Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand is India's Himalayan north, the state people call Dev Bhoomi, the Land of the Gods, and it lives up to the name with temples and quiet ashrams tucked all through the hills. It comes in two halves, Kumaon in the east and Garhwal in the west, and the feel shifts as you cross between them. This is the place for cool lake towns like Nainital, for snow peaks you can watch from a roadside tea stall, for the ashram at Kainchi Dham that put a young Steve Jobs on a plane, and for a plate of Kumaoni food that tastes of the mountains it's cooked in. Bring warm clothes whatever the month, and don't rush it. The hills are kinder to people who slow down.