India's best and worst religious destinations

A recent survey of 3,800 Indian travelers conducted by travel website TripAdvisor India reaffirmed that religion is still one of the biggest reasons families hit the road.

But places to worship in India are often sorely lacking in public utilities. Sanitation is poor, drinking water hard to find and people traffic management can be dire.

TripAdviser's survey of Indian travelers has found the best and worst of our religious sites. See them below. 

In devout India 87 percent of travelers have undertaken a pilgrimage or traveled for religious reasons, at least once in their lives, with 57 percent saying they do so at least once annually.

This isn't an elderly phenomenon -- more than 70 percent of respondents between the ages of 20 and 30 go on pilgrimages, at least once a year. Some 84 percent said they would visit a religious destination even if they didn’t belong to the same faith.

Nikhil Ganju, country manager of TripAdvisor India, calls the age factor the "real surprise" of the survey.

But this is a modern Indian, and 64 percent of the travelers said they would pay extra to beat the queue outside holy sites. Some 96 percent are cool with combining worship with leisure travel as well.

As for online yatras (virtual tours of religious sites) the opinion vote is roughly split -- 42 percent respondents feel the elderly or infirm should have the option to pray on personal computers, while 35 percent label this practice sacrilegious, calling it "fake worship." 

India's top 5 pilgrimage destinations 

1. Tirupati

2. Shirdi

3. Vaishnao Devi

4. Golden Temple

5. Ajmer Sharif Dargah

India's top 5 mismanaged religious destinations

1. Haridwar

2. Ajmer Sharif Dargah

3. Jagannath Puri

4. Shirdi

5. Varanasi (Benares)