India is a continent in itself: With 2,000 ethnic groups, 234 native languages, adherents of all the world's major religions, and nearly 1.4 billion inhabitants - it will soon overtake China, and become the world's most populous country, an economic powerhouse (it is expected to overtake the UK and France in the 2020s), but with almost a third of the population living below the poverty line, putting together a trip to visit India is a tall order. Which is where our India travel guide comes in very handy. There are thousands of places to choose from: the Ganges Valley - land of springs, Rajasthan - land of princes, Gujarat and the Jains, the South, the most colourful and fragrant part of India, the beaches of Goa, the countryside of Orissa, the sprawling cities of New Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta.
And then there is northern Indian: the Himalayas, the luscious green slopes of Darjeeling, the Tibetan echoes of Ladakh.