This wasn’t always the case. In Orchha’s heyday, from the 16th until the 19th centuries, this was the seat of the Bundelas: a powerful Rajput clan who clung to power for a few centuries in the wild, hilly regions of north-central India. Under their rule, an entirely new style of architecture developed which melded Mughal and Rajput influences in grand palaces, temples and chhatris (cenotaphs). It ended not with a bang but a whimper. The British took control of the region in the early 19th century, and the Bundelas faded from prominence. Before long it was as if they had never been – their city of pink sandstone forts and riverside cenotaphs left decaying in the jungle.

Over the decades that followed, Orchha never regained anything like its former might – but neither was it fully abandoned. A sleepy, agricultural community stayed on, its magnificent ruins gradually aging as life went on around them. The first tourists to show up here were astonished by the medieval atmosphere of the place. Farmers’ markets going on beneath palaces built for kings and princes; the pink-and-gold domed Ram Raja Temple ringing with song every evening; vultures roosting in shikara niches; children playing in the ghats as the sun goes down over a forest of chhatris. It really was like being Indiana Jones, stumbling on somewhere magical and undiscovered.

Unfortunately, and inevitably, those days are now over for Orchha. Somewhere so lovely couldn't stay hidden forever – no matter what its name means. The ruins are incredible and it’s still absolutely worth your time, but it’s not the sleepy remnant of the middle ages that most guidebooks promise. In recent years it has become a popular wedding destination, complete with a clutch of big hotels and venues, and we recommend avoiding it when the season is in full swing.