India and Nepal: Delhi to Kathmandu

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 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: sleep, shower and let your body catch up. If you land early in the morning, tell us your flight and we can book the room from the night before, because normal check-in is in the afternoon. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group in the lobby for a briefing on the two weeks ahead: the Taj at sunrise, what to wear in mosques and temples, the four short flights, and the Nepal visa you will collect on arrival in Kathmandu. Then we sit down together for a welcome dinner of North Indian cooking, from dal makhani to tandoori breads, with a plate of momos, the dumplings that Delhi borrowed from Nepal and Tibet.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the early-evening briefing

   Activity: Land by about 4 pm to reach the briefing; later arrivals are met at the airport and join the group at breakfast.

2. Day 2: Old Delhi and the Red Fort

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

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

   We set out early, before the lanes of Old Delhi fill. 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 admitted during prayers, so we time our visit around them. From the mosque steps we take cycle rickshaws down Chandni Chowk to Khari Baoli, the spice market, where sacks of chillies and turmeric spill onto the street. Late morning we walk into the Red Fort, Shah Jahan's palace citadel, begun in 1639 and listed by UNESCO in 2007, through the Lahori Gate to the white marble pavilions of the Khas Mahal. Lunch is a street food tasting with your guide at busy stalls picked for freshness, then the middle of the day is free at the hotel. In the late afternoon we drive to Humayun's Tomb, finished around 1570, the garden tomb that set the pattern the Taj would follow, at its best in low light.

   Included

   • Jama Masjid
   • Cycle rickshaw ride through Chandni Chowk to Khari Baoli
   • Red Fort with a licensed local guide
   • Street food lunch with your guide
   • Humayun's Tomb in the late afternoon

   Easier option: Skip the rickshaw and street food walk and join the group at the Red Fort.

   More active option: Join your guide for an early walk through the Spice Market lanes and up to a rooftop view of the Fatehpuri Masjid before the group sets out.

   Free time: Middle of the day free

   Activity: The Red Fort is closed on Mondays, so no departure has this day on a Monday. Cover shoulders and knees at the mosque.

   

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

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

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • 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, and your guide rides with you while our driver goes ahead by road with the main bags. First stop is Agra Fort, the red sandstone citadel Akbar rebuilt from 1565 and listed by UNESCO in 1983. Shah Jahan later added white marble palaces inside, and he spent his last years here under guard, looking down the Yamuna towards the tomb he had built for his wife. A licensed local guide joins us for the visit. Lunch is together near the fort, then the middle of the day is free at the hotel, which we choose close to the Taj Mahal's East Gate. Late in the afternoon we cross the river to Mehtab Bagh, a Mughal garden laid out directly opposite the Taj, and watch the marble turn gold and then pink as the sun goes down, with a fraction of the crowd on the other bank.

   Included

   • Express train from Delhi to Agra
   • Agra Fort with a licensed local guide
   • Mehtab Bagh at sunset

   Free time: Early afternoon free

   Activity: We pick the train against the weekday: the Gatimaan Express does not run on Fridays, which is one reason departures never start on a Wednesday. If a train is cancelled, we drive, about 230 km and four hours on the expressway.

   

4. Day 4: The Taj at sunrise, Fatehpur Sikri and the Abhaneri stepwell

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

   • Drive about 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 marble turns from grey to pink, then circle the tomb Shah Jahan began in 1632 for Mumtaz Mahal. The visit ends by about 8:30, and a late, unhurried breakfast back at the hotel is a proper rest before we head west. This is our longest road day, about 225 km and four and a half to five hours of driving, over our usual four-hour cap because the train to Jaipur would skip both stops, so we break it into three stretches. Fatehpur Sikri, an hour away, was Akbar's red sandstone capital from 1571; we walk its palace courtyards and pass under the Buland Darwaza gate. After a sit-down lunch we drive about 90 km, roughly two hours, to Abhaneri and Chand Baori, a stepwell of thousands of criss-cross steps dug some 1,200 years ago, then it is about 95 km and an hour and a half to Jaipur.

