QXP India

Bhaktapur, a UNESCO-listed city near Kathmandu, is famous for its architecture, but Pottery Square deserves just as much attention. Here, local potters continue to create earthenware by hand, with rows of freshly made pottery drying in the sun. It’s a great place to experience a side of Nepal that goes beyond the usual landmarks.

Hanle sits at the far eastern edge of Ladakh, close to the border with China, reached by a long, winding road across some of the highest terrain in the region. In December 2022 it became India’s first Dark Sky Reserve, a protected zone of just over 1,000 square kilometres where street lights and vehicle headlights are restricted to keep the sky this dark. The reserve holds a Bortle-1 rating, the darkest classification that exists. Locals now train as astronomy guides, and the Indian Astronomical Observatory, one of the highest in the world, has operated here since the 1990s, taking advantage of exactly the conditions pictured here.

India’s last tiger census, in 2022, counted 3,682 tigers in the wild, close to 75 percent of the world’s remaining wild tiger population. That number has climbed steadily since 2006, when the count stood at 1,411, and a new census is underway this year to see how far it’s risen since. Every one of those tigers depends on a corridor of forest large enough to hunt, breed and move through undisturbed, the same forests a handful of reserves across India still protect.

On International Tiger Day, that’s worth remembering.

Luxury in India is not only found in palaces and heritage hotels. It also lives in the hands of artisans mastering a single craft over a lifetime.

In Moradabad, known as India’s Brass City, artisans hand-hammer brass into vessels using tools passed down through generations, with engraving added only once a piece is formed.

In Agra, artisans still practise pietra dura, the marble inlay technique used on the Taj Mahal, setting slices of semi-precious stone into white marble by hand.

Hand-knotted carpets can take months to complete, with artisans following a printed pattern and tying every knot by hand.

In Jaipur, the wooden blocks used for hand block printing are carved by hand first, each one a craft in itself before a single length of fabric is printed.

Which of these crafts would you like to see up close?

Spiti Valley sits at roughly 3,800 metres in Himachal Pradesh, a cold desert close to the Tibetan border. Every winter the main road in from Manali closes under snow and does not reopen until spring, leaving only the longer route through Shimla and Kinnaur. Temperatures fall to around minus 15 degrees by day and minus 30 at night, and the valley stays buried in snow for months.

This is also when its oldest monasteries see the fewest visitors all year. Tabo, founded in 996 CE, holds murals over a thousand years old and is still in daily use. Key Monastery, the largest in the valley, has stood on its hilltop for centuries, and its main temple still avoids electric light to protect the murals inside. Dhankar Monastery is built directly into a cliff face between two rivers.

Very few travellers see any of this in winter.

Interested in visiting? Get in touch.

Meghalaya’s living root bridges are grown, not built. The Khasi people train the aerial roots of the rubber fig tree across rivers, guiding them over bamboo scaffolding for two to three decades until they can bear weight on their own. Unlike concrete or steel, they only get stronger with age, and local communities still maintain them today. The bridges are now on UNESCO’s tentative list, nominated for full World Heritage status in recognition of their sustainability and cultural significance.

Want to see them for yourself? Get in touch.

What began on the banks of sacred rivers and within forest ashrams, passed from teacher to student through breath, discipline and wisdom, now reaches every corner of the globe.

From studios in Berlin to community classes in São Paulo, yoga continues to inspire millions. Yet its philosophy, heritage and lineage remain deeply rooted in India.

Observed every year on 21 June, the International Day of Yoga is India’s gift to the world. The practice itself, however, is far older than any modern calendar, a timeless tradition that continues to unite mind, body and spirit.

Yoga is not just a practice. It is one of India’s most enduring gifts to humanity. ✨

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