Consider this: all of India receives just the same number of visitors in a year as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan.
According to Mr A.R. Ghanashyam, India’s Deputy Consul General based in New York, India receives just five million international tourists per year, most of them making predictable journeys to tourist icons like the Taj Mahal. It’s fair to say that many of the country’s spectacular monuments, cities and natural wonders remain largely unseen.
India’s tourism potential is enormous and the statistics bear this out. Just look at the most recent 2005 archaeological survey listing visitor numbers to significant sites. The ever-popular Taj Mahal received 593,637 international visitors and 364,997 locals over the year. Yet, in the same period, Mariam’s tomb – a mini Taj Mahal that’s the last resting place of the Mughul emperor Akbar’s wife — also located at Agra, received just 43 visitors all up.
India’s economy is hotter than a vindaloo and domestic tourists – namely the 250
million-strong middle class — are demanding improved infrastructure, which in turn benefits international visitors. India has the second largest road network on earth (next to the US) but many roads and airstrips are in poor condition. Now, according to Mr Ghanashyam, the rising demand for accommodation in regional areas is seeing massive improvements in many crucial areas.
Mind you, no one is pretending that travel throughout India has suddenly become seamless. “On the contrary, many of India’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites have been well preserved precisely because the access is difficult,” says Ms Junko Okahashi, UNESCO’s assistant program specialist based in Paris. Traveling between states is frequently more akin to traveling between countries. “We have 22 official languages and 4000 dialects. When you travel from one state to another the language, dress, people, food, culture… all this changes,” says Mr Ghanashyam. It’s not surprising then that entire states in the Himalayas or in far-flung regions near Bangladesh have been completely overlooked for centuries.
In short, India is a vast country of unexplored treasures with wide ranging appeal. For this list we consulted experts both inside and outside the country. We talked to foreign corespondents and film makers like Kris Cheppaikode who has worked closely with Indian New Wave director Jayaraaj. We spoke with specialist luxury tour operator Carol Cambata, President of Greaves Travel, as well as tiger conservationist and wildlife doccumentarian Toby Sinclair, who has hundreds of tiger sightings and more than 30 years experience. We chatted with yoga lovers and concierges and talked extensively with UNESCO representatives and diplomats like Mr A.R. Ghanashyam (who freely admits to loving India even if it wasn’t his job to do so). “There are hundreds of places I could list. We could be here until tomorrow,” he says. Unfortunately our list is restricted to just 25 underrated tourist attractions.
Given the country’s rich history, India’s monuments feature heavily, but the remarkable examples cited here are also remarkably untouched. You certainly won’t find yourself adrift in a sea of fellow tourists. Our list includes a spectacular river with more water than the mighty Ganges, wildlife parks overrun with tigers and tens of thousands of wild elephants. There are some unusual inclusions and exclusions: iconic luxury train journeys like the Palace on Wheels have been passed over in favor of traditional steam locomotives with oodles of charm, while a quirky yoga retreat makes the list partly for its strange geographic features. Some of our experts nominated entire states, ignored by development and now on the cusp of becoming eco-tourism hotspots. Another of our panel nominated a transparent hotel favored by expats for its nod to Western decadence. Sure, our list of 25 underrated tourist attractions is an eclectic, colorful, and perhaps chaotic mix but…then again, so is India.
SLIDE SHOW 1. THE BRAHMAPUTRA RIVER
The mighty Ganges may get all the glory as India’s iconic waterway but The Brahmaputra River, which originates in Bhutan, is just as spectacular. “All Indian rivers are female except this one. It means Son of God and it carries more water than the Ganges. In some places it is so wide you cannot see the other bank,” says Mr Ghanashayam. Where the Ganges frequently carries the ashes and corpses of Indians to ensure safe passage into the Holy Land, the Brahmaputra carries fresh bales of tea from plantations in the north.
2. MONUMENTS AT HAMPI
“Access to Hampi is difficult but it’s a very beautiful site,” says UNESCO’s Ms Junko Okahashi. “It was probably the last Hindu kingdom in India and the site is huge and intricate, a whole city which is only half excavated. The interpretative signage is good but there are just limited facilities nearby for international tourism at this stage. The only people who go there are scholars and a few backpackers.”
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3. KANHA MEADOWS
“My favorite place in India is probably the Kanha Meadows,” says Toby Sinclair, veteran conservationist who estimates that he has seen more than 300 tigers, many at this reserve. “I parked under a tree in one of the clearings to have a sleep, and I woke to find a tiger lying about ten yards away. We just looked at each other and then she got up and walked in front of my vehicle and off into the forest,” says Sinclair.
www.kanhanationalpark.com
4. ELEPHANTA CAVES
These temples and ornately carved rock caves were an obvious choice for the head concierge of Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Malcolm Mistry, who thinks they’re an outstanding underrated destination, thanks in part to their location on a secluded island. The site hides in plain sight just six miles from the famous Gateway of India archway. On average the island attracts just 61 foreign visitors a day. The rock carvings date back to 450 AD, with the most spectacular being the 20 foot high carvings of Hindu deity Shiva.
