India

India is a feast for the senses. With more than a million square miles of land and a population that exceeds a billion, India is larger than life. The best chances of spotting a tiger are in the national parks of Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan, but there are national reserves all over India where you can track down wildlife as exotic as lions, one-horned rhinos and wild elephants, as well as abundant birdlife. Take a walk on a different wild side with a camel trek through the desert from Jaisalmer or Bikaner in Rajasthan. For cultural fervor, Varanasi reigns supreme, with its ancient funeral ghats where Hindus pay their last respects to the dead beside the sacred River Ganges. You can encounter India’s spiritual side all over the country, particularly at pilgrimage towns such as Ajmer and Pushkar in Rajasthan, or the Sikh holy city of Amritsar in the Punjab.

From the snow-covered peaks of the Himalayas to the opulence of the Taj Mahal to the leopards, elephants and tigers, India is as diverse as it comes.