The Ajanta and Ellora Caves

Near the city of Aurangabad in Maharashtra lie two of the greatest achievements of rock-cut architecture in the world, both World Heritage Sites. The Ajanta caves, cut into a horseshoe cliff above a river gorge and then forgotten for centuries until their rediscovery, are a series of Buddhist prayer halls and monasteries carved from around the second century BC, celebrated above all for their wall paintings, some of the finest and oldest surviving anywhere, glowing with scenes from the life of the Buddha. The Ellora caves, some hours away, span Buddhist, Hindu and Jain faiths side by side over centuries, and their centrepiece is the Kailasa temple, an entire multi-storey temple with courtyards, halls and sculptures carved downwards out of a single mass of rock, the largest monolithic excavation on earth. Together they show what could be achieved with hammer, chisel and extraordinary vision.

What you actually see

• The Ajanta paintings - the ancient Buddhist murals in the cliff-cut prayer halls.
• The Kailasa Temple at Ellora - the vast temple carved downwards from a single rock.
• Ellora's three faiths - Buddhist, Hindu and Jain caves side by side.
• The Ajanta cliff setting - the horseshoe gorge above the river.

When to go

October to March is the cool, dry season and the best time; the monsoon fills the Ajanta river and greens the gorge but can disrupt travel, and summer is very hot. The two sites are hours apart and each takes a day, so allow two. Ajanta closes on Mondays and Ellora on Tuesdays, so plan the order carefully.

Honest expectations

The two sites are a good distance apart and from Aurangabad, so seeing both properly means two full days and a lot of travel and walking, with many steps at Ajanta. The famous Ajanta paintings are fragile and dimly lit to protect them, and photography with flash is banned, so they can be hard to make out. Each site closes on a different weekday, which catches people out. The heat outside winter is draining.

Nearby

Aurangabad has the Bibi ka Maqbara and Daulatabad fort; Mumbai is a train or flight away.