Bhubaneswar in 1 day: what to see, in what order

The biggest temple in Bhubaneswar, built about 1,000 years ago for Shiva. Its main tower is 55 metres tall, and the walled yard holds more than 100 smaller shrines. It is still a busy working temple, with priests, bells and pilgrims from dawn.

One of the oldest temples in town, from about the 600s. It is small and low, which is how the first Odisha temples looked before the towers grew tall. The walls are covered with carvings of gods, dancers and musicians.

A small temple from about 950 that people call the jewel of Odisha temples. Its stone gateway, an arch carved like a garland, is the best-known sight in Bhubaneswar. Siddheswar, a plainer temple, stands in the same yard, and Kedar Gouri is across the road.

A temple from about 1000 in a quiet lawn, made of a red and gold sandstone the locals call raja rani, which gave it its name. No god is worshipped here now, so you can walk right round it and look closely at the carved women, guardians and lions.

The state's main museum, with stone carvings taken from old temples, Buddhist and Jain statues, coins and weapons. The best room holds old palm-leaf books, where the writing and pictures were scratched into dried leaves.

Two rocky hills facing each other across the road, with rooms cut into the rock for Jain monks over 2,000 years ago. Rani Gumpha, the queen's cave, has two floors and long carved scenes. Hathi Gumpha has an inscription by King Kharavela, one of the oldest records of Odisha's history.

A white peace pagoda on the hill where, the story goes, the Kalinga war was fought about 2,260 years ago. Emperor Ashoka saw the dead on this field and turned to Buddhism. Below the hill, his orders are carved on a rock, with an elephant cut out of the stone above them.