Indien

Länge har de avlägsna öarna som tillhör Indien varit utom räckhåll för turister. Nu blir det ändring på det, efter ett beslut från landets inrikesminister.

Myllrande marknader, minglande Bollywoodstjärnor, skyskrapor, hindutempel, coola kaféer och världens bästa gatumat. Följ med till SVT-reportern Malin Mendels Bombay.

A thriving, vibrant metropolis, Pune is a centre of academia and business that epitomises ‘New India’ with its baffling mix of capitalism and spiritualism (ancient and modern). It’s also globally famous, or notorious, for an ashram, the Osho International Meditation Resort, founded by the late guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.

With mountain adventures beckoning from all directions, Manali is a year-round magnet. Backpackers are well catered for in parts of Vashisht and Old Manai where numerous agents offer trekking, climbing, rafting and skiing according to season. Meanwhile, so many Indian families and honeymooners come for a first taste of snow that greater Manali now has an estimated 800 to 1000 hotels and guesthouses. Tight-packed resort buildings already fill the town center and are now steadily devouring former orchard terraces as far south as once-rustic Prini village. But while the whole area gets jam-packed in season (mid-April to mid-July, mid-September to mid-October, and over Christmas–New Year), it doesn't take too much effort to get off the main tourist trail. And in November, clear skies plus slashed prices make Manali a bargain – if you can handle the cold and the closure of some restaurants.

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.

Massage, yoga, vegetarisk mat och örtmediciner. Låter det som något du skulle kunna prova på under en semester i Indien? I så fall kommer du älska ayurveda!

Imponerande Taj Mahal är en omåttligt populär turistattraktion beläget i indiska Agra. Men populariteten medför även problem i form av trängsel och slitage på de vackra marmorytorna. Nu vill myndigheter minska antalet turister.

Världens högsta staty står nu klar. Statue of Unity i norra Indien är 182 meter hög, eller 240 meter, beroende på hur man räknar. Det är ungefär som att stapla två frihetsgudinnor på varandra och addera Brasiliens kända kristusstaty på toppen.

Sikkim was its own mountain kingdom till 1975 and still retains a very distinctive personality. The meditative, mural-filled traditional monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism coexist with Hindu shrines of the ever-growing Nepali community, with both religions creating some astonishing latter-day megasculptures to adorn the skyline.

Welcome to the lush Western Ghats, some of the most precious heat relief in India. Rising like an impassable bulwark of evergreen and deciduous tangle, from north of Mumbai to the tip of Tamil Nadu, the World Heritage–listed Ghats (with an average elevation of 915m) contain 27% of India’s flowering plant species and an incredible array of endemic wildlife. In Tamil Nadu they rise to over 2000m in the Palani Hills around Kodaikanal and the Nilgiris around Ooty. British influence lingers a little stronger up in these hills, where colonialists built 'hill stations' to escape the sweltering plains and covered slopes in neatly trimmed tea plantations. It’s not just the air and (relative) lack of pollution that’s refreshing – there’s a certain acceptance of quirkiness and eccentricity here. Expect organic farms, handlebar-moustached trekking guides and leopard-print earmuffs.