Twelve nights from Delhi to Mumbai — palaces, forts, a jungle safari, a sunset boat across Lake Pichola, and the Taj Mahal at dawn. This November 2026 departure is fully subscribed — join the waitlist or enquire about February 2027.
"Join me on a custom tour prepared for just you."
Mary Crave fell in love with India in early 2025 — its diversity, its colours, its culture. After years leading groups to Africa, she's bringing that same warm, considered hosting to a country she has come to call a second home.
Our guide, Narendra "Narjee" Singh, knows India inside and out. Twenty years a guide, he weaves the typical tourist interests with everyday Indian life — and opens his heart, somewhere between Jaipur and Jodhpur, with the story of his arranged marriage.
From the Mughal capital to Bollywood's coast — by air-conditioned mini-coach, dawn flights, cycle rickshaw and metro train.
Traditional welcome at Delhi airport with fresh marigold flowers. Air-conditioned private transfer to our hotel.
At 6 PM, an informal meet-and-greet in the hotel lobby — drinks and dinner at our own pace.
Narjee leads us through Rashtrapati Bhawan, the Parliament buildings, and India Gate — the Arc-de-Triumph for 70,000 Indian soldiers of the Great War. South to Qutub Minar, the tallest brick minaret in the world (1200 CE), then the Sikh Gurudwara Bangla Sahib and Shah Jahan's Jama Masjid.
Lunch at Khan Market. Then the lanes of Old Delhi — Meena Bazaar, the Jain Digambhara temple with its bird hospital, and Chandni Chowk. We hop on cycle rickshaws through the spice market, paper market and jewellers' alley, then ride the metro back to our hotel.
Morning at Gandhi Smriti — the home where Mahatma Gandhi spent the last 144 days of his life. Then south on the new expressway to Agra.
After lunch and downtime, Agra Fort — Akbar's red sandstone capital from 1558. At sunset, Mehtaab Bagh on the far bank of the Yamuna for a slower, second view of the Taj.
A guided dawn-view of the Taj Mahal — twenty-two years and twenty thousand labourers in the service of one love story. Back to the hotel for breakfast, then west to Jaipur.
Enroute we descend into Chand Baori — a 9th-century stepwell, 3,500 stairs cascading thirteen stories into the earth. Evening with a Jaipur family: a cooking demonstration and home-cooked dinner.
Up early for Amer Fort by 4×4 open jeep — red sandstone and white marble overlooking Maotha Lake. Then the Anokhi Museum of textile with a hand-block-print workshop, and lunch.
An astrologer accompanies us to Jantar Mantar — Jai Singh's astronomical instruments from 1727, the largest such observatory in the world. Late afternoon: a renowned jeweller's shop, where the world's designers come to source.
Morning prayers at Govind Dev Ji Temple, then a walk through Muhana Mandi's flower, vegetable and milk markets. A masala chai stop. Mid-morning, a women-only gemstone factory — rubies, emeralds, tourmalines, sapphires.
South to Pushkar. At sunset, the ghats of Pushkar Lake and the 14th-century Brahma Temple — the only existing temple to Lord Brahma.
Through the countryside to Jodhpur. We stop at a local village school to spend time with children and teachers, and at a working farm for lunch with wine and beer in a countryside resort.
Evening: the Clock Tower walk and Sadar Market in the old city. Dinner overlooks the floodlit Mehrangarh Fort.
Mehrangarh Fort, founded in 1459 — one of the largest forts in India. From its ramparts, a heritage walk into the indigo lanes of the Old City, with a local food-tasting stop.
Late afternoon: Umaid Bhawan Palace Museum, and the curious story of a curse, a famine, and the lavish palace built to give farmers work in the 1920s.
Through shepherds' villages to Aloof Jungle Lodge at the edge of Kumbhalgarh National Park. Afternoon jeep safari for leopards, sloth bears, four-horn deer and Indian wolves.
High tea in a hill-tribe village — milking a goat, helping in the fields, a humble "Namaste". Dinner in the jungle with local folk music and dance.
A stop at Sadri village to visit the Jain community, then on to the Ranakpur Jain temples — one of the five holy palaces of the sect, set in a quiet glen of the Aravalli hills.
Lunch in Ranakpur. Late afternoon, into Udaipur — the City of Lakes — for an orientation walk and dinner.
