Pune

This hill station in the Sahyadris at 1,973 feet and three hours southeast of Mumbai, is a delightful town. Pune, or Poona, is also Maharashtra's second-largest city—with nearly 5 million people—and its proximity to Mumbai has made it a cosmopolitan place. There are new restaurants, stores, pubs, and hotels opening all the time. The hottest fast-food chains and stores have their outlets in Pune. And Mumbai wannabes keep the pubs rocking.

Despite its modernity, Pune remains a cantonment town, with a distinct area once controlled by the British army. Raj touches (languid grace, fancy bungalows, wide boulevards, and some interesting architecture) remain. At 1 PM much of the city halts for a lunch break and a siesta. Markets and shops down their shutters until 4. The Indian army still has a major presence in Pune.

A conservative Maharashtrian town, Pune is steeped in Marathi culture. The older parts of the city—the peths (bazaars), wadas (homes), and Ganesh temples—are deeply Maharashtrian. You'll find Peshwa palaces and Maratha forts in Pune and nearby areas. This was the fierce, medieval Maratha warrior Shivaji's backyard, and his legendary battles with Mughal conquerors took place in this neighborhood. Lip-smacking Maharashtrian delicacies like puran poli (sweet lentil-stuffed pancakes), shrikhand (sweet yogurt), batata wada (savory fried potatoes), and zunkhar bakri (millet bread with spicy lentils) are widely available. Nowhere is Ganesh Chaturthi, the biggest festival of the state—a 10-day event in August and September that honors the elephant god Ganesh, or Ganpati—celebrated with more joy and dhoom dham (pomp) than in Pune.

Since the 1980s, Pune has become more international. In 1985 Bhagwan Rajneesh, aka "Osho, the captivating godman," who some call a sex guru, fled his commune in Oregon to set up shop here in 1985. His charisma was such that with him came a giant band of Western followers, who settled in Pune. Osho died in 1990, but the commune continues to thrive, even after a host of salacious controversies, still drawing hordes of seemingly drugged-out Westerners. As a result, an entire upscale neighborhood of Pune is inhabited by maroon-robe-clad, spacey foreigners seeking a new twist to their life. This has spawned an entire Osho tourist district, where everything from German bread to New Age meditation tunes to Kathmandu trinkets is available.