Apteshwar Mahadev Temple

A few steps from the Brahma Temple, a flight of stairs drops below street level into a cave-like sanctum: Pushkar's underground Shiva shrine, traced to the 10th-12th century. Inside stand a five-faced Mahadev in white marble and a lingam wreathed in copper snakes, and the air changes the moment you are down there. Local belief says the shrine sinks a little deeper into the earth each year. Almost everyone heading for the Brahma Temple walks past the entrance, and it fills only at Mahashivratri. Free, shoes off at the top of the stairs. Some sources call it Atmateshwar (the same place).

Underground, cool and half-empty, three minutes from the busiest temple in town