Rajasthan, Delhi and Agra are the jewels in India's crown. From fairy-tale palaces and epic forts to dizzying festivals and wildlife encounters, this is India at its unbeatable Bollywood best.

The ancient capital of the kingdom of the Marwar, Jodhpur rewards the traveller with Rajasthan’s most spectacular fort and from its ramparts one of India’s iconic views. Mehrangarh seems to emerge organically from its rocky pedestal to protect the Blue City.

The 12th-century Jaisalmer Fort defiantly rises from the flat desert lands, a vision from childhood memories of tales such as 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves'. The reality is no less romantic. Castellated stone bastions and elephant-size doors protect a warren of narrow bazaars and Jain and Hindu temples, all bustling with life – a quarter of the city’s population lives inside the fort. Overseeing the bazaars is the former Maharaja’s seven-storey palace, now a fascinating museum.

The massive Red Fort of Delhi is the heart of Shahjahanabad, the walled city constructed by Shah Jahan and now known as Old Delhi. Though little remains of the glorious interiors, the massive Mughal architecture and geometric gardens evoke the centuries-old magnificence of this imperial throne.

Not far from Agra, on a rocky ridge where a Sufi saint had lived in a cave, Emperor Akbar built his new capital of Fatehpur Sikri. This move from Agra India was short-lived, however. Wandering the beautiful complex you can only be amazed that after just 14 years the great sandstone metropolis was abandoned, probably due to a lack of water.