Sights & Attractions in North Central India

North Central India Sights

Agra and Varanasi are at opposite ends of India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh. Both lie on the Gangetic plain, and the countryside around each is similar: a dry landscape planted with sugarcane, mustard, and wheat in winter and inhabited by poor peasants and well-off landowners. The landscape of Madhya Pradesh morphs into a more dramatic scene, with rolling hills and fertile valleys. Especially in Khajuraho and the state capital Bhopal to the southwest, you'll get a better sense of the natural environment because of less congestion and more open spaces. The monsoon hits harder to the east, around Varanasi and Bodhgaya, so the terrain there is a little more lush. The Yamuna River—backdrop to the Taj Mahal—joins the Ganges at Allahabad, about 161 km (100 mi) west of Varanasi.

North Central's Festivals

Agra's cultural festival, Taj Mahotsav (10 days in February), and the Khajuraho Festival of Dance (a week between late February and March) are geared primarily to visitors. During Gwalior's Tansen Music Festival (5 nights in November or December), renowned singers come to perform classical ragas near the tomb of the greatest classical singer of them all, Tansen. At the Lucknow Mahotsav (December), the evening music and dance performances are excellent.

In Varanasi there's a major religious festival practically every week, but festival dates shift every year (check www.incredibleindia.org for upcoming dates). Varanasi's great bathing days, when thousands stream down the ghats into the Ganges, include Makar Sankranti (January), the full moon of the Hindu month Kartik (October or November), and Ganga Dussehra (May or June). Durga Puja (September or October) ends with the city's large Bengali community marching to the river at sunset to immerse large mud-daubed images of the goddess Durga.

Buddhists from Tibet and all over Asia celebrate their festivals in Sarnath, Bodhgaya, and Sanchi.

View all sights