The Taj Mahal catching the first light above its reflecting pool in Agra

27.1751 N, 78.0421 E / HIGH POINT 171 M

India

Two Indias an hour apart.

BEST SEASON: October to March
IDEAL LENGTH: 7 to 12 days
SLEEPS AT: 81 to 431 m
PACE: Spirited
BEGINS IN: Delhi

India changes register faster than any country we plan for. Cold marble and birdsong at six in the morning, then a river full of bells and smoke by dusk. What turns that from exhausting into exhilarating is a driver who knows which hour to leave, and ours have been doing it for us for years.

India is loud and gentle, ancient and brand new, often within the same hour. You can watch the sun come up behind the Taj Mahal and end the day with boats drifting along the ghats of Varanasi.

We shape trips around what pulls you, whether that is Himalayan foothills, desert forts, backwaters or temple towns. Trusted drivers, hotels we have stayed in ourselves, and a plan that flexes when you want to linger.

The evening aarti flame raised over the Ganges at Varanasi

What we plan here

Taj Mahal and Agra
Varanasi and the Ganges
Himalayan foothills
Private drivers and guides

Wooden boats and a temple on the Ganges riverfront in Varanasi

THE SHAPE OF THE DAYS

Seven days from Delhi to the Ganges

Delhi, Agra and Jaipur with Varanasi on the end, paced so the famous mornings happen well before the coaches arrive. This is one shape the trip can take. Yours will be its own.

DAY 01
Arrive in Delhi
Your driver is waiting past customs with your name on a card, and it is half an hour or so to a quiet hotel in the tree-lined south of the city. Nothing is planned for the evening beyond dinner and sleep.
SLEEPS AT Delhi, 216 m
DAY 02
Old Delhi before the heat
We start in the lanes of Old Delhi before eight, when the spice market is still loading and you can hear individual sounds. Jama Masjid, a cycle rickshaw through Chandni Chowk, then lunch at a place we order from ourselves.
SLEEPS AT Delhi, 216 m
DAY 03
South to Agra
Three hours down the expressway, stopping wherever the tea looks right. We get you to Mehtab Bagh across the river for the last hour of light, when the Taj turns from white to amber with nobody standing between you and it.
SLEEPS AT Agra, 171 m
DAY 04
The Taj at first light, then Fatehpur Sikri
We hold your tickets for the opening slot, so you are through the gate before dawn and the marble is still cold underfoot. On the road west to Jaipur we stop at Fatehpur Sikri, a red sandstone capital abandoned after fourteen years and left almost intact.
SLEEPS AT Jaipur, 431 m
DAY 05
Jaipur, the pink city
Amber Fort first thing, up through the ramp gates ahead of the heat and the queues. The afternoon is bazaars and a block printer we have known for years, and dinner is on a rooftop with the fort lit up on the ridge.
SLEEPS AT Jaipur, 431 m
DAY 06
Fly east to Varanasi
A short flight east, then straight down to the river for the evening aarti. We put you on a boat rather than a space on the steps, so you watch the lamps go up from the water with room to breathe.
SLEEPS AT Varanasi, 81 m
DAY 07
Dawn on the river, then home
You are back on the water by half past five, rowed slowly past the bathing ghats while the sun comes up behind them. Breakfast, a late checkout we arrange for you, then your flight home from Varanasi.
SLEEPS AT Varanasi, 81 m