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Classic honeymoon states — misty hills, palace cities and sunset beaches
33 places
Kerala
Unique because backwaters meet the Arabian Sea.
Famous for traditional Uru shipbuilding.
Highlights: Fishing harbour and estuary views.
Known for being less crowded.
Perfect for: Honeymoon, Quiet holidays.
Known for: Bridge, fishing harbour and peaceful sunsets.
Highlights: Chinese Fishing Nets, Colonial heritage, Street food, Art cafés.
Famous for: Historic pier, Lighthouse, Sunset. Nearby: Alleppey Backwaters, Houseboats.
Highlights: Giant Mermaid sculpture, Close to airport.
Known for: Landscaped gardens, Clean beach, Family outings.
Known for: Beautiful estuary.
Near Guruvayur Temple.
Highlights: Small island visible from shore.
Jammu & Kashmir
Mubarak Mandi is a 25-building royal palace complex across 12 acres overlooking the Tawi River in Jammu, blending Gothic, Rajput, Mughal, and European architectural styles, and today housing the Dogra Art Museum.
Bhimgarh Fort is a hilltop fortress in Reasi town, originally built in clay in the 8th century AD by Raja Bhimdev Rasyal and later rebuilt in stone, with major renovation under the Dogra Maharajas in the 19th century.
Poonch Fort is a roughly 7,500 sq metre fortified palace complex in Poonch town, combining Mughal, Sikh, Dogra, and European architectural influences, with red brick masonry, circular bastions, and arched openings.
Akhnoor Fort is a two-storeyed fortification on the eastern bank of the Chenab river in Jammu district, featuring corner watchtowers and river-side access, protected by the Archaeological Survey of India since 1982.
Ramnagar Fort in Udhampur district is a square-plan fort with polygonal corner bastions rising three storeys, decorated with battlements and surrounded by a moat, accessed via a narrow southeastern bridge.
Goa
Chapora Fort stands on a headland in Bardez, North Goa, overlooking the Chapora River near Vagator, roughly 10 km from Mapusa. A largely ruined laterite fortification, it is best known today as a filming location for the Bollywood film "Dil Chahta Hai."
Bekal Fort in Kasaragod district, Kerala, is the largest fort in Kerala, spreading over 40 acres, with three-quarters of its exterior in contact with the sea, giving the impression it emerges directly from the water.
Reis Magos Fort occupies a headland on the northern bank of the Mandovi River in Bardez, Goa, almost directly facing the capital city Panaji across the water. Built of laterite with cylindrical Portuguese-style turrets, it is one of Goa's oldest forts, restored into a cultural centre.
Fort Tiracol sits on a hilltop at the mouth of the Tiracol (Terekhol) River in North Goa, roughly 40 km from Panaji, reached via a ferry crossing from Querim. Originally a Maratha-era fortification, it now operates as a heritage hotel and includes the active Church of St. Anthony within its walls.
Rajasthan
Built in 1156 by Rawal Jaisal at a crossroads of trade routes that fed into the old silk roads, and the second-oldest fort in Rajasthan. It is one of the very few living forts left anywhere: around a quarter of the old city still lives inside the walls, alongside shops, guesthouses and the Jain temples in the middle. The yellow sandstone reads tawny at midday and honey at sunset, which is where the golden fort name comes from.
Founded around 1459 by Rao Jodha of the Rathore clan, though most of what stands is seventeenth-century work by his successors — a hundred and twenty metres above the city, spread across twelve hundred acres. Seven gates lead in: Jai Pol was built by Man Singh to mark victories over Jaipur and Bikaner in 1806, Fattehpol commemorates Ajit Singh's victory over the Mughals. Inside are palace courtyards, the Chamunda Mataji temple and a museum of the Jodhpur royal collection.
Begun in 1592 on the hill above Maota lake, in pale sandstone and marble, and the Sheesh Mahal is what the queue is for. The fort stands over the town of Amer, eleven kilometres from Jaipur, and Maota is not scenery — it was the palace's water supply. Ramparts, a sequence of gates and cobbled ramps carry you up through the courtyards, with the mirror hall off the third. Walk up rather than taking an elephant: the animals here have drawn repeated welfare complaints, and the climb takes about ten minutes. First hour or last hour is when the sandstone turns orange and the courtyards empty.
Begun in 1589 and never taken, which is why the painted and gold-leaf interiors survive as well as they do. The walls and moat went up between 1589 and 1594 under Karan Chand, prime minister to Rai Singh of Bikaner. It was called Chintamani until the early twentieth century. Unusually for Rajasthan it stands on flat ground rather than a hill, so the city grew around it instead of below it.
A tenth-century Chauhan fort standing inside the tiger reserve, founded under Sapaldaksha and added to by the kings who followed him. It sits high enough to give the clearest view there is over the park below. Entry is free and separate from the safari, because the Ganesh temple inside is a working shrine receiving pilgrims.
Lohagarh — the "Iron Fort" — stands in Bharatpur behind a wide moat and earthen ramparts that proved harder to breach than any masonry wall. Its two main gateways, the eight-metalled Ashtadhatu Gate and the four-pillared Chowburja Gate, lead into a complex still holding the Jawahar Burj and Fateh Burj towers, each raised to commemorate a victory over an invading army.
Ahhichatragarh — the "Fort of the Hooded Cobra" — spans 36 acres in Nagaur, its palaces still carrying original period furniture, objects and wall paintings after one of India's most sustained fort restorations. The complex hosts the annual World Sacred Spirit Festival, and its Mughal-influenced gardens and water channels are considered among the most complete surviving examples of Rajput-Mughal garden design.
Taragarh rises on a steep hill directly above Bundi's old city, its massive battlements and bastions built in a style Incredible India's own listing describes as blending Rajput military architecture with later Mughal influences. Below it, Bundi's stepwells and the fort's own rainwater tanks reflect a defensive site that also had to survive the region's long dry seasons.
Nahargarh Fort stands on the Aravalli ridge above Jaipur, one of three forts — with Amber and Jaigarh — built to ring and defend the city. Unlike Amber's palace grandeur, Nahargarh was built as a retreat: its Madhavendra Bhawan wing holds a symmetrical row of near-identical apartments, reputedly built by Sawai Ram Singh II for his queens, each accessible without passing through another's rooms.
Bala Quila crowns a hilltop over 1,000 feet above Alwar, a sprawling fortification some 5km long and 1.5km wide with fifteen large and fifty-one small towers, and — by one official count — 446 loopholes built for long-barrelled muskets. Six historic gateways, including Suraj Pol and Chand Pol, lead through walls that changed hands between Mughal, Maratha and Jat rulers before Alwar's own royal family took final control.
Neemrana Fort Palace steps down a hillside in the Aravallis in twelve tiers, a 15th-century Chauhan-dynasty fort that stood in ruin for decades after 1947 before being restored into one of India's earliest and best-known heritage hotels. Its terraced courtyards, hanging gardens and infinity pool built into the old ramparts have made it one of the most photographed heritage properties on the Delhi-Jaipur highway.
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