Quick take: India
Hot, absolutely totally unbelievably hot. Oh, and humid, did I mention that? No exaggeration: leave the air-conditioning of the airport, walk through the door and WHAM. It is like hitting a brick wall and walking into a sauna at the same time.
If it is the rainy season, you will also be soaked within a few seconds.
Welcome to India, one of my favourite countries in the world.
There are plenty of travel guides, on the web and in print, for where to stay, what to see and when to go. Pick one up; I recommend the Lonely Planet India guide. This is just the places I always head for when I am there.
Usually I make for southern India, flying into Bombay or Madras and doing a loop from one to the other, going south.
Starting from Bombay, the first thing I do is head out to the island of Elephanta. Then a train from VT station, a magnificent Victorian railway terminus if you can see past the grime and the sheer volume of humanity, takes you overnight to Bangalore, the IT capital of India. There are palaces and government buildings, one carrying my favourite inscription: “Government’s work is God’s work”.
Bangalore to Mysore, for the Maharajas’ palaces and the temples lit up at night, and wonderful fabrics and gemstones to buy.
A bus takes you up to the hill station of Ooty, my favourite place in India. This is what India might be like if it sat where England does. It is high enough to escape the heat of the lowlands, and you see locals in jumpers heading to the horse races or walking up to the peak through the (now) lovely gardens.
Leaving Ooty is the highlight. You take the Swiss-built, steam-powered train down through tea plantations and small villages, and the occasional stop hands you the most extraordinary scenery. If you are lucky, a few rupees might get you onto the footplate of the engine. There is something magical about steam, and this is one of the great train journeys of the world.
At the end of the line from Ooty, change trains for Cochin in Kerala and the Bolgaty Palace Hotel, never the same place twice, on an island and with great views. Stay a couple of nights for the different atmosphere. The Portuguese once ran this coast and you feel it in the people. Take a boat out on the backwaters and find Chinese fishing nets, waterside villages, kingfishers in the trees, and hours of quiet.
From Kerala, head east to Madurai. Two things here are unmissable, three if you count being able to actually get, not just see on the menu, macaroni cheese. The great temple at the centre of the city and the tailors’ market are each sensational in their own way. Go to the market to get out of the heat and have clothes made: take a shirt, find the fabric, and a tailor will copy it while men work away on old Singer machines all around you.
Mamallapuram is a train ride away on the coast, home to the famous shore temple and the monolithic carvings. Stay out of town at Silver Sands, a small hotel romantically set among whispering pines with an idyllic beachfront. Negotiate with a local fisherman for a trip out, or just walk the beach into town for the stone carving the place is known for.
When you are ready for a city again, Madras is a few hours by bus, and from there trains run everywhere, or you catch a flight home.
A note from 2026
Much of the map above has been renamed since I first wrote this. Bombay became Mumbai in 1995, Madras became Chennai in 1996, and Bangalore officially became Bengaluru in 2014, though plenty of people still use the old names. VT station, properly Victoria Terminus, is now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and still the most magnificent place to start a journey. The little steam train down from Ooty, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, was made a World Heritage Site in 2005. The heat, I am glad to report, is exactly as advertised.
First written in 2004, updated 2026.