Gandikota

Kodandarama Temple, Vontimitta

Twenty-five kilometres out of Kadapa, near Rajampet, stands one of the finest surviving pieces of Vijayanagara building in Rayalaseema: a 16th-century Rama temple with carved mandapas, monumental gopurams and stone sculpture worked across the complex. It is protected as a monument of national importance and serves as the state's official venue for the Sita Rama Kalyanam at Sri Rama Navami, which is the one time to expect real crowds. Tens of thousands of pilgrims pass through in a year, but on an ordinary morning there is room to stand and look properly. Best folded into a Tirupati trip.