Three states that share a coastline and almost nothing else
The West
Maharashtra is Bombay and the Western Ghats — the monsoon escarpment in July is one of the great underrated sights in the country, if you do not mind the rain. Gujarat is the Rann in late December, Bhuj's textile lineages, and a vegetarian culinary tradition we take seriously. Goa we treat as two separate places: the empty north in September, and the social south in January. We do not send people there in May.
Photo: Ashishshetty111 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Destinations · 10
Gujarat
Ahmedabad
India's first UNESCO World Heritage City — pol houses and secret courtyards, Gandhi's ashram on the river, and Le Corbusier and Kahn a bus ride apart.
Maharashtra
Ajanta & Ellora
Two rock-cut sites 100 km apart — 2nd-century BCE Buddhist painting at Ajanta, and at Ellora a Hindu temple carved downward out of one cliff.
Gujarat
Champaner-Pavagadh
India's only pre-Mughal Islamic city left intact — UNESCO-listed, almost empty of tourists, with a living Kalika temple still drawing pilgrims to the hilltop above.
Goa
Goa
Not the beach you were sold. Portuguese Goa inland — Chandor's mansions, the Divar island churches, and spice country up in the Sahyadri.
Maharashtra
Mumbai
Seven islands reclaimed into one city. Art Deco seafront, 6th-century island caves, and the dhobi and dabbawala systems that shouldn't work but do.
Gujarat
Rann of Kutch
A salt desert the size of a small country — white to the horizon in winter, flamingo breeding ground in monsoon, and the last wild asses on earth.
Maharashtra
Ratnagiri
Konkan coast, mango country. Alphonso orchards behind black-rock beaches. Ganpatipule's temple, Jaigad's fort, Velas's turtles.
Maharashtra
Shirdi
A village that became one of India's largest pilgrimage destinations in a century — Sai Baba's samadhi, the fire that hasn't gone out, and Ahmednagar's forts nearby.
Maharashtra
Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve
Quieter than Bandhavgarh in March, drier than Pench in May. Tigers come down to the lakes when the heat sets in.
Maharashtra
Tarkarli
Sindhudurg coast, Maharashtra. A river meets the Arabian Sea at a Maratha sea-fort. Malvani fish-curry kitchens. No resorts worth naming.
Tell us whether you want monsoon, salt flats, or the Konkan coast, and we will set the route.
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