Jaipur

The rose-pink capital of Rajasthan, one of the first planned cities of India, laid out on a grid in seventeen twenty-seven by the warrior-astronomer Jai Singh the Second and painted terracotta pink a century and a half later. Behind the honeycombed Palace of Winds lie the City Palace, a giant stone observatory, and bazaars still sorted by trade. Above the plain, the older Kachhwaha capital of Amber climbs a hillside to its mirrored halls. Read the Pink City and its hill-palace at your own pace.