5. TOLLYWOOD
“Bollywood only refers to Mumbai’s film industry,” explains India-born, New York-based filmmaker Kris Cheppaikode. “In Tamil Nadu there is a neighborhood called Kodambakkum which plays host to the thriving Tamil film industry called ‘Kollywood’. There’s also Tollywood and a host of others. Each state has its own industry.” Bollywood is pretty much a closed shop for tourists but Tollywood welcomes visitors in droves (and manages to pump out 240 features a year).
6. THE SEVEN SISTERS Connected by a thin tendon of land, India’s most northeasterly states near Bangladesh are almost cut off from the rest of the country. They make up what is colloquially known as the Seven Sisters and in this case, isolation equals preservation. “It’s one of the most beautiful parts of the entire country,” says Mr Ghanashayam. “The Seven Sisters have been largely ignored by the outside world, and as a result the local way of life is steeped in ancient traditions that make visitors feel like they’re going back in time.” 7. VICTORIA MUSEUM Mistry nominates Mumbai’s Victoria Museum as very underrated, in spite of it being one of the oldest in the country. “It is now known as the Bhau Daji Lad Museum and has a very beautiful collection of ivory products and around 6000 artifacts”. After a two year long renovation the museum will shine again in 2008 when the original gold detailing and intricate stone work is revealed. 8. LAKSHADAWEEP This tiny archipelago located 200 miles off India’s southwestern tip has more in common with the Maldives than with mainland India. The low-lying atolls, reefs and islands (approximately 50 in number depending on the tide) are a paradise for game fishing and scuba divers, and the island state even shares a language, Divehi, with the Maldives. In spite of the regions growing popularity among domestic visitors, the Indian consulate’s Mr Ghanashayam claims that it’s well off the radar for most westerners. “There are not even five hundred rooms there,” he says. 9. MYSORE Before the southern city of Bangalore was named state capital in 1831, Mysore held the honor as Karnataka’s administrative center. The result of all that political hot air is a city of splendid official buildings. “The palaces are very beautiful: Jayalakshmi Vilas Ambavilas Palace, Rajendra Vilas, the great Karanji Lake. There’s also and zoo in the middle of the city…Mysore is really something else, ” says Mr Ghanashayam. 10. MOUNTAIN RAILWAYS
Luxurious palaces on wheels may inspire the imagination of foreign tourists but it’s the long ignored commuter trains that have gained the attention of UNESCO. The best in India, according to heritage and conservation architect (and avid railway enthusiast) Kai Weise, is the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. “The 88 kilometer journey from New Jalpaiguri climbs climbs 6500 feet to Darjeeling using an old-fashioned switchbacks, with the train reversing up and continuing forward at a higher level. There are no tunnels so it’s views all the way. The oldest Steam Engine has been running since 1893,” says Weise.
11. MADHAV BAGH
Every afternoon in Mumbai the Madhav Bagh, an area in the middle of the city full of markets and temples, opens its doors to the public. ” It holds a lot of small temples within the area and is well worth visiting as it affords you a chance to see the daily routine of the common way that Indians live,” says Mistry.
12. DIGHA BEACH
Everybody goes to Goa but, according Professor Goatam Sen, an India-born beach expert from the Department of Earth Sciences at Florida International University, Goa is not the best beach in India: formed thanks to the erosion of a basalt volcanic coast, it’s quite rocky and black. Instead, “Head east to the Bengali coast for fine white flat beaches like Digha,” he suggests.
13. UTTARANCHAL
“The northern state of Uttaranchal in the inner circle of the Himalayas has some of the freshest air in the world,” claims Mr Ghanashayam. For high altitude trekkers that spells paradise. Hiking from Gangotri to Badrinath takes you across six glaciers (Gangotri, Chaturangi, Sundar, Suryalaya, Seta and Kalindi Glacier) and over nosebleed peaks approaching 20,000 feet.
14. GWALIOR, ORCHHA, KHAJURAHO
The state of Rajasthan’s good infrastructure has made it a popular place with tourists — to the detriment of that traveler’s Holy Grail, the sense of discovery. Greaves Travel’s Cambata recommends visiting Gwalior, Orchha or Khajaraho instead. “They possess similar traits as Rajasthan in terms of history, architecture and grandeur but are still relatively unknown,” she says.
