Jaipur

Jaipur is a grid, not a maze. Jai Singh II laid it out in 1727 on nine rectangular blocks, painted it pink for a royal visit in 1876, and it has been the easiest big Indian city to read ever since.

The forts sit in the hills to the north, the palaces in the centre, and the bazaars fill the streets between them. Most of what you want to see is within four square kilometres — which is why a day here works, and why the hour you start matters more than the number of stops.