Women-only Rajasthan: forts, tigers and the Thar Desert

1. Day 1: Arrive in Delhi

   Indira Gandhi International Airport to your hotel in 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 with a See Sight Tours sign for the drive to your hotel in 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. If you arrive by early afternoon and feel like it, your guide takes a small group to Humayun's Tomb, the garden tomb from about 1570 that set the pattern for the Taj Mahal. Tonight is deliberately short. 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 on what to wear, how to handle staring and selfie requests, room sharing and the fortnight ahead. Then an early welcome dinner close to the hotel, with everyone back in their rooms by about 9 pm.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)
   • Humayun's Tomb, for those who arrive by early afternoon
   • 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: Train to Agra

   Express train from Delhi, then Agra Fort and Mehtab Bagh

   • By train
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Agra
   Day 2 details

   After a later breakfast than most trips allow, a morning express train takes about two hours from Delhi to Agra, so the day starts without a long road transfer. Lunch is at a café run by women in Agra, where we can confirm one with your dates, otherwise a sit-down lunch near the fort. In the early afternoon your guide takes you through Agra Fort, the red sandstone citadel of the Mughal emperors, where Shah Jahan spent his last years looking across the Yamuna River at the tomb he built for his wife. There is time to rest at the hotel through the hottest hours. Later, visit the tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah, the inlaid marble mausoleum often called the Baby Taj, commissioned by the empress Nur Jahan for her father. At sunset, Mehtab Bagh, the Mughal garden on the far bank of the Yamuna, gives an uncrowded first view of the Taj Mahal.

   Included

   • Express train from Delhi to Agra, with station transfers
   • Lunch in Agra
   • Agra Fort
   • Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah
   • Mehtab Bagh at sunset

   Free time: Early afternoon free for rest

   

3. Day 3: Taj Mahal at sunrise, then Jaipur

   Agra to Jaipur by road, with Chand Baori stepwell on the way

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Jaipur
   Day 3 details

   The gates of the Taj Mahal open about half an hour before sunrise, and we are in the queue before they do. Walking in as the white marble turns from grey to pink, before the day-trip coaches arrive from Delhi, is the moment many travellers remember most. Your guide explains the inlay, the calligraphy and the story of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, then you head back for breakfast. The road to Jaipur takes about four and a half hours in total, broken at Abhaneri by Chand Baori, a ninth century stepwell of about 3,500 steps zigzagging down thirteen levels, beside the Harshat Mata temple. You reach Jaipur in the late afternoon.

   Included

   • Taj Mahal at sunrise
   • Chand Baori stepwell and Harshat Mata temple, Abhaneri

   Free time: Evening free

   

4. Day 4: Jaipur, the Pink City

   Hawa Mahal at first light, Amber Fort at opening, the walled city

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Jaipur
   Day 4 details

   Start at first light on the street below the Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds, built in 1799 with 953 small latticed windows so the women of the court could watch processions in the street without being seen. Your guide tells their story before the traffic builds. Then Amber Fort, outside the city, at its 8 am opening: courtyards, the mirrored Sheesh Mahal and the zenana, the women's quarters, while it is still quiet. We walk or drive up, never by elephant. After a long midday rest you return to the walled city, laid out by Sawai Jai Singh II in 1727, for the City Palace, the stone instruments of Jantar Mantar and a look inside the Hawa Mahal. At dusk your guide hosts a walk through Johari Bazaar, keeping the group together in the busiest lanes, with no commission shops. For those who want it, a woman mehndi artist can paint henna on your hands back at the hotel.

   Included

   • Hawa Mahal facade at first light, and entry inside
   • Amber Fort and the Sheesh Mahal
   • City Palace
   • Jantar Mantar
   • Hosted evening walk in Johari Bazaar

   Optional experiences

   • Mehndi (henna) with a woman artist at the hotel

   Free time: Midday free for rest

   Activity: An early start, and about 3 to 4 hours on foot over the day, with ramps and steps at Amber Fort.

