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10 Best Places to Go in India

Less a nation than an amalgam of cultures imperfectly welded together by successive waves of conquerors, India entices with a rich and harrowing heritage. It is simultaneously the world’s largest democracy and a place where the inequalities of the caste system still define daily life. With 22 official languages and more than 1,500 recognized languages, India is a place that unabashedly makes travelers meet it on its own terms.

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Be prepared for a sensory onslaught: You won’t need to veer far off the beaten tourist path to come face-to-face with both extreme beauty and wrenching poverty. It’s a country that will thrill you, will probably make you cry, and will certainly not leave you unmoved.

The Best Places to Go in India

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Matt Jenkins is a former editor at Nature Conservancy magazine and the High Country News. He has also written for The New York Times, Smithsonian magazine, Men’s Journal, and Saveur. He also recently spent a year-and-a-half living in Delhi and exploring India.

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