Travel Stories
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For WisdomCircle: on connection
Connection is what defines us as humans and it is one thing that exponentially increases our happiness. This isn’t some deep profound confide-all-secrets type of connection that I am talking about, although that too is good.
Hindustan Times Edit Page: Sex scandal in Hassan
In incidents of sexual assault and rape, India and indeed the world, has a tendency to blame the woman—the victim. “She must have been wearing something provocative to instigate him into rape,” is a common one.
India Today Travel Plus: Restaurant review
How does a fine-dining Indian restaurant differentiate itself? A review of Zarf at The Sheraton Grand Whitefield.
Hindustan Times: Beyond ayurvedic spas
Ultimately, it comes down to the smell of the towels, I said when a Bengaluru visitor asked why I had not given a spa guide to the city in this column. After all, I had written about everything else. This is odd because you see, I am that cliché. I am a spa junkie.
Temple food: for San Francisco Gate
This is my first piece for SF Gate which has some 136 million page views and some 30 million unique visitors each month. It is about the Livermore temple and its food.
Hindustan Times: On ageing
There is no single blueprint for ageing well. There are whacko schemes like tech entrepreneur Brian Johnson touting his “longevity mix” (also called Blueprint) as being second only to mother’s milk.
Nine features I wrote for Condenast Traveler (US edition) a while back
Interviews with His Holiness The Dalai Lama
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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.