   Included

   • Taj Mahal at sunrise with a licensed local guide, including the main tomb
   • Fatehpur Sikri with a licensed local guide
   • Sit-down lunch on the road
   • Chand Baori stepwell at Abhaneri

   Easier option: Sit out the Fatehpur Sikri courtyards in the shade near the entrance while the group walks them, and rest in the van between stops.

   Free time: Evening free in Jaipur

   Activity: The Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays, so no departure has this day on a Friday. Visitors view Chand Baori from its rim, not the steps.

5. Day 5: Amber Fort at opening and the City Palace

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

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • 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. On the way down we stop at Panna Meena ka Kund, a smaller stepwell with stairs on all four sides. After lunch together in the old city we visit the City Palace, still home to the former royal family, and next door Jantar Mantar, the open-air observatory Sawai Jai Singh II built in the 1720s and 1730s, whose giant stone sundial tells local time to within seconds on a clear day. The late afternoon and evening are free.

   Included

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

   Optional experiences

   • Hot air balloon flight over the countryside near Jaipur at dawn. Weather permitting, in season.

   Easier option: Skip Panna Meena ka Kund and rest at the hotel before the City Palace; the jeep at Amber takes the climb out of the morning.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

6. Day 6: The Pink City at first light, then fly to Varanasi

   Hawa Mahal and the walled city, Jaipur to Varanasi by air, then the Ganga aarti

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Varanasi
   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 court could watch the street without being seen, and we look at it from across the road with a cup of chai while the shutters go up. Your guide then walks you through the walled city Sawai Jai Singh II laid out in 1727, listed by UNESCO in 2019, past temple doorways and textile and jewellery bazaars as they open. There are no stops at commission shops, today or any day. After a late breakfast we fly east to Varanasi, about two hours if the direct service runs on your date (we confirm the schedule at booking; otherwise we connect through Delhi and arrive later), with your guide on the plane. Cars cannot reach the river, so the last stretch to our hotel near the ghats may be on foot, with porters for the bags. At sunset we board our own boat in front of Dashashwamedh Ghat for the Ganga aarti, with lamps, bells and conch shells, then dinner together.

   Included

   • Hawa Mahal from the street at first light
   • Walled city walk with your guide
   • Flight from Jaipur to Varanasi, with airport transfers
   • Ganga aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat from our own boat
   • Dinner after the aarti

   Free time: Free time at the hotel between the arrival in Varanasi and the sunset aarti

   Activity: Flight times set the morning. If the flight leaves early, the Hawa Mahal stays at first light and the walled city walk moves to the free late afternoon of day 5; if there is no direct flight on your date, we connect through Delhi and the aarti may be seen from the ghat steps instead of the boat, with the boat moved to the morning.

7. Day 7: The Ganges at dawn and Sarnath

   A boat along the ghats at sunrise, then Varanasi to Sarnath and back

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Varanasi
   Day 7 details

   The ghats of Varanasi face east across the river, so sunrise is the hour to be on the water. We walk down 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 the riverside steps to a late breakfast. Late morning we drive about 10 km to Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon, one of the four main places of Buddhist pilgrimage. A licensed local guide shows us the Deer Park, the Dhamek Stupa and the Archaeological Museum with the Lion Capital of Ashoka, now the national emblem of India. Lunch is in Sarnath, and the afternoon and evening are free.

   Included

   • Sunrise boat along the ghats
   • Sarnath with a licensed local guide: the Deer Park, the Dhamek Stupa and the Archaeological Museum
   • Lunch in Sarnath

   Easier option: Go back to the hotel after the boat and rest until Sarnath.

   More active option: Walk the riverside steps from Assi Ghat to Dashashwamedh before the boat, about 3 km with your guide.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: The Sarnath museum is closed on Fridays, so departures are timed to keep this day off a Friday. Steep, uneven steps lead down to the boats.

