Aurangabad

Aurangabad (officially renamed Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in 2023, though widely known by its historic name), in Maharashtra's Marathwada plateau, is the designated Tourism Capital of Maharashtra — and with good reason: within a 100 km radius it contains two UNESCO World Heritage Sites and a third heritage landmark that is among India's most photographed monuments.

• The Ajanta Caves (105 km north-east, accessible by MSRTC bus or hired taxi), carved into a horseshoe cliff above the Waghur river between the 2nd century BCE and roughly 480 CE, are India's greatest surviving example of ancient Buddhist art — 30 rock-cut monasteries and prayer halls containing frescoes (India's earliest surviving paintings) and sculptures depicting the life of the Buddha, Jataka tales, and celestial court scenes with a figurative vitality and emotional depth that anticipates Italian Renaissance painting by 800 years.
• Cave 16 (the Dying Princess fresco), Cave 17 (the largest painting sequence), and Cave 1 (Bodhisattva Padmapani) are the essential masterpieces.
• The Ellora Caves (30 km from Aurangabad city), a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, are a 2-km arc of 34 rock-cut cave complexes spanning Buddhist (6th-8th centuries CE), Hindu (7th-9th centuries CE), and Jain (9th-11th centuries CE) traditions — unique in the world for three religions' great architectural traditions carved side-by-side out of the same volcanic basalt cliff.
• The Kailasa Temple (Cave 16, dedicated to Shiva) is the centrepiece: a complete multi-storey temple carved downward from the top of the living rock — the world's largest single rock-cut excavation (larger than the Parthenon) — with the main hall, elephant gallery, and gateway all cut from a single monolith.
• The Bibi Ka Maqbara (1660 CE, Aurangabad city), built by Emperor Aurangzeb's son as a memorial to his mother, is an imperfect but beautiful copy of the Taj Mahal in white plaster over brick — nicknamed the "Taj of the Deccan." For vegetarian travellers, Marathwada cuisine is strong: varan (lentil soup with kokum), bharli vaangi (stuffed brinjal curry), pitla (thick chickpea-flour gravy), and jowar roti. October-March is comfortable.