Orchha

In the 16th and 17th centuries the Hindu Bundela rulers, allies of the Moghuls, built up Orchha as a provincial capital on the banks of the winding Betwa River. They were great patrons of the arts, and the palace became a magnet for artists and craftsmen who left their mark on it in the form of beautiful stonework and murals. Orchha also attracted poets, including the Hindi poet Keshav Das. In 1783 the Bundela capital was moved from this isolated location, and today Orchha is little more than a sleepy village crowded with palaces, temples, and chattras, or funerary monuments of the Hindu rulers. The structure resemble Muslim tombs but contain no remains—the rulers were cremated on the riverbanks.

Orchha, in the state of Madhya Pradesh, is a great place to explore in peace, without the crowds you'll find at other sites. Orchha's isolation proved useful to nationalist leader Chandrashekhar Azad, who hid from the British here in the 1920s, and even today you may feel you've entered a sort of benignly protected corner of the world. Take a flashlight so you can explore the rooms and passageways that were constructed under the town's buildings as escapes from the hot summer. Most of the sites are accessible around the clock, but some are open only daily from 10 to 5. Unless otherwise indicated, all sites are free.