Follow the well-known route from Delhi to Jaipur, to Agra on this incredible tour of India.

Begin your stay in colourful and wonderfully chaotic Delhi. Rickshaws, cows, and market-sellers jostle for space in the photogenic streets of Old Delhi, and temples provide welcome peace and quiet after the bustling streets.

You will visit picturesque Jaipur, renowned for its dizzyingly beautiful marble Amber Fort, containing a myriad of pretty gardens and charming courtyards. Admire the extraordinary Hawa Mahal with its pink-painted, heavily turreted facade, before moving on to Agra.

Medieval Agra contains the iconic Taj Mahal, and the whole city is a testament to the grandeur of the Mughal empire, where today you’ll find as many lively markets ('chowks') as mausoleums.

Your itinerary:

12 days / 11 nights

Day 1: Delhi

Day 2: Delhi

Day 3: Delhi - Mandawa

Day 4: Mandawa - Bikaner

Day 5: Bikaner - Jodhpur

Day 6: Jodhpur - Pushkar - Jaipur

Day 7: Jaipur

Day 8: Fathepur Sikri - Agra

Day 9: Agra - Vanarasi

Day 10: Vanarasi

Day 11: Vanarasi - Delhi

Day 12: Delhi - departure 

Check-in and boarding on scheduled flights.

Flights to Delhi.

Arrive in Delhi in the evening. Reception and assistance at the airport.

Transfer to the hotel.

Night at the hotel.

DAY 02: DELHI

Breakfast at the hotel.

Departure to visit Old Delhi.
You will see the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid, one of the biggest mosques in the world, Chandni Chowk and the heart of the old district, the Raj Ghat the mausolea of the Mahatma Gandhi.

Visit to New Delhi:
Discover the Qutub Minar, an extraordinary minaret built in 1199, the largest minaret in the world (72.55 m) where you can find the reproduction of verses from the Koran on each of the first three floors built in red sandstone.

Government Buildings, Gateway to India, Connaught Square.

Night at the hotel.

DAY 03: DELHI – MANDAWA                       (265 Kms +- 6h00).

Breakfast at the hotel.

Road to Mandawa.

Arrive at the hotel in Mandawa, a small feudal principality. Mandawa had a period of great pomp between the mid-eighteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. Today surrounded by sand dunes, decrepit, dusty, the small town of Mandawa still contains Havelis, which is quite extraordinary. The Havelis were mansions built by rich merchants and boasts sought-after architecture that gives the appearance of small palaces rather than mere houses. Their walls are decorated with frescoes with various decorative motifs: religious scenes, secular or even courteous, illustrations of stories or legends, and portraits. Real illuminating jewels!

Arrival and installation at the hotel.

Visit Mandawa and discover temples and Havelis, dwellings of maharajahs and merchants with their galleries festooned with cupolas and naive paintings full of colors.

Night at the hotel.

DAY 04: MANDAWA – BIKANER      (190 kms +- 4h).

Breakfast at the hotel.

Departure for Bikaner.

Arrival and installation at the hotel. Bikaner City Tour. Visit Junagarh Fort, a fortress built in the fifteenth century as a real eagle's nest, it is accessed by a long ramp and several gates. On one of them, you can see many impacts of cannonballs, one of the last battles. The Fort contains various palaces, temples and museums. It is a maze of corridors, stairs and courtyards revealing beautiful carved facades.

Tuk Tuk ride in the picturesque Bazaar, then walk to Heritage Walk in the old town to explore its narrow streets and take the opportunity to visit some old Havelis.

Overnight at the hotel.

DAY 05:         BIKANER – JODHPUR                                                           (250 kms +- 5h)

Breakfast at the hotel.

Departure for Jodhpur.

Arrival and installation at the hotel in Jodhpur. In the afternoon: visit to Jodhpur, also known as "the blue city" as a result of the colour of the houses. The city lies at the foot of a fortress, in the heart of the desert and appears like a comforting oasis for the weary traveller. The old town is surrounded by a wall with seven gates, which was erected around the middle of the sixteenth century on a perimeter of nearly 10 km.

Visit the magnificent Mehrangarh Fort, named after its current owner, the Jodhpur maharajah. Built on top of a hill overlooking the city, it opens with a succession of seven monumental gates. On one of the Iohapols, iron gates, discover the handprints of the widows of Maharadjah Man Singh, who immolated themselves on his funeral pyre in 1843.

