The Himalaya

The name Himalaya comes from the Sanskrit Hima laya, meaning “abode of snow” and it truly lives up to this as the world’s great mountain regions . Stretching across northern and northeastern India, the Himalaya is dotted with hill stations, monasteries and villages. Travellers can wander colonial streets and pine forests in Shimla, once the summer retreat for the British; soak in Tibetan culture and visit His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama’s residence in McLeod Ganj; and walk through slate-roofed houses with European features in Pragpur, India’s first notified heritage village.

High in the north, Ladakh has stark deserts, turquoise lakes, gompas (Tibetan Buddhist monasteries) and nomadic communities. In the foothills, there’s Haridwar, one of the sites of the Kumbh Mela pilgrimage, one of the world’s largest human gatherings; and Rishikesh, famed for yoga, meditation and the Beatles’ 1960s visit. In the eastern Himalaya, Darjeeling is known for its misty tea gardens, Himalayan views (on a good day, you can see Kanchenjunga, the world’s third-highest mountain at 8,586 metres [28,169 feet]) and the narrow-gauge toy train, which has run through the hills since 1881.