India: Delhi, the Taj Mahal 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 for the drive of about 20 km into New Delhi. If you are joining from another trip in India or stopping over on the way across Asia, we can collect you from your Delhi hotel instead. 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. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group in the lobby for a short briefing: the plan for the Taj at sunrise, what to wear in mosques and temples, and how the train and flights work. Then we sit down together for a welcome dinner of North Indian cooking, such as dal makhani, tandoori breads and slow-cooked curries.

   Included

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

   Free time: Free until the early-evening briefing

   Activity: To join the briefing and dinner, land by about 4 pm; if you land later, your guide briefs you at breakfast.

2. Day 2: Old Delhi, then Agra Fort at sunset

   Jama Masjid, Chandni Chowk and Khari Baoli, then Delhi to Agra by road and Agra Fort

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Agra
   Day 2 details

   We set out early, before the lanes of Old Delhi fill up. 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. 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. Lunch is an early street food tasting with your guide, at busy stalls picked for freshness. Then we drive to Agra on the Yamuna Expressway, about 230 km and four hours with a rest stop, the one long road stretch of the trip. In the late afternoon a licensed local guide takes us into Agra Fort, Akbar's red sandstone citadel, listed by UNESCO in 1983, where Shah Jahan spent his last years looking down the Yamuna River to the Taj. We watch the sun set on it from the fort's terraces.

   Included

   • Jama Masjid with your guide
   • Cycle rickshaw ride through Chandni Chowk to the Khari Baoli spice market
   • Old Delhi street food tasting lunch
   • Drive to Agra by the Yamuna Expressway
   • Agra Fort with a licensed local guide, with the Taj at sunset from the fort

   Easier option: Skip the street food walk: your guide takes you back to the vehicle after the rickshaw ride and arranges a sit-down lunch on the way to Agra instead.

   Free time: Evening free in Agra

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot in crowded lanes in the morning and about 1.5 hours at Agra Fort on ramps and uneven stone. Shoes come off in the mosque, and shoulders and knees should be covered.

   

3. Day 3: The Taj at sunrise, then fly to Varanasi

   Taj Mahal at sunrise, express train from Agra to Delhi, then a flight to Varanasi

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Varanasi
   Day 3 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. A licensed local guide walks us through the great gateway to the reflecting pool while the white marble turns from grey to pink, then around the tomb Shah Jahan began in 1632 for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, with the mosque and its twin on either side. Back at the hotel for a late breakfast and time to pack. In the late morning an express train takes us back to Delhi in about two hours, while the bags travel with us. From the station we go straight to the airport for an afternoon flight to Varanasi of about an hour and a half, with your guide on the plane. From Varanasi's airport it is up to an hour into the city, and the last stretch to our hotel near the ghats may be on foot, with porters for the bags. Dinner together tonight.

   Included

   • The Taj Mahal at sunrise with a licensed local guide, including the main tomb ticket
   • Express train from Agra to Delhi, with station transfers
   • Flight from Delhi to Varanasi, with airport transfers
   • Dinner in Varanasi

   Free time: Late morning free in Agra after breakfast

   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. Tripods, food and large bags are not allowed inside.

   

4. Day 4: The Ganges at dawn, Sarnath and the aarti

   A boat along the ghats at sunrise, Sarnath, then the Ganga aarti from the river

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Varanasi
   Day 4 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 own boat at first light. As the sun comes up over the far bank, the boatman rows slowly past the ghats: pilgrims bathing and praying, priests under bamboo umbrellas 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. After breakfast we drive about 10 km to Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon. A licensed local guide walks us through the Deer Park, the ruined monasteries and the Dhamek Stupa, then the Archaeological Museum and the Lion Capital of Ashoka, India's national emblem. Lunch is in Sarnath, then the afternoon is free. At sunset we board our boat again and sit in front of Dashashwamedh Ghat for the Ganga aarti, with brass lamps, bells and conch shells. Dinner together follows.

   Included

   • Sunrise boat along the ghats with your guide
   • Sarnath with a licensed local guide: the Deer Park, the Dhamek Stupa and the Archaeological Museum
   • Lunch in Sarnath
   • The Ganga aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat from our own boat
   • Dinner in Varanasi

   Easier option: Sleep in and skip the dawn boat; you see the river again from the boat at the evening aarti.

   More active option: Spend the free afternoon walking south along the ghats to Assi Ghat with your guide, about 3 km of riverside steps, and meet the group at the boat.

   Free time: Afternoon free

   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. Bring a warm layer from December to February. The Sarnath museum is closed on Fridays, so this day never falls on a Friday.

   

5. Day 5: Old Varanasi, then fly to Delhi

   A walk through the old city lanes, then Varanasi to Delhi by air and Indira Gandhi International Airport

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 5 details

   One more morning on the river before the flight. After breakfast your guide leads a walk of about an hour and a half through the lanes of the old city, too narrow for cars: past small shrines, sweet shops and silk weavers' doorways, towards the Kashi Vishwanath temple, stopping for hot kachori and a clay cup of chai. If you would rather, sit on the ghats with a last cup and watch the river instead. Around the middle of the day we drive about 25 km to Varanasi's airport for a flight of about an hour and a half to Delhi, with your guide on the plane. In Delhi your guide sees you to the international departures area, or into a car to your hotel if you are staying on or joining another trip. Book a flight home leaving Delhi after about 7 pm; many long-haul flights from Delhi leave late at night. If you would like more time in Delhi, ask us for extra nights when you book.

   Included

   • Old city walk with your guide, with a street food tasting
   • Transfer to Varanasi airport
   • Flight from Varanasi to Delhi
   • Drop-off at international departures at Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) or at a Delhi hotel

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

   Free time: Free time on the ghats before the airport transfer

   Activity: Book an international flight leaving Delhi after about 7 pm and allow three hours at the airport.

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 and mornings on the river are chilly. December and January fog can hide the Taj at sunrise and delay morning trains and flights, so day 3 carries 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.

• Delhi1 night
• Agra1 night
• Varanasi2 nights