Discover many courtyards, surrounded by palaces with carved facades. The fort's museum contains palanquins, pods for elephants, weapons, sabers, swords, daggers, and small guns. Many rooms contain collections of miniatures, the Takhat Mahal Hall is entirely decorated with mirrors and paintings, with colourful glass balls hanging from the ceiling and the "Jankhi Mahal" contains an astonishing collection of royal cradles. Visit Jaswant Thada, the royal mausoleum in white marble of Maharajah Singh II, built-in 1899.

Night at the hotel.

DAY 06:         JODHPUR – PUSHKAR – JAIPUR                                               (350 km +- 6h00)

Breakfast at the hotel. Travel to Jaipur and stop at Pushkar to visit the Brahma Temple & Pushkar Lake en route. Enjoy a Camel Cart Ride to visit Pushkar village (30mins).  Continue to Jaipur, which is surrounded by an immense crenellated wall. Within the city walls, bazaars buzz with a thousand activities. Jaipur was built in the 16th century by the Maharaja Jaisingh Ji according to the ideal plan in the Hindu Arthashasthra, which states that the city must reflect the cosmos. The city was drawn in a square, surrounded by walls pierced with 9 doors, and divided into 9 quarters each of which had a specific function. 

Arrival and installation at the hotel in Jaipur.Free time in the market or for rest.

Night at the hotel.

DAY 07:         JAIPUR

Breakfast at the hotel.

Discovery of Jaipur. Stop in front of the wind palace "Hawa Mahal", and admire its Baroque facade and its architecture that is both fanciful and functional. Continue with an excursion to Amber Fort, the residence of Maharajahs. Ride to the ramparts by 4x4. Visit the Palace with its rooms set with mirrors and the old harem. Opportunity to attend Puja at Kali Temple. Puja is the time of prayers according to Hindu rites. One can enter the temple only barefoot and without leather goods. Visit the observatory "Jantar Mantar", created by Maharaja Jaisingh Ii, who built several observatories including that of Jaipur (1728-33). Rickshaw ride through the old city.

Overnight at the chosen hotel.

DAY 08:         JAIPUR – FATEHPUR SIKRI - AGRA                                                 (235 km +- 6h).

Breakfast at the hotel. Departure to Agra. En route stop at Fatehpur Sikri, the former capital of the time of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. The architecture is more baroque than the Red Fort, this capital was abandoned a few years after its construction. It features the synthesis of various styles, Indo-Muslim and Hindu. Visit The Great Mosque, with the tomb of Sheikh Salim Chishti, The Jewel House also named Diwan-I-Khas (Hall of Audiences) containing the pillar of Akbar. Continue to Agra. Arrival and installation at the hotel.

Night at the hotel.

DAY 09:         AGRA – VARANASI                                                             (By overnight train)

Breakfast at the hotel. Visit the famous Taj Mahal (Closed every Friday), a moving Mughal Mausoleum and a tourist emblem of India. It was built by Emperor Shah Jahan, in memory of his second wife Mumtaz Mahal. Her death during childbirth in 1631 broke the heart of the emperor, whose hair turned grey in one night. The construction of the Taj Mahal was undertaken the same year to be completed in 1653. The workers, 20,000 in all, were recruited throughout India and Central Asia. The principal architect would have been Isa Khan, from Shiraz (Iran). European experts were also brought in: Austin from Bordeaux and Verona from Venice participated in the decoration.

Then visit Agra Fort.

Afternoon, visit the Markets.

Towards evening transfer to the railway station to board the overnight train for Varanasi.

Varanasi - is one of the oldest cities in the world, a contemporary of Babylon, Nineveh and Thebes. Every devout Hindu wishes to visit Varanasi once in a lifetime to purify body and soul in the river Ganges – it is the place every Hindu wants to die in. To a Hindu, each drop of the Ganges is auspicious; the water holds the power to release a Hindu from the cycle of rebirth. The Ganges is believed to carry the mystical powers of the peaks of the Himalayas, the abode of the Gods, to the holy city of Varanasi. Even for non - Hindus, a pilgrimage to Varanasi is a transcendental experience, a rare opportunity to experience the river revered as the source of all being. To visit the Ganga at Varanasi is to truly touch the soul of India.

