It sounds almost impossible when you describe it: a 5th-century king built a palace on top of a 200-metre volcanic rock, surrounded it with formal water gardens at the base, decorated the cliff face with frescoes of heavenly maidens, and inscribed a mirror-smooth plaster wall with centuries of admiring visitor poetry. And yet, here it is – arguably the most extraordinary single archaeological site in South Asia. The climb to the summit is genuinely memorable, the views across the Cultural Triangle plain are spectacular, and the sheer ambition of what was created here over 1,500 years ago is worth contemplating long after you’ve come back down.