Tour 10. To cross the Classic India in 3 weeks. Delhi, Udaipur, Pushkar, Jaipur, Agra, Varanasi, Khajuraho, Orcha, Aurangabad, Ajanta, Ellora, Mumbai. 18 days

or +3 days extra for Goa beach optionally.

In this tour:

• The best sights of Golden Triangle: Taj Mahal, Forts, bazars, Indian street animals, colorful women, smell of incenses, traditional food and so on;
• Incredible colorful Rajasthan – The Fairy Tail of East – maharajas’ palaces, Haveli houses, elephants, camels, Tar desert, beautiful traditional clothes and unique culture;
• Small, cozy and very ancient places: Kajuraho, Orchha, Ajanta, Ellora. Old villages, farms, classic natural landscapes. And, of course, worldwide famous Kamasutra temples, palaces and caves;
• The Holy Varanasi – one of the oldest cities in the world, the city of Shiva, the capital of Hinduism, the city where Hindu people coming to pray and to dye. Here many cremations take place every day and fire never stops.
• The Gorgeous Mumbai – the city, where modern life, Bollywood style, British colonial architecture and streets from Slumdog millionaire movie coexist all together.

Program.

Day 1. Delhi.

Pick-up from airport. Depends on time of your flight you can sleep in Delhi hotel or start program straightly from the airport.

Today we will visit the best places in Delhi:

Gurudwara Bangla Sahib – beautiful temple of Sikh people with holy lake and canteen where everyone can have free food.

Colonial center with government buildings (Parliament, President Palace) and Indian Gate.

Qutub Minar – historical place with first mosque of India made from the pieces of 27^th hindu temples and highest minaret.

Lotus temple – famous futuristic temple for meditation and pray for all religions followers.

Akchardham –white temple, one of the biggest and most beautiful temples with numerous amount of sculptures

Cycle-rickshaw tour by the streets of one of the most interesting bazars in Delhi – Chandi-chowk, where you can see the real Indian life. Or we will have a walk by alive streets of Delhi.

The next destination – Udaipur city – we can reach by flight (evening, morning) or by night train.

Night in Delhi/Udaipur hotel or in train.

Day 2. Udaipur.

After breakfast, we will see the one of the most beautiful and romantic cities of India, the White-city of Rajasthan.

You will visit the central part of the old city – ancient streets, parks, palaces, Haveli – beautiful tradition houses of Rajasthani merchants.

Then we will have boating by the Pichola Lake with a stop at Jagmandir island to visit Jag Mandir Palace and rest in the beautiful garden.

After sunset in the boat or on the Pichola ghats, you will have dinner in one of cozy and romantic Udaipur restaurants with the lake-view.

Night in Udaipur hotel.

Day 3. Udaipur.

Today we will continue to visit the best sights of Udaipur.

City palace– is the huge palace complex gorgeous from outside as inside.

Cenotaphs – tombstones on the places where raja’s cremation took place are one of the most beautiful in Rajasthan.

Monsoon palace – not architecture is important that much, but the great panoramic views. If you are interested in active time, you can come up to the palace hill by feet.

To deep more in hindu culture, you will visit the main city temple – Jagdish temple.

In the evening, we will visit the cultural village where you will see tradition houses, clothes, dances and other elements of Rajasthani culture.

Night in Udaipur hotel.

Day 4. Udaipur- Pushkar.

After breakfast, we will move by car to Pushkar – small, very but very famous town. The holy place for hindu people from one side and mid-Indian resort for hippy-people from other. Important ancient temples and hippy cafes are neighbors in Pushkar; young people with dreadlocks and pilgrims are neighbors as well. Also Pushkar is famous with camels – here you can meet a lot of them, especially in the time of Camel festivals.

After check-in in the hotel and rest, you will visit center, holy lake and famous Brahma temple – the one of 2 Brahma temples in all India.

Late afternoon we will have a camel safari in the Tar desert.

Night in Pushkar hotel.

Day 5. Pushkar – Jaipur.

In the morning, we will have more time to spend in Pushkar. It is not a city for tours and sightseeing. It is the city to stay, feel and relax. We can seat on the lake steps – Ghats or in cafes, look around. We can see how people prey or put flowers in water, we can make unique photos of incredible characters coming here or just drink masala-chai and rest.

After lunch, we will move to Jaipur city.

After check-in and rest, we will have a walk by the streets of the Pink-city with ancient buildings, alive bazars, rickshaws, animals and all colors of Rajasthan daily life.

We will visit the interesting Palace of Winds – Hawa Mahal, the palace for raja’s harem – the must see of Jaipur.

Night in Jaipur hotel.

Day 6. Jaipur-Agra.

After breakfast, we will visit the Amber Fort with beautiful Maharaja Palace inside. If we are lucky, we will find fakirs with cobras and street musicians. To the fort, we will come up by elephants.

Then we will see narrow streets of old city Amer and visit there the ancient Step-well.

