Things to do in India

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Attraction

Rumi Darwaza

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

An ornate 60-foot Awadhi gateway, a symbol of the city.

Attraction

Rumtek Monastery

Gangtok, Sikkim

A large multi-storey Tibetan Buddhist monastery 24 km away, and the principal international seat of the Karma Kagyu lineage.

Attraction

Sabarmati Ashram

Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Gandhi's home on the west bank of the Sabarmati, about six kilometres from the town hall, and the place he set out from on 12 March 1930 to walk to Dandi and break the salt law. He lived here and at Sevagram in Wardha for twelve years between travelling and prison, with Kasturba and followers including Vinoba Bhave; the Gita was recited daily as part of the day's routine. It is a national monument now — low buildings, a courtyard, his room kept as it was. Best in the morning, before the school groups.

Attraction

Saheliyon-ki-Bari

Udaipur, Rajasthan

The garden of the maidens, in the north of Udaipur, built by Rana Sangram Singh for the women of the court. Fountains, kiosks, a lotus pool and marble elephants, laid out around water brought down from the lake above — the fountains were engineered to run on that fall alone, without pumps. There is a small museum on the site with material on the city's history. It is a garden rather than a monument, so treat it as half an hour and not an afternoon, and go early: it is small enough that two coach parties fill it.

Experience

Sam Sand Dunes

Jaisalmer, Rajasthan

The expansive rolling sand dunes located 40 km outside the city, famous for evening camel safaris, jeep dune bashing, and cultural camps.

Experience

Samaguri Satra (Mask Making)

Majuli, Assam

The monastery famous for crafting traditional Assamese masks used in ritual theatre.

Experience

Sarayu Ghats

Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh

Riverfront ghats famous for the evening aarti and the Deepotsav festival.

Attraction

Sarnath

Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

Where the Buddha gave his first sermon, with stupas and a museum, 10 km away.

Attraction

Sarnath Archaeological Museum

Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh

India's oldest site museum gallery housing the original 3rd-century BCE Ashokan Lion Capital and masterfully carved sandstone Buddha statues.

Attraction

Sarnath Museum

Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh

Home to the original Ashoka Lion Capital, India's national emblem.

Viewpoint

Savitri Devi Temple

Pushkar, Rajasthan

A prominent hilltop temple perched on Ratnagiri Hill, accessible via a passenger ropeway and famous for panoramic sunrise views of the entire town.

Viewpoint

Sayaji Baug (Kamati Baug)

Vadodara, Gujarat

More than a hundred acres in the middle of Vadodara, laid out by Sayajirao Gaekwad III and the largest garden in western India. It works as a public park rather than a formal garden — joggers at six in the morning, families at six in the evening, and a toy train that has been running for decades. The Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery stands inside it, along with a planetarium and a zoo. Free, open from early, and the one place in the city where you can walk for an hour without crossing traffic.

Attraction

Se Cathedral

Old Goa Churches (Velha Goa), Goa

One of the largest churches in Asia, dedicated to St. Catherine.

Attraction

Sesharayar Mandapam

Srirangam (Ranganathaswamy Temple), Tamil Nadu

A sixteenth-century hall where each pillar is carved as a rearing horse with an armed rider, cut from a single block. It sits off the main route through the temple, so ask — most visitors never find it.

Attraction

Shamlaji Vishnu Temple

Shamlaji, Gujarat

A Vishnu temple in Aravalli district and one of the busier pilgrimage centres in north Gujarat. The present building is fifteenth or sixteenth century, though it may have been begun in the eleventh in the Chaulukya style; the Vishnu image in the sanctuary is older still, probably seventh or eighth century, and the small temple facing it holds a sixth-century Shiva. The oldest intact structure on the site is the ninth-century Harishchandrani Chauri, with its gateway, off to one side and usually walked past. The fair at Kartik Poornima is when the town fills.

Attraction

Shaniwar Wada

Pune, Maharashtra

The fortified 18th-century seat of the Maratha Peshwas.

Viewpoint

Shanti Stupa

Leh, Leh & Ladakh

Built in 1991 by a Japanese Buddhist order, reached by five hundred-odd steps or by road. Sunset is when everyone comes. At this altitude the stairs are harder than they look on your first day in Leh.

Attraction

Shatrunjaya Temple City

Palitana (Shatrunjaya), Gujarat

A range of hills above Palitana carrying 865 Jain temples — not one temple with outbuildings but a city of them, built up along the ridge over centuries. Jain tradition holds the site was sanctified when Rishabha, the first Tirthankara, preached from the summit, and that Pundarik Swami, his grandson and chief Ganadhara, attained moksha here. It is among the holiest places in Jainism. Getting up means roughly 3,500 steps and there is no ropeway; pilgrims start before dawn, and nobody stays on the hill overnight, priests included.

Experience

Shikharji Parikrama

Shikharji (Parasnath), Jharkhand

The ~27 km sacred ridge trek visiting the tonks of the Tirthankaras.

Attraction

Shree Jagannath Temple

Puri (Jagannath Temple & Beach), Odisha

Twelfth century, with a spire around sixty-five metres high. Hindus only, and no phones or leather past the gate. The flag at the top is changed every day by a man who climbs the spire without ropes — worth waiting for, from outside if you cannot go in.

Attraction

Sidi Saiyyed Mosque

Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Built in 1572-73 by Sidi Sayyad, a Habshi nobleman in the service of the Gujarat Sultanate, and a Monument of National Importance. Nobody comes for the mosque as a whole — they come for one window. The jali on the western wall is cut from a single slab into a tree with intertwined branches and palm fronds, and it has become the city's emblem: the Indian Institute of Management borrowed it for its logo and it turns up on everything from tea packets to shopfronts. It is a working mosque, so time a visit outside prayers.

Attraction

Somnath Mahadev Temple

Somnath, Gujarat

The first of the twelve jyotirlingas of Shiva, at Prabhas Patan near Veraval on the Saurashtra coast, and one of the most contested sites in Indian history. The Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana both name a tirtha here long before archaeology can confirm a building; the earliest datable temple falls somewhere between the first centuries CE and the ninth. It was destroyed and rebuilt repeatedly, beginning with Mahmud of Ghazni's raid in January 1026. The ruins standing at independence were cleared and the present temple built in the Maru-Gurjara style. The sea starts immediately behind it.

Attraction

Somnath Temple

Somnath, Gujarat

The grand seaside Jyotirlinga temple of Lord Shiva.

Experience

Sound & Light Show

Somnath, Gujarat

An evening show projected with the temple and sea as backdrop.