04 NIGHTS / 05 DAYS

Day 01: Arrive Delhi

Meeting, assistance on arrival at airport and check in at hotel.

Delhi

New Delhi, the capital and the third largest city of India is a fusion of the ancient and the modern culture. Standing along the West End of Gangetic Plain, the capital city, Delhi, unwinds a picture rich with culture, architecture and human diversity, deep in history, monuments, museums, galleries, gardens and exotic shows. Comprising of two contrasting yet harmonious parts, the Old Delhi and New Delhi, the city is a travel hub of Northern India.

Afternoon sightseeing of New Delhi, visit the 12th century QutabMinar, gracefully hand-carved for its entire height of 234ft, and the iron pillar, which has withstood the ravages of time and not rusted even after 1500 years, the mausoleum of emperor Humayun, the imposing modern Lakshmi Narayan Temple. Drive past India Gate (memorial to the Indian army soldiers who died in the World War I) the Rashtrapati Bhavan (formerly the viceroy's residence) and the Parliament House.

Overnight stay at the hotel.

Day 02: Delhi - Agra

Morning sightseeing of Old Delhi. Drive past the magnificent Red Fort, - a marvel in red sandstone, built on the banks of River Yamuna by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. Visit RajGhat (memorial to Mahatma Gandhi), Jama Masjid, - The largest mosque in India.

A cycle rickshaw ride through Chandni Chowk, once an imperial avenue of Mughal Royalty which today is the busiest commercial area of the city.

Post visit continue drive to Agra. On arrival meeting, assistance at hotel & check in at hotel.

Agra

It was the Taj Mahal which ultimately put Agra, its home town on the global map. It is an epitome of Mughal architecture of the 16th & 17 centuries of the then capital of the Mughal dynasty of India. Agra holds a special significance for the Mughals in the many of the firsts: Emperor Barber, the founder of the dynasty laid out the first formal Persian gardens on the banks of the river Yamuna. Down the lineage the 3rd Emperor & grandson of the founder Barber, Emperor Akbar, conceptualized & laid the foundation of the gigantic Red Fort. His successors Emperors Jahangir & Shah Jahan took the construction further adding the rose-red palaces, courts and gardens, the marble mosques, palaces and pavilions for the public & private audiences.

Late afternoon visit the Agra Fort, built alongside the Yamuna River stretching almost 2.5 km. The fort’s colossal double walls raise 20 m in height and measures 2.5 km in circumference. The fort is surrounded by a moat. The lofty battlements of the Agra Fort cast its protective shadow over the far stretching mansions of nobles and princes built along the riverfront.

Overnight stay at the hotel.

Day 03: Agra-Jaipur

In the morning visit the Taj Mahal built by Shah Jahan in 1560 in memory of his queen Mumtaz Mahal to enshrine her mortal remains. The architecture marvel is a perfectly proportioned masterpiece fashioned from white marble that stands as a testimony to the skill of 20,000 craftsmen brought together from Persia, Turkey, France and Italy and who took about 17 years to complete this ‘Love poem in Marble’. Please note that the Taj mahal is closed on Fridays.

Post visit drive to Jaipur enroute visit Fatehpur Sikri.

Fatehpur Sikri

The "City of Victory” or Fatehpur (victory) Sikri (city), as it translates to in Persian, sounds paradoxical now. Approximately 30 miles west of Agra, Fatehpursikri was built by Emperor, Akbar between 1571 and 1573 AD but was later abandoned. The reasons of abandonment of this beautiful capital city are many & debatable by the modern day historians. One school of them believes the hostile neighbourhood kingdoms of the Jaats & their impending threat of running over the city made Emperor Akbar give up on this city. The other school of scholars discount this theory & conclude water scarcity being the one single reason for the Emperor to move out & re-designate Agra as the capital. In the modern day, Fatehpur Sikri features in the list of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites & is a fine living example of an amalgamation of various architectures’ style.

Post visit, continue to drive to Jaipur. On arrival, check in at hotel.

Jaipur

Was built in the 18th century by Maharaja Jai Singh II. It is a planned city built with ancient Hindu rules as the colonial capital of a richly colourful state. It was made attractive with the pink wash - a traditional colour of welcome in 1853 in honour of the visit of Prince Albert.

Overnight stay at the hotel.

Day 04: In Jaipur

At the Morning, visit Amber Fort on a jeep ride:

Amber is a classic, romantic Rajasthani fort Palace. The rugged, time-ravaged walls of the Fort may not look beautiful from the outside, but the interior is a virtual paradise. Miniatures painted on the walls depict hunting and war scenes, apart from festivals. Precious stones and mirrors are embedded into the plaster.

Inside the Fort visit the Jag Mandir or the Hall of Victory. Inside the Jag Mandir is the famed Sheesh Mahal – a room with all the four walls and ceiling completely embedded with glittering mirror pieces, which were specially imported from Belgium during that period. En route to Amber Fort, you will have a brief photography stop at Hawa Mahal - the Palace of Winds.

Afternoon city tour begins with a visit to the Maharaja's City Palace, the former Royal residence, part of it converted into a museum. A small portion is still used by the Royal family of Jaipur. Built in the style of a fortified campus, the palace covers almost one-seventh in area of the city. One of the major attractions in the museum is the portion known as Armory Museum housing an impressive array of weaponry-pistols, blunderbusses, flintlocks, swords, rifles and daggers. The royal families of Jaipur once used most of these weapons. Later visit the Jantar Mantar, which is the largest stone and marble crafted observatory in the world. Situated near the gate of the city palace, the observatory has 17 large instruments, many of them still in working condition.

Evening attend an `aarti’ (prayer ritual ceremony) at Birla Mandir (modern Hindu temple).

Overnight stay at the hotel.

Day 05: Drive Jaipur - Delhi

Morning drive to Delhi. On arrival, time assisted departure transfer to Delhi airport to connect flight for onward journey.

(No hotel envisaged in Delhi on this day).

Price Sheet

Additional

Hotel envisaged or similar*

Rates include the following