Hidden gems most
travellers never find

The meadow most Indians haven't heard of — base of the world's highest Shiva temple

• Tungnath — world's highest Shiva temple at 3,680m
• Chandrashila summit — 360° panorama of 6 Himalayan giants

The world's largest river island — a living museum of Assamese civilisation

• 22 ancient Sattras — living 600-year-old traditions
• Sacred mask-making — UNESCO-listed intangible heritage

A river so transparent boats appear to float on air

• Glass-clear Umngot River — coracle rides at dawn
• Mawlynnong — Asia's cleanest village (12km away)

Goa in the 90s — pristine sea cliffs, zero resorts, ancient temples

• Om Beach — shaped like the OM symbol, viewed from above
• Mahabaleshwara Temple — 1,500-year-old Aatmalinga

A 17th-century Rajput capital abandoned mid-reign — and never modernised

• Jahangir Mahal — Mughal-Rajput fusion architecture
• Chaturbhuj Temple — 34m spire, taller than Mughal minarets

Kerala's only cliff beach — where springs emerge from laterite and fall into the sea

• The only clifftop promenade above a sea beach in Kerala
• Natural mineral springs emerging from the cliff face

Mini Switzerland — officially. The Swiss Ambassador planted a flag here.

• Official "Mini Switzerland" designation with Swiss plaque
• Circular meadow with floating peat island lake

Kipling's Rajasthan — the blue city before anyone called it that

• Taragarh Fort — Rajput hilltop fortress, nearly tourist-free
• Raniji ki Baori — 46m step-well, architecturally finest in Rajasthan

A 50,000-year-old meteorite crater filled with both saltwater and freshwater — in the same lake

• World's only hypervelocity impact crater in basaltic rock
• Lake changes colour seasonally — green, pink, red

A UNESCO-nominated valley the permit system has kept pristine for 50 years

• Apatani rice-fish terraced farming — UNESCO nomination
• Pine forests and bamboo-walled villages at 1,500m