Places to visit in Pune, and the order to see them

The fort palace of the Peshwas, who ruled the Maratha empire from Pune. Bajirao I built it in 1732. A fire in 1828 burnt the palace inside, so what you see is the tall stone and brick wall, five gateways with iron spikes against elephants, and the plinths and fountains of the old halls in a large garden.

A red brick rebuild of the house where Shivaji grew up with his mother Jijabai in the 1630s. The first Lal Mahal was lost long ago; the Pune city council built this one in 1988. Inside are paintings of Shivaji's life, and a statue of Jijabai with the young Shivaji ploughing the field with a gold plough.

The oldest Ganpati temple in Pune and the city's guardian deity. Jijabai had it built in the 1630s, when the family moved to Lal Mahal. The idol is a small one covered in orange sindoor. In the Ganesh festival, Kasba Ganpati leads the procession as the first of Pune's five honoured Ganpatis.

Pune's best known Ganpati temple, on Shivaji Road in Budhwar Peth. A sweet maker, Dagdusheth Halwai, set up the first idol in the 1890s after losing his son to plague. The 2.2 m idol is covered in gold, and you can see it from the road through the open front of the temple.

One man's collection of everyday things from old India: about 20,000 objects gathered by Dinkar Kelkar from the 1920s on. Look for the brass lamps, the carved doors, the betel nut cutters in the shape of animals, musical instruments, and a rebuilt Peshwa-era room, the Mastani Mahal.

A Peshwa mansion built in 1807 by Bajirao II, the last Peshwa, with a carved teak front and balconies over Bajirao Road. It is one of the best kept wooden wadas in Pune. A small museum inside shows the history of the city.

The old market lanes round the Tulshibaug Ram temple, built in the Peshwa years, and the Mahatma Phule Mandai, a vegetable and flower market in an 1886 building with a clock tower. Tulshibaug sells brass and copper pots, kitchen things, bangles and Ganpati idols.

A rock-cut cave temple to Shiva, carved out of one block of basalt in about the 8th century, right on Jangli Maharaj Road. In front of the cave is a round Nandi pavilion cut from the same rock. It is in a small garden, a quiet corner in a busy part of town.

A temple to the goddess Chaturshringi on a hill off Senapati Bapat Road, in the north-west of the city. A wealthy trader rebuilt it in the Peshwa years. About 100 steps take you up to the main shrine, with smaller shrines to Durga and Ganpati on the hill.

A palace with long arched verandas, built in 1892 by Sultan Muhammed Shah, Aga Khan III. In 1942 the British held Mahatma Gandhi, his wife Kasturba and his secretary Mahadev Desai prisoner here. Kasturba and Mahadev Desai died here, and their memorials are in the garden. The rooms show photos and Gandhi's things.

A quiet park in Koregaon Park, made from a dirty stream by the Osho resort next door. Bamboo groves, small bridges, a stream and paths under tall trees. People come to walk slowly or sit, and it is free.

A memorial to Indian soldiers who died after 1947, set up by the people of Pune in 1998 in the Ghorpadi cantonment. There is a granite pillar with the names, a small museum and old weapons in the open: a MiG-23 fighter, a tank and a naval gun.

The memorial hall of Mahadji Shinde, a Maratha general who died here in 1794. The hall built over his resting place in the 1960s has carved stone in the Rajasthani style, stained glass and paintings of the Shinde family.

A hill in the middle of Pune with Peshwa-era temples on top: the Parvati temple from 1749, and temples to Vishnu, Kartikeya and Ganpati. You climb about 103 wide stone steps. The top has one of the best views of the city, and a small Peshwa museum.

A park built round an old lake at the foot of Parvati. On the island is the Talyatla Ganpati, a small temple from the 1780s, the Peshwa Ganpati in the lake. The rest is lawns, paths and food stalls along the road outside.

A Japanese garden on Sinhagad Road, made in the style of the Korakuen garden in Okayama, Pune's sister city. Ponds, a small waterfall, stone lanterns, little bridges and neat lawns. It is named after the Marathi writer Pu La Deshpande.

Pune's zoo, on the Satara road at Katraj. It started as a snake park in 1986, and the snakes are still a big part of it. The zoo has tigers, a white tiger, lions, leopards, elephants and sloth bears in large open enclosures round a lake.

The New Vedic Cultural Centre, a large white marble temple to Radha and Krishna on a hill in Kondhwa. It has a big prayer hall with carved pillars and a painted ceiling, gardens and a vegetarian restaurant.

A hill fort about 35 km south-west of Pune, 1,300 m up on the Sahyadri hills. In 1670 Tanaji Malusare, Shivaji's general, climbed its cliffs at night and took it back from the Mughals, and died in the fight. On top are the Kalyan and Pune gates, Tanaji's memorial, Rajaram's tomb, old water tanks and views over Khadakwasla lake.

The dam on the Mutha river that holds the lake Pune drinks from, built in 1879. The road runs along the top of the bank, with views over the water to the hills. Stalls sell roasted corn and bhutta, especially in the monsoon.

Buddhist caves cut into the hillside near Lonavala about 2,000 years ago. The great prayer hall, the chaitya, is one of the largest of its kind in India: 37 m deep, with a ribbed wooden roof that has lasted since the 1st century BCE, carved elephants, and figures of couples at the entrance. The Ekvira Devi temple stands beside it.

A group of 22 Buddhist caves from about the 2nd century BCE, older than Karla, on the hill across the valley. There is a prayer hall with a wooden-ribbed roof, a row of 14 small stupas, and some of the oldest carvings in western India, including a figure riding an elephant.

A cliff edge south of Lonavala, also called Tiger's Leap, with a drop of about 650 m into the valley below. On a clear day you see far over the Konkan. In the monsoon the valley fills with cloud and small waterfalls run off the edge.

The town on the Indrayani river where the poet saint Dnyaneshwar took samadhi in 1296. The temple over the samadhi is a pilgrim centre for the Warkari tradition, and the start of the walking pilgrimage to Pandharpur every June or July.