Your own journey

Your driver meets you after you clear arrivals and takes you to your hotel, which is arranged by category, five-star or heritage.

• The rest of the day is open.
• If you arrive in the morning and feel well, your guide can take you on a short drive past India Gate and through New Delhi's avenues, or to Humayun's Tomb for the late afternoon light.
• If you land at night, the day is arrival and sleep.
• Tell us your arrival time and any interests when we plan, because this is the five-day journey that we reshape most often.
• Your guide calls you in the evening to confirm tomorrow.
• There is no pressure to see anything today.
• A quiet dinner at the hotel and an early night is a perfectly good start to the five days ahead.

After breakfast, your guide and driver begin at Humayun's Tomb, then drive to the Qutub Minar complex.

• Lunch is near the hotel.
• In the afternoon, visit Old Delhi: the Jama Masjid, the lanes of Chandni Chowk and the exterior of the Red Fort, which is closed on Mondays.
• The old city is crowded, so carry little.
• Return to the hotel in the late afternoon.
• If you prefer museums or markets to monuments, say so when we plan, and your guide will adjust.
• Dinner is early, because tomorrow starts with a drive to Agra and a long afternoon.
• Lunch is a good time to ask your guide questions about the next three days, and to mention any food preferences, since your guide can pass these on to the restaurants.

Leave Delhi after breakfast and drive south on the expressway to Agra, roughly three and a half to four hours with a rest stop.

• By lunchtime you are in Agra.
• After a rest, your guide takes you to Agra Fort, where the Mughal emperors held court.
• Late afternoon light on the red stone is good for photographs.
• The Taj Mahal is best visited at sunrise, and you may do so tomorrow, but if tomorrow is a Friday, the Taj is closed and we swap the order, visiting the Taj today.
• Dinner is early, so you can rise before dawn.
• Bring a light layer for the cooler air at the Taj, and keep a small bag only, since large bags are not allowed inside.
• Your driver stays with the car throughout and your guide is on call.

Leave the hotel before sunrise for the Taj Mahal.

• Tickets are arranged for you.
• The marble turns from grey to gold as the sun rises, and your guide explains the building and the garden.
• In December and January fog can flatten the sunrise.
• After breakfast, set off for Jaipur, roughly four and a half to five hours of driving.
• About an hour out, stop at Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar's abandoned red sandstone capital, for roughly ninety minutes.
• Lunch is on the road.
• A stop at the stepwell at Abhaneri can be added if you wish.
• You arrive in Jaipur in the late afternoon and check in.
• Rest, and have a quiet dinner.

Begin at Amber Fort in the morning, when the light is clear and the crowds are still thin.

• The courtyards and the mirror hall take roughly two hours.
• Back in the city, see the City Palace and Jantar Mantar, then photograph the Hawa Mahal from across the street.
• Lunch is in the old city.
• In the afternoon your driver takes you back to Delhi, roughly five to six hours with a rest stop.
• He takes you to the airport or to your hotel, leaving a margin for traffic.
• If your flight leaves late at night, there is time for a block-printing workshop on the way out, which can be discussed when we plan.