Chandigarh

Most of India's major cities emerged gradually, around ancient or colonial monuments. Chandigarh, in starkly modernist contrast, was designed in the 1950s, in the pink of India's new-found independence, by the French architect Le Corbusier. The capital of two bordering states, Haryana and Punjab, it's a refreshing stop on the long day's drive from Delhi to Shimla or other Himachal Pradesh destinations. Blessed with spacious avenues and plenty of green, including bright bougainvillea, the city has a downtown devoid of the usual scruffy chaos—sidewalk stalls, paan (betel-leaf) shops, slums, trash, and hawkers seem to be in shorter supply here. However, over time, Chandigarh's neglected areas, replete with barbed wire and garbage, have made Le Corbusier's trademark concrete buildings much less attractive.