Coastal homes in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh

Visakhapatnam is one of the few places on the Indian coast where the Eastern Ghats come all the way down to the water, so the city is built on and between hills instead of on a flat shelf. That shape shows in the houses. The older quarters in One Town and around Waltair sit on slopes with a deep verandah turned to the sea breeze, high ceilings, louvred shutters and jaali to cut the glare while the air keeps moving, and a flat terrace roof that gets used more than the rooms under it. Up the coast at Bheemunipatnam there are Dutch-era walls and a cemetery left by a trading post older than the port.

The port is why the city grew and why it does not read as a resort. Shipbuilding, steel and the naval base are all here, and the beaches run alongside working coastline rather than in place of it. Kailasagiri and the Dolphin's Nose headland give the whole geography away in one look, Rushikonda is the swimming beach, and Araku is four hours inland and a kilometre up.