On the way back to the Jaipur, we will make a stop near the beautiful lake to have a walk and take a photo of the water-palace – Jal-Mahal.

Then we will walk around the City Palace where currently raja’s family live (without entrance) and visit Jantar Mantar – ancient observatory.

Late afternoon we will move to Agra city.

Night in Agra hotel.

Day 7. Agra – Varanasi.

Today we have to wake-up early morning – to see beautiful Taj Mahal – symbol of great love – in the morning light.

Later we are moving to other interesting places of Agra: Agra Fort, Itimad-ud-Daulah called by locals as a Baby Taj and show-room-workshop where we can see ancient technologies used to work with marble.

Our next destination is an ancient holy city Varanasi. We can go there by afternoon flight or night train.

In case of train in the evening you can see Kalakriti show of Agra.

Night in Varanasi hotel or in train.

Day 8. Varanasi.

After breakfast, we will start to explorer the city: streets, temples, bazars. We will visit Sarnath – the important pilgrimage site with Buddhism stupa outside of Varanasi city. Here Lord Buddha first taught his followers.

In the evening, we will see one of the most interesting ceremony in India: Ganga aarti when priests pray to the Holy Ganga River.

Night in Varanasi hotel.

Day 9. Varanasi-Khajuraho

Today we wake up early to see sunrise from the boat sailing the Ganga.

We will see from the boat all Ghats including Burning ghat where cremation process takes place.

After boating, we will walk by Ghats and spend time in narrow streets of old Varanasi to see the daily life and reality of Hinduism.

In the evening, we will take train to Khajuraho. By your wish, you can go by afternoon flight or car instead of train.

Night in Khajuraho hotel or in train.

Day 10. Khajuraho.

Khajuraho is famous by numerous temples covered by masterpieces statues of gods, animals, everyday life and, of course – kamasutra scenes.

We will see the best of the temples.

Then we will visit old village of Khajuraho where people lived by cast system.

Late afternoon we will have countryside tour to see real life of Central India: villages, fields, farmers, nature. We will climb Teeth Mountains to see the sunset and beautiful view from there.

For dinner you will have indian traditional food and even can take part in the cooking process if you wishJ

Night in Khajuraho hotel.

Day 11. Khajuraho.

Early morning we will visit the park with wild nature. Optionally it can be small park with beautiful canyon – Renehfall or serious safari to Panna National park where you have chance to see tigers.

After lunch we will see the other part of famous Kamasutra temples and will spend sunset time in one of quiet and beautiful places.

In the evening you can see traditional dance show or visit Ayurvedic centre.

Night in Khajuraho hotel.

Day 12. Khajuraho-Orchha.

After breakfast, we will move to the beautiful Orchha.

Orchha was a capital of Bhundelkhand kingdom. Here we will see palaces, temples, tombs, royal building on the bank of river surrounded by fields and forests. Orchha is one of the most quiet, beautiful, atmosphere and charming places in the North India.

In the evening we will take train to Aurangabad city.

Night in train.

Day 13. Aurangabad.

Before lunch we will arrive to Aurangabad by train, check in to hotel and have rest.

Then we will visit the main Aurangabad sights: Grishneshwar Jyotirlinga temple, Bibi Ka Maqbara called by Indian people as a Baby Taj Mahal, and Tomb of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.

Night in Aurangabad hotel.

Day 14. Ellora

After early breakfast, we will move to Ellora caves by car and spend the full day to see beautiful caves, sculptures and walk around over the hills area. The Kailash temple in a big cave – is one of the best masterpieces of India, beloved by everyobe who visit it.

In the evening, we will go back to the hotel for the rest and traditional dinner.

Night in Aurangabad hotel.

Day 15. Ajanta-Mumbai.

After early breakfast, we will go by car to Ajanta Buddhism caves complex. It is one of the most important Buddhism sight in India to visit. There we will spend 4-5 hours.

Then we will move to Mumbai city.

Night in Mumbai hotel.

Day 16. Mumbai.

Today we will explorer Mumbai – city with especial atmosphere and style, second capital of India, heart of business, economics, culture and home of BollywoodJ

We will have a walk by colonial streets with beautiful buildings, near Gate of India, in touristic Сolaba area. In case of availability we will have lunch or dinner in famous Leopold café where a lot of worldwide authors had their coffee.

After lunch we will visit Prince of Wales museum with rich and interesting collection.

The evening we will spend walking by alive and modern Marina bay.

Day 17. Mumbai.

Today we will visit the most interesting points of Mumbai: Chhatrapati Shivaji or Victoria railway station, Haji Ali Dargah mosque, Dadabhai Naoroji avenue, Bombay High Court, Taj Hotel, Bandra-Worli Sea Link, famous street laundry.  And of course some temples and colorful markets.

Here our travel is coming to the end. Depends on your future plans, you can take today evening or tomorrow morning flight to Delhi, Goa or directly to home.

Night in Mumbai hotel or flight.