India: Rajasthan to Mumbai and Goa

1. Day 1: Arrive in Delhi

   Indira Gandhi International Airport to your hotel in central Delhi

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Delhi
   Day 1 details

   A driver meets you at Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) and takes you to your hotel in central New Delhi, about 45 minutes depending on traffic. Most long-haul flights land at night or early in the morning, so the day is kept free to sleep and adjust. If you arrive with energy to spare, Lodhi Garden is a short ride away, a quiet park of fifteenth century tombs where Delhi families walk in the late afternoon. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing: which mornings start early and why, how the train and the two flights are timed, what to wear at temples and mosques, and how the one long road day is broken up. Then we walk to a welcome dinner of north Indian dishes nearby. If your flight lands late, we meet you at breakfast instead.

   Included

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

   Free time: Free until the early-evening briefing

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

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

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Delhi
   Day 2 details

   We drive to Old Delhi early, before the lanes jam. Shah Jahan built this walled city in the seventeenth century, and its great mosque, the Jama Masjid, is still the heart of it; visitors go in outside prayer times, with shoulders and legs covered. From the steps a cycle rickshaw takes you into Chandni Chowk, past wedding-card printers, silver sellers and the spice lanes of Khari Baoli. Then the Red Fort, the Mughal palace listed by UNESCO in 2007, where the white marble Khas Mahal and the halls of audience stand on lawns above the old riverbank. Lunch is at a sit-down restaurant, and the early afternoon is free at the hotel. In the late light we visit Humayun's Tomb, the garden tomb of about 1570 that set the pattern the Taj Mahal later followed, quiet in the last hour before closing.

   Included

   • Jama Masjid, outside prayer times
   • Cycle rickshaw through Chandni Chowk and the Khari Baoli spice lanes
   • The Red Fort, including the Khas Mahal
   • Sit-down lunch
   • Humayun's Tomb in the late afternoon

   Easier option: Stay in the vehicle for the spice lanes and rejoin the group at the Red Fort.

   More active option: Walk the length of Chandni Chowk with your guide in place of the rickshaw, about 2 km through the bazaar.

   Free time: Early afternoon free

   Activity: The Red Fort closes on Mondays, so this day never falls on one.

   

3. Day 3: Delhi to Agra

   Yamuna Expressway to Agra, then Agra Fort and Mehtab Bagh

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Agra
   Day 3 details

   After breakfast we take the Yamuna Expressway south to Agra, about 230 km and four hours including the slow traffic leaving Delhi, with a tea stop halfway. Lunch is in Agra when we arrive. In the afternoon your guide takes you through Agra Fort, the red sandstone citadel of the Mughal emperors, listed by UNESCO in 1983. Inside its walls Akbar's red palaces give way to Shah Jahan's white marble halls, and from the Musamman Burj you see the Taj Mahal down the river, the view Shah Jahan had in his last years as his son's prisoner. As the sun drops we cross the Yamuna to Mehtab Bagh, a Mughal garden on the far bank, where the Taj stands across the water with far fewer people around. The evening is free, and the night is short: we leave for the Taj before dawn.

   Included

   • Drive from Delhi to Agra on the Yamuna Expressway
   • Lunch in Agra
   • Agra Fort with your guide
   • Mehtab Bagh at sunset, facing the Taj Mahal

   Easier option: Skip Mehtab Bagh and rest at the hotel for an early night before the Taj.

   Free time: Evening free

   

4. Day 4: Taj Mahal at sunrise, then Jaipur

   Taj Mahal at dawn, Agra to Jaipur by road with the Abhaneri stepwell

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

   The Taj Mahal opens about half an hour before sunrise, and we are at the gate before it does. Walking in as the white marble turns from grey to pink, before the day coaches arrive from Delhi, is why we spend a night in Agra. Your guide explains the inlay, the calligraphy that seems the same size from top to bottom, and the story of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, then we return for breakfast. The road to Jaipur is about 245 km and four hours of driving, broken after two and a half hours at Abhaneri, where Chand Baori, a stepwell of around the ninth century, drops about 3,500 steps down thirteen levels beside the Harshat Mata temple. Lunch is nearby, and we reach Jaipur by mid-afternoon. At dusk your guide walks the group through Johari and Bapu bazaars, among textile and jewellery stalls, with no commission shops.

   Included

   • Taj Mahal at sunrise, including the mausoleum
   • Chand Baori stepwell and Harshat Mata temple, Abhaneri
   • Lunch on the road
   • Hosted dusk walk in Johari and Bapu bazaars

   Easier option: Rest in the vehicle or at the top rim of the stepwell at Abhaneri, and skip the dusk bazaar walk for an early night at the hotel.

