Golden Triangle and Blue City

This 11 day tour features many of India’s most iconic cultural highlights, with stops in the three cities of the “Golden Triangle”—Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. We’ll also visit Bharatpur, home of Keoladeo National Park, one of the most important bird sanctuaries in Asia and Jodhpur – The Blue City and also Udaipur – The Lake City.

The tour begins in Delhi where you’ll overnight following your arrival. The next morning, we will be travelling to Jodhpur where we’ll spend two nights.

Jodhpur is a popular tourist destination, featuring many palaces, forts and temples, set in the stark landscape of the Thar Desert. It is popularly known as the "Blue City" among people of Rajasthan and all over India. Jodhpur's most notable attractions are Mehrangarh Fort which overlooks upon the city, the blue bylanes of the old city are also an attraction, Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jaswant Thada, and the Ghanta Ghar, or Clock Tower. We’ll get a chance to shop antique items, traditional clothes, traditional shoes and many more.

Next, we’ll visit Udaipur, also known as “City of Lakes” where we’ll spend two nights. Udaipur, with its lakes, and historic palaces and architecture, is a major destination to visit. Udaipur is well known for handicrafts such as paintings, marble articles, silver arts and terracotta. The Shilpgram is a platform where regional handicraft and hand-loom products are developed. Craft bazaars are organised by the Shilpgram, with an aim to encourage the regional arts and crafts, the handicraft and hand-loom works.

Our next stop is the Pink City, Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. Jaipur gets its nickname from an historical event—to celebrate the visit of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) in 1876, its buildings were painted pink. Many of them remain pink today. Among the places we’ll visit are the Jantar Mantar observatory and the Amer Fort, both of which are World Heritage Sites, Hawa Mahal, a five-story pyramid-shaped monument with 953 windows; three unique palaces—the City Palace, Jal Mahal, and Rambagh Palace. You will once again have an opportunity to shop for unique handicrafts and you’ll also have a chance to ride a camel.

Our next stop is the city of Bharatpur, the Eastern Gateway of Rajasthan. We’ll visit important cultural monuments here, like the moated Lohagarh Fort, as well as the city’s markets where you can shop for handmade products. But the highlight of this stop is Keoladeo National Park, which lists almost 400 species of birds, and is one of the top birding hotspots in all of India. Here you’ll experience this region’s natural world, a mosaic of woodlands, wetlands, and dry grasslands.

Our final stop is the Mughal City of Agra and one of the world’s most famous and beautiful architectural monuments to love, the Taj Mahal. While in Agra we’ll also visit the palace complex of Fatehpur Sikri, the Mughal capital from 1571 to 1585; the Agra Fort, another residence of the Mughal Emperors, Akbar’s Tomb with its beautiful red sandstone outlined with white marble; and Chini Ka Rauza, another funerary monument, this one famous for its colorful glazed tile work. We will have an opportunity to shop for unique handicrafts and marble.

On our last day, we’ll drive from the Agra to Delhi where guests will connect with their return flights to home.