DAY 10:         ARRIVE VARANASI

Upon arrival at Varanasi, you would be met & transferred to the hotel for check-in if rooms are available (standard check-in time is 12h00).

Breakfast will be served at the hotel.

Rest at the hotel a few hours.

In the evening you will be taken to the Ghats to see the Ganga Aarti ceremony. The Ganga Aarti is a spectacular illuminated sight. Hundreds throng to the ghats to participate in this ceremony. Offerings of lamps and flowers are made to the river immediately following this ceremony and it is a moving sight to watch hundreds of miniature lamps float along the river.

Overnight at the hotel.

DAY 11:         VARANASI – DELHI                                                                      (By Flight)

Very early in the morning, you will be taken for a boat ride along the Ghats on the Holy River Ganges. At sunrise, the Hindu faithfuls flock to the river to cleanse themselves of their sins. It is said that ‘To die in Varanasi is to end the Hindu cycle of re-birth thereby making it a popular place to end one's life. After sunrise, you will visit some of the temples in the surrounding area.

Return to the hotel for breakfast and later proceed for a visit to Bharat Kala Bhavan which lies within the sprawling grounds of Benaras Hindu University. Its outstanding collection of sculpture, paintings and textiles began with the private collection of the enlightened Rai Krishnadasa. The sculpture collection includes terracotta and clay objects, stone and bronze and cast metal objects. Ancient terracotta varying from ritual icons to toys to utilitarian objects dated to the Indus Valley Civilization, Mauryan, Sunga and Gupta periods.

In the afternoon, you will proceed for an excursion to Sarnath, a major Buddhist centre of the world. After achieving enlightenment at Bodhgaya, Buddha, the 'Awakened One', delivered his first sermon here. It was the sixth century then, when he also set in motion the wheel of law, the Dharma-chakra. This is the dwelling place of the rishis, also known as 'Rishipatana' (the place of the Rishis or sages). Buddha gave his first sermon in the Deer Park where he initiated his first five disciples into Buddhist monkshood. Buddhism found its roots in Sarnath, the birthplace of this way of life.

Afternoon, transfer to the airport to board the flight for Delhi.

Upon arrival in Delhi, you will be met & transferred to the hotel for check-in.

Overnight at the hotel.

DAY 12:         DEPARTURE FROM DELHI – Return Flight

Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to the airport to catch your return flight.

Stay in the following selection of 4* or 5* hotels or similar during your tour:

4* Hotels: 

Delhi: Radisson Udyog Vihar Gurgaon (or similar) 

Mandawa: Vivaana Culutrue Hotel (or similar) 

Bikaner: VESTA Palace (or similar)

Jodhpur: Fairfield by Marriott (or similar) 

Jaipur: Fern Residency (or similar) 

Agra: Cyrstal Sarovar Premiere (or similar) 

Varanasi: Rivatas By Ideal 4* (or similar)

Delhi: Radisson Udyog Vihar Gurgaon (or similar) 

5* Hotels:

Delhi: Crowne Plaza Okhla (or similar) 

Mandawa: Vivaana Culutrue Hotel (or similar) 

Bikaner:  VESTA  Palace (or similar)

Jaisalmer: Marriott Resort (or similar) 

Jodhpur: ITC  WelcomHotel (or similar) 

Jaipur: Marriott (or similar) 

Agra: Jaypee Palace (or similar) 

Varanasi: Hotel Madin (or similar)

Delhi: Crowne Plaza Okhla (or similar) 

A trip to New Delhi, India's dynamic capital, will introduce you to teeming bazaars, tree-lined boulevards, fascinating temples and historically important mosques. Somewhere between a place of intense spirituality and a dynamic eastern metropolis, this city offers something for all its visitors, so take advantage of Delhi travel deals to have a truly unique vacation.

Its turbulent history is reflected in a wide variety of architectural styles, which testify to how the city has been destroyed and rebuilt many times. To see an example of the city's diverse cultural heritage, visit the Qutab Minar. This sandstone and marble brick minaret marked the beginning of Muslim rule in India. A short distance away, walkable by rickshaw, is the Presidential Palace (Rashtrapati Bhavan), where you can see the English and Indian architectural influences that characterize much of New Delhi. Walking along Rajpath Avenue (the King's Way), one can admire the Gateway of India, the monument to the Indian nation.