Ayodhya

The Ramayana calls Ayodhya the city that cannot be conquered, and for centuries it was a modest pilgrimage town of narrow lanes, sadhus and sweet-sellers on the south bank of the Saryu. Since the Ram Mandir opened in January 2024, it has become the busiest new pilgrimage in India, with a widened Ram Path, a new airport and railway station, and a temple of Bansi Paharpur pink sandstone rising in three storeys, built without iron in the Nagara style. Darshan of Ram Lalla, the child deity, takes an hour or two on an ordinary day and much longer on festivals.

Around it the old Ayodhya survives: Hanuman Garhi, up 76 steps, where the monkey god is said to guard the city; Kanak Bhawan, the palace gifted to Sita, with its gilded idols; Nageshwarnath, the Shiva temple founded, the tradition says, by Ram's son Kush; and Dashrath Mahal in the bazaar. At dusk go down to Ram ki Paidi, the stepped ghats where a Saryu aarti of lamps and bells is held every evening, and on the night before Diwali the same ghats hold Deepotsav, when more than two million earthen diyas are lit at once. Guptar Ghat, where Ram is believed to have left the world, is quieter, with the colonial-era Company Garden behind it.

Ayodhya is best paired with Lucknow, 135 km west, or the Ganga cities to the south.