Clutching to the dust-blown edge of Rajasthan in the heartlands of northern India, Bharatpur has been trodden by royalty since the days of old. To show for it all is a beautiful Mughal palace that's fronted by swaying palms and carved Rajput filigrees, and the invincible Lohagarh Fort, where iron-clad gateways and arched bridges protect some seriously formidable bulwarks dating back to the 1800s. But the biggest attraction, and the pride of all Bharatpur tour guides is the UNESCO-tagged wilds of the Keoladeo National Park. One of India's most famous birding sanctuaries, it's a swathe of murky riverways and rolling wetlands, where long-necked egrets, colored parakeets, majestic spoonbills and many more global avian visitors mingle in the swamps.

That apart, this bustling, workaday town is a frenetic place of everyday life, pretty temples and ramshackle bazaars.