We won’t get carried away with ourselves – the sprawling modern city of Gwalior is no great shakes. But look closely and you’ll find a city that was once an epicenter of Indian culture – and there’s plenty of it left for those who give it a chance.

Gwalior Fort itself is the only intact pre-Mughal palace in India, dating all the way back to the Fall of Rome. Dominating the skyline with its pinkish domes, Petra-esque Jain carvings, and polychromatic, yellow-and-turquoise tiling, it’s as impressive – or more – than anything Rajasthan has to offer, and yet almost completely deserted, even in peak season.

Look closely at the fort’s exterior and you’ll spot bouquet-wielding crocodiles and what appears to be a row of yellow rubber ducks. Inside its walls are palaces, temples and countless stories: a Vishnu temple used by the British as a drinks factory; a tiny, rock-cut temple containing the earliest-known inscription of zero; carefully calibrated music halls where even the softest note rings out clearly from end to end. This is where the music-obsessed, 15th-century ruler Man Singh Tomar gathered the greatest artists of his time to compile a musical encyclopedia, cementing a musical legacy for Gwalior that survives to this day.

Indeed, within India, music is what Gwalior is best known for. The city was recognized as a UNESCO World Creative City in 2023, and every year it holds a festival of classical music to celebrate its most famous son: the singer-musician Tansen. Tansen combined Persian Muslim and native Hindu musical traditions, and was said to write music so powerful he could control the rain. His tomb is among the most visited of Gwalior’s sites, where visitors strip the low-hanging branches of a tamarind tree whose leaves, when eaten, are said to improve the voice.

Less classy, perhaps, but certainly ostentatious, is Jai Vilas Palace, which attests to the wealth and sway of the Scindia family, who ruled this town from the early eighteenth century. If Liberace had been a Maharajah, you could imagine him living here. It’s crammed to the rafters with curios: furniture from the estate of Louis XVI; stuffed tigers; crystal staircases; a silver toy train (used to ferry brandy and cigars around the table after dinner), and two of the biggest chandeliers in the world. Rumor has it, the Scindias stood eight elephants on the roof of the durbar hall to check that it could take their weight.

Juxtaposed with all these remnants of past grandeur, Gwalior city center can play the ugly sister – but don’t skip it altogether. Akin with many an oft-ignored Indian town, it’s the people who supply the charm, and the lack of tourists makes for wonderfully genuine interactions.