   

5. Day 5: Jaipur to Ranthambore

   Women block printers near Jaipur, then the drive south and an afternoon safari

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Ranthambore
   Day 5 details

   For those who book it, a hot-air balloon flight near Jaipur at dawn is flown in the cooler months when the weather allows, and you are back for breakfast. After breakfast we drive south to Sanganer, on the edge of Jaipur and known for its hand block printing, to spend an hour with women printers at a cooperative or workshop we confirm with your dates: carving, dyeing and printing cloth, with a chance to try a block yourself and nothing you are asked to buy. From there the drive to Ranthambore takes about three and a half hours through farmland and small market towns. In the afternoon you go into Ranthambore National Park on your first game drive, in an open safari vehicle with a park naturalist. The zones are allotted by the forest department, not chosen by us. Look for tigers, leopards, sambar deer and crocodiles below the walls of Ranthambore Fort. Dinner tonight is included.

   Included

   • Visit to women block printers in Sanganer, where we can confirm a cooperative or workshop
   • Afternoon game drive in Ranthambore National Park, with park fees

   Optional experiences

   • Hot-air balloon flight near Jaipur at dawn. In season

6. Day 6: Ranthambore

   Morning game drive, then the rest of the day off

   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Ranthambore
   Day 6 details

   Your second game drive leaves in the cold, clear light of early morning, the hours when tigers are most often seen moving along the tracks and lake edges. Ranthambore is one of the best places in India to see a wild tiger, but no sighting is ever promised, and the morning is beautiful either way: mist on the lakes, langur monkeys in the banyan trees, peacocks on the walls of the tenth century fort. Safari vehicles are open and shared within our group only, and the crews are usually men. Back at the lodge for a late breakfast, the rest of the day is yours, the first slow day of the trip: sleep, read, swim if the lodge has a pool, or catch up on laundry. In the late afternoon, anyone who wants to can visit a village women's embroidery and craft project near the park, where one can be confirmed with your dates. Dinner is included.

   Included

   • Morning game drive in Ranthambore National Park, with park fees

   Optional experiences

   • Visit to a village women's craft project near the park, where one can be confirmed

   Free time: Rest of the day free after the morning drive

   

7. Day 7: Ranthambore to Bundi

   A short drive to Bundi, then the Garh Palace murals

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Bundi
   Day 7 details

   A drive of about three hours brings you to Bundi, a small walled town in a valley of the Aravalli hills that most group tours leave out. The Garh Palace climbs the hillside above the blue-washed lanes, and inside it the Chitrashala holds some of the finest murals in Rajasthan, painted in the eighteenth century in greens and blues: court scenes, festivals, hunts and stories of Krishna. Your guide takes you through the palace and up to the ramparts in the afternoon, when the light warms the stone. Above it all stands Taragarh, the fourteenth century Star Fort, for anyone with energy for the steep climb. In the evening, eat on a rooftop with the palace lit above you. Bundi sees few big coaches, and its slower pace is part of the point.

   Included

   • Garh Palace and the Chitrashala murals

   Optional experiences

   • Taragarh Fort climb

   Free time: Evening free

8. Day 8: Bundi, a slow day

   Stepwells in the morning, the rest of the day free

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Bundi
   Day 8 details

   Bundi is a town of stepwells, with dozens built over the centuries to store water through the dry months, and the morning walk with your guide visits the finest of them. Raniji ki Baori, built in 1699 by a queen of Bundi, drops down many levels past carved pillars, elephants and arches to the water. Few visitors come early, so you may have it almost to yourselves. On the way you pass the Chaurasi Khambon ki Chhatri, a cenotaph raised on 84 pillars, and Sukh Mahal, a small summer palace on Jait Sagar lake. By late morning the walk is done and the day is yours: a long lunch, a nap, or wandering the bazaar at your own pace.

