Ahmedabad

Gandhi's riverside ashram from 1917 to 1930, and the starting point of the walk to Dandi against the salt tax. His small cottage, Hriday Kunj, displays his spinning wheel and low writing desk, and entry is free.

A small mosque built in 1573, whose western stone screen is carved with a tree of life, its branches twining outward. The window is the emblem of the city and of the Indian Institute of Management here, and from inside the light seeps through in its pattern.

A stepwell some 18 kilometres to the north, completed in 1498, descending five storeys past pillars and walls carved with flowers and elephants. The lower levels stay cool in the heat, and around midday light reaches the bottom of the well.

A Friday mosque finished in 1424, whose prayer hall of 260 pillars mixes in carving styles from Hindu and Jain temples. Outside the east gate lies Manek Chowk, where food stalls take over at night once the jewellers' shutters come down.

A municipal walking tour leaving Kalupur Swaminarayan Temple every morning, threading the pols, gated lane villages closed by a single door, and their chabutro bird-feeding towers before ending at the Jama Masjid.

A textile museum in the grounds of the Sarabhai family mansion, visited solely on guided tours at fixed hours, with groups so small that a visit needs booking several weeks before. Photography is forbidden, and Wednesday is its day off.

Promenades line the Sabarmati on either side, linked by the Atal Bridge, a footbridge opened in 2022 under a roof shaped like a kite. After sunset the bridge glows in changing colours.

A triple-arched gateway east of Bhadra Fort, built when the city was founded. Legend holds that a lamp in a niche inside has been kept burning by one Muslim family for over 600 years, and stalls selling clothes and pots crowd round it all day.

A Jain temple of white marble built in 1848 by the merchant Hutheesing family, its courtyard cloister lined with 52 small shrines. Leather belts and wallets cannot be taken in, so they stay outside.

An 11th-century sun temple about 100 kilometres northwest, whose stepped tank, the kund, is ringed by 108 small shrines in tiers. On equinox mornings sunlight is said to reach the inner sanctum.

An octagonal stepwell dug at Asarwa in 1499 by Bai Harir, a lady of the sultan's court. The air cools with every flight down, and the walls carry inscriptions in both Sanskrit and Arabic. It draws a thinner crowd than Adalaj, so the descent is quiet.

A complex on the city's southwest edge where the tomb of the Sufi saint Ahmed Khattu, a mosque and palaces wrap a large tank. Le Corbusier reportedly named it the Acropolis of Ahmedabad. Its domeless colonnades of pillars stand open to the breeze.

A many-sided reservoir dug by a 15th-century sultan, now ringed by a promenade, a toy train and a zoo. In late December the Kankaria Carnival fills a week with shows and food stalls. The family crowd peaks around sunset.

An 11th-century stepwell at Patan, to the northwest, inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2014. Hundreds of carvings of Vishnu's avatars and goddesses cover its seven levels. Patan is also home to patola double-ikat silk, so a weaving workshop makes a good add-on.

The remains of an Indus Valley port about 80 km southwest, where the outline of a large brick dock survives. A small museum beside it gathers beads, seals and pottery. Almost nothing blocks the sun, so a winter morning visit is far less draining.