The India travel specialists · London
Classic North India — 9 nights through Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Jhansi, Orchha, Khajuraho and Varanasi.
This is the Golden Triangle with the part most people miss bolted on to the end of it. You do Delhi, Jaipur and Agra by road in the first six days, then take the Shatabdi Express out of Agra to Jhansi, stop at the fort at Orchha on the way through, and spend a night at Khajuraho with its carved temples. After that comes Varanasi, where you get up in the dark to be on the Ganges while the bathing ghats are filling, and Sarnath in the afternoon.
Ten days covers a lot of ground and the itinerary does not hide it: a train, two internal flights, and drives of five hours more than once. Varanasi in particular asks something of you. It is crowded, the air by the river is thick with smoke, and the early boat means a 5am start. It is also the reason people come back from this trip talking about the last three days rather than the Taj Mahal.
Private car for the Golden Triangle leg, the Shatabdi Express from Agra to Jhansi, then flights east to Varanasi and back to Delhi.
Agra Fort, the Taj Mahal and Sikandra in one go, which sounds like too much and is not, because they sit close together and each one is a different sort of building. The fort is a working military site with palaces inside it; the Taj is a tomb and nothing else. Closed Fridays.
You break the drive from Jhansi at Orchha, a cluster of palaces and cenotaphs above the Betwa river with a village attached and not much else. Hardly anyone stops. After a week of ticket queues the silence on the upper terraces lands harder than you expect.
Chandela temples covered from plinth to spire in carved figures, the famous ones among many hundreds of others doing entirely ordinary things. Morning is the time to see them, while the sun is still low enough to leave shadow in the relief. Then you fly east.
From a boat you see the ghats stacked up the bank, people washing and praying and doing laundry a few feet apart, and smoke from the cremation grounds further along. Sarnath in the afternoon is the opposite: open lawns, a brick stupa, a quiet most of Varanasi does not have.
October to March. February and October to November are the most even across all six stops. December and January mornings can be cold and foggy, which occasionally delays the internal flights. April to June is very hot and the monsoon runs July to September.
Arrive Delhi
Met at the airport and driven to your hotel. Most flights from the UK land in the small hours or the early morning, so plan on a slow first day.
Delhi
Jama Masjid and Chandni Chowk in the morning, by foot or rickshaw. Humayun's Tomb and Qutub Minar after that, with the Red Fort, India Gate and the President's House taken in from the car.
Delhi to Jaipur
258 km / 5 hrs
A straightforward highway drive out of Delhi into Rajasthan, with nothing scheduled at the other end but checking in. If you arrive with daylight left, the old city is worth a wander on your own.
Jaipur
Amber Fort first, with the elephant ride up to the gate where elephants are available. Then the City Palace, the outsized stone instruments at Jantar Mantar, and Hawa Mahal.
Jaipur to Agra via Fatehpur Sikri
238 km / 5 hrs
You stop at Fatehpur Sikri on the way: Akbar's abandoned capital, its mosque and the Tomb of Salim Chisti. On into Agra for the night.
Agra
Agra Fort, then the Taj Mahal, which closes on Fridays, and Sikandra where Akbar is buried. A full day of Mughal building, all of it within half an hour of your hotel.
Agra to Khajuraho via Jhansi and Orchha
Shatabdi Express to Jhansi, then 172 km / 4 hrs by road
An early train out of Agra to Jhansi in air-conditioned chair car, then the car again. You stop at Orchha Fort, standing above the Betwa with very little around it, before carrying on to Khajuraho.
Khajuraho to Varanasi
by flight
The Khajuraho temples in the morning, best done early while the carving still has shadow in it. You fly on to Varanasi and the rest of the day is yours, which after a week of sightseeing is not an accident.
Varanasi
Out before dawn for the boat along the ghats. Later, the Hanuman Temple, Banaras Hindu University and the Bharat Mata Temple, then Sarnath in the afternoon, where the Buddha is said to have given his first sermon and the mood is noticeably quieter.
Varanasi to Delhi
by flight
A flight back to Delhi for your onward connection. Leave a sensible gap: this is a domestic-to-international change and the airport is busy at almost every hour.
We price the land arrangements and your flights together, then come back with one number. No deposit is taken on the call and nothing is booked until you say so.
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No. The from-price is land only. We quote UK flights separately under ATOL 74904, and the two internal flights, Khajuraho to Varanasi and Varanasi to Delhi, are also quoted separately rather than built into the tour price.
Yes. British passport holders need an Indian visa arranged in advance, at your own cost, and it is not part of the tour price. Allow time for it when you are picking dates.
Because domestic fares in India move about and we would rather price them when you book than carry a guess in the headline figure. Both sectors are part of the itinerary and we arrange them for you; they simply appear as a separate line on your quote.
Early. You leave the hotel before sunrise, which in winter means setting off in the cold and dark. It is the one start on this tour we would not advise skipping, because by mid-morning the river looks like a different place.
It is a reserved air-conditioned chair car, so you have an allocated seat and a table rather than a bunk, and the fare is included. The train leaves Agra in the morning and takes a couple of hours to Jhansi, where your car is waiting.
October to March. February and October to November are the most even across all six stops. December and January mornings in Delhi, Agra and Varanasi can be cold and foggy, which occasionally affects internal flights. April to June is very hot in the east as well as the north, and the monsoon runs July to September.
Prices shown are the supplier’s published “from” price for the land arrangements only, per person on a twin-share basis, and vary by date, hotel grade and party size. International flights are quoted separately. The route map is an illustration of the order of stops, not an accurate map. Patel Travel is ATOL 74904 and IATA accredited. Tours are operated by our ground partner in India; your confirmation will state who is responsible for your booking.
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