Gujarat

Gujarat has been one of India's most commercially dynamic states since at least the first millennium AD, when Gujarati merchants were trading across the Arabian Sea in networks that predated the Silk Road and outlasted the British Empire.

The Rann of Kutch is the single most otherworldly landscape in India: a vast salt flat that runs to the horizon in every direction, white as the surface of a lake in January, navigated by pastoral communities that have been moving their livestock across it for centuries. The Banni grasslands within it — a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve — are grazed by Maldhari herders whose embroidery is among the most technically accomplished textile work produced anywhere in the world.

The stepwells of Gujarat — the Rani ki Vav at Patan, descending seven stories underground through carved corridors lined with 500 major sculptures — are the state's most specific architectural contribution to world heritage. Built in the 11th century as a memorial to a king by his queen, entirely underground and visible only to those who descend into it, it is a monument that understood beauty as a form of duty rather than a display.

Places to Visit in Gujarat

• Rann of Kutch
• Gir National Park
• Adalaj Stepwell
• Dwarka Temple
• Sabarmati Ashram

Things to Do in Gujarat

• Lion safari at Gir
• White desert sunset at Rann of Kutch
• Stepwell architecture tour
• Handicraft village visits