The City Palace — Maharana Udai Singh's commission, expanded by every successor without breaking the harmony of the design. Then a miniature-painting workshop. Lunch at Lily Court in modern-contemporary surroundings.
An exclusive boat ride on Lake Pichola at sunset, the Lake Palace floating on white marble. Dinner in town.
Direct afternoon flight to Mumbai. Met on arrival, transferred to our hotel. Evening through the Colaba markets, past the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, with a stop at the famous Leopold Café.
Pre-dawn drive into the working-class Mumbai that wakes the rest. Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the newspaper and milk-distribution chaos, fresh pav at a bakery, and Sassoon Dock with the fisher-folk.
The Dabbawala route, Dhobi Ghat — the open-air laundry — and Victoria Terminus, the UNESCO-listed Italianate-Gothic-Mughal-Hindu hybrid railway station. Late evening transfer for flights home, with sweet memories of Incredible India.
The main tour ends in Mumbai on 20 November. For travellers who have flown halfway round the world, we offer four ways to stretch the trip — a slow day in Bombay, the backwaters of Kerala, or both. Open any option below for the day-by-day itinerary.
The oldest continually inhabited city in the world, said by Mark Twain to be older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend. Two unhurried nights on the holy banks of the Ganges — and the rarest of gifts: arriving on Diwali itself (Nov 8), when the ghats are wrapped in oil lamps, the river carries a thousand floating diyas, and the Festival of Lights transforms the city into something close to a vision.
Marigold welcome at Delhi airport. Transfer by air-conditioned private vehicle to the airport hotel for overnight before tomorrow's onward flight.
Breakfast, then transfer to Delhi airport for the late-morning flight to Varanasi. On arrival, a guided afternoon through the labyrinth of the old city — Vishwanath Temple, the silk-weavers' quarter, a glimpse of the burning ghats. At dusk, a private boat to witness the Ganga Aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat: bells, conch shells, synchronised flames against the river dark. Overnight at a heritage hotel near the ghats.
Pre-dawn boat ride downriver as the city wakes — bathers, laundry, silent rituals on the steps. Breakfast at the hotel and check-out. Mid-morning at Sarnath, where the Buddha preached his first sermon — the Dhamek Stupa, the museum, the deer park. Late-afternoon transfer to the airport for the evening flight back to Delhi, arriving in time to join the main group at the tour hotel for the meet-and-greet — and an evening of Diwali across the rooftops of the capital.
An unhurried extra night in Mumbai after the group disperses — Gateway of India at the harbour's edge, a ferry across to the rock-cut caves of Elephanta, and an evening departure for home.
After the closing day of group sightseeing, return to the hotel for an overnight stay. Dinner on your own — Colaba is a short stroll away.
After breakfast, a guided walk or short drive to the Gateway of India — built to commemorate the 1911 visit of King George V and Queen Mary, opened in 1924. From there, the regular ferry to Elephanta Caves (≈1.5 hrs each way) — rock-cut shrines so impressive that UNESCO inscribed them as a World Heritage Site.
Afternoon optional add-ons: Gandhi's home at Mani Bhavan, or Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Late evening transfer to Mumbai airport for the early-Sunday flight home.
Five nights south — colonial Cochin, the tea hills of Munnar, the spice forests of Thekkady, and an unhurried night on the Kumarakom backwaters aboard a traditional kettuvallom houseboat. The journey closes with two nights in Mumbai — a half-day at the Elephanta Caves and a buffer day before the flight home.
Evening direct flight from Mumbai. Met on arrival at Cochin airport and transferred by air-conditioned vehicle to your hotel for overnight.
Guided morning in Fort Kochi — Mattancherry (Dutch) Palace, St. Francis Church and the Jewish Synagogue, then the great Chinese fishing nets being lowered on Vasco Da Gama Square. Afternoon drive eastward to the tea hills of Munnar; two nights at altitude.
The sprawling tea estates, Eravikulam National Park (home of the Nilgiri Tahr mountain goat), the Tata Tea Museum, Mattupetty Dam and Echo Point. Afternoon at leisure.
Drive to the cardamom country of Thekkady. A walking tour of the spice plantations — cardamom thrives at 600–1200 m — followed by a Kalaripayattu martial-art performance, a Keralan tradition dating to 1362 BCE.