   

8. Day 8: Fly to Kathmandu, Boudhanath at dusk

   Varanasi to Kathmandu by air, then Boudhanath

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Kathmandu
   Day 8 details

   A quiet last morning by the Ganges: walk down to the ghats for the early light on your own, or sleep in. Late morning we drive to Varanasi's airport, up to an hour, and fly north to Kathmandu, about 1 hour on a direct flight, or longer via Delhi, which we confirm at booking, with your guide on the plane. It replaces the land border crossing many trips use, a road day of ten hours or more by way of Gorakhpur and Lumbini. If the direct flight is not running on your date, we connect through Delhi and arrive in the evening. At Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM) you collect a Nepal tourist visa on arrival before immigration, and set your watch 15 minutes ahead. In the late afternoon we join the pilgrims walking clockwise around Boudhanath, one of the largest stupas in the world and part of the Kathmandu Valley UNESCO listing, as butter lamps are lit and the monasteries around it sound their evening horns. Dinner tonight is our first taste of Nepal: dal bhat and Newari dishes.

   Included

   • Flight from Varanasi to Kathmandu, with airport transfers
   • Boudhanath at dusk with your guide
   • Dinner in Kathmandu

   Free time: Morning free in Varanasi

   Activity: Bring US dollars in cash and a passport photo for the Nepal visa on arrival.

9. Day 9: Swayambhunath, Patan and the Pashupatinath aarti

   Swayambhunath, then Patan Durbar Square, then Pashupatinath at dusk

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Kathmandu
   Day 9 details

   We start early at Swayambhunath, the stupa on a wooded hill west of the city, before the tour groups and while the morning light is on the valley. Climb the long eastern stairway, about 365 steps past monkeys and stone Buddhas, to the white dome and the painted eyes of the Buddha on its gilded tower. Then we cross the Bagmati River to Patan, the old city of craftsmen, where a licensed local guide walks us through Patan Durbar Square, its brick and timber temples and the Patan Museum, set in a restored wing of the royal palace. Lunch is together in Patan, then the afternoon is free to rest. At dusk we drive to Pashupatinath on the Bagmati, the most important Hindu temple in Nepal. Non-Hindus may not enter the main temple, so we watch from the east bank as the evening aarti begins on the ghats with fire, bells and chanting. Cremations take place on the riverbank here too; we watch with respect and do not photograph them.

   Included

   • Swayambhunath
   • Patan Durbar Square and the Patan Museum with a licensed local guide
   • Lunch in Patan
   • Evening aarti at Pashupatinath

   Easier option: Drive to the western car park at Swayambhunath and skip the long stairway.

   Free time: Afternoon free

10. Day 10: Fly to the Terai and Chitwan

    Kathmandu to Bharatpur by air, then by road to Sauraha

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Sauraha (Chitwan)
    Day 10 details

    After breakfast we transfer to the domestic terminal for the flight to Bharatpur, about 25 minutes over the hills to the Terai, Nepal's flat, warm lowland. By road the same trip takes five to six hours on winding highways, so the flight gives you back most of a day. From Bharatpur it is about 30 minutes by road to Sauraha, the village on the north bank of the Rapti River at the edge of Chitwan National Park, Nepal's first national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984. Our lodge for two nights is a short walk from the river, and lunch is waiting. In the afternoon a naturalist walks us through a Tharu village. The Tharu are the indigenous people of the Terai, known for mud-plastered houses painted with patterns, and our host explains how farming and the forest fit together. We end on the riverbank for sunset, often with deer or a rhino grazing on the far side. Dinner is at the lodge.

    Included

    • Flight from Kathmandu to Bharatpur, with transfers
    • Tharu village walk with a naturalist
    • Sunset on the Rapti riverbank
    • Lunch and dinner at the lodge

    Free time: Early afternoon free

    Activity: Domestic flights in Nepal depend on the weather. If ours is grounded, we drive instead and arrive by mid-afternoon.

