Best Places to Visit in Maharashtra

Shirdi Sai Baba Temple

Samadhi shrine of Sai Baba, the 19th-century fakir whose teaching — 'Sabka Malik Ek', one God for all — still draws around 60,000 devotees a day. They arrive from every religion at this small village in Ahmednagar district. The marble idol sits directly above the grave Baba himself chose.

Gateway of India

A 26-metre basalt arch on Mumbai's waterfront, raised to welcome King George V in 1911. Thirty-seven years on, in 1948, the last British troops marched out of India through it. Today: Mumbai's postcard monument and the launch jetty for the Elephanta Caves ferry.

Mahabaleshwar

Strawberry country in the Sahyadris. The hill town pairs working berry farms with Sunset Point's wide-open views across the Western Ghats.

Ajanta Caves

Buddhist rock-cut monuments hewn into a horseshoe cliff from the 2nd century BCE to around 480 CE.

Mahalakshmi Temple, Kolhapur

Seventh peetha of the Ashtadasha, where Sati's three eyes are said to have fallen. Also one of Maharashtra's three-and-a-half (Sade Teen) Shakti Peethas. The 7th-century Chalukyan temple in central Kolhapur enshrines a 1.2-m black stone Devi heavy with gold. For three days each year during Kirnotsav, the setting sun threads straight through the entrance and lights the deity.

Ellora Caves

One of the planet's largest rock-cut monastery-temple cave complexes, chiselled straight into the Charanandri basalt.

Trimbakeshwar

Twenty-eight kilometres from Nashik, this Jyotirlinga marks the spot where the Godavari surfaces. Inside the sanctum sits a three-faced linga representing Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra. It's the only Jyotirlinga where Kalsarpa Dosh nivaran pujas are performed.

Bhimashankar

One of Shiva's Jyotirlingas sits at 1,034 metres in dense Sahyadri forest, 110 km from Pune. The surrounding sanctuary protects the giant Indian squirrel (shekru), Maharashtra's state animal, which glides through the canopy overhead.

Renuka Mata Temple, Mahur

Mahur, in the Sahyadri foothills of north Maharashtra, holds the eighth peetha of the Ashtadasha — said to be where Sati's right hand fell. The hilltop shrine also counts among Maharashtra's three-and-a-half Shakti Peethas. The goddess here is identified with Renuka, mother of Parashurama; the wider hill-complex is the legendary site of his austerities.

Ajanta & Ellora: The Cave Art That Predates the Renaissance by a Millennium

Hampi: Walking Through the Ruins of the Last Great Hindu Empire

Hyderabad's Charminar: 434 Years Under Four Minarets

Khajuraho: A Thousand Years of Stone That Still Whispers

Bhimbetka: India's Oldest Art Gallery, Painted 30,000 Years Before the Taj

The Twelve Jyotirlingas: India's Pillars of Light