Early boat ride on Periyar Lake — wild elephants come down to play in the water at dawn. After breakfast, drive to Kumarakom jetty and board your reserved kettuvallom. A snake-boat run through the narrow canals, then lunch and dinner cooked on deck; the boat moors at sunset.
Breakfast aboard, then a tuktuk and a small canal-boat to Lata's house — coir making and coconut-tree climbing, toddy tapping, a President's-awardee bamboo-and-cane basket maker. Afternoon flight to Mumbai; met on arrival and transferred to your hotel for an unhurried evening.
After a leisurely breakfast, a guided visit to the rock-cut temples of Elephanta Island — a UNESCO World Heritage site, an hour by motor-launch across the harbour from the Gateway of India. The great Trimurti cave, carved between the 5th and 8th centuries, holds a six-metre triple-headed Shiva. Lunch in the city; afternoon free to wander Colaba, Marine Drive or the Prince of Wales Museum. Overnight in Mumbai.
A slow morning at the hotel; general check-out by noon. The afternoon is yours — a Bandra art walk, a Crawford Market browse, or a final masala chai at Marine Drive. Late-evening transfer to the international airport for the flight home.
Two unhurried nights each in Cochin, Munnar and Thekkady — Kathakali by lamplight, the world's highest tea estates, and a full day in the wilderness of Gavi where the Pamba reservoir, the lion-tailed macaque and the Nilgiri Tahr share a single quiet road.
Evening flight from Mumbai. Welcomed at Cochin airport, transferred to your hotel for the first of two nights.
Guided morning at the Dutch Palace, St. Francis Church, the Jewish Synagogue and the Chinese fishing nets. Early-evening performance of Kathakali — vivid storytelling in paint, gesture and music; a must-see Keralan classical form.
Drive eastward to the hills of Munnar — once the British government's summer retreat, named for the confluence of three rivers. Afternoon free or explore the town with your driver.
A leisurely day across the tea estates, Eravikulam National Park, Tata Tea Museum, Mattupetty Dam and Echo Point.
Down to the cardamom country. Late-afternoon Kalaripayattu martial-art performance at a nearby cultural centre.
Leave the hotel at 0530 in a purpose-built safari jeep. A 40-km road blanketed in tea, then hills and valleys, tropical forest, cascading waterfalls and cardamom plantations along the edge of the Periyar Tiger Reserve. Pamba Reservoir, lion-tailed macaque, Nilgiri Tahr. Packed breakfast and lunch on the trail; back by 1600.
Early boat ride on Periyar Lake at dawn, breakfast at the resort, then a leisurely drive to Kumarakom. Board your reserved kettuvallom; a snake-boat run through the narrow canals; lunch and dinner cooked on deck; the boat moors at sunset.
Breakfast aboard, tuktuk and a canal-boat to Lata's house for coir making, coconut-tree climbing, toddy tapping and a President's-awardee bamboo-and-cane basket maker. Transfer to Cochin airport for the flight to Mumbai. Met on arrival and transferred to your hotel for an unhurried overnight.
Breakfast at the hotel and check-out; luggage stored at the bell desk. A guided morning at the rock-cut temples of Elephanta Island — UNESCO World Heritage, an hour by motor-launch from the Gateway of India, holding the six-metre triple-headed Shiva carved between the 5th and 8th centuries. Return to the city for lunch; the remainder of the day at leisure depending on your flight time, then a timely transfer to Mumbai international airport for the journey home.
Should an additional overnight be required on the 28th — to suit a later flight or simply a more leisurely close to the journey — a second Mumbai night can be added at supplement. Do mention it on enquiry.
Detailed itineraries above. Pricing, hotels and inclusions are shared on enquiry — please get in touch to confirm dates and tailor any of these extensions to your group.
Single room supplement: $1,330 · Udaipur–Mumbai airfare: $110
Booking schedule: $500 deposit secures your seat · 25% by 8 April 2026 · Balance by 4 July 2026.
Cancellation: by 8 Apr 2026 — deposit refunded less $150 admin · by 7 Jul 2026 — 25% forfeited · on or after 8 Jul 2026 — no refund.
A guided, step-by-step tourist e-Visa application — we walk you through every field and document so you arrive ready.
