Lonely Planet recently listed the top 500 places in the world to visit - and India was pretty well represented on that list! The Indian locations on the list (in alphabetical order) were: Amber Fort Dasaswamedh Ghat Fatehpur Sikri Golden Temple Jaisalmer Meenakshi Temple Old Delhi Taj Mahal Virupaksha Temple If you've already been to India, have you been to any of these sites? If you haven't yet, but are planning a trip, were these places already on your radar?
I have to say that I was only planning to visit Taj Mahal and Old Delhi, but now that you posted this list I checked out these places and Jaisalmer and Amber Fort are now on my radar. The problem with India is that it’s huge and it has too many amazing places and it’s hard to decide which ones to visit. I’ve said before that I wish I was a millionaire to be able to stay at least three months and go to all the places I want. Even though someone here in the forum told me I don’t need a lot of money to travel around India, I still need to work! I was having a hard time already deciding where to go, and now you’ve made it even harder!
That's a big part of the problem I'm having too! The sheer size of the country means that when I'm looking at the things I want to do, they have been scattered here there and everywhere across the country. Maybe it's a good excuse to plan more than one trip, right?!
I've only been to Jaisalmer from that list. However, I do think there is a lot more to India than what is in that list. I come from the western ghats area of Maharashtra, and I can tell you that there are quite a lot of simply amazing sights just around the corner. The real beauty of India doesn't lie in all these tourist destinations as they are usually overcrowded/expensive/dirty. But in the rural, quiet areas on India where you have have time out just by yourself. Although, I wouldn't mind visiting these places at least once to see what they are all about
I always tend to avoid the most of the tourist attraction, mostly because, I feel that some of them do not live up to the hype, like the Eifel tower, which wasn't especially impressive, especially compared to some of the museums and sites in Paris. Taj Mahal, however did, even though there were too many tourist when I was there. The architecture and scope is just immense.
I've actually had quite a few friends travel to France and tell me exactly that about the Eiffel Tower. I think their expectations of it were bigger than what it actually lived up to. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it would be cool to see. But I also think sometimes those sort of places really just are tourist traps.
Well you get used to people talking and making references to the Eiffel tower as if it is some special place, but it really isn't that impressive, nor is it particularly pretty. I am glad I was there, however, and the view IN the tower was nice.
Well, at least that's a good thing for me to remember when I go there, if I need a nice view over the city!
I think most of the tourist attractions in the world are over hyped to be honest, and while the Taj Mahal is still on my places to visit list, I've been to the Eiffel tower, leaning tower of Pisa, Buckingham palace to name a few and while they're impressive, I was expecting more and left a bit underwhelmed.
Sure India offers many attractive places to visit, but above all Taj Mahal's incredible. it's architecture is just spectacular.
I think the list focuses only on monuments and historical places. It does not say anything about natural hot spots like Kerala backwaters, beaches etc. If you are looking for a refreshing trip, places which are close to nature would be ideal. I am not saying that monuments like Taj Mahal is bad, they are excellent too. It all depends on your priorities. India is a place with different cultures and beliefs and so are these tourist places.
I've been to see Taj Mahal, Red Fort and Old Delhi. It is very true that India is really just large and the trips to these different places can get hot and sweaty at times. But just to see there splendor, size and detail is fully worth the trip. I will see how many of those other listed sites I may be able to go to once I go back.
If I remember correctly, from that list I've only ever been to Taj Mahal. It's arguably the most popular tourist destination in India, so that shouldn't be too surprising. I was quite young when I visited the country though, and I wasn't exactly very fond of it on my first visit, so I can't remember it very well. I'm pretty sure I've visited some of the other places as well, but it's just that my memory's a little bit vague and I can't remember the names of the places I've visited. Should probably ask my parents and look them up - maybe they remember.
I like a bit of both on vacations! Some nature, some monuments/history - it's nice being able to have both! Like you said I guess it would depend on the individual traveller and exactly how they want to approach their vacation. I think for my next trip I'm going to focus more on nature over monuments - I would still like to see some monuments of course, but I do need to just relax and de-stress. Connecting with nature always does that for me!
With the amount of tourist attractions in India, I don't think anybody will be able to take a holiday long enough to see them all. Location will also be a problem I'd imagine with the country being that big, to take in all the sites would also involve a lot of travelling once you get there.
