Taragarh Fort

The ridge straight above Ajmer carries a Chauhan hill fort of the 12th century, among the oldest in India, and nothing here has been tidied up: huge gateways, long runs of battlement, reservoirs cut into the rock, and the working shrine of Miran Syed Hussain inside the walls. Wind, stone and the whole city at once below: Ana Sagar, the Dargah quarter, the Aravalli ridges. Twenty minutes by taxi or auto up the winding road, or a steep climb of about an hour and a half from behind Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra. Free, and best early or late: there is almost no shade on top.

Ajmer's widest view, and a fort left to time rather than handed to restorers