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Many thanks to the travellers who used the last edition and wrote to us with helpful hints, useful advice and interesting anecdotes:
A Adeline Bouchery, Amanda Larson-Mekler, Amber Richardson, Andy Foster, Ansuya Patel-Yorke, Anthony Naylon, Arpita Singh B Bernd Scholz, Borja Ramirez, Brett Leighton C Callum McQueen, Carolina Echenique, Chimmy Vyas, Chris Vaughan, Cindy Gray D Daniel Scott, David Wilson, Deanna D’Onofrio, Deep Grewal E Emanuela Milo, Erica Wijarnako G Gabriele Marangon, Gail Bruk-Jackson, Glenn Riddell, Grant Szuveges H Harry Smith, Henk Hilkmann, Hugh Connolly I Igor De Ruitz, Isabel Barrientos J James Freeborn, James Gannon, James Huxley, Jane McNab, Jessica Killaspy, Joe Morley, Josée Arsenault, Julian Trummer K Kai Xue, Katya Burns, Kevin Pomplun, Kirit Mehta L Les Sutherland, Lidor Cohen, Lisa Worthington, Lorenzo Facinelli, Lucas Almendra, Lynnell Mickelsen M Manish Jain, Marie Grif, Mario Tarallo, Martin Davis, Michael Bridger, Michael Hornsby, Michael Yon, Mrinal Kamat N Nasreen Singh, Nicholas cooper, Nick Brock, Nikola Smith, Nina Bee O Ofelia Diaz P Patricia Keith, Paul Wiegmann, Pratibha Sahu R Rachel Ross, Rolf Wrelf, Ronin Pierre, Rosemary O’Donnell, Roz Green S Sam Ewalt, Samantha Spiro, Santosh Mohanty, Sean McHugh, Shane Hussey, Stephen Grinter, Steve Hughes T Thomas Janssens, Tom Stuart, Tony Wheeler, Tricia Bergman V Van Cauwenberghe, Vanessa Bulhões, Víctor Castro, Vincent Robitaille Z Zachary Nowak, Zoe Evans
Thanks to all the people who helped me in Delhi, including my Delhi family Jyoti and Niranjan Desai, to Danish Abbas, Nicholas Thompson, Sarah Fotheringham, Toby Sinclair and the Delhi Walla himself, Mayank Austen Soofi. Special gratitude to Joe Bindloss and to all the other India authors for their help and knowledge. Huge thanks to my Mum, Ant & Luca for looking after everyone at home.
I am very grateful for the help and encouragement provided by Satinder, Karan & Ritu and Dicky & Kavita in Jaipur, Anoop in Pushkhar, Usha in Ranthambhore, Harsh in Bikaner, Siddharth in Jaisalmer, Ramesh Jangid in Nawalgarh, Laxmi Kant Jangid in jhunjhunu and many many others who helped out along the road. Last but not least, thanks to Jenny.
My sincerest thanks above all to the amazing people of Punjab, Haryana, Kolkata, West Bengal and the Northeast States for their splendid warmth and hospitality. To Raja, Gina, Ashish, Samita, Joyita, Krishno, Sukanya, Jone, Rajib, Mamli, Oken, Sum, Richard, Kanno, Omak, Souvik, Madhuparna, George, Sheila, Mahesh, Vikas, John, Tatu, Punyo and many other wonderful souls for sharing their local knowledge and experience, inviting me into their homes, throwing me their car keys and cooking me some delicious meals along the way. Thanks to everyone at Lonely Planet who made working on this title a breeze – cheers to all of you!
Thanks to everyone in Tamil Nadu, Ashish and Rucha Gupta and Shoshana Treichel in Chennai, Bernard Dragon and Michel Adment in Chettinadu, Raja Balasubramanian in Trichy, Junaid Sait and team in Ooty, Vijay Kumar in Kodai, and Mr Krishnamurthi on the Kanyakumari–Puducherry Express. In Madhya Pradesh, huge thanks to Belinda Wright and Saptarishi Saigal. Thanks to the dream India co-author team, especially John Noble for laughs, tips and tiger safaris. At home, extra-special thanks to Jack, Andrew and Sarah.
So many fantastic people in India gave me help, smiles and fellowship. Extra special thanks to Balvinder, Shubhda Chaturvedi, the Dhami family, Mark Elliott, Gilbert Gillou and family, Nitesh Jaiswal, Puneetinder Kaur Sidhu, Kristina Lauer, Vaneet Rana, Saptarishi Saigal, Sagnik Sengupta, Reggie Singh, Ankit Sood, Panki Sood, Praveen Sood, Sumit Raj Vashisht and Belinda Wright. Also to Joe Bindloss for steering the ship so expertly, and above all to Isabella Noble with whom I shared the entire experience!
Thanks to my wife, Adriana Schmidt Raub. Joe Bindloss, Sarina Singh, John Noble, Izzy Noble, Paul Harding and all my partners-in-crime at LP. On the road, Anil Wadwa, Amit Arora, Dhanya Pilo, Sarita Hedge Roy, Tanvi Maidkaker, Roshnee Desai, Greg Kroitzsh, Rishupreet Oberoi, Bindu Panicker, Aditya Dhanwatay, Ashok T Kadam, Abha Lambah, Karina Aggarwal and Pankil Shah.
