Nagpur

Nagpur is the great pivot of the Indian map. The Zero Mile Stone, a sandstone pillar raised by British surveyors, was long treated as the geographical centre of the country, and the city has carried that sense of being India's crossroads ever since, a Deccan junction where the north, south, east, and west of the subcontinent meet by road and rail. It is the largest city of Vidarbha, eastern Maharashtra, and the state's winter capital, where the legislature holds its cold-season session.

Its best-known name, the 'Orange City', comes from the citrus orchards of the surrounding region and the trade that made Nagpur oranges famous across India. But the city's most powerful landmark is Deekshabhoomi, the sacred ground where, in October 1956, Dr B.R. Ambedkar and an ocean of followers converted to Buddhism, an event that reshaped modern Indian social history. The vast white stupa built there, among the largest hollow stupas in Asia, draws pilgrims in enormous numbers each Dhamma Chakra Pravartan Din. Older layers survive too, from the hilltop Sitabuldi Fort to Ramtek, the temple town linked to the poet Kalidas an hour to the north.

For most luxury travellers, though, Nagpur is India's tiger capital, the natural gateway to a ring of central-India reserves including Tadoba-Andhari, Pench, Nagzira, and Umred-Karhandla. MyTripMyTravel runs the city as a well-oiled hub: smooth airport handovers, chauffeured transfers out to the forests, city heritage where it counts, and an honest introduction to Nagpur's ferociously spiced Saoji cuisine.