Bhopal is the capital of Madhya Pradesh, a city of lakes, mosques, and surprising greenery. It is inevitably associated with the 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster, one of the worst industrial catastrophes in history, but the modern city has much more to offer than that painful chapter.
The old city is dominated by the Taj-ul-Masajid, one of the largest mosques in India, its pink sandstone minarets visible from across the Upper Lake. The Upper and Lower Lakes give Bhopal an unusual setting for a central Indian city — you can take boat rides at sunset with the mosque silhouettes on the skyline. The Bharat Bhavan arts complex, designed by Charles Correa, is one of India's best cultural centres, with galleries of tribal and contemporary art. The Moti Masjid in the old city is smaller but more intimately embedded in its neighbourhood. The State Museum holds important sculpture from across Madhya Pradesh.
For anyone wishing to understand the 1984 disaster, the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Memorial Museum near the former Union Carbide plant is a sobering and necessary visit. Bhopal also makes an excellent base for visiting Sanchi, with its magnificent Buddhist stupas just 46km northeast, and the rock shelters of Bhimbetka, with prehistoric cave paintings dating back 30,000 years.