   Included

   • Guided morning walk: Raniji ki Baori, Chaurasi Khambon ki Chhatri and Sukh Mahal

   Easier option: Skip the walk and take the morning slowly at the hotel

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

9. Day 9: Bundi to Udaipur via Chittorgarh

   Two shorter drives with the great fort in between

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Udaipur
   Day 9 details

   Today's journey to Udaipur is split by Chittorgarh, so no stretch in the vehicle runs long: about three hours to the fort, then about two more to Udaipur. Chittorgarh is the largest fort in India by area, a plateau of palaces, temples and water tanks that was the capital of Mewar for centuries and was besieged three times. Your guide shows you the Vijay Stambha, a fifteenth century tower of victory carved from top to bottom, the palace of Rani Padmini and the Kirti Stambha, and tells the stories the Rajputs still tell about this place. Chittorgarh and Amber, Jaisalmer and Ranthambore forts are all listed together by UNESCO as the Hill Forts of Rajasthan. You reach your hotel by the lake in time for a quiet evening.

   Included

   • Chittorgarh Fort, including the Vijay Stambha

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: The longest vehicle day after Jaisalmer, split into stretches of about 3 and 2 hours.

10. Day 10: Udaipur, the lake city

    City Palace at opening, a family cooking evening, sunset on the lake

    • By boat
    • Breakfast and dinner
    • Stay in Udaipur
    Day 10 details

    Udaipur was founded in 1559 by Maharana Udai Singh II on the shore of Lake Pichola, and its City Palace still runs along the eastern bank, a chain of courtyards, balconies and mosaics built over four centuries. We are there when it opens, before the crowds fill the narrow passages, and your guide shows you the rooms where the queens of Mewar lived. Next door, the Jagdish Temple has been in daily worship since 1651. After a free midday, a boat on Lake Pichola takes you out at sunset past Jag Mandir island and the white Lake Palace, with the City Palace reflected in the water behind you. Afterwards, the women of a local family welcome the group into their home to cook together: you grind spices, roll rotis and learn a Rajasthani dish or two, then share dinner around their table and talk about daily life in the city.

    Included

    • City Palace
    • Jagdish Temple
    • Sunset boat on Lake Pichola
    • Cooking lesson and dinner with the women of a local family

    Free time: Midday free

    

11. Day 11: Udaipur to Jodhpur via Ranakpur

    Through the Aravalli hills to the Jain temple, then on to Jodhpur

    • Drive about 5.5 h
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Jodhpur
    Day 11 details

    Leave Udaipur after breakfast for a drive of about two and a half hours into the Aravalli hills, timed to reach Ranakpur when the great Jain temple opens to visitors at noon. Built of white marble in the fifteenth century, it rises on 1,444 carved pillars, no two said to be alike, around a central shrine to Adinatha. Walking barefoot through the cool halls while light falls through the domes is one of the quietest hours of the trip. Leather items stay in the vehicle and shoulders and knees are covered. After lunch nearby, another three hours across drier, open country brings you to Jodhpur, at the edge of the Thar Desert, by early evening.

    Included

    • Ranakpur Jain temple

    Free time: Evening free

    Activity: Two drives of about 2.5 and 3 hours, with the temple and lunch in between.

12. Day 12: Jodhpur, the blue city

    Sunrise over the old city, Mehrangarh at opening, a blue city walk

    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Jodhpur
    Day 12 details

    Start with sunrise from a rooftop in the old city, as first light reaches the blue-washed houses below the walls of Mehrangarh. When the fort opens at 9 am, walk up through its gates into one of the most complete palaces in India, founded by Rao Jodha in 1459 on a cliff high above the city, with its museum of palanquins and miniature paintings. By the last gate, the handprints of royal women who died on their husbands' pyres are a sombre reminder, and your guide explains them plainly. Nearby, Jaswant Thada is a white marble cenotaph from 1899. After a midday rest, we visit a workshop in the old city that trains local women in sewing and craft, where we can confirm one with your dates. Then your guide walks you down through the lanes to the Toorji ka Jhalra stepwell and the Clock Tower market, and you finish at sunset looking up at the fort.

