Tourist attractions in India include Taj Mahal, Bahá’í Lotus Temple, Red Fort, Akshardham Temple, and a tour of Bollywood.
Taj Mahal, a mausoleum located in Agra and dedicated to Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan’s wife, Mumtaz Mahal, has often been called theworld’s most beautiful building.
Today, the building symbolizes India similarly to, say, the Eiffel tower symbolizes Paris and France.
To complete the building, which is located next to the Yamuna River, the construction work required 20,000 workers over a period of 23 years, before it was completed in 1653.
Taj Mahal’s gorgeous color comes from the use of white marble, in addition to which Taj Mahal contains 28 different types of precious stones, ranging from jade to crystal, and sapphires.
The most notable highlights within the mausoleum include its 18.3 m (60 ft) in diameter and 24.4 m (80 ft) tall main dome, central to the building, and located directly above Mumtaz Mahal’s grave.
Taj Mahal is open to visitors Saturday to Thursday.
Baha’i Lotus Temple (bahaihouseofworship.in) is the world’s biggest Bahá’í religious temple, and since being completed in 1986, it has become one of the most photographed and visited buildings in India.
The temple represents expressionist architecture, with its most significant feature being the building’s lotus flower shape.
The lotus flower design includes 27 marble covered “flower leaves“, in groups of three, so that the building has a total of nine facades.
Red Fortress, which is also known as the Fortress of Delhi, is located within the medieval city of Shahjahanabad (a suburb of modern Delhi).
The fortress dates back to 1639, when Emperor Shah Jahan had it built, to be used as an administrative palace.
Name for the fortress comes from its massive, 2.5 km (1.5 mile) long wall, built out of red sandstone.
Architecturally, the building is a unique combination of Persian, European, and Indian traditions, reflecting the background influences for modern India even in more general terms.
Tourist attractions in India also feature Akshardham Temple(akshardham.com), which has been the biggest religious building in Hinduism since it was completed in 2005.
The single most important building in the complex is its massive central monument, built entirely out of pink sandstone and Italian Carrara marble…
…with details including 20,000 different types of Hinduism god statues and paintings, as well as 148 elephant statues, built to scale.
Within the temple complex, you can also find:
- exhibitions about Indian history,
- one of the best IMAX cinemas in India,
- a musical fountain, and
- wonderful park-like temple gardens.
Finally, a tour of Bollywood (bollywoodtours.in) in Mumbai is a highlight for many Indian cinema enthusiasts.
Bollywood, a center for Hindi-language film production, officially called “Film City“, produces annually about 900 movies, more than its counterpart in Hollywood, California.
Because there are so many productions ongoing all the time, during a typical tour, you’ll have a good chance of seeing some of the biggest Indian film stars, such as, say, Aishwarya Rai, who is also a former Miss World.
To be able to tour the actual studio production facilities, you normally have to participate in one of the guided tours to the Film City.