India and the Taj Mahal

Met on arrival and taken to the Taj Mahal Palace, on the water beside the Gateway of India.

Victoria Terminus and the Gateway of India, then Churchgate station to watch the dabbawallas sort tens of thousands of home cooked lunches. Mani Bhawan in the afternoon and the open air laundry at Dhobi Ghat.

Fly to Udaipur and settle into the marble palace that sits on its own island in Lake Pichola. A private boat past Jag Mandir as the light goes.

The City Palace complex and the crystal gallery, then the Garden of the Maids of Honour. Lunch is a cooking demonstration of royal Mewar dishes in a local family's home.

Fly to Jaipur and check into a former maharaja's residence. The City Palace, its textile collection and the astronomical instruments at Jantar Mantar.

The Palace of the Winds, then the hilltop Amber Fort. Lunch locally, and an afternoon in the bazaars with someone who knows which workshops are worth your time.

Drive to Agra through rural Rajasthan and see the Taj Mahal in late afternoon, when the marble takes the orange of the setting sun.

Back at first light, when the same marble turns pink. Agra Fort afterwards, where the emperor who built the Taj was later held prisoner within sight of it.

Train to Jhansi and on by road to Panna, a park whose tiger population has been rebuilt from nothing over the past fifteen years.

Morning and afternoon game drives through gorge and teak forest, watching for tiger, crocodile, sloth bear and the park's resident vultures.

The carved temples at Khajuraho in the morning, then a short flight to Varanasi. At dusk, the aarti ceremony on the ghats, with drums, chanting and lamps carried down to the river.

A private boat before dawn to watch the ghats wake, then the Bharat Mata temple. Fly to Delhi later in the day.

Jama Masjid, then a rickshaw through the lanes of Chandni Chowk. New Delhi in the afternoon, including Humayun's Tomb, which the Taj was modelled on.

Private transfer to the airport for your flight home.