India is a mystical land that presents the traveller with a bamboozling array of unforgettable experiences. Hinduism, the prominent religion, is intimately woven into the fabric of everyday life, reflected in an extraordinary range of time-honoured traditions. Apart from its ancient spiritual framework, India's vastness also challenges the imagination, being home to one sixth of the world's population.

Its intoxicatingly rich history can be traced back to at least 2500BC when the first known civilisation settled along the Indus River. There was an influx of Mughals in the 1520s from Central Asia, who maintained effective control of the north until the mid-18th century. At the end of that century, as the Mughal Empire declined, the British took control of the whole subcontinent, and India was administered by a single alien power.

Encounter the two sides of Delhi: New Delhi is a modern city, offering Lutyens' architecture; ‘Old' Delhi is several centuries old, with narrow, winding streets, ancient shrines and rambunctious bazaars. See the Red Fort, the nearby Jama Masjid (India's largest mosque) and the Qutab Minar's soaring tower.

Gaze at the sacred River Ganges. Along its bank is the wondrous city of Varanasi, one of India's holiest Hindu locations with its ghats which, at dawn, are thronged with pilgrims and holy men performing ritual ablutions and prayers.

Visit the most romantic city in Rajasthan, Udaipur, built around the lovely Lake Pichola and famed for its breathtaking Lake Palace Hotel, and dubbed the ‘Venice of the East'.

Wonder at Kashmir's flower-spangled meadows, icy mountain peaks and clear rivers. Jammu is the railhead for Srinagar, the ancient Mughal capital. Lake Dal has houseboats where visitors can live surrounded by scenery so beautiful it is known as ‘paradise on earth'.

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