Women-only India: the Golden Triangle and Varanasi

1. Day 1: Arrive in Delhi

   Indira Gandhi International Airport to your hotel in New Delhi

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Delhi
   Day 1 details

   Your trip starts at Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL), where a driver meets you in the arrivals hall, holding a See Sight Tours sign with your name, for the drive of about 20 km into New Delhi. Many flights from North America land late at night or before dawn, and India is nine and a half to ten and a half hours ahead of eastern Canada, so today asks nothing of you. If you land early in the morning, tell us your flight and we can book the room from the night before. Tonight is deliberately short and slow. At about 6:30 pm your See Sight Tours guide, a woman who travels with you to the last day, meets the group in the lobby for a frank half-hour briefing: what to wear in mosques and temples, how to handle staring and selfie requests, room sharing, and the plan for the Taj at sunrise. Then an early welcome dinner of North Indian cooking close to the hotel, with everyone back in their rooms by about 9 pm.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide on dress, conduct and the days ahead
   • Early welcome dinner near the hotel

   Free time: Free until the 6:30 pm briefing; an early night

2. Day 2: Old Delhi and Humayun's Tomb

   Jama Masjid, Chandni Chowk and Khari Baoli, then Humayun's Tomb

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Delhi
   Day 2 details

   No alarm today: breakfast at your own pace, and we leave the hotel at about 9 am. Shah Jahan, the emperor who built the Taj Mahal, laid out this walled city in the 1640s, and its great mosque, the Jama Masjid, finished in 1656, is one of the largest in India. Visitors are not let in during prayers, so we time our visit around them; bring your scarf to cover your head, and robes are usually lent at the door. From the mosque steps we take cycle rickshaws down Chandni Chowk and into the bazaars to Khari Baoli, the spice market, where sacks of chillies, turmeric and cardamom spill onto the street. Your guide keeps the group close here, as these are the busiest lanes of the trip. Lunch is a sit-down meal, at a women-run kitchen where we can confirm one with your dates. After a rest at the hotel through the middle of the day, we drive to Humayun's Tomb, finished around 1570 and listed by UNESCO in 1993, the first great garden tomb in India and a model for the Taj, arriving as the late sun warms the red sandstone.

   Included

   • Jama Masjid with your guide
   • Cycle rickshaw ride through Chandni Chowk to the Khari Baoli spice market
   • Sit-down lunch in Delhi
   • Humayun's Tomb in the late afternoon

   Easier option: Skip the rickshaw ride and the spice market: your guide arranges a car to the lunch stop instead.

   Free time: Middle of the day free at the hotel; evening free

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot in crowded lanes. Shoes come off in the mosque; cover shoulders, knees and your head.

   

3. Day 3: Train to Agra, the Taj from across the river

   Morning train from Delhi to Agra, Agra Fort, then Mehtab Bagh at sunset

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Agra
   Day 3 details

   No long highway day to start: after an early breakfast we take a morning express train from Delhi to Agra, about two hours, with your guide, while the bags go ahead by road to the hotel. First stop is Agra Fort, the red sandstone citadel Akbar rebuilt from 1565, listed by UNESCO in 1983. Shah Jahan later added white marble palaces inside and spent his last years there under guard, looking down the Yamuna River towards the Taj Mahal. A licensed local guide joins us for the visit. After lunch on your own, the middle of the day is free at the hotel. Late in the afternoon we cross the river to Mehtab Bagh, a Mughal garden laid out directly opposite the Taj. There are far fewer people than at the Taj itself, the marble turns warm as the sun drops, and it is the calmest first view of the Taj you can get. Agra is a one-night stop, because the Taj itself waits for tomorrow's sunrise.

   Included

   • Express train from Delhi to Agra, with station transfers
   • Agra Fort with a licensed local guide
   • Mehtab Bagh at sunset, facing the Taj Mahal across the Yamuna

   Free time: Middle of the day free at the hotel

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot at Agra Fort, on ramps and uneven stone.

