When to travel

Best places to visit in November

November is peak season. Cool, clear, and crowded — Rajasthan's deserts, Kerala's backwaters, and Pushkar's camel fair all peak now.

Peak crowds

Punjab

Amritsar (Golden Temple)

The Golden Temple sits lower than the ground around it, and you walk down steps to reach the water.

Delightfully cool daytimes with crisp clear night atmospheres.

Peak crowds

Rajasthan

Pushkar

Pushkar wraps around its lake — a natural one, and sacred — in the rugged Aravalli hills near Ajmer.

Pleasant warm daytimes with cool crisp evening desert breezes.

Peak crowds

Gujarat

Shamlaji

Shamlaji is a temple town in the Aravalli foothills of north-eastern Gujarat, on the banks of the Meshwo River near the Rajasthan border.

Crisp winter air, delightfully cool mornings and clear afternoon skies.

Busy

West Bengal

Darjeeling

Darjeeling sits at about 2,042 metres on a steep mountain ridge of the Lesser Himalayas in northern West Bengal, under the snow mass of Mount Kanchenjunga…

Crisp refreshing afternoon hours with absolutely immaculate sky clarity.

Busy

Punjab

Anandpur Sahib

Anandpur Sahib — the 'Holy City of Bliss' — matters as much as anywhere in the Sikh faith outside Amritsar.

Delightfully cool afternoon hours under open sunny skies.

Busy

Rajasthan

Jaipur

Jaipur repays getting up early more than almost anywhere in Rajasthan, because by ten the coaches have arrived and Amber Fort stops being a fort and becomes a…

Delightfully cool daytimes with bright clear blue horizons.

Busy

Rajasthan

Udaipur

Udaipur, the 'City of Lakes', sits among the green Aravalli Hills, built around a chain of interconnected lakes created over the centuries for water and…

Refreshing daytimes with cool coastal-like lake breezes.

Moderate crowds

Rajasthan

Jodhpur

Mehrangarh is the best fort in India, and if you only climb one in Rajasthan it should be this one.

Delightfully warm sunny afternoons with cool crisp evening air.

Busy

Rajasthan

Ranthambore National Park

Ranthambore is one of the largest and best-known wildlife sanctuaries in northern India, with a thriving population of the endangered Royal Bengal tiger.

Pleasantly cool daytimes with excellent clear forest visibility lines.

Moderate crowds

Rajasthan

Bikaner

Bikaner gets a fraction of Jaisalmer's and Jodhpur's visitors and is a better city for it. Nothing here is queued.

Pleasantly warm afternoon hours with refreshing evening drops.

Low crowds

Rajasthan

Bundi

Bundi is what Rajasthan looked like before the tour buses found it, and it is an hour off the Jaipur to Udaipur road that most people never take.

Pleasantly warm daytimes with cool refreshing evening winds.

Moderate crowds

Uttar Pradesh

Fatehpur Sikri

Fatehpur Sikri is a planned Mughal city and fort complex near Agra, built entirely of red sandstone, that served briefly as Emperor Akbar's imperial capital.

Delightfully cool daytimes with crisp blue sky perimeters.

Busy

Uttar Pradesh

Taj Mahal (Agra)

The Taj Mahal stands in white marble on the southern bank of the Yamuna River at Agra.

Delightfully cool daytimes with crisp afternoon lighting.

Busy

Goa

North Goa (Baga & Calangute)

Baga and Calangute are the commercial heart of North Goa, a continuous stretch of golden sand on the Arabian Sea and the busiest coast in the state.

Pleasantly warm days with clear blue seas.

Moderate crowds

Maharashtra

Mahabaleshwar

Mahabaleshwar sits at 1,353 metres on a broad plateau ridge of the Sahyadri range in Satara district, the highest and most extensive hill resort in…

Beautifully cool autumn days with maximum horizon visibility.

Busy

Maharashtra

Ajanta Caves

The Ajanta Caves are 30 rock-cut Buddhist monuments set into a horseshoe-shaped gorge in Aurangabad district.

Delightfully cool daytimes with bright clear sky perimeters.

Busy

Maharashtra

Matheran

Matheran bans motor vehicles inside the town, which makes it the quietest place within two hours of Mumbai and the only hill station in Asia to enforce that.

Pleasantly cool daytimes with crisp clear valley visibility.

Busy

Tamil Nadu

Madurai (Meenakshi Amman Temple)

The Meenakshi Amman Temple stands at the heart of Madurai, an ancient city on the banks of the Vaigai River, and it is the great Dravidian temple complex of…

Pleasantly cool days with comfortable walking parameters.