Rohtas Fort

Rohtas Fort is a sprawling hilltop fortress in a remote corner of southwestern Bihar, its walls stretching for kilometres across a rugged plateau above the Son river gorge. Far less visited than India's better-known forts, it retains a genuinely untouched, overgrown atmosphere — crumbling gateways, ruined palaces and temples scattered across dense forest, with relatively few other visitors to share the site.

Reaching Rohtas requires real effort, involving a climb up an old stone stairway or a longer drive along a rough approach road, which has helped keep the fort relatively unrestored and free of the crowds and infrastructure found at more accessible historical sites.

The fort's origins are ancient, but its most significant surviving structures date to the 16th century, when Afghan ruler Sher Shah Suri strengthened and expanded it, and it later passed through Mughal hands as a strategic stronghold controlling routes between Bihar and the Deccan.

About 165km from Patna; the fort itself requires a further climb or drive from the base village of Akbarpur.