4. Day 4: The Taj at sunrise, Fatehpur Sikri and on to Jaipur

   Taj Mahal at sunrise, then Agra to Jaipur by road via Fatehpur Sikri

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Jaipur
   Day 4 details

   The alarm goes early, and it is worth it. The Taj Mahal opens its gates about half an hour before sunrise, and we are in line before they open, with tickets bought ahead, including the ticket into the main tomb. Walk through the great gateway to the reflecting pool while the white marble turns from grey to pink, then circle the tomb Shah Jahan began in 1632 for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, with the mosque and its twin on either side. After a late breakfast at the hotel we head west. Fatehpur Sikri, about an hour away, was Akbar's red sandstone capital from 1571; we walk its palace courtyards and the five-storey Panch Mahal, pass through the Buland Darwaza gate, and sit down for lunch. The rest of the road to Jaipur, about 200 km, takes around three and a half hours. That makes about four and a half hours of driving today, above our usual four: Fatehpur Sikri and lunch split it into two stretches, and the alternative, a second night in Agra, would cost a night in Jaipur. We reach Jaipur in the late afternoon.

   Included

   • The Taj Mahal at sunrise with a licensed local guide, including the main tomb ticket
   • Fatehpur Sikri with a licensed local guide: the palace courtyards, the Panch Mahal and the Buland Darwaza
   • Sit-down lunch near Fatehpur Sikri
   • Drive to Jaipur with your guide

   Free time: Evening free in Jaipur

   Activity: The Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays, so this day never falls on a Friday. In December and January, fog can hide the Taj at sunrise; we wait in the garden for it to lift, and Mehtab Bagh the evening before is your second view. Tripods, food and large bags are not allowed inside.

5. Day 5: Amber Fort at opening, Jantar Mantar

   Amber Fort and Panna Meena ka Kund, then Jantar Mantar and the City Palace

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Jaipur
   Day 5 details

   We leave the hotel early to be at Amber Fort when it opens, at about 8 am, ahead of the tour coaches. Raja Man Singh I began the fort in 1592 on a ridge above Maota Lake, and it is one of the Hill Forts of Rajasthan listed by UNESCO in 2013. We ride up by jeep, never by elephant. Inside, a licensed local guide takes us through the hall of public audience, the painted Ganesh Pol gateway and the Sheesh Mahal, whose walls and ceiling are set with thousands of small mirrors. From the ramparts the old walls run away over the Aravalli hills. On the way down we stop at Panna Meena ka Kund, a stepwell with criss-cross stairs on all four sides. Lunch is your choice, then a short rest at the hotel. In the mid-afternoon, at about 2 to 3 pm, well before closing time, we visit Jantar Mantar, the giant stone astronomical instruments Sawai Jai Singh II built in the 1720s and 1730s, listed by UNESCO in 2010, and next door the City Palace, where Jaipur's royal family still lives in one wing.

   Included

   • Amber Fort at opening with a licensed local guide, with the jeep ride up
   • Panna Meena ka Kund stepwell
   • The City Palace
   • Jantar Mantar

   Free time: A short rest after lunch; late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot at Amber Fort, with ramps and steps; the City Palace and Jantar Mantar are mostly flat.

6. Day 6: The Pink City at first light

   Hawa Mahal and the walled city, a free afternoon, Nahargarh at sunset

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Jaipur
   Day 6 details

   The Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds, faces east, so its pink honeycomb front of 953 small windows is at its best in the first hour of sun. It was built in 1799 so the women of the royal household, who lived in purdah, could watch the street without being seen, and your guide tells their side of the story while we look at it from across the road with a cup of chai. Then we walk through the walled city that Sawai Jai Singh II laid out in 1727 on a grid of broad streets, listed by UNESCO in 2019, past temple doorways, sweet shops and the jewellers of Johari Bazaar as they open. There are no stops at commission shops, today or any day. Back at the hotel for a late breakfast, then the rest of the day is yours. Before sunset we drive up to Nahargarh Fort on the ridge to watch the lights of the city come on. Then the women of a Jaipur family welcome the group into their home to cook together, rolling chapatis and tempering dal, and share dinner around their table.

