Travel to West India with Indian Panorama

This is another of India’s less-visited (and, to be fair, less well-defined) regions. The coastal parts of Karnataka and Kerala are definitely classified as South India, so really the western India would largely consist of Maharashtra, a huge state of which Mumbai is the capital, and Gujarat.

Maharashtra has plenty of interesting places to see, but other than Aurangabad- the stepping-off point for the incredible ancient rock-cut cave temples of Ajanta and Ellora- and Mumbai itself there is relatively little infrastructure and distances are pretty imposing. Generally we would recommend in-depth touring of Maharashtra for your 5th-or-beyond visit to India, after you’ve explored far and wide in easier-to-visit places. But Ajanta and Ellora are the exception and are fairly easy to fit into any itinerary.

Gujarat is another story altogether and is a fantastic alternative to Rajasthan. For a variety of reasons, Gujaratis have been far less enthusiastic in their embrace of tourism than their neighbours in Rajasthan and this is mainly a boon for those who do make the effort to go there. While there’s a small downside- fewer hotel choices is probably the main one- the far less tourist-impacted nature of the cities and towns of Gujarat makes travel here a more authentic experience than can be the case in the major centres of Rajasthan where people have become perhaps over-familiar with tourists after decades of exposure. Gujarat also has some fantastic wildlife, very traditional tribal and semi-nomadic populations, a wealth of craft villages in the extreme north-west and, in the state capital, Ahmedabad, India’s first UNESCO World Heritage-listed city.