Indien

South Goa is the more serene half of the state, and for many travelers that’s the attraction. There are fewer activities and not as many bars, clubs or restaurants, but overall the beaches of the south are cleaner and not as crowded as those in the north.

North Goa is the Goa you might have heard all about: crowded beaches, upbeat nightlife, Goan trance, cosmopolitan cuisine, hippie markets and yoga retreats. If you like a fast pace and plenty of things to do, this is the place.

Most people travel to Bihar to visit the hallowed Buddhist circuit of Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Nalanda and Vaishali, with Patna as a transport hub. It's not the easiest state to visit, with limited English spoken and higher than normal levels of chaos, but explorers will enjoy tracking down the many fascinating, off-the-beaten track destinations waiting to be discovered.

Virginal Arunachal Pradesh appears as a giant patch of green on India’s map. The country's wildest and least explored state, Arunachal (literally, Land of Dawn-Lit Mountains) rises abruptly from the Assam plains as a mass of improbably steep and densely forested hills, culminating in snowcapped peaks along the Tibetan border. Arunachal lures travellers with the promise of adventurous journeys to remote mountain valleys and encounters with some of its 26 indigenous tribal peoples. Tourism infrastructure – such as hotels or even homestays – has yet to reach many areas; this is travel far beyond standard tourist trails.

Founded in 1577 by the fourth Sikh guru, Guru Ram Das, Amritsar is home to the spectacular Golden Temple, Sikhism's holiest shrine and one of India’s most serene and humbling sights. The hyperactive streets surrounding the temple have been calmed to some extent by recent urban landscaping, including graceful pedestrianised walkways, but duck into any side alley and you’ll soon discover Amritsar’s fantastically frenetic old-city bazaars, sheltering a sensory overload of sights, sounds and smells.

Du kanske har sett bilder på överfulla indiska tåg där passagerarna lutar sig ut genom dörrarna och sitter på taket. Lugn, så illa är det inte. En indisk tågresa är betydligt mer civiliserad och bekvämare än så. I alla fall om du bokar plats i förväg. Vagabonds Indienexpert förklarar vad du bör veta innan du kliver ombord.

India's most titillating town is famed far and wide for the erotic stone carvings that swathe Khajuraho’s three groups of World Heritage–listed temples. The Western Group of temples, in particular, contains some stunning sculptures that together make up some of the finest temple art in the world.

Ever since the Beatles visited the ashram of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the late '60s, Rishikesh has been a magnet for spiritual seekers. Today it styles itself as the ‘Yoga Capital of the World’, with masses of ashrams and all kinds of yoga and meditation classes. The action is mostly north of the main town, where the exquisite setting on the fast-flowing Ganges River, surrounded by forested hills, is conducive to meditation and mind expansion. In the evening, an almost supernatural breeze blows down the valley, setting temple bells ringing as sadhus ('holy' men), pilgrims and tourists prepare for the nightly ganga aarti (river worship ceremony). You can learn to play the sitar or tabla; try Hasya yoga (laughter therapy), practise meditation or take a punt on crystal healing.

Delstaten Goa på Indiens västkust är sedan länge känd för sin festliga och avslappnade atmosfär. Men nu har myndigheterna infört förbud mot både alkohol och grillning på stränderna.

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala's capital – still usually referred to by its colonial-era name, Trivandrum – is a relatively compact but energetic city spread across low-lying hills and is an easygoing introduction to urban life down south. Most travelers merely springboard from here to the nearby beaches of Kovalam and Varkala, but Trivandrum (once capital of the princely state of Travancore) has enough good food and intriguing sights – including a zoo, a Travancore palace and a cluster of Victorian museums in glorious neo-Keralan buildings – to justify a stay.