   More active option: Walk the Abhaneri village lanes and the carved Harshat Mata temple with your guide before lunch.

   Free time: Late afternoon free to rest after the early start; the bazaar walk is optional

   Activity: The Taj Mahal closes on Fridays, so this day never falls on one. The only pre-dawn start of the trip, then two drives of about 2.5 and 1.5 hours.

5. Day 5: Amber Fort and the Pink City

   Amber Fort at opening, the Hawa Mahal, City Palace and Jantar Mantar

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

   We are at Amber Fort, 11 km outside the city, for its 8 am opening, ahead of the tour coaches. The fort is one of the Hill Forts of Rajasthan listed by UNESCO in 2013; its courtyards rise past the mirrored Sheesh Mahal to views over Maota Lake. We walk up or go by jeep, never by elephant. On the way back we stop below the Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds of 1799, whose latticed facade let the women of the court watch the street unseen. In the walled city, laid out in 1727 and itself listed by UNESCO, your guide takes you into the City Palace and the Jantar Mantar, the giant stone observatory instruments of Sawai Jai Singh II. Lunch follows, then the afternoon is free: rest by the pool, browse the bazaars again, or book a block-printing visit in nearby Sanganer.

   Included

   • Amber Fort and the Sheesh Mahal at opening
   • Hawa Mahal facade
   • City Palace
   • Jantar Mantar
   • Lunch together

   Optional experiences

   • Block-printing workshop visit in Sanganer

   Easier option: Take the jeep up to Amber and back, and skip the Jantar Mantar for a longer rest at the hotel.

   More active option: Walk the wall-top path from Amber up to Jaigarh Fort with your guide, a steep climb of about 1.5 km, and meet the vehicle there.

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot in the morning, with ramps and steps at Amber.

   

6. Day 6: Train to Jodhpur, the blue city

   Day train from Jaipur to Jodhpur, then the old city on foot

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Jodhpur
   Day 6 details

   Jaipur to Jodhpur is about 335 km by road, around six hours, so we go by day train instead, about five hours in reserved air-conditioned seats, watching the farmland give way to the scrub and sand of the Thar Desert's edge. Your guide travels with you and handles the bags, and lunch is packed for the train or taken on arrival, depending on the departure time we book. In Jodhpur, rest at the hotel through the warmest hours. In the late afternoon your guide walks you into the old city below the walls of Mehrangarh, through lanes of houses washed in blue, to Toorji ka Jhalra, an eighteenth century stepwell restored and reopened to the town, and on to the Clock Tower and Sardar Market as the evening spice and vegetable trade picks up. Dinner is your own; rooftops near the Clock Tower look up at the fort lit at night.

   Included

   • Reserved air-conditioned seats on a day train from Jaipur to Jodhpur, with station transfers
   • Lunch
   • Old city walk to Toorji ka Jhalra stepwell, the Clock Tower and Sardar Market

   Free time: Afternoon rest and evening free

   Activity: We confirm the train and its timings at booking. If no suitable day train runs on your dates, we drive via Ajmer with a lunch stop, about 6 hours in two stretches.

7. Day 7: Mehrangarh and a Bishnoi village

   Mehrangarh at opening and Jaswant Thada, then Guda Bishnoi village at dusk

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Jodhpur
   Day 7 details

   Mehrangarh opens at 9 am and we are at the gate for it. Rao Jodha founded the fort in 1459 on a cliff above the plain, and its palaces hold one of Rajasthan's finest museums: palanquins, howdahs, armour and miniature paintings. From the ramparts the blue houses of the old city spread out below. Nearby, Jaswant Thada is a white marble cenotaph of 1899 above a small lake. Lunch, then the hot middle of the day is free. In the late afternoon we drive about 25 km south to Guda Bishnoi. The Bishnoi community has followed the 29 rules of the fifteenth century teacher Guru Jambheshwar for five centuries, protecting trees and animals; in 1730 at nearby Khejarli, Amrita Devi and hundreds of villagers were killed defending khejri trees from felling. A Bishnoi family welcomes us for tea, and around the village fields and lake, blackbuck and chinkara often come out to graze as the light fades.

   Included

   • Mehrangarh Fort and museum at opening
   • Jaswant Thada
   • Lunch together
   • Guda Bishnoi village at dusk, with tea at a Bishnoi family home

   Easier option: Take the lift inside Mehrangarh up to the palace level instead of walking up the ramps.

   More active option: Walk down from Mehrangarh to the old city through the lanes with your guide, about 30 minutes on steep steps.

   Free time: Midday free

   Activity: Wildlife near the village is wild and not guaranteed.

