The Golden Triangle and Rajasthan: 14 days
The route that made northern India famous, built so it does not feel like a coach tour. Six stops in fourteen days, one internal flight at the end so that nobody spends their last day in a car, and two afternoons with nothing in them. The Taj Mahal is on day four rather than day two, deliberately, b
- Duration
- 14 days
- Pace
- Moderate
- Hotel changes
- 5
- Best months
- Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar
- From
- $2,850 per person
Who it suits: first-time visitors who want the great forts, the Mughal monuments and one proper tiger park, done at a pace that leaves room to look.
Your specialist: your named India specialist, with our Delhi office on the ground throughout.
Day by day
Day 1: Arrive Delhi. Private transfer, a quiet hotel with a garden, and nothing scheduled. Most flights land in the small hours. We do not book you a first morning.
Day 2: Delhi, both cities. Old Delhi on foot and by cycle rickshaw with a guide: the Jama Masjid steps, the wholesale spice lanes at Khari Baoli, a street food breakfast. Afternoon in the other Delhi, Humayun’s Tomb and Sunder Nursery, which is the best hour of green in the city.
Day 3: Delhi to Agra. The fast morning train, about two hours. Agra Fort in the afternoon, when the light is worth having, then the marble inlay workshops where the Taj’s craft tradition still survives, and sunset from Mehtab Bagh across the river.
Day 4: The Taj Mahal, then Ranthambore. At the gate for opening, before the tour groups and while the marble is still pink. Back for breakfast, then a five-hour drive south into Rajasthan. Note the Taj is closed to visitors on Fridays, so we build your dates around it.
Day 5: Ranthambore. Two safaris, dawn and mid-afternoon, in the zones our Delhi office books the hour permits are released. Between them, the fort above the park, which almost nobody climbs and which is worth the hour.
Day 6: Ranthambore to Jaipur. A third safari at dawn if you want one, then three and a half hours north. Afternoon at Jantar Mantar, the 18th century observatory with the largest stone sundial in the world, and the City Palace next door.
Day 7: Jaipur, the forts. Amber Fort at opening, by jeep. We do not book the elephant rides, and we will explain why if you ask. Then the Panna Meena stepwell, Jal Mahal from the causeway, and Nahargarh for the view down over the city at dusk.
Day 8: Jaipur, the making of things. A block printing workshop with a family that has done it for generations, the bazaars of the old pink city with someone who knows what things should cost, and the Anokhi textile museum. Afternoon free.
Day 9: Jaipur to Jodhpur. The longest drive of the trip, about six hours. We break it properly rather than pushing through, usually at Pushkar or a step-well lunch, and we tell you in advance that it is a long day rather than printing “335 km” and hoping.
Day 10: Jodhpur. Mehrangarh at opening, which is the best fort in India and worth two unhurried hours. Then Jaswant Thada, the Toorji stepwell, and a walk down through the blue houses of the old city to the clock tower market.
Day 11: Jodhpur to Udaipur. Five hours with a long stop at Ranakpur, a 15th century Jain temple carved in white marble with more than 1,400 pillars, no two the same. Arrive Udaipur for the evening.
Day 12: Udaipur. The City Palace before the crowds, a private boat on Lake Pichola in the late afternoon, and the dance and puppet performance at Bagore Ki Haveli if that appeals. If it does not, we say so.
Day 13: Udaipur, free day. Deliberately unscheduled. Our suggestions in your document include a cooking session in a family home, the Aravalli hills and the temples at Eklingji and Nagda, the miniature painting workshops, or nothing at all.
Day 14: Departure. Morning flight Udaipur to Delhi, about ninety minutes, connecting to your international departure.
What is included
Accommodation with breakfast throughout, a private air-conditioned car and English-speaking driver for all road legs, the Delhi to Agra train and the Udaipur to Delhi flight, airport transfers, four days of licensed local guiding placed where it changes what you see, three shared jeep safaris in Ranthambore with permits, all monument entries including the Taj, the Jaipur block printing workshop, a full day-by-day document with real driving hours, and a WhatsApp group with your consultant and our Delhi office for the duration.
What we would change, and when
- Travelling in December or January? Delhi’s air is at its worst and the plains fog delays flights. We move Delhi to the end of the trip, keep it to one night, and leave a spare morning before your departure.
- Want Jaisalmer as well? It needs three more days, not one. Jodhpur to Jaisalmer is five hours each way. If your dates are fixed at fourteen, we would cut Ranthambore before we would rush the desert. If you do go, we do not book hotels inside the living fort, for conservation reasons we will explain.
- Travelling in March? Everything here still works and the tiger odds improve as the waterholes shrink. Add an extra Ranthambore night rather than an extra city.
- Not interested in a tiger park? Replace days 4 to 6 with a second Agra night and two nights at Bundi or Deogarh, which are quieter and prettier than anywhere else on this route.
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