Huge thanks to Michael Schmid at Brown Bread Bakery in Varanasi for being incredibly helpful to many travelers, including myself, when the 'cash crisis' of 2016 struck. Thanks also to Shikha Tripathi, Sindhu Shah, Mukti Datta, John Noble, Monika Agarwal, Karan Singh, Praveen Kaushal and Mohan Rayal. As always, I’m ever grateful to Kelly and Luke for taking care of the animals and each other while I’m on the road.
Enormous thanks to Rouf John & family, Tundup & Gurmet, Mikka, Darren Clarkson-King, Najum, Meraj, Shubham & Pranav, Manon, Maunil Vora, Abhishek & Pranav, Wasil Nawaz Khan, Namgyal & Sani, Christina & Tashi, Peter & Wendy, Veena & Maruti, Nittish & Sri, Tashi Tsering, Thinley, Sonam, Jamie McG, Yanin & Mushtaq, Linda, Marie & Claire.
In Sikkim thanks so much to Smriti and Sartaj, Nukul, Rinjong, OT Lepcha, Karma Dorje & Minla Zaymu, Wangdi, Sonam Bhutia, Pema at Mama’s, Tom, Kheli & Gili, Anuj & Sonali, Edu, Jacky, Monika & Stina, Chundip, Champala & Thendup at Gangyak, Passang, Guus , Pala, Farid Belhadj, Michael.
Thanks to all my dear friends in Goa and Kerala who helped out with company, advice and friendship – you all know who you are. Thanks also to new people, travellers and locals, I met on this trip. The biggest thanks goes to Hannah and my worldly young daughter Layla for accompanying me at least part of the way and putting up with my absences at other times.
Thank you to Joe for entrusting me with Gujarat and Odisha, and to all who’ve assisted me along the way, including: Abigail, Michael, Kevin, Iain (fellow scribes), Abhay, Rajiv, Saiyed, Mohammed and Anil in Ahmedabad, Jehan, Katie and Salim in Bhuj, the Singhs in Wankaner, Mustak in Jamnagar, the good people of Desia and Chandoori Sai in Odisha’s tribal country, Bubu in Puri; also Debjit, Sangarmitha, the Raja of Aul and everyone who helped me during the demonetisation crisis.
Thanks to Norden and Thinley at Holumba Haven for their many tips and to Jigme Tshering and Bunty for showing me around Kalimpong. Tash delek to Norbu and Sangay-la in Darjeeling. Thanks also to Mithun Das in Madarihat and Gatty in Darjeeling.
Thanks to Trent Holden and John Noble for tips and contacts, and Joe Bindloss and the LP team in London and Melbourne. On the road I was helped by Jonty in Hyderabad, Poornima Dasharathi in Bengaluru, the teams at Golden Mist in Kodagu and Uramma in Hampi, Prakash in Vijapura, Oliver the yogi in Gokarna and Vijay in Vizag.
Thank you to everyone who worked on this edition, with special thanks to Joe for being such a fab DE. Gratitude, also, to the many readers who took the time to send in their feedback and travel experiences – much appreciated indeed. Finally, warm thanks to my wise and wonderful parents who have always encouraged me to walk my own path.
Climate map data adapted from Peel MC, Finlayson BL & McMahon TA (2007) ‘Updated World Map of the Köppen-Geiger Climate Classification’, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 11, 163344.
Illustrations in Sacred Architecture chapter by Kelli Hamblet; Fatehpur Sikri & Mysuru Palace by Michael Weldon; Red Fort, Taj Mahal & Khajuraho Temples by Javier Zarracina.
Cover photograph: Woman covered in coloured gulal (powder) celebrating. Holi/THEPALMER/Getty Images ©
This 17th edition of Lonely Planet’s India guidebook was curated by Abigail Blasi, Lindsay Brown, Anirban Mahapatra, Isabella Noble, John Noble and Kevin Raub, who also researched and wrote it along with Michael Benanav, Mark Elliott, Paul Harding, Anna Kaminski, Bradley Mayhew, Sarina Singh and Iain Stewart. This guidebook was produced by the following:
Destination Editor Joe Bindloss
Product Editor Kathryn Rowan
Cartographers Lonely Planet Cartography
Book Designer Michael Buick
Assisting Editors Sarah Bailey, Judith Bamber, Imogen Bannister, Bridget Blair, Nigel Chin, Melanie Dankel, Sam Forge, Carly Hall, Helen Koehne, Kellie Langdon, Ali Lemer, Anne Mulvaney, Rosie Nicholson, Lauren O’Connell, Kristin Odijk, Ross Taylor, Saralinda Turner
Cover Researcher Naomi Parker
Thanks to Will Allen, Michelle Bennett, Hannah Cartmel, Kate Chapman, Joel Cotterell, Sasha Drew, Daniel Fahey, Gemma Graham, Shona Gray, Liz Heynes, Kate Kiely, Virginia Moreno, Catherine Naghten, Martine Power, Kirsten Rawlings, Alison Ridgway, Wibowo Rusli, Tom Stainer, Tracy Whitmey
Ebook thanks to Andrew Bigger, Ruth Cosgrove, Julie Dodkins, Blazej Hadzik, Craig Kilburn, Chris Love, Wayne Murphy, Jacqui Saunders, John Taufa, Glenn van der Knijff, Yanxiang Wang, Juan Winata.