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India holidays

January 2025

  • A covered walkway laid with black and white checked marble tiles and supported with stone pillars

    The lost mansions of Chettinad: festival showcases opulent homes turned heritage hotels

    In its heyday, Chettinad in southern India was a thriving hub of international traders. Today, the grandeur of their homes is being restored by a community keen to celebrate the houses’ cultural importance and promote them to tourists

March 2023

  • A villager from Dalar in Binsar wildlife sanctuary.

    ‘Tourism is our only option’: the community banking on birding in north India

    A new initiative in a Himalayan wildlife sanctuary is attracting birdwatchers and hikers to the remote foothills, and offering vulnerable villages a lifeline

July 2022

  • Young people camp next to their campervan among hills in India

    Indians embrace campervanning and help to revive country’s tourism

    Hire firms and campsites are sprouting up across India, as people look to get away from it all after the pandemic

March 2021

  • Walking the ‘Camino de Santiago’ in Spain<br>07/25/2018, Spain. The Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) is a large network of ancient pilgrim routes stretching across Europe and coming together at the tomb of St. James (Santiago in Spanish) in Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain. Yearly, hundreds of thousands of people of various backgrounds walk the Camino de Santiago either on their own or in organized groups. The most popular route (which gets very crowded in mid-summer) is the Camino Francés which stretches 780 km (nearly 500 miles) from St. Jean-Pied-du-Port in France to Santiago. The scallop shell is the most iconic symbol associated with the Camino de Santiago. Its seen everywhere, from churches and distance markers to pavements and backpacks. (Photo by Romy Arroyo Fernandez/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

    Secular pilgrims: why ancient trails still pack a spiritual punch

    Where kings and abbots walked, tourists now follow. Are these increasingly popular trips just another holiday or are we getting more religious?
  • The Gateway of India, commemorating the landing of King George V and Queen Mary in 1911

    Virtual travel guides
    Mumbai: a virtual tour through books, film, music and food

    India’s most cosmopolitan city offers a dramatic blend of Bollywood idols, opera, street stalls and gripping tales of the underworld
  • Vada pav Maharashtra, India

    I ate three in a row: the Bombay burger, India’s favourite fast food – plus the recipe

    Vada pav – spiced potato balls in a soft roll – is the quintessential Mumbai street food. BBC presenter Leyla Kazim devours the city’s best

January 2021

  • ‘A study in restraint’ … pongal (top, centre) is a rice and dal dish that involves minimal use of spices.

    Pongal is comfort food for south India’s harvest season – plus the recipe

    Pongal is both a harvest festival, which starts today, and the rice and dal breakfast dish eaten to mark its arrival

December 2020

  • Golden Temple, Amritsar.

    Jasbinder Bilan: Heading ‘home’ to India freed my creativity

  • Crowds at Mumbai railway station

    My journey around India in 80 trains

November 2020

  • Sonam feeding the family’s goats in Tibet.

    Travel through a lens
    Travel through a lens – Sonam braves winter on the Tibetan plateau, India

    Our new series of travel photos that tell a story starts with this portrait of a young nomadic girl who herds animals on the world’s highest plateau

June 2020

  • Book seller arranges his street book stall for customers in Mumbai

    10 of the best books set in India – that will take you there

    Tired of narratives that obsess over spices, colours and cows on the road? These books, all by Indian writers, paint realistic pictures of the country’s geographical, cultural and political landscapes

August 2019

  • Sheela Banerjee, left, back in Chandannagar, West Bengal, and on a Toto ride with her daughter

    Taking a Toto trip in West Bengal: an electric rickshaw adventure ride

    Returning to Chandannagar, our writer’s Toto e-rickshaw journey brought back happy memories, and prompted optimism about the eco benefits of this increasingly popular form of transport

July 2019

  • A jewellery street vendor in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.

    The Guardian picture essay
    The jewellers of Jaipur's Johari Bazaar – a photo essay

    Unesco has named the capital of Rajasthan, India, a world heritage site, partly for its jewellery and artisanal traditions, which continue to thrive on one of its main commercial streets

January 2019

  • View of the Ganges and the city of Rishikesh, India.

    A river ride to Rishikesh: India's new adventure capital

    Rishikesh shot to fame when the Beatles arrived, in search of enlightenment. Half a century on, the area is attracting a different kind of seeker – those after rapids, zipwires and mountain treks

November 2018

  • Camels perform in a decoration competition at the Pushkar camel fair in Pushkar, Rajasthan, India, on 17 November 2018.

    Pushkar camel fair changing from market to heritage attraction

    In Rajasthan, India, officials hope tourism will help preserve the dying art of camel decoration as livestock trading at the famous fair declines

October 2018

  • Lonely, planned it ... snorkeling in Andaman sea, Thailand.

    Shortcuts
    Island paradises, Indian caves and Interrail: the best destinations for new solo travellers

    With solo travel up by a third since 2011, we are warming to the idea of a trip away without compromise or arguments. Here are some places that guarantee a good welcome

August 2018

  • Women dance during the procession, which is part of the immersion ritual as the Goddess makes her way from the temporary structures that are erected all over the city, to the river after the “Indoor Khela”. In this ritual, married women adorn the Goddess with vermillion and then smear the forehead and cheeks of other married women as part of the festivities.

    Bengal’s Durga puja: a Hindu festival in full flow – in pictures

  • Small tents in a clearing amid cloud covered peaks.

    My Himalayan journey – trekking to Shangri-La

May 2018

  • An Indian Railways’ train en route from Hyderabad to Tamil Nadu.

    An Indian railway adventure: the pilgrim train from Hyderabad to Tamil Nadu

    On an epic rail journey especially for pilgrims, our writer is as enthralled by the kindness and friendship of his fellow travellers as he is by the spectacular temples

April 2018

  • Bengaluru’s Echoes of Earth festival

    A local's guide
    Bengaluru, India: a local’s top 10 tips

    The hi-tech, high-altitude, high-energy city also known as Bangalore has smart bars, cool brunch joints, green spaces galore – and a pleasant climate
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