Karla Caves

Cut into the hillside from the 2nd century BCE, and the Great Chaitya at its heart - finished around 120 CE - is the largest prayer hall of its kind in India: 45 m long, 14 m high, with teak roof ribs that are two thousand years old and still in place. Sculpted lion pillars and reliefs of donor couples line the way in. An active Ekvira Devi temple shares the forecourt, so weekends and the Chaitra and Navratri festival days are intensely busy. The approach is about 350 steps past rows of stalls; ticket from the Archaeological Survey of India: ₹25 for citizens of India, SAARC and BIMSTEC countries, ₹300 for other foreign visitors (₹20 and ₹250 online), children under 15 free. Bhaja across the valley is the quiet half of the pair.

India's largest ancient prayer hall, an hour's drive from the city