8. Day 8: Jodhpur to Udaipur via Ranakpur

   Through the Aravalli hills to the Ranakpur Jain temple, then on to Udaipur

   • Drive about 6 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Udaipur
   Day 8 details

   This is the one long road day of the trip: about 255 km and six hours in the vehicle, over our usual four-hour cap, because Ranakpur and Udaipur have no rail or air link that would save time. We break it in two. After breakfast we drive about three hours south-east across dry farmland into the Aravalli hills, arriving as the great Jain temple of Ranakpur opens to non-Jain visitors at noon. Built of pale marble in the fifteenth century, it rises on 1,444 carved pillars, no two said to be alike, around a shrine to Adinatha, with light falling through the domes. Leather stays in the vehicle and shoulders and knees are covered. Lunch is a sit-down Rajasthani thali near the temple. The last stretch, about two and a half hours on a winding hill road through forest, reaches Udaipur by late afternoon, in time to see the lake.

   Included

   • Ranakpur Jain temple with your guide
   • Thali lunch near Ranakpur

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: About 6 hours in the vehicle in two stretches of about 3 and 2.5 hours, with the temple and lunch in between. This is the only day over the 4-hour cap.

9. Day 9: Udaipur, the lake city

   City Palace at opening and the Jagdish Temple, a free afternoon, sunset on Lake Pichola

   • By boat
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Udaipur
   Day 9 details

   Maharana Udai Singh II founded Udaipur in 1559 on the shore of Lake Pichola, and the City Palace grew along its eastern bank for four centuries into a chain of courtyards, balconies, mosaics and mirror rooms. We are there when it opens, before the narrow passages fill. Next door the Jagdish Temple has been in daily worship since 1651; climb the steps past its carved elephants while the morning prayers are on. Lunch, then the afternoon is yours: rest, wander the lanes towards Gangaur Ghat, or book a cooking class with a local family. Before sunset a boat takes the group out on Lake Pichola, past the white Lake Palace on its island to Jag Mandir, with the City Palace reflected behind you as the light goes gold. Dinner is by the water.

   Included

   • City Palace at opening
   • Jagdish Temple
   • Lunch together
   • Sunset boat on Lake Pichola
   • Lakeside dinner

   Optional experiences

   • Cooking class with a local family

   More active option: Ride up to Sajjangarh, the Monsoon Palace on its hilltop, for a view over the lakes in the late morning, then walk the palace grounds.

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: Boat times depend on the lake level after the monsoon; we confirm them for your dates.

   

10. Day 10: Fly to Mumbai and walk Dharavi

    Udaipur to Mumbai by air, a Dharavi walk, then Colaba and the Gateway of India

    • Drive about 1.5 h
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Mumbai
    Day 10 details

    A morning flight from Udaipur (UDR) to Mumbai (BOM) takes about an hour and twenty minutes, and replaces two days of road. Dharavi lies between the airport and the old south of the city, so we stop there on the way in. After lunch nearby, residents lead the group on a walk of about two hours through an organisation that puts its income back into community projects. Dharavi is one of Asia's largest informal neighbourhoods, and also a working district of recycling, pottery, leather and garment workshops that sell across India; you meet it on its own terms, and no photos are taken inside homes or workshops. Then we drive south to Colaba for two nights, close to the harbour. In the early evening we walk to the Gateway of India, built to mark the 1911 royal visit and finished in 1924, as the lights come on along the water.

    Included

    • Flight from Udaipur (UDR) to Mumbai (BOM), with airport transfers
    • Lunch together
    • Dharavi walk led by residents, with a community organisation
    • Evening walk to the Gateway of India

    Free time: Evening free after the Gateway walk

    Activity: About two hours on foot in Dharavi on narrow lanes; wear closed shoes.

11. Day 11: Elephanta Caves and Colaba

    Gateway of India by ferry to Elephanta Island, then the Fort district and Marine Drive

    • Drive about 30 min
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Mumbai
    Day 11 details

    We take the first ferry of the day from the Gateway of India, around 9 am, and cross the harbour in about an hour, reaching Elephanta Island before the day crowds. A short path and about 120 steps lead up to the caves. The main cave, cut from the rock around the sixth century and listed by UNESCO in 1987, is dedicated to Shiva; its three-headed Sadashiva fills the back wall, and your guide reads the great panels with you, from Shiva's marriage to Parvati to Ravana shaking Mount Kailash. Back on the mainland, lunch is in Colaba, then the afternoon is free. In the late afternoon we walk the Fort district: the Oval Maidan, with Victorian Gothic buildings on one side and Art Deco apartments on the other, listed together in 2018, the Rajabai Clock Tower and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, the railway station of 1888. We finish on Marine Drive as the seafront lights come on.