11. Day 11: Canoe at first light and a jeep safari

    The Rapti River and Chitwan National Park

    • Drive about 30 min
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Sauraha (Chitwan)
    Day 11 details

    An early start: at first light we board long dugout canoes, each cut from a single tree trunk, and drift down the Rapti with a naturalist. Watch the sandbanks for mugger crocodiles and, with luck, the rarer fish-eating gharial, and the banks for kingfishers, herons and storks. From December to February mist often lies on the river at dawn and lifts by mid-morning. We are back at the lodge for a late breakfast, and the middle of the day is free to rest in the shade. In the early afternoon we drive into the national park by open jeep for about four hours, along forest tracks and the edges of the tall grasslands where the greater one-horned rhinoceros grazes. Spotted deer, sambar, wild boar, monkeys and many birds are common; Bengal tigers and leopards live here but are rarely seen. We come out as the light goes, with time to talk the day over at dinner.

    Included

    • Dugout canoe on the Rapti River at first light with a naturalist
    • Jeep safari in Chitwan National Park, about 4 hours
    • National park entry
    • Lunch and dinner at the lodge

    Optional experiences

    • Early bird walk along the river with a naturalist

    More active option: A guided walk on the forest edge with two naturalists after the canoe, in place of the rest at the lodge.

    Free time: Middle of the day free

    Activity: The jeep safari is a game drive, not a transfer; lodge-to-park transfers are about half an hour in all. Wear muted colours and keep voices low in the jeep. Elephant rides are not offered on our trips.

12. Day 12: To Pokhara by way of Bandipur

    Sauraha to Bandipur, then on to Pokhara

    • Drive about 5 h
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Pokhara
    Day 12 details

    Today is the one long road day in Nepal, about 160 km and five hours of driving in all. It is over our usual four-hour cap because the road takes in Bandipur, which a flight would skip, so we split it into two halves of about two and a half hours with a long stop in Bandipur. We leave after breakfast, cross the Narayani valley and follow the river gorges north to Mugling, then turn west on the Prithvi Highway. At Dumre a side road climbs to Bandipur, an old Newar trading town on a ridge at about 1,000 m, whose main street is closed to traffic. We walk the stone bazaar of tall brick houses, sit down to lunch, and on a clear day see the Himalaya along the northern horizon. In the afternoon we drive on to Pokhara and check in at Lakeside, by Phewa Lake. The evening is free: walk the lakeshore as the light fades, or find a cafe with a view of the water.

    Included

    • Transport from Sauraha to Pokhara with your guide
    • Walk through Bandipur bazaar
    • Sit-down lunch in Bandipur

    Free time: Evening free at Lakeside

    Activity: The drive is split into two stretches of about two and a half hours, Sauraha to Bandipur and Bandipur to Pokhara. A short Bharatpur to Pokhara flight is listed by a Nepali airline; we confirm at booking whether it runs on your date, but keep the road as the plan because it takes in Bandipur.

    

13. Day 13: Sunrise at Sarangkot and Phewa Lake

    Pokhara to Sarangkot and back, then across Phewa Lake to the World Peace Pagoda

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Pokhara
    Day 13 details

    We leave before dawn, the exact time set by the season's sunrise, for the 30 to 40 minute drive up to Sarangkot, a ridge at about 1,600 m above Pokhara. From the viewpoint the Annapurna range lights up from the summits down: Dhaulagiri far to the west, Annapurna South, the fishtail peak of Machhapuchhre almost straight ahead, and the Annapurnas to the east, with Phewa Lake in mist below. Back at the hotel for breakfast, then mid-morning we take a wooden rowing boat out on Phewa Lake, stopping at the pagoda temple of Tal Barahi on its small island, and on to the south shore. From the landing a stone path climbs through forest for about 40 minutes to the World Peace Pagoda, a white stupa with the whole lake and, on a clear day, the mountains behind it. Lunch is together on the way down, and the afternoon and evening are free: rest, walk the lakeshore or take the optional paragliding flight from Sarangkot.

