Khajuraho was a key player in many, many successive kingdoms throughout ancient Indian history – too many to list here – but it was the Chandela kings who built these remarkable temples from around 950 to 1050 CE. Hidden by dense jungle for almost a millennium, Khajuraho survived the fervor of Muslim conquerors, who desecrated so many Hindu sculptures in the later Middle Ages.

What makes these temples so special isn’t just their preservation, it’s the astonishing delicacy and liveliness of their sandstone carvings. Every surface swarms with scenes, not just from Hindu myths but – even more compellingly for those interested in the ancient world – from everyday life. Visiting with one of our guides to bring their stories to life is absolutely essential. Details like manicured nails and elaborate hairstyles, elephant fights and hunting scenes, people applying eye make-up, looking in mirrors, cuddling babies, scratching their backs, writing letters. One particularly famous sculpture depicts a woman removing a thorn from her foot: a beautifully intimate glimpse of an impossibly distant world; somehow thrillingly mundane.

Then, of course, there’s the erotica. Young T.S. Burt, the British officer who ‘discovered’ the temples in 1838 reported that ‘the sculptor had at times allowed his subject to grow a little warmer than there was any absolute necessity for his doing’. He wasn’t wrong. Some of the carvings are still eyebrow-raising today, but they're just one small thread in a vast tapestry of extraordinary sculptures – much of whose original cultural significance has been lost to time.

Khajuraho is justly renowned and gets quite busy, especially on weekends, but its relative inaccessibility saves it from being overrun – and there are always quieter temples you can visit to beat the crowds. The whole area got a rather well-done glow-up in the run-up to the G20 summit, which has improved the tourist experience, but accommodation remains average and the town itself isn’t anything special. If you’re a nature lover, we highly recommend basing yourself in lovely Panna instead. It’s only half an hour away, and combining the two really makes the most of the region.