Travel Stories
Maheshwar for Mint Lounge
The sound is like a heartbeat; the rhythmic click-clack of looms– seemingly– with no beginning or end, much like the flowing Narmada nearby.
New York Times | Train Travel
What makes train travel special for Indians? Almost every station in India sells a regional specialty that causes passengers to dart on and off of trains.
Destinasian | Aramness Gir
For Indians, the jungle is the original storybook where our epics unfolded: a space both sacred and transformative. But Gir is the only place where you can see the Asiatic Lion.
Mint Lounge | Tipai Wildlife Luxury Lodge
I hadn’t heard of Tipeshar wildlife sanctuary till it mushroomed, quite spectacularly amongst the wildlife crowd because of the birth of six tiger cubs.
Taj Magazine | Taj Bekal
For Taj Magazine's 50th Anniversary issue, they sent me to Bekal to write about the Jiva spa there
Aurangabad, Ajanta, Ellora: Mint Lounge
Hillary Clinton was the first guest at Dhyaana Farms in February 2023 but it took several months for the luxury farmstay in Verul, Maharashtra, to open for guests.
Hindustan Times: Tourist in your own city
How to keep kids busy all summer? To that, I say, with the wisdom of hindsight: why not teach kids to be a tourist in their own city.
Soneva Maldives: for Mint Lounge
Just outside my cottage at the Soneva Fushi resort was a coral reef. Several times a day, I walked out into the sea and start swimming with my flippers.
Craft chocolate: Destinasian Hong Kong
This post is about the flowering of Indian craft chocolate using local ingredients. Really lovely to see an idli-grinder as part of the chocolate making process.
Latest Articles
New York Times | Internet Wake
AUNT SHEILA was dead. Although my family does not hold wakes by religious tradition (we are Hindu), my grandfather had picked up the practice from his British boss in India and instituted it in our family.
New York Times | Male Chefs on TV
As a woman, I know that making others feel good must be programmed in our genes, and Ms. Moulton acknowledges that. ''I'd say self-deprecation is a female trait,'' she said.
Hindustan Times | Yugadi or New Year
“The first thing we do on Yugadi is bring the new panchangam home and read it,” says Sree Gururaja. The Bangalorean talks about the customs that she continues to uphold.
New York Times | On How to Eat Paan
THIS is how you eat paan in India: You and your sweetheart go to a favorite restaurant and feed each other delicious food till you are so full you can barely stand.
Hindustan Times | The Mandya equation
Why are Kannadigas in particular and South Indians in general obsessed with jaggery? Is it because sugarcane is widely available in the region? Is it that South Indians like the dry and crumbly flavour of jaggery?
Hindustan Times | Bangalore’s lingua franca
Why is Bangalore in love with Italian food? Why do we choose this cuisine above all else, to eat in restaurants, serve at home and make for our kids? We no longer think of it as exotic.
Nine features I wrote for Condenast Traveler (US edition) a while back
Tai Chi in Shanghai & Beijing | Condenast Traveler US |
I have come to China from my home in Bangalore, India, to find a tai chi teacher. My pursuit of tai chi has been punctuated by such cultural challenges. When I informed my conservative Indian family that I was interested in tai chi, they were appalled. Why was their Indian child, heir to an ancient and proud tradition of yoga leaning toward an alien discipline?
Sleepless in Singapore | Condenast Traveler US |
Staid, chaste, strict, small—Singapore has heard it all. But this island-nation of 4.2 million people has one thing going for it (many things, actually, but we'll get to that later): Singapore is a sure fling. Having lived in Singapore for two years, I have returned wanting to revel in it as a tourist—to see it all and do it all within forty-eight hours.
Geisha Arts of Kyoto | Condenast Traveler US |
I have come to Japan to learn about allure. I’ve been married for seventeen years, and while my marriage isn’t falling apart, it is fraying at the edges. So I have come to Japan to learn about feminine allure from its acknowledged masters: the geisha. Geisha were created to pamper men—but they were also the freest women in old Japan.
Mumbai Scene | Condenast Traveler US |
I am going to Bombay to become a movie star. Why not? Every country in the world, if it is lucky, has a city that allows people to create such gauzy fantasies unfettered by the grim shackles of reality. They thrive and inspire, catalyze personal transformations and fuel creativity, not through wide-open spaces but through vibrant congestion.
Goa | Condenast Traveler US |
Once a hippie haven where even India's tightly chaperoned teens could turn on, tune in, and drop out, Goa has lately gone upscale. Living in a trading port for the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Europeans meant that Goans were forced to interact with the outside world far earlier than the average Indian. This has made them friendly but not overly curious about foreigners.
Scuba Diving Lakshadweep | Condenast Traveler US |
I don't want to write about this place. Few people know of it; fewer still visit. Perhaps that's the way it should be. In this rapidly shrinking world, there ought to be somewhere that remains remote, even obscure; set apart in space and time; offering the promise of mystery, the romance of discovery. Lakshadweep—the name comes out in a sigh.
