The Atlas Obscura Guide To India

334 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in India

Updated December 20, 2024

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Unusual Attractions in India

Chand Baori

Abhaneri, India

Chand Baori

Thousands of exquisitely carved stone water storage wells, hundreds of stone steps fill this exquisite medieval stepwell.

Sir Edwin Arnold thought Hawa Mahal was “a vision of daring and dainty loveliness, of storeys of rosy masonry and delicate overhanging balconies and latticed windows. Soaring with tier after tier of fanciful architecture in a pyramidal form, a very mountain of airy and audacious beauty through the thousand pierced screens and gilded arches of which the Indian air blows cool over the flat roofs of the very highest house.” As quoted in, Delhi Agra Jaipur, by Surendra Sahai. See more at https://kimcarpenterphotos.smugmug.com/Hawa-Mahal-Jaipur-India/.

Jaipur, India

Hawa Mahal (Palace of Winds)

The 953 windows undoubtedly make this the world's most beautiful screened porch.

Living Root Bridges

Cherrapunjee, India

The Root Bridges of Cherrapunji

Centuries-old bridges grown from tangled roots.

Human Skeletons in Skeleton Lake in Roopkund

Chamoli, India

Skeletons of Roopkund Lake

A lake with hundreds of ancient skeletons surrounding it. The surprise is what killed them.

Jal Mahal

Jaipur, India

Jal Mahal

More than half of this Indian palace is drowned but it looks all the more spectacular for it.

Overlooking a sea of blue. (Photo:

Jodhpur, India

The Blue City of Jodhpur

Once an indicator of social class, the color blue has come to define this city on the edge of the Thar Desert.

Verul, India

Ellora Caves

This complex of vertically-excavated Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu monolithic temples in India's Maharashtra providence illustrates a spirit of tolerance characteristic of ancient India.

The mosque of Bahar-ud-din Bhar

Junagadh, India

Mahabat Maqbara

This otherworldly palace-mausoleum complex is the stuff eternal dreams are made of.

See All 334 Things To Do in India

Cool Places to Eat & Drink in India

Golden Temple

Amritsar, India

Golden Temple

This peaceful Sikh gurudwara serves around 50,000 free meals every day within its gilded walls.

New Delhi, India

Cafe Lota

Nestled among the artifacts of the National Crafts Museum, this hidden gem offers hard-to-find regional foods from all over India.

Kolkata, India

Nahoum and Sons

This Jewish bakery, among the last in the region, sells legendary sweets from a century-old storefront.

The top few floors and roof of the market.

New Delhi, India

Khari Baoli Rooftop

The roof of one of the world’s largest spice markets provides a grand view over the neighborhood's glorious bustle.

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Architecture 98

History & Culture 71

Temples 53

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Religion 35

History 28

Hinduism 27

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Forts 23

Architectural Oddities 22

Museums 18

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Stories About India

By scavenging from trash heaps, greater adjutants serve an important role as cleaners.

How an Army of 'Stork Sisters' Protects Assam's Endangered, Muppet-like Birds

Greater adjutants may look straight out of "The Dark Crystal," but they play an important role in cleaning their environment.

by Carla Rhodes

A display at the Global Conference of Millets in 2023 featured a millet map of India.

In India, Music Helps Spread the Message of Millets

New and ancient songs show that there’s more to reviving a crop than planting seeds.

by Andrew Coletti

A fresco from a mansion, or haveli, depicting the sharing of a drink. In Rajput culture, the munawwar piyala meaning “cup of request” is liquor offered to guests during gatherings, especially marriages.

The Resurrection of Rajasthan’s Royal Liquors

After fading away post-Independence, Heritage Liquors are back and, this time, everyone can sip them.

by N.C. Stevens

A highway rest stop has become a gulab jamun hot spot.

The Indian Village That Revolves Around Gulab Jamuns

More than two dozen shops in Maigalganj sell this famous dessert.

The Itinerant Princess Who Chronicled Akbar’s Mughal Empire

The daughter, sister, and aunt of emperors, Gulbadan Begum wrote of a Mughal Empire few witnessed.

The parasitic plant Sapria himalayana, also known as the jeweled corpse flower, was one of several rare species found in the Siang Valley by ATREE botanists.

The Biodiversity of India's Siang Valley Rediscovered After an Infamous Colonial Expedition

A red velvet worm, jeweled corpse flower, and other rare species were found while retracing the route of the bloody 1911-12 Abor Expedition.

by Deepa Padmanaban

December 12, 2023

An asiatic subspecies of cheetah once roamed India. Efforts to reintroduce the animal there threaten the traditional sustainable harvest of salai trees.

India's Cheetah Reintroduction Threatens an Indigenous Tradition

Behind the headlines of the animals' rocky return, a displaced community struggles to access trees they have tended for generations.

by Tanvi Dutta Gupta

Children play in the monsoon rains that pour down on the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh every year from late July till September.

How Indian Perfumers Capture the Smell of Rain

In Kannauj, perfumers have been making monsoon-infused mitti attar for centuries.

by Zinara Rathnayake

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