Explore destinations

Morena, Madhya Pradesh

Around 200 small eighth-century temples rebuilt stone by stone from rubble, in Chambal ravine country, by an archaeologist who negotiated with dacoits to do it.

Morena, Madhya Pradesh

A circular eleventh-century temple of 64 yogini shrines on a hilltop — widely said to be the model for the Indian Parliament building.

Niwari, Madhya Pradesh

A hill fort of the Khangar kings that is invisible until you are almost on top of it — and reportedly has an underground level nobody has fully mapped.

Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh

Fifty-one rock-cut Buddhist caves from the fourth century, plus a Hindu temple carved out of a single hill — and effectively zero visitors.

Sehore, Madhya Pradesh

A Gond hill fort on a sandstone outcrop inside the Ratapani reserve, reached by a two-hour trek, with the plateau of Bhopal laid out below.

Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh

A natural underground pool of startlingly clear blue water whose depth has never been established, and which is said to rise before major disasters.

Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh

A horseshoe valley sunk 350 m into the Satpura plateau, home to Bharia and Gond villages that had almost no outside contact until the 1990s.

Dhar, Madhya Pradesh

Fifth-century Buddhist caves with mural painting contemporary with Ajanta — in a village that is also the last home of Bagh block-printing.

Narmadapuram, Madhya Pradesh

The only tiger reserve in India where you can legally walk in the core zone — on foot, with an armed guard, at dawn.

Khargone, Madhya Pradesh

Ahilyabai Holkar's riverside capital — a fort, a ghat that runs the length of the town, and the handloom she founded in 1767, still weaving.

Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh

Twenty rock-cut shrines from the Gupta period, including the Varaha panel — arguably the single greatest piece of sculpture in Indian art.

Raisen, Madhya Pradesh

An eleventh-century temple abandoned mid-construction around the largest single-stone Shiva lingam in India — with the architects' setting-out drawings still on the rock outside.