Chandigarh in 3 days: what to see, in what order

The heart of Le Corbusier's plan for Chandigarh and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The tour walks you past the High Court, the Palace of Assembly and the Secretariat, big concrete buildings with bold colours, and to the Open Hand, a metal hand that turns in the wind and is the city's symbol.

A Le Corbusier building in Sector 10 with Gandhara Buddhas, Pahari miniature paintings and modern Indian art. Next door, the Architecture Museum tells how Chandigarh was planned, with the first sketches and models, and the Natural History Museum has dinosaur fossils found nearby.

One of the biggest rose gardens in Asia, about 30 acres in Sector 16 with over 1,600 kinds of roses, lawns and fountains. Outside the flowering months it is still a green walk in the middle of the city.

A maze of courtyards, waterfalls and narrow paths built in secret by Nek Chand, a road inspector, from broken plates, bangles, tiles and bits of old buildings. Thousands of figures made from scrap line the walls. It now covers about 40 acres.

A man-made lake at the foot of the Shivalik hills, with a long walk along the dam where the whole city comes in the evening. You can take a paddle boat or a shikara, or just sit and watch the hills turn pink.

One of the best-known temples of the goddess Mansa Devi in north India, on the edge of Panchkula below the Shivalik hills. The temple complex was built in the early 1800s, and the walls of the old shrine have painted panels.

A gurdwara on the bank of the Ghaggar river where Guru Gobind Singh is said to have rested in 1688 on his way back from the battle of Bhangani. Big white halls and a calm courtyard.

Two small lakes in the Morni Hills, the only hill area of Haryana, about 45 km from Chandigarh. Pine slopes, a lakeside walk and boats on the bigger lake. The drive up gives long views back over the plains.

The National Cactus and Succulent Botanical Garden in Sector 5, Panchkula: one of the largest cactus collections in Asia, with thousands of kinds in glasshouses and rock beds.

The highest point in Kasauli, with a small Hanuman temple on top. The story goes that Hanuman rested his foot here while carrying the Sanjeevani herb. From the top you see the plains to Chandigarh and the hills towards Shimla.

A stone church from 1853 with stained-glass windows, at the top of Kasauli's small Mall Road. The walk down the Mall passes old shops, bakeries and colonial houses under pine and oak trees.

A Mughal garden from the 1600s, also called the Yadavindra Gardens, laid out in seven terraces that step down the hill with water channels, fountains and small palaces. The Rang Mahal and Sheesh Mahal sit along the main walk.