    Included

    • Mehrangarh Fort and museum
    • Jaswant Thada
    • Visit to a women's craft training workshop, where we can confirm one
    • Guided walk in the blue city to Toorji ka Jhalra and the Clock Tower market

    Free time: Midday free for rest

    

13. Day 13: Jodhpur to Jaisalmer

    Leaving Jodhpur early, west into the Thar Desert, sunset over the golden fort

    • Drive about 5 h
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Jaisalmer
    Day 13 details

    This is the one long drive of the trip, about five hours and above our usual four-hour cap because no sensible overnight stop lies between Jodhpur and Jaisalmer, west on a good highway across the Thar Desert, with stops for tea and to stretch. We leave early so you arrive in Jaisalmer for lunch and have the hot early afternoon free. Jaisalmer rises out of the desert in yellow sandstone, and its fort, founded in 1156 by Rawal Jaisal, is one of the few in the world where people still live inside the walls, in houses, shops and temples. In the late afternoon your guide takes you to Vyas Chhatri, a hill of carved cenotaphs, to watch the sun set and turn the fort and the whole town gold. Dinner is your own, and rooftop restaurants near the fort gate are a short walk away.

    Included

    • Vyas Chhatri at sunset

    Free time: Early afternoon free

    Activity: The longest drive of the trip, about 5 hours with breaks.

14. Day 14: Jaisalmer fort and a night in the dunes

    Gadisar Lake at dawn, the living fort, a desert camp away from the crowds

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast and dinner
    • Stay in Thar Desert camp
    Day 14 details

    Dawn at Gadisar Lake, the fourteenth century reservoir below the town, is still and quiet, with the fort reflected beyond the chhatris on the water. Then walk up into the fort in the soft morning light with your guide: the royal palace, the carved Jain temples and lanes where families have lived for generations. Below the walls, Patwon ki Haveli is a cluster of five merchant mansions covered in stone lattice. After a midday rest you drive about an hour into the desert to a camp near Khuri, away from the busy Sam strip. We ask for a camp with private tents and their own bathrooms, so you share only with your roommate. Ride camels over the dunes at sunset, led by local handlers, or walk alongside if you prefer, then eat dinner by the fire under a sky full of stars.

    Included

    • Gadisar Lake at dawn
    • Jaisalmer Fort, the palace and Jain temples
    • Patwon ki Haveli
    • Camel ride on the dunes at sunset
    • Night in a desert camp

    Easier option: Walk beside the camels, or watch the sunset from the dune top on foot

    Free time: Midday free

    

15. Day 15: Sunrise in the desert, fly to Delhi

    Dunes at dawn, then a domestic flight back to Delhi

    • By plane
    • Breakfast
    Day 15 details

    Wake early for sunrise over the dunes, the quietest time in the desert, when the sand is cool and covered in the night's tracks of beetles, foxes and birds. After breakfast at the camp, the drive back to Jaisalmer airport takes about an hour, and a domestic flight of around an hour and a half returns you to Delhi, instead of a full day on the road. The trip ends when you land at Indira Gandhi International Airport, where you can connect to an evening or overnight flight home, or stay on in Delhi to see Old Delhi, Jama Masjid and the Chandni Chowk bazaar. Book a flight home from the late evening onwards to leave a margin. Your guide stays with you to the end and makes sure everyone is on their way, with bags, tickets and onward plans sorted.

    Included

    • Transfer to Jaisalmer airport
    • Flight from Jaisalmer to Delhi

Wildlife and weather: October to March is dry and sunny, warm in October and March and cool in December and January, when desert nights near Jaisalmer can fall close to freezing and morning fog can hide the Taj at sunrise or delay the train. Ranthambore is one of the best places in India to see a wild tiger, but no sighting can be promised, and the park allots safari zones, not us. From April the heat becomes extreme, and the core zones of Ranthambore close from July to September.

• Delhi1 night
• Agra1 night
• Jaipur2 nights
• Ranthambore2 nights
• Bundi2 nights
• Udaipur2 nights
• Jodhpur2 nights
• Jaisalmer1 night
• Thar Desert camp1 night