Where is India’s highest motorable road located?

Khardung La is India’s highest mountain pass (17,582 feet) situated 37km by road north of Leh. It is the gateway to the Nubra and Shyok valleys. Due to its sheer height, the pass gives you jaw-dropping views of deep valleys and narrow twisting roads and high-altitude traffic jams. Maintained by the Border Roads Organisation, the pass is strategically important to India as it is used to carry essential supplies to the Siachen glacier.

Ranikhet gets its name from a local legend, which states that it was here that Raja Sudhardev won the heart of his queen, Rani Padmini, who subsequently chose the area for her residence, giving it the name Ranikhet, though no palace exists in the area. It is a cantonment town situated in Almora district of Uttarakhand. It's a place where one can find nature and its elements in full harmony.

Commissioned by Hyder Ali in 1760 and eventually completed by his son, Tipu Sultan, Lal Bagh is a 240 acre garden in the southern part of town. Hyder Ali had intended to create this garden along the lines of the Mughal Gardens which were gaining popularity during his time. The park has some rare species of plants brought from Persia, Afghanistan, and France. With a complex and intricate irrigation system, the garden is aesthetically designed, with lawns, flowerbeds, lotus pools, and fountains. Most of the centuries-old trees are labelled for easy identification.

The Sri Aurobindo Ashram located on rue de la Marine in Puducherry (Pondicherry) is one of the most well-known and wealthy ashrams in India, with devotees from India and all over the world flocking to it for spiritual salvation. The ashram was set up in 1926 by Sri Aurobindo Ghose, one of India’s greatest philosopher-poets, who originally came to Pondy to escape persecution by the British. It was after arriving in Pondicherry that he was drawn into the spiritual realm and discovered the power of yoga.

Sunderbans Tiger Reserve provides the characteristic habitat suitable for animals inhabiting a vast tidal swamp area. One of the most interesting wildernesses of the world, the Sunderbans is a paradise for wildlife enthusiasts and bird and butterfly watchers. It is home to almost 270 Royal Bengal tigers and the site of a tiger preservation project. The tigers of the Sunderbans are known to be mostly maneaters — mainly because of the lack of other suitable prey in the area — and the entire estuary has become, over the past decades, a place where you have to be on the alert all the time.

In spite of the severe climate, the word Siachen ironically means 'the place of wild roses'. The glacier is the world's highest battleground, where India and Pakistan have fought intermittently since 1984. Siachen is the world’s largest non-polar glacier, and therefore is sometimes referred to as the third pole. It is one of the five large glaciers in the Karakoram mountain range, situated at an average altitude of 5,400 metres (17,700 feet) above sea level.

Queen of natural beauty, Chilika, the largest brackish water lake in Asia covering an area of over 1,100 sq km, is a great attraction for tourists for fishing, birdwatching and boating. In winter, Chilika is aflutter with thousands of indigenous and migratory birds of many varieties from far — even from distant Siberia — and near. The atmosphere is just serene and undisturbed amidst the blue expanse of water on one side and an evergreen range of hills on the other.

Pushkar is a sacred town for Hindus, situated 11km to the northwest of Ajmer. A legend describes the creation of this lake. When the demon Vajra Nabha killed Brahma's children, the creator in turn struck him with his weapon, a lotus flower. Vajra Nabha died of the impact, and the petals of the lotus fell at three places. One of them is Pushkar, where a lake sprang into being. Sacred to Brahma, Pushkar boasts of its temple dedicated to him, which is the only one of its kind in the world. A dip in the waters of the Pushkar lake and worship at his temple are said to ensure salvation.

Spiti is called "Little Tibet" because it has almost the same terrain, vegetation & climate. Spiti also means "middle country". It lies between Tibet, Ladakh, Kinnaur, Lahaul & Kulu. It possesses a distinctive Buddhist culture similar to that found in the nearby Tibet and the Ladakh region of India. The valley and surrounding region is one of the least populated regions in India and the gateway to the northernmost reaches of the country.

Valley of Flowers is a fairy-land situated high in the Himalayas of Uttarakhand, at an altitude of 3,600 metres above sea level, protected by snowy mountains. Unknown to humans, for centuries this enchanting valley lay frozen in the colder months, and burst into its youthful beauty every year, as the snow melted with the advent of summer. The valley finally became known to the world when Frank Smith, mountaineer, explorer, botanist, chanced upon it in the monsoon of 1931. It is a much sought after haunt for flower-lovers, botanists and, of course, trekkers.