At the west end of a lively square is the pink- and tangerine-domed Ram Raja Temple, the only temple where Rama is worshipped as a king and busy with crowds of devotees every day. Built as a palace for Madhukar Shah’s wife in the 16th century, it became a temple when an image of Rama, temporarily installed by the rani, proved impossible to move.

The spectacular soaring spires of the 16th-century Chaturbhuj Temple are visible from all over town. The Chaturbhuj has never been used for its intended purpose of housing the Rama idol that remains in the Ram Raja Temple next door. You can climb a steep, dark staircase, from the door at the northwest corner of its central interior space, to emerge among the mossy roof pinnacles for the best views in town.

Prince Dinman Hardol is venerated as a hero in Bundelkhand for committing suicide to ‘prove his innocence’ over a supposed affair with his brother's wife. His memorial is in the Phool Bagh, a traditional charbagh (formal Persian garden, divided into quarters) adjacent to his palace, the Palaki Mahal. It's an animated scene here with women singing songs about him, tying threads onto the memorial's jali (carved lattice screen) and walking around it five times, making wishes they hope he’ll grant.

Funerary monuments to Orchha royalty, the huge and serene chhatris rise beside the Betwa River at the south end of town. They’re best seen at dusk, when birds reel above the children splashing at the river ghats and cinematic sunsets drop across the river. Bir Singh Deo's chhatri is set slightly apart, right on the riverbank.

This soaring temple-cum-fort, on the road out to Ganj village, has fine rooftop views and well-preserved murals on the ceilings of its domed towers.

The large Lakshmana Temple took 20 years to build and was completed in about AD 954 during the reign of Dhanga, according to an inscription in its mandapa (pillared front pavilion). It’s arguably the best preserved of all the Khajuraho temples. On the southern side of its base are some of Khajuraho's most orgiastic carvings, including one gentleman proving that a horse can be a man’s best friend while a shocked figure peeps out from behind her hands.

You’ll see carvings of battalions of soldiers on the frieze around the base – the Chandelas were generally at war when they weren’t inventing new sexual positions – as well as musicians, hunters and plenty of elephants, horses and camels. Some superb carvings can also be found around the garbhagriha (inner sanctum). The temple is dedicated to Vishnu, although it’s similar in design to the Shiva temples Vishvanath and Kandariya-Mahadev.

The two small shrines facing Lakshmana's east end are the Lakshmi Temple ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ) (usually locked) and the Varaha Temple ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ), containing a wonderful, 1.5m-high sandstone carving of Vishnu as his boar avatar, dating from AD 900 and meticulously carved with a pantheon of gods.

The 30.5m-long Kandariya-Mahadev, built between 1025 and 1050, is the largest Western Group temple and represents the highpoint of Chandela architecture. It also has the most representations of female beauty and sexual acrobatics of any Khajuraho temple. There are 872 statues, most nearly 1m high – taller than those at the other temples. One frequently photographed sculpture on the south side illustrates the feasibility of the headstand position.

The 31m-high sikhara (temple spire) here is, like a lingam, a phallic Shiva symbol, worshipped by Hindus hoping to seek deliverance from the cycle of reincarnation. It and the mandapa (pillared pavilion) are decorated with 84 subsidiary spires, which make up a mountain-like rooftop scene reminiscent of the Himalayan abode of the gods.

Mahadeva, a small, partly ruined temple on the same platform as Kandariya-Mahadev and Devi Jagadamba, is dedicated to Shiva, who is carved on the lintel of its doorway. It houses one of Khajuraho’s finest sculptures – a sardula (mythical beast that's part lion, part other animal – possibly human) engaged in a mutual caress with a kneeling woman.

Devi Jagadamba was originally dedicated to Vishnu, but later to Parvati and then Kali. The carvings include sardulas accompanied by Vishnu, surasundaris (heavenly nymphs), and mithunas (pairs of men and women) frolicking in the third band up. Its three-part design is simpler than that of the Kandariya-Mahadev and Chitragupta Temples. It has more in common with Chitragupta, but is less embellished with carvings so is thought to be a little older.

The Chitragupta Temple (1000–25) is unique in Khajuraho – and rare among North Indian temples – in being dedicated to the sun god Surya. While its condition is not as good as the other Western Group temples, it has some fine carvings of apsaras and surasundaris, elephant fights and hunting scenes, mithunas and a procession of stone-carriers.

In the dark inner sanctum, at the base of the statue, you can make out the seven horses that pull Surya's chariot, while in the lower of the two main niches beneath the sikhara on the south side is an 11-headed carving of Vishnu, representing the god and 10 of his 22 incarnations.

Walking around the Western Group enclosure from the Chitragupta Temple you come to the closed-up Parvati Temple on your right, a small temple originally dedicated to Vishnu and now with an image of Gauri (Parvati) riding an iguana.

Believed to have been built in 1002, the Vishvanath Temple anticipates the plan and style of the Kandariya-Mahadev Temple. Dedicated to Shiva, it's a superlative example of Chandela architecture, with a riot of carved figures continuing up to the highest levels of the sikharas. Sculptures include a female doing a headstand in the north-side recess; sensuous surasundaris writing letters, cuddling babies, looking in mirrors and scratching their backs; and miniature camels, horses, musicians, elephants, warriors and dancers in the lowest frieze.

