When to travel

Best places to visit in October

October is travel weather. Comfortable across most of India, with Durga Puja in Bengal, Diwali approaching, and clear skies for Himalayan trails.

Peak crowds

Himachal Pradesh

Kullu

Kullu is the valley Manali sits at the top of, and the town itself is an administrative centre with a bus stand rather than a resort. Most people are through it in an hour. Two things are worth stopping for. Bijli Mahadev, on the ridge above, is an hour's climb from the road: a tall wooden staff there is said to draw lightning, and the lingam beneath it is broken by the strike and reset with butter. And the weaving — Kullu shawls carry a GI tag, and the co-operative showrooms on the highway sell at fixed prices, which the roadside stalls do not. The one time Kullu itself is the destination is Dussehra in October. It starts on the day the rest of India's ends, runs about a week, and brings the village deities down into the maidan on palanquins. Rafting on the Beas runs from Pirdi, roughly March to June and again once the monsoon has passed.

Pleasantly cool autumn days with crisp clear blue conditions.

Peak crowds

Karnataka

Mysuru (Mysore Palace)

Mysuru is a small, orderly, easy city, and it has the one palace in India that is worth seeing lit up. Mysore Palace switches its exterior lights on for a short window on Sunday evenings and through Dasara — around a hundred thousand bulbs on the outline of the building. Check the current timings locally, because they change, and be there before it happens rather than after. Inside, the Durbar Hall and the marriage pavilion are the rooms to slow down in. Photography is not allowed in the interior and shoes come off at the entrance. Chamundi Hill above the city is the standard sunset trip. The steps up — around a thousand of them — are a better way to arrive than the road, and the Nandi bull two-thirds of the way up is the reason to walk rather than drive. Devaraja Market is the working market: flowers by the kilo, sandalwood, bananas in a dozen varieties. Go in the morning while it is being restocked. Dasara in September or October is the city at full volume, with a caparisoned elephant procession. It is also when every room is booked. October to February otherwise.

Delightfully cool daytimes with festive crisp evening breezes.

Peak crowds

Maharashtra

Renuka Devi Temple (Mahur)

Renuka Devi Temple (Mahur) in Mahur, Nanded, Maharashtra is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the **right hand** of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as **Renuka (Mahishmardini)**. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.