Regions
India is a union of 29 states and seven Union Territories. The 29 states and can be broken down into the following geographical regions:
Region ........ ........ State
Himalayan North .... Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, Uttarakhand
The Plains ........... Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh
Central India ........ Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh
Southern India ......... Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh , Telangana
Western India .......... Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan
Eastern India ........... Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal
Northeastern India ......... Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura
The Union Territories are:
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Chandigarh
Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Daman and Diu
Lakshadweep
National Capital Territory of Delhi
Puducherry
Cities
Listed below are some of the biggest or most popular cities for travellers to India.
Agra is home to the Taj Mahal
Ahmedabad - in Gujarat
Bangalore - the garden city, once the sleepy home of pensioners, now transformed into a city of pubs and high-technology companies
Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Orissa
Chennai (formerly Madras) - the main port in Southern India, cultural centre, automobile capital of India and a fast emerging IT hub
Delhi - including New Delhi, the official capital of India
Hyderabad - known for pearl and diamond trading, now with major manufacturing and financial institutions and a growing IT sector
Kochi (formerly Cochin) - the Queen of the Arabian Sea, historically a centre of international trade, now the gateway to the sandy beaches and backwaters
Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan, also called the Pink City, a major exhibit of the Hindu Rajput culture of medieval Northern India
Jaisalmer, located in the western Thar desert in Rajasthan
Jamnagar
Jodhpur - the Blue City in Rajasthan
Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) - the cultural capital of India, known as the City of Joy, and home to numerous colonial buildings
Lucknow
Mumbai (formerly Bombay) - the largest city and the financial capital of India, the city that never sleeps, home of "Bollywood", the Hindi film industry
Nagpur - large city in central India with few things to keep you hanging around
Orchha
Puri
Trivandrum
Udaipur - popular city in Rajasthan
Haridwar
Varanasi - considered the most sacred Hindu city, located on the banks of the Ganges, one of the oldest continually inhabited cities of the world
India is a union of 29 states and seven Union Territories. The 29 states and can be broken down into the following geographical regions:
Region ........ ........ State
Himalayan North .... Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, Uttarakhand
The Plains ........... Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh
Central India ........ Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh
Southern India ......... Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh , Telangana
Western India .......... Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan
Eastern India ........... Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal
Northeastern India ......... Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura
The Union Territories are:
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Chandigarh
Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Daman and Diu
Lakshadweep
National Capital Territory of Delhi
Puducherry
Cities
Listed below are some of the biggest or most popular cities for travellers to India.
Agra is home to the Taj Mahal
Ahmedabad - in Gujarat
Bangalore - the garden city, once the sleepy home of pensioners, now transformed into a city of pubs and high-technology companies
Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Orissa
Chennai (formerly Madras) - the main port in Southern India, cultural centre, automobile capital of India and a fast emerging IT hub
Delhi - including New Delhi, the official capital of India
Hyderabad - known for pearl and diamond trading, now with major manufacturing and financial institutions and a growing IT sector
Kochi (formerly Cochin) - the Queen of the Arabian Sea, historically a centre of international trade, now the gateway to the sandy beaches and backwaters
Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan, also called the Pink City, a major exhibit of the Hindu Rajput culture of medieval Northern India
Jaisalmer, located in the western Thar desert in Rajasthan
Jamnagar
Jodhpur - the Blue City in Rajasthan
Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) - the cultural capital of India, known as the City of Joy, and home to numerous colonial buildings
Lucknow
Mumbai (formerly Bombay) - the largest city and the financial capital of India, the city that never sleeps, home of "Bollywood", the Hindi film industry
Nagpur - large city in central India with few things to keep you hanging around
Orchha
Puri
Trivandrum
Udaipur - popular city in Rajasthan
Haridwar
Varanasi - considered the most sacred Hindu city, located on the banks of the Ganges, one of the oldest continually inhabited cities of the world