Every state and union territory

A planned city that serves two states at once.

1district

Eight cities on one site, still being rebuilt.

11districts

Wheat country wrapped around the capital.

22districts

Deodar forests, hill stations and trekking country.

12districts

A valley of lakes under the western Himalaya.

20districts

High desert, Buddhist monasteries and very thin air.

7districts

Five rivers, the Golden Temple and the loudest harvest in India.

23districts

The Gangetic plain, and most of India’s best-known monuments.

75districts

Source of the Ganga, and the pilgrim routes above it.

13districts

A long Coromandel coast and the busiest temple in India.

26districts

Ruined empires, coffee hills and a software capital.

31districts · 1 event

Backwaters, spice hills and a monsoon worth planning around.

14districts · 1 event

Four non-contiguous districts, one French quarter.

4districts

Dravidian temple towns and a living classical tradition.

38districts

Deccan forts, Nizam-era cuisine and a granite plateau.

33districts

Where the Buddha taught and Nalanda stood.

38districts

Forest plateau, waterfalls and India’s mineral belt.

24districts

Kalinga temples, a long beach coast and tribal highlands.

30districts · 1 event

Delta, hills and the country’s most theatrical autumn.

23districts · 1 event

Three former Portuguese enclaves, merged into one territory.

3districts

A Portuguese-inflected coast, smaller than it looks on a map.

2districts

Salt flats, Harappan sites and a long trading coast.

33districts · 1 event

Rock-cut caves, Ghats in monsoon, and the country’s financial capital.

36districts

Fort cities, the Thar, and a festival almost every month.

41districts · 2 events

The largest northeastern state, and the first sunrise in India.

27districts · 1 event

The Brahmaputra valley, tea gardens and one-horned rhinos.

35districts · 1 event

A valley ringed by hills, and the only floating national park.

16districts

Living root bridges and the wettest places on record.

12districts

Ridge-top towns and a bamboo dance.

11districts

Sixteen recognised tribes and a hill capital.

17districts · 1 event

India’s first fully organic state, under Kangchenjunga.

6districts

A former princely state almost surrounded by Bangladesh.

8districts

Waterfalls, sal forest and Bastar’s craft traditions.

33districts

Tiger reserves, Buddhist stupas and the Khajuraho carvings.

55districts

Over 500 islands in the Bay of Bengal, most of them closed.

3districts

Coral atolls in the Arabian Sea, entry by permit.

1district