Places to VisitNear Prayagraj

An excavated settlement on the Yamuna dating back to the Mauryan period and earlier, with visible street plans, house foundations and a small site presence. For anyone interested in how a town of that age was actually laid out, it is the clearest example near the city.

The site associated with Nishadraj Guha ferrying Rama across the Ganga, and alongside it an excavated water-management embankment of remarkable scale for its period. The temple and the archaeology sit together, which is unusual and worth the hour.

One of the great cities of the sixth century BCE, with its earthen ramparts still traceable for kilometres and an Ashokan pillar standing on the site. The Buddha is recorded as having preached here. Almost entirely unvisited, which given what it is takes some explaining.

A fort on a rock spur directly above the Ganga, held in turn by Sher Shah Suri, the Mughals and the British, with a long drop to the river from the ramparts. The approach through the stone quarries is part of the experience.

The Vindhyavasini temple at Vindhyachal is one of the Shakti Peethas and draws steady pilgrimage, with the Kali Khoh and Ashtabhuja temples on the hill above it. Mirzapur alongside is the centre of the hand-knotted carpet trade and the workshops take visitors.

The ghats, the evening aarti at Dashashwamedh and Sarnath eight kilometres out where the Buddha first taught. Three hours each way makes a day possible, but the dawn boat and the evening aarti are at opposite ends of the day and a day visitor gets one of them.

Ramghat on the Mandakini, the Kamadgiri hill that pilgrims circle on foot, and the Gupt Godavari caves with a stream running through them. Quiet, forested and quite unlike the rest of this list. Long for a day and comfortable as a night.