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Karachi Bakery is a Hyderabad institution, renowned for its cakes, cookies, biscuits, pastries, and chocolates. Open since 1963, the establishment remains one of the most innovative bakeries in India. Be sure to sample the fruit biscuits, Osmania biscuits, almond cookies, and mithai—traditional Indian sweets. To avoid the crowds, especially during festivals and holidays, place your order online prior to visiting.

Ogaan both exhibits and sells the latest in Indian fashion. It is a showcase and retail space—a unique experience that pairs design and canvas. Some of the biggest names in Indian fashion have launched their collections at Ogaan. The 6,000 sq ft flagship boutique features clothing, jewelry and accessories.

Handmade goods aren’t exactly hard to find in India, but goods made with good taste and ethos is another story. At Either Or boutique, it might apply to jewelry, a Bollywood-print pillow, or a painted teapot. You’ll find a mix of modern and retro, whimsical and practical, funky and functional styles for clothing, toys, and home decor. Think of it as the studio of your very hip, crafty, and arty Indian aunty.

Sunshine, surf, sea breezes, and an overflowing platter of curry prawns with rice. Welcome to Zeebop by the Sea, an award-winning eatery that specializes in Goan and South Indian cuisine. With the rolling dunes of South Goa as a backdrop, the ambience here is simple and unadorned. Don’t let the plastic tables and chairs distract you from the superstar menu: Try the stuffed crabs or the catch of the day, often red or black snapper, kingfish, or mackerel. Finish your meal by sipping a cocktail crafted with feni, a local spirit traditionally made from cashew fruit. Feeling active? Order your meal and head out to the beach; the waiters will call you when your food is ready.

Shree Jewellers is a definite stop for those with a passion for exquisite jewels. Named “Best Single Jewelry Store in South India” by GJF, the exclusive items on offer include pearls, silver, gold, diamonds, and precious stones. Be sure to peruse the Kundan Collection, traditional Indian jewelry with gold foil set between the stones. The newest location is in Jubilee Hills near HiTech City.

Located 1.5 hours outside Hyderabad is Pochampally, a village known for its traditional weaves of ikat in cotton and silk. Many Indians call Pochampally “Silk City,” and the community is widely recognized for creating the Pomchampally Saree. Take time to interact with the families, many of whom still weave on looms in their homes. Also visit the Pochampally Handloom Park, a combined effort of the governments of India and Andhra Pradesh to encourage sustainable employment in a craft whose art has been significantly impacted by modernization and mechanization.

Raman Patel knows a lot about silk. He works at Kala Niketan, a Mumbai-based fabric warehouse that started in the south of the city and now has four retail outlets plus exporting offshoots. The company supplies many local fashion designers, who make elaborate saris from the regional silks. While handwoven fabrics have been largely replaced by machine varieties in Mumbai (shown here), the store’s Juhu branch showcases the handmade specialties of other regions—from the royal flower and animal embroideries of Rajasthan to the tightly woven woolen patterns of Kashmir. Raman can tell you all about the differences. Navyug, J.V.P.D. Scheme, V.M. Road, Vile Parle, Mumbai, kalaniketangroup.com

Known for being a bit boisterous and rowdy, Little India has a distinct personality from the rest of Singapore. It can start to feel a few degrees hotter than the rest of the city as you dodge shoppers, temple goers, and trinket sellers on Serangoon Road. The crowds and pungent smell of flowers, curries, and frying prata excite and assault the senses. The sidewalks are taken up by racks of DVDs, cases filled with phone cards, carts selling garlands of fresh flowers, and men working at sewing machines. It’s a uniquely South Asian crush of color and hum of activity. If you head there on a Sunday—the day most Indian and Bangladeshi construction workers have off—the streets might be even more crowded than usual.

Celebrity chefs Vikram Vij and Meeru Dhalwala serve brightly spiced dishes at their flagship restaurant—often hailed as one of the world’s finest for Indian food. Their wine-marinated lamb popsicles are legendary, but their menu has other stars, too, like jackfruit in cumin-black-cardamom curry, boneless chicken wings on ricotta-sweet-potato cookies, and Punjabi-style goat meat with spiced vegetables. Thankfully, the lines have calmed since Vij’s 2015 move to bigger digs on Cambie Street, where guests can also enjoy a great rooftop patio.

