india travel ideas

I have been getting itchy feet in the last week or two, and have been surfing around the net trying to decide where I would like to go for my next indian holiday.. On the south east coast of India I have only been to Chennai, and that for only a day or two, so i am eager to explore more. Pondicherry is my new fixation.. as is this hotel, part of the Neemrana chain -

Hotel L’Orient

Or then there is the wilderness of Uttarakhand (previously called Uttaranchal), located kind of north east of Nepal - with Himalayan mountain views, the sources of holy rivers the Ganges and the Yamuna, forests and national parks, including the Jim Corbett National Park and Tiger Reserve, access to white water rafting and trekking trips, and the stunning Valley of Flowers:

 Which sounds like a fairytale name and looks just amazing.. something like 500 species of flowers can be found in this valley which is surrounded by snow capped Himalayn mountains and the whole area has been a protected site since the 1930s.It is only open between June to October as the rest of the year it is covered with snow. There is a lovely travel blog post here about the Valley.

Then there is the east of India and the lure of the historical hill station of Darjeeling and the tea plantations in Assam..

(view of Darjeeling, from questhimalaya.com)

or a cool hill station in the south, like Kodaikanal or Ooty.. or a deserted beach in Goa, or a palace in Rajasthan, or the Tibetan plains in Ladakh.. how do you decide where to go when you have such spectacular choices!?!