India by Region
West India
Royal Rajasthan, Mumbai's energy, and the Thar Desert
West India combines India's most dramatic desert landscapes with its most cosmopolitan city. Rajasthan's forts and palaces are unmatched anywhere. Mumbai pulses with Bollywood energy, street food, and colonial architecture. Gujarat's Rann of Kutch is one of India's most surreal landscapes.
Guides Published
5
Best Time to Visit
October – March
5 Destination Guides
West IndiaGoa
“India's Sun-Soaked Paradise”
Goa, India's smallest state, is also its most liberating. A Portuguese colony for 450 years (1510–1961), it carries a distinctly Latin flavour — whitewashed baroque churches, terracotta-roofed houses, feni (cashew spirit), and a relaxed pace of life utterly unlike the rest of India. Its beaches range from the famously busy Baga and Calangute in the north to the quieter, more bohemian stretches of Palolem and Agonda in the south. Goa is equally beloved by UK and European backpackers seeking ₹500 beach shacks, families checking into five-star resorts, and everyone in between. Daily budgets run from $30–50 USD (₹2,500–4,000) on a shoestring to $150–400 (₹12,500–33,000) at luxury resorts.
West IndiaJaipur
“The Pink City”
Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, is one of India's most vibrant and historically rich cities. Founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, it was one of the first planned cities in the world. Its old city walls, painted in a distinctive terracotta pink, earned it the nickname 'The Pink City.' Home to opulent palaces, grand forts, and bazaars filled with gems and textiles, Jaipur is the anchor of India's famous Golden Triangle tourist route.
West IndiaJodhpur
“The Blue City”
Jodhpur, Rajasthan's second-largest city, is one of India's most dramatic urban landscapes. From the ramparts of Mehrangarh Fort — one of the largest forts in India, rising 125 metres above the city on a sheer rock outcrop — the view down into a sea of indigo-blue painted houses is an image that stops you cold. Founded in 1459 by Rao Jodha, the city is the gateway to the Thar Desert and carries a raw, less-touristed energy that many international visitors find more authentic than Jaipur. Its cuisine is among the finest in Rajasthan — Jodhpur is the birthplace of the Mirchi Bada, the Mawa Kachori, and the original Jodhpuri curry. Daily budgets from $40 USD (₹3,300) budget to $200+ (₹16,500+) at heritage hotels.
West IndiaMumbai
“Maximum City”
Mumbai is India's financial capital, its film capital (Bollywood produces more films annually than Hollywood), and the city where the subcontinent's ambitions are most visibly at full stretch. Twenty-one million people, the world's most expensive private residence (Antilia) and some of its most crowded slums, Art Deco seafront boulevards and colonial Gothic railway stations, the world's largest dabba-delivery network and a restaurant scene that spans everything from ₹30 vada pav street carts to Michelin-recognised tasting menus — Mumbai contains multitudes. For international visitors, it is most often an entry or exit point, but those who dedicate 3–4 days find a city of extraordinary energy, beauty, and contradiction. The monsoon (June–September) transforms the city; the best weather is November–February. Daily budgets from $40 USD (₹3,300) budget to $300+ (₹25,000+) for luxury sea-facing hotels.
West IndiaUdaipur
“The City of Lakes”
Udaipur is the most romantic city in India — and the competition is stiff. Set around a chain of mirror-still lakes in the southern Aravalli Hills, it is a city of cream-coloured palaces, flower-lined ghats, rooftop restaurants with sunset views over the water, and a pace of life that invites you to linger. The City Palace — the largest palace complex in Rajasthan — rises in a tiered cascade above Lake Pichola, and its marble island hotel, the Lake Palace (one of the world's most photographed hotels), floats ethereally in the centre of the lake. Udaipur was used as the principal location in the James Bond film Octopussy (1983), and scenes filmed here remain some of the most visually distinctive in the franchise. Budget from $50 USD (₹4,200) per day; luxury hotels on the lake from $300–800 USD (₹25,000–67,000) per night.
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