15. BUDDHIST MONUMENTS AT SANCHI
It’s hardly surprising that UNESCO’s Okahashi felt that the Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi were terribly underrated. In spite of being the oldest Buddhist Sanctuary on earth dating back to the First Century BC, she says it is still rarely visited. “It’s a remarkable site in a very good state of conservation but not very famous by general standards.”
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16. ORANGE COUNTY
There are no over-privileged teenagers in India’s OC. Instead this wilderness region located in Karnataka has the largest concentration of Asiatic Elephants in the world: around 30,000. The area is also a sanctuary for eco-lodge loving celebrities like Goldie Hawn and Richard Gere. “There have been very progressive environmental advances. The noisy diesel jeeps used for safari have been replaced by silent battery operated vehicles that don’t disturb the wildlife,” says Mr Ghanashayam.
- SWASWARA RESORT
Indian yoga resorts are a little like the food on offer: a mild version is frequently reserved for foreigners while the real deal is kept for locals. Swaswara Resort, on India’s south western tip, is definitely the latter. “It’s a fabulous new yoga retreat with very few tourists and a famous beach shaped rather appropriately like the letter Om,” says Cambata.
18. SUN TEMPLE, KONÂRAK
“Sun Temple in Konârak is really wonderful but people rarely go there,” says Okahashi. In fact only 6808 foreigners visited this Brahman sanctuary in 2005. Its long distance from any major cities plays a part. “The conservation architects who are making the site more accessible are outstanding. They provide access without destroying the integrity of the site.” Located on the shores of the Bay of Bengal, the area rewards visitors with a whole temple designed to depict the sun god’s chariot.
- BANDHAVGARH JUNGLE CAMP
In Bandhavgarh Jungle Camp in Madhya Pradesh — located squarely in the heart of India — tigers are abundant. “Over a three night stay you have a fifty/fifty chance of seeing a tiger in Bandhavgarh, Kanha or Pench. For other parks the odds are not so good,” says tiger conservationist Toby Sinclair. Bandhavgarh is also famous for regular sightings of the extremely rare white tiger.
20. KOLKATA
“Calcutta would have to be the most maligned city in south Asia,” says James Astill, South Asia bureau chief for the Economist. “Apart from the evocative grandeur, it’s a fantastic place for buying art. Carole Cambata agrees. “Calcutta is booming. For tours it’s the main gateway to exclusive gems like Bhutan and cruises to Sunderbans National Park, which has never been accessible before.”
www.neemranahotels.com
23. MONUMENTS AT MAHABALIPURAM
“The seaside temples of Mahabalipuram are very popular with pilgrims, even today,” says UNESCO’s Okahashi. The Hindu temple may well be UNESCO World Heritage listed but it’s also very much a part of the community. “There’s a bazaar which leads from the temple and there’s quite an interesting debate about whether to conserve it or leave it as a bustling market place. Mahabalipuram is a very popular place for festivals so you’re seeing living archaeology.”
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24. LANDOUR
“These days the Shimla hill station is rubbish,” says Mumbai based journalist Ridge, claiming that there’s too much concrete. “Very few tourists know about Landour,” she says of the small town perched 1200 feet above the famous hill station of Mussoorie in the foothills of the Himalayas. “The air is scented with pine trees. There are cottages, church spires and flowering gardens and in the background spectacular views to the Himalayas. There’s even a grocery store which stocks strawberry jam and hot cross buns.”
25. VALLEY OF THE FLOWERS
At the foot of Nanda Devi (25,643 feet) lies the evocatively named Valley of the Flowers. The rugged terrain has kept it a safe haven for many endangered animals including the snow leopard, Himalayan musk deer and blue sheep. Long a subject of Hindu mythology, the valley is famed for its spectacular alpine flowers. Grazing is prohibited and there are no settlements in the area, allowing the region’s 500 flower varieties (many of them unique) to flourish.
21. CHOR BAZAAR
The Chor Bazaar (which translates as the Thieves Market) is famous for its secondhand goods, which tends to infect visitors with acute cases of retail-mania. According to Mistry, many tourists are so shopped out they miss the very best part: the beautiful Saidailla Mosque whose walls are etched with the scripture of the Qu’ran.
22. GLASS HOUSE ON THE GANGES
Located near the holy city of Rishikesh, this hotel — consisting of six transparent glass villas — is nestled in an orchard of fragrant mango and lychee trees. It even has its own spring and sandy beach. “It’s so private, you can go topless, which is quite something in India,” says Mian Ridge, a Mumbai based correspondent for South China Morning Post.
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Words by Adam McCulloch. Originally published on ForbesTraveler.com. The format has been altered to suit Tumblr.
