cafes, and white-water rafting that somehow accommodates all of it without losing its devotional core.
13

Kochi

Fort Kochi's narrow streets contain more layers of colonial history than almost anywhere in India — Portuguese, Dutch, and British occupation succeeded one another, leaving churches, warehouses, and the iconic Chinese fishing nets along the waterfront as their combined legacy. The Kochi-Muziris Biennale, launched in 2012 and now one of Asia's most important contemporary art events, has transformed the city into an international cultural destination in its own right.
14

Hyderabad

The Charminar's four minarets have defined Hyderabad's skyline for four centuries, rising from a bazaar that remains one of the most atmospheric in the Deccan — lacquerware, pearls, and itr (attar) sold in the shadow of the landmark. The Nizams' opulent collecting habits filled the Salar Jung Museum with one of the world's most eclectic private art collections, and the city's biryani is the subject of a culinary devotion that verges on the religious.
15

Jodhpur

The Blue City takes its name from the indigo-painted houses of the Brahmin quarter that spread beneath Mehrangarh Fort — one of India's most commanding and best-preserved royal fortresses, rising sheer from a rocky outcrop 122 metres above the old town. The desert city's clock tower market, rooftop cafes, and view back up to the fort at sunset make Jodhpur one of Rajasthan's most immediately arresting stops.
16

Ahmedabad

India's first UNESCO World Heritage City wears its heritage in its intricately carved pol (neighbourhood) architecture — century-old wooden facades, secret inner courtyards, and community wells still functioning in the historic old town. Sabarmati Ashram, where Gandhi lived and planned the Salt March, is one of India's most important historical sites, and the city's thriving street food culture — Manek Chowk at night — is the equal of any in the country.
17

Mysuru

The City of Palaces takes its name seriously — the Amba Vilas Palace at the city's heart illuminates with 100,000 bulbs every Sunday evening and during the Dasara festival, a spectacle visible from miles away. Mysuru's broad, well-planned streets, silk weaving workshops in the Devaraja Market, and proximity to Nagarhole National Park make it one of South India's most comfortable and rewarding destinations.
18

Manali

Perched at the head of the Kullu Valley where the Beas River runs icy from Himalayan glaciers, Manali is the gateway to some of India's most celebrated mountain journeys — the Rohtang Pass to Lahaul and Spiti, and the dramatic Manali-Leh Highway through high-altitude desert. The old village's apple orchards, the Hadimba Temple in deodar forest, and the town's characteristic mix of adventure-seekers and spiritual wanderers give it a charged, end-of-the-road energy.
19

Srinagar

The summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir spreads across the shores of Dal Lake in a landscape of chinars, Mughal gardens, and houseboat communities that have defined the region's identity for centuries — Shalimar Bagh and Nishat Bagh, laid out by Mughal emperors, are among the finest formal gardens in Asia. A shikara ride at dawn, the call to prayer echoing over still water, is one of the most quietly transporting experiences the subcontinent offers.
20

Jaisalmer

Rising from the Thar Desert like a mirage — and looking very much like one — Jaisalmer's sandstone fort is a living medieval city where families have occupied the same carved havelis for generations. Camel safaris into the surrounding dunes at Sam, the ornate Patwon Ki Haveli, and the sense of absolute remoteness make Jaisalmer the most theatrical of Rajasthan's many theatrical destinations.
21

Darjeeling

Perched in the Himalayan foothills at 2,000 metres, Darjeeling looks across forested ridges toward the ice wall of Kangchenjunga on clear mornings — a view best appreciated from the sunrise-watching platform at Tiger Hill. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage 'Toy Train' that has wound up these slopes since 1881, and the tasting rooms of the tea estates that gave the town its worldwide fame, complete a destination of particular charm.
22

Bodh Gaya

The most sacred site in Buddhism, Bodh Gaya marks the spot where Siddhartha Gautama sat beneath a fig tree and attained enlightenment — the Mahabodhi Temple complex surrounding that original tree is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the destination for Buddhist pilgrims from Japan, Tibet, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and beyond. Monasteries built by a dozen Buddhist nations stand within walking distance of each other, creating an international monastic quarter unlike any other on earth.

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