Located at the southern end of Hussain Sagar Lake, the Birla Mandir is a magnificent white-marble Hindu temple. The 200 tons of marble were imported from Rajasthan and the complex is open to everyone, regardless of religion or caste. The temple does not have traditional bells, instead cultivating a quiet environment that is conducive to meditation, and the main shrine is dedicated to Lord Venkateswara (Vishnu). There is also a temple dedicated to the Buddha, with fresco paintings depicting his life and work. Though divine in any light, try to visit Birla Mandir in the evenings, when the temple is illuminated with colored lights. The complex also comes alive every June/July for the Bonalu Festival—a spectacle not to be missed.

It’s nice to know I don’t need to get on a plane back to India to enjoy a plate of decent dal in PDX. The Bollywood serves the “people’s food” of India, simple, fresh and undeniably delightful. Most Americans think Indian food is all tandoori chicken and curry. Fact is, these are the banquet foods served only in high-end restaurants or wedding parties on the subcontinent. I was in Assam province in the Spring at a street cafe, eating whatever was being served on the banana leaf in front of me; no utensils, no problem. Except for the warm beer, eating in India is nothing like eating Indian food here, until Bollywood.

There is nothing pretentious about the physical plant. Amid the chaotic decor, aromas from the kitchen fill the place making it all the more homey and inviting. Lot’s of vegetarian options, with a focus on the standby beans and potatoes. The spicing is classic. The plates and cups are metal, much like you’d find on a corner eatery in Kolkata. Order at the counter and have a seat. Get a paneer, a chaat and a dal with a side of paratha to soak up the sauces. They have a short selection of beer and wine and the former is cold and cheap. There are always specials and you should just order them. The plates are small, so if you have a big group, order a bunch. Then sit back and enjoy the ride...

New Delhi’s original power hotel, The Imperial opened in 1936 and played host to celebrities and historic figures: It was here, rather than at Connaught Place that Pandit Nehru, Mahatama Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and Lord Mountbatten met to discuss the partition of India and creation of Pakistan. Though renovation has lent a bit of a corporate vibe to the high-ceilinged hallways, the hotel still oozes nostalgia at every turn. A vast museum-worthy collection on display throughout public and private spaces includes life-size oil portraits of princely rulers, statuary, tapestries, old photographs, and British and Indian military and polo regalia. Rooms come in Victorian, Indian heritage, and Art Deco motifs, with marble floors, sumptuous velvet furnishings, and antique rugs. The centerpiece of the palm-studded lawn is a huge, beautifully tiled swimming pool where red-uniformed staff deliver ice-cold drinks to sunbathers in the stultifying heat, but if you prefer a moodier venue for your cocktails, the property has a library-like bar with wood-panelled walls as well as four atmospheric restaurants serving every kind of cuisine. And don’t miss the afternoon tea, enjoyed in the light-filled atrium.

Siem Reap is home to Cambodia’s finest restaurants, including the outstanding Cuisine Wat Damnak, named Cambodia’s Best Restaurant when it crept onto the San Pellegrino Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list at #50 in March 2015. The town’s Khmer restaurants should be your priority, including Sugar Palm and Chanrey Tree for outstanding traditional food, served in beautiful spaces. However, Siem Reap also boasts an abundance of restaurants offering international cuisines, from Italian to Indian.

Sultan Bazaar is a labyrinth of lanes in the old city offering commercial goods, clothes, jewelry, shoes, silverware, handicrafts, and produce. It is not generally frequented by many tourists and therefore makes for an engaging experience with the locals. Stop by Shanti Fashions for the latest styles of traditional Indian dresses, known as salwars. Also close to the bazaar is Maheshwari Parameshwari, one of the oldest theaters in Hyderabad.

This centrally located 40-suite hotel is part of an ultramodern stone-clad residential complex on Lodhi Road, the main axis of the government bungalow quarter laid in the 1940s by the team of Edwin Lutyens, urban planner of the British Raj. No longer managed by the Aman chain, which opened the property in 2013, the hotel has become a bargain given the huge size of the rooms and unusually luxurious amenities such as gender-segregated Turkish hammams and a Pilates reformer studio. Each room has a balcony and private plunge pool, good for cooling off after a jog to the nearby Lodhi Gardens or a round of tennis on the hotel’s private grass courts. Sprawling across seven acres, the hotel offers serenity in spades and service equal to that of the far more bustling Delhi palace–style hotels. A library with rare books on India and a cigar lounge enhance the clublike atmosphere. The architecture recalls a modern art museum, and indeed the hotel is filled with contemporary works on loan from the Apparao Gallery in Chennai.