   Included

   • The Hawa Mahal at first light
   • A walk through the walled city and Johari Bazaar with your guide
   • Nahargarh Fort at sunset
   • Home cooking evening and dinner with the women of a Jaipur family

   Optional experiences

   • Hot-air balloon flight over the countryside near Jaipur at dawn. October to March, weather permitting; it replaces the first-light walk
   • Mehndi (henna) session with a local woman artist at the hotel. On the free afternoon

   Easier option: Sleep in and join the group in the late afternoon for Nahargarh and the cooking dinner.

   More active option: In the afternoon, walk with your guide up the old pilgrim path over the ridge to Galta Ji, a temple complex of spring-fed tanks known for its monkeys, then meet the group at Nahargarh.

   Free time: Late morning and afternoon free

7. Day 7: Fly to Varanasi for the evening aarti

   Jaipur to Varanasi by air, then the Ganga aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Varanasi
   Day 7 details

   A slow start, then a short drive to Jaipur airport and a flight east to Varanasi of a little under two hours, with your guide on the plane. It replaces the long overnight train many group trips use to reach the Ganges. From Varanasi's airport it is up to an hour by road into the city, and cars cannot reach the river, so the last stretch to our hotel near the ghats may be on foot through narrow lanes, with porters for the bags. Varanasi, also called Kashi and Banaras, is the holiest city of Hinduism and is often named among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. As the sun goes down we board our own boat and row out in front of Dashashwamedh Ghat for the Ganga aarti: young priests in matching robes swing tall brass lamps, bells ring, conch shells sound and thousands watch from the steps. From the water you see it all without the crush of bodies on the ghat, which is where women travellers most often report being jostled. Dinner together follows, back on land.

   Included

   • Transfers to Jaipur airport and from Varanasi airport
   • Flight from Jaipur to Varanasi
   • The Ganga aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat from our own boat
   • Dinner in Varanasi

   Free time: Afternoon free after check-in

   Activity: About 20 to 40 steep stone steps down to the boat, depending on the river level, and a step into a small wooden boat.

   

8. Day 8: The Ganges at dawn

   A boat along the ghats at sunrise, then a free day in Varanasi

   • By boat
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Varanasi
   Day 8 details

   The ghats of Varanasi face east across the river, so sunrise is the hour to be on the water. We walk down to the river in the half dark and board our boat at first light. As the sun comes up over the sandbanks on the far shore, the boatman rows slowly past dozens of ghats: pilgrims bathing and praying, priests under bamboo umbrellas, washermen at work and the first chai stalls opening. We pass Manikarnika, the main cremation ghat, at a respectful distance; your guide explains the rites, and nobody photographs them. Back on land, we walk along the riverside steps to a late breakfast. The rest of the day is yours. Sit on the ghats and watch the river, rest at the hotel, or ask your guide to book a yoga class with a woman teacher or a music lesson. In the evening you can watch the aarti again, this time from the steps with your guide and others from the group, or find a rooftop restaurant above the river for dinner.

   Included

   • Sunrise boat along the ghats with your guide
   • Walk along the riverside ghats

   Optional experiences

   • Yoga class by the river with a woman teacher, arranged by your guide. Morning or late afternoon
   • Ramnagar Fort, the riverside palace of the former rulers of Banaras across the river. Arranged by your guide on the free afternoon, on a day the fort is open to visitors

   Easier option: Stay in the boat at the end and ride back to the ghat nearest the hotel instead of walking along the steps.

   Free time: Late morning, afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Steep ghat steps and a small boat again this morning. Bring a warm layer from December to February; mornings on the river are cold.

9. Day 9: Sarnath and the old city lanes

   Varanasi to Sarnath and back, then a walk through the old city

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Varanasi
   Day 9 details

   This morning we drive about 10 km north to Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon after his enlightenment some 2,500 years ago, one of the four main places of Buddhist pilgrimage. A licensed local guide walks us through the Deer Park, the ruined monasteries and the Dhamek Stupa, a solid brick and stone drum over 40 metres high, then into the Archaeological Museum to see the Lion Capital of Ashoka from the 3rd century BC, now the national emblem of India. The museum is closed on Fridays; if this day falls on one, we visit Sarnath on the free afternoon of day 8 instead. Lunch is in Sarnath, followed by a rest at the hotel. In the late afternoon your guide leads a walk through the lanes of the old city, too narrow for cars, past small shrines, sweet shops and silk weavers' doorways. We stop with a women-run craft or weaving group, where we can confirm one with your dates, to see the work and hear how it runs, with nothing to buy unless you want to. We come out on the ghats, together, as the lamps are lit.