    Included

    • Sarangkot at sunrise
    • Rowing boat on Phewa Lake to Tal Barahi temple
    • World Peace Pagoda
    • Lunch with the group

    Optional experiences

    • Tandem paragliding flight from Sarangkot. Weather permitting, with a licensed operator.

    Easier option: Take the boat back from Tal Barahi and skip the climb to the World Peace Pagoda.

    More active option: Walk down from Sarangkot to Pokhara through villages and forest after sunrise, about 2 to 2.5 hours, instead of the drive.

    Free time: Afternoon and evening free

    Activity: Cloud can hide the peaks at sunrise, most often from March; October to January is usually clearest.

14. Day 14: Fly back to Kathmandu and Bhaktapur

    Pokhara to Kathmandu by air, then Bhaktapur

    • Drive about 1.5 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Kathmandu
    Day 14 details

    A morning flight takes about 25 minutes from Pokhara to Kathmandu. Flying east, sit on the left side of the plane for the Himalaya on the northern horizon on a clear day. By road the same trip is about 200 km and six to seven hours, which is why we fly; if cloud grounds the flight, we drive instead, the whole group together, and a shortened Bhaktapur visit moves to the morning of day 15 before the airport. From the airport it is a short drive east to Bhaktapur, the old Newar city that has kept more of its brick lanes and carved wooden windows than anywhere else in the valley. A licensed local guide walks us through Durbar Square to the Golden Gate and the 55-Window Palace, on to Taumadhi Square, where the five-tiered Nyatapola temple of 1702 stands on its stepped plinth, and down to Pottery Square. Lunch is in Bhaktapur, with juju dhau, the city's sweet set curd, to finish. In the evening we meet for a farewell dinner together.

    Included

    • Flight from Pokhara to Kathmandu, with airport transfers
    • Bhaktapur with a licensed local guide: Durbar Square, Taumadhi Square and Pottery Square
    • Lunch in Bhaktapur
    • Farewell dinner

    Free time: Late afternoon free

    Activity: If cloud grounds the Pokhara flight, the road takes six to seven hours, the farewell dinner stays on day 14, and a shortened Bhaktapur visit moves to the morning of day 15 for the whole group; book a flight home leaving after about 3 pm so that fallback works for you.

15. Day 15: Depart from Kathmandu

    Your hotel to Tribhuvan International Airport

    • Drive about 30 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 15 details

    The trip ends after breakfast, with no early start. Ending the trip in Kathmandu after a night there, rather than flying in from Pokhara on the same day, means a cloudy morning in the hills cannot cost you your flight home. If your flight leaves in the afternoon or evening, the morning is yours: walk to Asan Tole, the old market crossroads where spice, brass and textile sellers trade from tiny shopfronts, or to the Garden of Dreams, a restored early 20th century garden near Thamel. If the weather is clear, the optional Everest scenic flight leaves early in the morning and is back in time for breakfast. The hotel can usually hold your bags after check-out. A driver takes you to Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM), about 30 minutes in light traffic and longer at rush hour, timed to reach the airport three hours before an international flight.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM)

    Optional experiences

    • Everest scenic flight, about an hour along the Himalaya at dawn. Weather permitting, for flights leaving after about 2 pm.

    Free time: Morning free

    Activity: Any flight time works; book one leaving after about 3 pm if you want the Everest flight, or to keep the Bhaktapur fallback open on a weather day.

Wildlife and weather: October to March is the dry season across North India and Nepal. October and November are warm by day with the clearest Himalayan views. December and January are cool, with cold nights, morning fog on the plains that can hide the Taj at sunrise or delay flights, near-freezing dawns in Kathmandu and mist on the Rapti in Chitwan. From late February the days warm up and haze often builds over the mountains. In Chitwan the tall grass is cut in winter, usually around January, which can open up views of rhinos and deer.

• Delhi2 nights
• Agra1 night
• Jaipur2 nights
• Varanasi2 nights
• Kathmandu2 nights
• Sauraha (Chitwan)2 nights
• Pokhara2 nights
• Kathmandu1 night