DELHI · AGRA · JAIPUR · RAJASTHAN · KERALA
Forts, backwaters and the Taj at first light.
Day tours, city walks and multi-day journeys across the Golden Triangle, the Rajasthan deserts, the Kerala backwaters and the beaches of Goa. The whole subcontinent, one trip at a time.
Only in India
Three places that could only be India.
Monuments, markets and mountains turn up on every itinerary. These three belong to India alone: the marble at Agra, the water in Kerala, the forts of the Thar. Build the rest of the trip around them.
At first light
The Taj Mahal at sunrise
Shah Jahan spent more than twenty years building one marble tomb for one empress, and nothing since has matched it. Arrive for the gate opening and the stone shifts from grey to rose to blinding white as the sun lifts over the Yamuna. Most run it as a pre-dawn day trip from Delhi, ahead of both the heat and the queues.
- 1 From Delhi: Taj Mahal & Agra Private Day Trip with Transfers
- 2 Same Day Taj Mahal, Fort & Baby Taj Tour from Delhi by Car
- 3 From Delhi: Taj Mahal and Agra Fort Private Sunrise Tour
Down south
The Kerala backwaters
Hundreds of kilometres of linked lagoons, rivers and canals lie behind the Malabar coast, and you take them in from a kettuvallam, a converted rice barge poled past water lilies and leaning palms. Paddy fields, village jetties and fishermen drift by at the pace of the water. Stay a night aboard and you wake somewhere with no road in.
- 1 Cochin: Backwater Village Eco Boat Cruise with Lunch
- 2 Full Day Backwater Village Punting Boat Cruise
- 3 Mountain Hiking in Munnar (half day) By Munnar Info
Out west
Rajasthan's desert forts
The maharajas built in sandstone the colour of the land they ruled. Jaisalmer rises gold straight out of the Thar, Jodhpur sits blue beneath the walls of Mehrangarh, and Udaipur floats its palaces on a lake. Nowhere else in the country stacks living forts, palace hotels and camel-track desert this close together.
- 1 Private Jodhpur Blue City Tour with Hotel Pickup and Drop-off
- 2 Private Jodhpur Blue City Walking Tour with Guide
- 3 Private Heritage Walking Tour in Jaisalmer Fort and Old Bazaar
Mughals & maharajas
Built to outlast the empires that raised them.
For a thousand years, sultans, Mughal emperors and Rajput kings competed in stone. The Taj at Agra, the Red Fort and Qutub Minar in Delhi, Amber above Jaipur, Mehrangarh over Jodhpur, the lake palaces of Udaipur. Half of any India itinerary is spent walking through what they left behind.
Forts, palaces & monuments →Start here
The trip most first-timers book first.
If you do one thing in India, this tends to be it. The day out that opens almost every first visit to the country.
The classics
India's Most Popular Tours
The Taj at sunrise, Old Delhi on foot, Mumbai by daylight, the Golden Triangle by car. The tours first-time visitors book most.
By region
Pick a corner of the subcontinent.
Delhi for the Mughal capital and the bazaars. Agra for the Taj. Jaipur for the forts and the Pink City. Mumbai for the energy. Kerala for the backwaters. Goa for the beach.
By tour type
Or pick how you want to travel.
On foot for the old cities and their street food. By tuk-tuk for the bazaars. By boat through the backwaters. Cooking classes, markets, forts and wildlife parks for the rest.
How much time?
How long have you got?
India rewards whatever time you give it. Pick the trip that fits your days, then build outward from there.
Old & New Delhi
Seven cities, one capital.
Delhi has been built and razed more times than anyone quite agrees on. Mughal Old Delhi still runs on rickshaws and the call to prayer from the Jama Masjid; imperial New Delhi is wide avenues and India Gate. The Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb, Qutub Minar and the spice lanes of Chandni Chowk fill the days in between.
- 1 Delhi: Private Full-Day City Tour of Old and New Delhi
- 2 The Great Indian Food Tour: Old Delhi Food and Heritage Walk
- 3 Taj Mahal and Agra Private Car Tour from Delhi with 5* Lunch
Down on the west coast
Maximum City.
The Gateway of India and the Raj-era facades of Colaba, the dabbawalas and the laundry ghats, the Dharavi neighbourhood tour, the boat across to the Elephanta caves. The three guided ways into Mumbai we'd start with.
The gateway to Rajasthan
The Pink City.
Amber Fort on its ridge, the City Palace and the honeycomb windows of the Hawa Mahal, the astronomer's instruments at Jantar Mantar. If you only visit one Rajasthan city, make it this one.
The best way to meet a city
India on foot.
The old quarters give up their bazaars, back-lane temples and street-food stalls only to people walking them. Heritage walks, early-morning food crawls, the lanes a car never reaches. Three worth setting an alarm for.
Plan it
The Golden Triangle, in three stops.
First time in India? The classic week links the capital, the Taj and the Pink City by road, with no wasted miles between them.
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