At the east end of the platform, a 2.2m-long statue of Nandi ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ), Shiva’s bull vehicle, faces the temple. The basement of this 12-pillared shrine is decorated with an elephant frieze that recalls similar work on the Lakshmana Temple’s facade.

Near the Vishvanath Temple, the white Pratapeswar is a much more recent bricks-and-mortar structure built around 200 years ago.

Right next to the Lakshmana Temple but separated from it by the enclosure fence, Matangesvara is the only temple in the Western Group still in everyday use. It may be the plainest temple here (suggesting an early construction), but inside it sports a polished 2.5m-high lingam (phallic symbol of Shiva).

The ruins of Chausath Yogini, beyond Shiv Sagar lake, date from the late 9th century and are probably the oldest at Khajuraho. You may find it locked up. Constructed entirely of granite, this is the only temple not aligned east–west. Chausath means 64 – the temple once had 64 cells for statues of the yoginis (female attendants) of Kali, while the 65th sheltered the goddess herself. It’s reputedly India’s oldest yogini temple.

About 800m west from the Chausath Yogini Temple, down a track and across a couple of fields (just ask the locals), is the sandstone-and-granite Lalguan Mahadev Temple (AD 900), a small ruined shrine to Shiva.

The Archaeological Museum has a good collection of sculptures from around Khajuraho, starting in the entrance hall with a wonderful 11th-century statue of Ganesh dancing remarkably sensuously for an elephant-headed deity, with a tiny mouse (his vehicle) at his feet. Admission is only with a same-day ticket for the Western Group. A brighter, purpose-built, new museum building, north of the Western Group, opened in 2016, containing more Khajuraho sculptures plus information panels on Chandela history and art.

The new building's displays were still works in progress at research time, and it's not clear whether the old museum will eventually close or whether both buildings will remain open.

The small, white Hanuman Temple contains a 2.5m-tall orange-painted statue of the Hindu monkey god. Its interest is in the pedestal inscription from AD 922, the oldest dateable inscription in Khajuraho.

The granite Brahma Temple, with its sandstone sikhara (temple spire) overlooking Narora Sagar, is one of the oldest in Khajuraho, dating from about AD 900. Inside is an unusual Shiva lingam with four faces (which led to the temple being incorrectly named after the four-faced Brahma) – but the image of Vishnu above the sanctum doorway reveals its original dedication to Vishnu.

Resembling the Chaturbhuja Temple in the southern group, the Javari Temple (1075–1100) stands just north of the old village. It’s dedicated to Vishnu and is a good example of small-scale Khajuraho architecture for its crocodile-covered entrance arch and slender sikhara.

The Vamana Temple (1050–75), 300m north of the old village, is dedicated to the dwarf incarnation of Vishnu. It has quirky touches such as elephants protruding from the walls, but its sikhara is devoid of subsidiary spires and there are few erotic scenes.

Located between the old village and the Jain Enclosure, the small Ghantai Temple, also Jain, is named after the ghanta (chain and bell) decorations on its pillars. It was once similar to the nearby Parsvanath Temple, but only the pillared shell of its porch and mandapa (pillared pavilion) remain, and it’s normally locked.

Shantinath, a mixture of old and modern construction, is the main place of worship in the Jain group. It has a collection of components from older temples, including a 4.5m-high Adinath statue with a plastered-over inscription on the pedestal dating to about 1028.

While not competing in size or erotica with the Western Group temples, this largest of the Jain temples in the walled enclosure is notable for the exceptional precision of its construction as well as for its sculptural beauty. Some of the best preserved examples of Khajuraho’s most famous images can be seen here, including the woman removing a thorn from her foot and another applying eye makeup, both on the southern side.

The late-11th-century Adinath has been partially restored over the centuries. With fine carvings on its three bands of sculptures, it’s similar to Khajuraho’s Hindu temples, particularly Vamana. Only the striking black image in the inner sanctum triggers a Jain reminder.

The Duladeo Temple, dedicated to Shiva and set among well-tended gardens just above a small river, is Khajuraho's youngest temple, dating to 1100–50. Its relatively wooden, repetitive carvings suggest that Khajuraho’s sculptors had passed their artistic peak by this point, although they had certainly lost none of their zeal for eroticism.

The small Chaturbhuja Temple (c 1100) anticipates Duladeo and its flaws, but has a fine 2.7m-high, four-armed statue of Vishnu in the sanctum. It is Khajuraho’s only developed temple without erotic sculptures.

It's 1.7km past Duladeo: go through Jatkara village and turn left at the T-junction 350m later.

The 700m track to Bijamandala veers left (signposted) 200m before you reach Chaturbhuja Temple. This is the excavated mound of an 11th-century temple, dedicated to Shiva (judging by the white marble lingam at the apex of the mound).

There are remnants of a small-scale frieze with elephants and dancers, but unfinished carvings were also excavated, suggesting that what would have been Khajuraho’s largest temple was abandoned as resources flagged.