How to bargain | Condenast Traveler US |
The thought occurred as I eyed a stunning Persian carpet in a downtown Manhattan shop. The Mogul-inspired piece looked terrific but cost thousands more than I wanted to pay. The smile on the manager's face suggested that he was willing to bargain. But where to begin? Middle age brings with it the sobering realization that you can actually learn something from your mother.
Mekong, Cambodia & Laos | Condenast Traveler US |
Cambodia is like a lotus bud concealing an onion—serene on the surface but eliciting tears as you peel back the layers. The scale of the Angkor temples contrast with the photos of skulls in the Genocide Museum. The peace of a Buddhist monastery gives way to the raucous din of tuk–tuks. I am in Cambodia to meet a monk and to travel the Mekong.
Bangalore and Beyond | Condenast Traveler US |
Bangalore is home. I didn't always live here—until two years ago I lived in New York. But now this is the city where my kids go to school, where I hail auto rickshaws for bone-rattling yet perversely exciting rides to work and meetings, where I prowl pubs and malls in search of stories and sales, and where I go to Namdharis Fresh supermarket to buy organic grapes, too-hard bagels, and much-too-soft cream cheese in an attempt to replicate the Sunday morning brunches at my Upper West Side apartment.
Interviews with His Holiness The Dalai Lama
New York Times
New York Times | Internet Wake
AUNT SHEILA was dead. Although my family does not hold wakes by religious tradition (we are Hindu), my grandfather had picked up the practice from his British boss in India and instituted it in our family.
New York Times | Male Chefs on TV
As a woman, I know that making others feel good must be programmed in our genes, and Ms. Moulton acknowledges that. ''I'd say self-deprecation is a female trait,'' she said.
New York Times | Train Travel
What makes train travel special for Indians? Almost every station in India sells a regional specialty that causes passengers to dart on and off of trains.
New York Times | On How to Eat Paan
THIS is how you eat paan in India: You and your sweetheart go to a favorite restaurant and feed each other delicious food till you are so full you can barely stand.
New York Times: Reviews My Book
The New York Times reviews The Milk Lady of Bangalore.
New York Times: about Hinduism.
I am a Hindu. I love my religion's glorious and imaginative epic stories, in which seers chose the moment they die and goddesses kill the bad guy while riding a tiger.
Wall Street Journal
WSJ: New Zealand’s film industry
New Zealand’s film industry - By Shoba Narayan Queenstown, New Zealand -- EVER SINCE DIRECTOR Peter Jackson put his native New Zealand on the map by setting The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy there, the [...]
WSJ: The Singaporean Paradox
Articles > Newspapers > Asian Wall Street Journal > The Singaporean Paradox The Singaporean Paradox - By Shoba Narayan WHEN LEE HSIEN LOONG took office as the third Prime Minister of Singapore last year, one [...]
WSJ: Spas vs. Tradition
Spas versus tradition - By Shoba Narayan Walk into any spa from Bali to Boca Raton, Florida, and the menu is likely to include Chinese reflexology, Tahitian fruit wraps and Thai massages. Such treatments [...]
WSJ: Skydiving
TENS OF THOUSANDS of Americans skydive every year. Some do it to confront their fears, some do it for the thrills, and some, like me, do it to bond with a sibling. Although my only brother Shyam and I were born just a year apart, we weren't particularly close while growing up in India.
WSJ: Faith & Exhibits
Growing up in India, I had an intimate but businesslike relationship with Lord Ganesh, the remover of obstacles in the Hindu pantheon of gods.
WSJ: About R. K. Narayan
When I tell people that I am from India, they often ask who my favorite Indian writer is. I have one answer: R.K. Narayan.
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Shoba Narayan is an award-winning Indian author, journalist, and freelance travel writer based in India. She specialises in luxury travel, immersive journeys, and Indian culture with a focus on food, wine, culture, cities, and identity. With over two decades of experience, she has contributed travel features to Condé Nast Traveler (US edition), Travel & Leisure, DestinAsian, Mint Lounge, The National (Abu Dhabi), Taj Magazine, and Hindustan Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Telegraph UK, The Guardian UK, and Robb Report among others. Her awards include the James Beard food-writing award and a Pulitzer Travel Fellowship. Her travel writing spans India, Southeast Asia, Japan, China, the Maldives, Bhutan, Costa Rica, and beyond — always with a focus on the sensory, the cultural, and the deeply human. Based in Bangalore, India, Shoba is a leading voice on South Asian travel, reviewing luxury hotels in India and abroad, and writing immersive features on traditional Indian crafts, and contemporary Indian culture. As a freelance travel writer and memoirist, she writes evocative, deeply researched features on everything from birding in Costa Rica to spiritual tourism in Bhutan.
For editors: Shoba Narayan is an Indian travel writer and food writer, who contributes to assignments on travel, food, culture, and Indian cities. She has reported from across the world and writes narrative-driven features with a strong sense of place.
Key Expertise: India travel writer, freelance travel writer India, South Asia travel journalist, luxury travel India writer, food and travel writer India, Indian food writer, Bangalore travel writer, South India travel writing, cultural travel writer, narrative travel journalist, travel features India, heritage travel India, slow travel India, sustainability travel writer, hotel and destination features India, travel essays South Asia.