Experience the best of Bundi

Bundi is tucked between rocky hills in south-eastern Rajasthan, a walled old town spread beneath Taragarh Fort, whose name means Star Fort. The Garh Palace, climbing the hillside, is famed for the painted chambers of the Chitrasala, whose walls are covered with miniature-style murals of the Bundi school of painting. Its courtyards and balconies look over the roofs of the town.

Bundi has dozens of stepwells, among them Raniji ki Baori, a seventeenth-century stepwell with carved pillars and arches, and Nawal Sagar is a square lake with a small temple standing in the water. Chaurasi Khambon ki Chhatri, a pavilion on eighty-four pillars, stands nearby. Kota lies to the south-east, on the Chambal river, and Chittorgarh to the south-west.

Dal baati churma, crisp kachori and sweet lassi are the usual fare in the old town's shops and rooftop cafés. After the monsoon has filled the lakes and greened the hills, the steep lanes up to the fort are at their best.