   Included

   • Sarnath with a licensed local guide: the Deer Park, the Dhamek Stupa and the Archaeological Museum
   • Lunch in Sarnath
   • Old city walk with your guide, with street food tastings
   • A visit to a women-run craft or weaving group (confirmed with your dates)

   Easier option: Skip the old city walk and spend the late afternoon on the ghats or at the hotel.

   More active option: Before breakfast, walk south along the river to Assi Ghat for the morning aarti held there at dawn, and meet the group back at the hotel.

   Free time: Early afternoon free

   Activity: Sarnath is flat and easy. The old city walk is about 2 hours in crowded lanes, shared with motorbikes and the odd cow.

   

10. Day 10: Back to Delhi and the Red Fort

    Varanasi to Delhi by air, then the Red Fort

    • Drive about 2 h
    • Breakfast and dinner
    • Stay in Delhi
    Day 10 details

    A morning flight takes about an hour and a half from Varanasi to Delhi, and your guide flies with you. After lunch on your own we drive to the Red Fort, the palace citadel Shah Jahan built from 1639 when he moved the Mughal capital from Agra to Delhi, listed by UNESCO in 2007. After Agra Fort and the Taj, it completes his story: walk in through the Lahori Gate, along the covered bazaar of the Chhatta Chowk, to the hall where the emperor gave public audience, and on to the white marble Khas Mahal and Diwan-i-Khas, his private rooms, set in gardens above the old course of the Yamuna. The fort is closed on Mondays, so departures are timed to keep this day off a Monday. Then back to the hotel to rest before a farewell dinner together, a last chance to swap photos and stories from the river.

    Included

    • Transfer to Varanasi airport
    • Flight from Varanasi to Delhi, with the transfer into the city
    • The Red Fort with your guide
    • Farewell dinner

    Optional experiences

    • Khajuraho extension: two nights at the Hindu and Jain temples of Khajuraho before Delhi. Quoted on request, flights permitting

    Free time: Early evening free before the farewell dinner

    Activity: About 2 hours on foot at the Red Fort, mostly on level paths and lawns.

    

11. Day 11: Depart Delhi

    Your hotel in New Delhi to Indira Gandhi International Airport

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast
    Day 11 details

    Your last morning is free. If your flight leaves late, as many long-haul flights from Delhi do, there is time for one more Delhi morning: walk in Lodhi Garden among 15th and 16th century tombs, or visit Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, the Sikh temple near Connaught Place, whose community kitchen serves a free meal to anyone who comes. Your guide can point you the way before saying goodbye. Check-out at the Delhi hotel, where we stayed after the farewell dinner, is usually around noon; if you need the room for longer, we can book a late check-out or a day room at cost. A driver takes you to Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL), about 20 km and up to an hour in traffic, timed to your flight. Plan to reach the airport three hours before an international departure. Any flight time on day 11 works, and if you would like to stay on in Delhi, ask us for extra nights when you book.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)

    Free time: Free until your airport transfer

    Activity: Any flight time works today; allow three hours at the airport for an international flight.

Wildlife and weather: October to March is dry and sunny, warm in October and March and cool in December and January, when nights in Delhi, Agra and Varanasi can be cold. December and January fog can hide the Taj at sunrise and delay morning flights and trains, so those travel days carry slack. Diwali (October or November) and Dev Deepawali in Varanasi about two weeks later bring lamps, crowds and higher hotel prices. April to June is very hot, and the July to September monsoon floods the lower ghats.

• Delhi2 nights
• Agra1 night
• Jaipur3 nights
• Varanasi3 nights
• Delhi1 night