12-Day Rajasthan Tour with Ranthambore

Arrival in Delhi. Your chauffeur meets you inside the arrivals hall at Indira Gandhi International Airport and drives you to your hotel. The evening is yours to rest after the flight. If you arrive early and feel up to it, we can add a gentle first drive through the wide avenues of Lutyens’ Delhi, past India Gate as the lights come on.

A full day in Old and New Delhi. A whole day across the two faces of the capital with your private guide. The morning is Old Delhi — the vast courtyard of the Jama Masjid, a cycle-rickshaw ride through the spice markets and silver lanes of Chandni Chowk, and a quiet pause at Raj Ghat, Gandhi’s memorial. After lunch you cross to New Delhi for the UNESCO-listed Humayun’s Tomb, the towering Qutub Minar, and a slow drive down Rajpath past India Gate, the Presidential Palace and Parliament.

Delhi to Agra, and Agra Fort. After breakfast you leave the capital on the Yamuna Expressway and reach Agra in about three and a half hours. The afternoon belongs to Agra Fort, the red-sandstone seat of Mughal power, its marble palaces looking across the river to the Taj. As the day cools, we stop at Mehtab Bagh, the riverside garden that frames the Taj Mahal at sunset — the perfect prelude to seeing it up close at dawn.

Taj at sunrise, then to Ranthambore. You see the Taj Mahal at dawn, then leave Agra for Ranthambore, some hours to the south, reaching the edge of the national park by afternoon. After settling in you head out on your first game drive into the park — a landscape of lakes, ruined pavilions and dry forest that is the tiger’s ground.

A day of safaris. Two game drives, at first light and in the late afternoon, when the park is most alive. Beyond the tiger there are leopards, sloth bears, marsh crocodiles, sambar deer and a wealth of birds, all beneath the crumbling walls of Ranthambore Fort. Between drives, the day is yours to rest.

A last safari, then Jaipur. One more morning drive into the park in the best light for wildlife, then back for breakfast and the road on to Jaipur, about three and a half hours, arriving in the Pink City by evening.

The Pink City — Amber Fort and the palaces. A full day in Jaipur. In the cool of the morning you climb to the honey-coloured Amber Fort above its lake, exploring the mirrored halls and painted courtyards. In the city you visit the City Palace, still home to Jaipur’s royal family, and the extraordinary open-air observatory of Jantar Mantar, and pause for the classic photograph at the Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds. The afternoon leaves time for the bazaars and the block-print and gem workshops.

A second day in Jaipur. A gentler day at your own pace. Choose from the hilltop forts of Nahargarh and Jaigarh with their long views over the city, the Albert Hall Museum, the step-wells on the city’s edge, or simply the bazaars and workshops — hand-block textiles, blue pottery and jewellery. There is time, too, for a leisurely lunch or the hotel pool.

Jaipur to Jodhpur, the Blue City. The road runs west into the desert country to Jodhpur. High above the city stands Mehrangarh, one of India’s mightiest forts, its ramparts falling sheer to the indigo-washed old town below. You explore its palaces and courtyards, the marble cenotaph of Jaswant Thada nearby, and the bustle of the clock-tower bazaar.

Jodhpur to Udaipur, via Ranakpur. A beautiful drive south to Udaipur, breaking at Ranakpur, whose Jain temple is a forest of more than a thousand carved marble pillars, no two alike. You reach Udaipur and its lakes by evening.

Udaipur — the City Palace and Lake Pichola. A full day in the most romantic of Rajasthan’s cities. You explore the sprawling City Palace above Lake Pichola, the Jagdish Temple and the gardens of Saheliyon ki Bari, and in the late afternoon take a boat onto the lake, past the island palaces, as the light turns gold on the walls.

Departure from Udaipur. A last quiet morning by the lake, then your driver transfers you to Udaipur’s airport for your flight onward — usually via Delhi or Mumbai for international connections, which we arrange.