Daulatabad Fort

Daulatabad occupies a conical hill whose lower slopes were cut away entirely to leave a smooth vertical scarp around fifty metres high, surrounded by a moat cut into rock that could be flooded, and defended by successive walls and gates set at angles with spiked doors. Beyond the moat, the only route to the summit is the andheri, a spiral tunnel cut through the rock, designed to be blocked, flooded, filled with smoke or heated by fires, and it is still walked in near darkness with a guide carrying a lamp. Muhammad bin Tughlaq famously moved his capital here from Delhi in 1327 and moved it back a few years later.

What you actually see

• The scarped hill - a vertical cut face fifty metres high around the cone.
• The andheri tunnel - a dark spiral passage as the only route up.
• The rock-cut moat - a flooded ditch cut into the hill's base.
• Chand Minar - a fifteenth-century victory tower within the walls.

When to go

October to March; the climb is exposed and Maharashtra summers are severe. Mornings are best. Guides with lamps wait at the tunnel entrance and are effectively necessary.

Honest expectations

The tunnel is pitch dark, uneven and unsettling for anyone claustrophobic. The full climb is long and steep with hundreds of steps. Bats occupy parts of the passage.

Nearby

Ellora lies northwest; Aurangabad is east.