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Visit India

Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631, in childbirth, her fourteenth, and her husband spent the next twenty-one years building her a tomb instead of getting over it. That tomb is white marble that turns pink at dawn and gold by evening, the same stone reflecting whatever light lands on it, which is the whole trick. India has dozens of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and this is not obviously the most impressive one on paper — a mausoleum, not a fort or a temple — but it is the one where people set alarms for five a.m. and beat the guards to the gate, to catch it at its first colour.

Practical

Cost
$1,500–3,000 for a two-week trip
Best time
October to March, outside monsoon season
Difficulty
Moderate
Time it takes
At least two weeks to see more than one region properly
What people get wrong
People try to fit the whole country into ten days and spend half of it on trains and in queues; at the Taj Mahal itself, arriving after nine misses both the light and the empty courtyard.
With
A group

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