    Included

    • Return ferry from the Gateway of India to Elephanta Island
    • Elephanta Caves with your guide
    • Lunch in Colaba
    • Fort district walk: the Oval Maidan, the Rajabai Clock Tower and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus
    • Marine Drive at sunset

    Easier option: Skip the Elephanta steps and spend the morning at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya museum near Kala Ghoda, rejoining the group for lunch.

    More active option: Climb on from the main cave to Cannon Hill and the smaller eastern caves with your guide.

    Free time: Early afternoon free

    Activity: The Elephanta Caves close on Mondays, so this day never falls on one. Life jackets are worn on the ferry.

12. Day 12: Fly to Goa and a spice farm

    Mumbai to Goa by air, a spice farm near Ponda, then the coast

    • Drive about 2 h
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Goa
    Day 12 details

    A morning flight takes about an hour and a quarter from Mumbai to Goa, saving a full day on the road or a night on a sleeper train. From the airport we drive inland to the wooded hills around Ponda, where a farm guide walks you under areca palms hung with pepper vines, past cardamom, nutmeg, vanilla and cinnamon, and hands each one to you to crush and smell. Lunch at the farm is a Goan buffet cooked with what grows there. In the afternoon we drive to the coast for two nights, staying at Candolim or Sinquerim near the sea, or in Panaji, about half an hour from Old Goa. Goa was Portuguese until 1961, and you see it in the whitewashed village churches along the way. The rest of the day is free: swim, walk the sand at sunset, or eat fish curry rice at a beach shack.

    Included

    • Flight from Mumbai to Goa, with airport transfers
    • Spice farm walk with a farm guide near Ponda
    • Goan lunch at the farm

    Free time: Late afternoon and evening free by the sea

13. Day 13: Old Goa and the beach

    Old Goa's churches at opening, Fontainhas in Panaji, an afternoon by the sea

    • Drive about 1.5 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Goa
    Day 13 details

    We reach Old Goa as the churches open, before the tour buses. This was the capital of Portuguese India until epidemics emptied it and the capital moved downriver to Panaji; what remains is a group of churches and convents listed by UNESCO in 1986. Your guide takes you into the Basilica of Bom Jesus, where the remains of St Francis Xavier lie in a silver casket, and across to the Se Cathedral and the Church of St Francis of Assisi. A short drive brings us to Panaji for a walk through Fontainhas, the old Latin quarter of ochre, blue and yellow houses with tiled roofs, ending at the white stairways of the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. Lunch is Goan, then the afternoon is free on the beach. In the evening the group meets for a farewell dinner of Goan seafood.

    Included

    • Old Goa with your guide: the Basilica of Bom Jesus, the Se Cathedral and the Church of St Francis of Assisi
    • Fontainhas walk in Panaji
    • Goan lunch
    • Farewell dinner

    Optional experiences

    • Ayurvedic massage at or near the hotel

    Easier option: Skip Fontainhas and go straight back to the beach after Old Goa; lunch is then at the hotel.

    More active option: Hire a bicycle in the afternoon and ride the coast road to Fort Aguada and its lighthouse, about 6 km each way from Candolim.

    Free time: Afternoon free on the beach

    Activity: Shoulders and knees covered inside the churches.

14. Day 14: Depart from Goa

    The coast to Goa airport (Dabolim or Mopa)

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast
    Day 14 details

    A last morning by the sea: an early swim, a walk along the sand while the fishing boats come in, or a slow breakfast. Then your guide sees each traveller to Goa airport, about an hour from the coast, either Dabolim (GOI) or Mopa (GOX) depending on your flight. Most flights home connect through Mumbai, Delhi or a Gulf hub; book one leaving after about noon, or tell us your times and we arrange the transfer to fit. If you would like more time on the coast, we can add nights at the same hotel. If you want to keep travelling, our Mumbai, Goa and Hampi trip continues east to the ruins of Hampi, and our Rajasthan and Golden Triangle trips cover the north in more depth. Your guide stays with the group to the end and makes sure everyone is on their way, with bags, tickets and onward plans sorted.

    Included

    • Transfer to Goa airport (GOI or GOX)

    Activity: Book a flight from Goa leaving after about noon.

Wildlife and weather: October to March is the dry season across the route. Rajasthan days are warm and sunny, mornings and nights cold in December and January, when fog can sit over Delhi and Agra at dawn and soften the Taj at sunrise. Mumbai and Goa stay around 30°C with calm seas for the Elephanta ferry. Near the Bishnoi villages, blackbuck and chinkara are often seen at dusk, but no sighting can be promised.

• Delhi2 nights
• Agra1 night
• Jaipur2 nights
• Jodhpur2 nights
• Udaipur2 nights
• Mumbai2 nights
• Goa2 nights