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

A hilltop temple to Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha, a form of Vishnu, about 16 km north-west of the city. The stone temple is in the Kalinga style, with carved pillars and inscriptions going back about 900 years. The idol is kept covered in sandalwood paste all year and is seen without it on one day only, at the Chandanotsavam festival. A ghat road climbs the hill to the temple.

A park on a hill at the north end of Beach Road, with the best view in the city: the long curve of the coast, the beaches and the port. At the top are large white statues of Shiva and Parvati, gardens, viewpoints and a small toy train that runs round the hilltop. A glass skywalk sticks out from the hillside, and a ropeway runs up from the foot of the hill.

A small park on the cliff where Beach Road runs below Kailasagiri, with benches, lawns and an open view of the sea and the rocks below. It is quieter than the beaches in the city.

A wide, golden beach between green hills about 10 km north of the city, and the cleanest beach near Visakhapatnam. It holds the Blue Flag, an international label for clean, safe beaches. There are changing rooms, lifeguards and water sports such as jet skis and kayaks.

A real Indian Navy submarine pulled up onto the sand of RK Beach. INS Kursura served from 1969 to 2001, including in the 1971 war, and became a museum in 2002. You walk through it end to end: the torpedo room, the control room, the bunks and the engines, with retired sailors on hand to explain. The Victory at Sea war memorial is just across Beach Road.

A huge Russian-built Tupolev TU-142 that flew long sea patrols for the Indian Navy for about 29 years. You walk inside the plane, past the cockpit and the crew stations, and a sound and light show tells its story. Beside it, a newer museum shows a Sea Harrier jet from the Navy's old aircraft carriers.

A small history museum in an old Dutch-era bungalow on Beach Road. It tells the story of the city and the coast: old coins, weapons, maps, models of ships and the Navy's part in the 1971 war.

Ramakrishna Beach, the city's main beach, runs along Beach Road below the old town. In the evening the promenade fills with families, snack stalls and walkers, with the lights of the port to the south. The submarine museum, the Victory at Sea memorial and a small Kali temple are along the same stretch.

A large zoo in forest between the Kambalakonda hills and the sea, about 8 km north of the centre. Big open enclosures hold tigers, lions, elephants, deer, bears and many birds, along long shady roads.

The remains of a Buddhist monastery on a hilltop above the sea, used for about 400 years from around the 3rd century BC. You walk among the brick base of a large stupa, prayer halls, monks' cells and rock-cut water tanks, with a wide view over the coast. The Navy spotted the site from the air in the 1970s.

Another hilltop Buddhist monastery, on the next hill west of Thotlakonda, from about the 3rd century BC. The name means hill of wells, after its rock-cut water tanks. Digs here found a stupa, monks' cells and a relic casket said to hold a piece of bone of the Buddha.

Red sand dunes on the coast between the city and Bheemili, cut by wind and rain into gullies and ridges. They formed thousands of years ago, as the sea level changed, and are a protected National Geological Monument. The red and the green scrub against the blue sea make it a favourite spot for photos and film shoots.

Bheemunipatnam, or Bheemili, is a small old town where the Gosthani river meets the sea, about 30 km north of the city. The Dutch had a trading post here from the 1600s. Their cemetery, with old tombs and carved gravestones, sits by the beach next to a 19th-century lighthouse, and the beach itself is calm and less crowded than the city ones.

A museum in the middle of Araku about the hill tribes of the Eastern Ghats, who make up most of the valley's people. Life-size clay figures show their homes, farming, hunting, weddings and the Dhimsa dance, with their tools, jewellery and musical instruments. The garden around it has shops selling tribal crafts and Araku coffee.

A small museum on how coffee came to the Araku hills and how it is grown and roasted here, mostly by tribal farmers. The best part is the café, with fresh Araku coffee and coffee chocolates.

Huge limestone caves in the Ananthagiri hills, among the largest in India, found by William King of the Geological Survey in 1807. Steps lead down into tall chambers full of stalactites and stalagmites, lit in colours, with a stream running through. Local people see a natural stone shape inside as a Shiva lingam, and there is a small shrine.

An eco park at the edge of the Kambalakonda wildlife sanctuary, the forested hills behind the zoo. It has short nature trails, a lake, boating and a small adventure area, and is a quiet, green break from the beaches.

A quiet cove south of the port, with hills on three sides and the sea on the fourth. The road there climbs over the hill past Dolphin's Nose, with views back over the harbour.

A stream that tumbles over a wide spread of flat rocks in a forest about 13 km past Araku, a favourite picnic spot. The water is shallow in places and fun to wade.