Nashik

Nashik, on the banks of the sacred Godavari river in north-western Maharashtra, is one of the holiest pilgrimage cities in Hinduism — a place woven deeply into both the Ramayana and the Kumbh Mela tradition, and one of the four cities in India that hosts the great Simhastha Kumbh Mela every twelve years (next in 2027).

• A short drive west, at the source of the Godavari beneath the Brahmagiri hill, stands the Trimbakeshwar Temple, one of the twelve revered Jyotirlinga shrines of Lord Shiva, distinguished by its rare three-faced lingam representing Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh — among the most sacred Shiva temples in the country.
• Nashik itself is the heart of the Ramayana's exile chapter: the riverside quarter of Panchavati is where tradition holds that Lord Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana lived during their fourteen-year forest exile.
• Here pilgrims visit the Kalaram Temple (a black-stone shrine to Rama), the Sita Gufa (the cave where Sita is said to have sheltered), and the Ramkund — the most sacred bathing ghat on the Godavari, where Rama is believed to have bathed and where Hindus immerse the ashes of the departed.
• The Godavari ghats come alive each evening with aarti, and the Muktidham marble temple and the ancient Buddhist Pandavleni (Pandav Leni) caves on the city's edge add to the heritage.
• The fertile Nashik countryside is also famous as India's grape bowl, supplying sweet table grapes and raisins across the country.
• The Godavari valley around the city, with its orchards, the Gangapur dam backwaters, and the hill forts of the surrounding Sahyadris, adds scenic depth to a Nashik visit beyond the pilgrim circuit.
• For vegetarian travellers, Nashik is a treat: the city is renowned for its Nashik chivda (a spiced flattened-rice snack), its fiery misal pav, sabudana khichdi and vada (beloved fasting foods), Maharashtrian vegetarian thali, and sweet fresh grapes in season.
• The best season is October to March.