Images of India

Day 1 Fly overnight direct from your chosen airport to Mumbai, the base for Bollywood, the capital of commerce, and formerly a major port for the old East India Company.

Day 2 On arrival, transfer to the 4-star Trident Nariman Point for an overnight stay, in a sea view room. Visit the Prince of Wales Museum, the stately building housing collections of ancient artworks and artefacts (and now lengthily named ‘Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya); enjoy a ‘heritage walk’ in the arty Kala Ghoda district, where Indie exhibitions and pavement art stalls are juxtaposed with prominent galleries. Later, meet up with your group for a ‘welcome’ drink.

Day 3 Tour Marine Drive promenade, curving around the natural bay to the British-built Gateway of India at its southern tip; the UNESCO listed, Raj era, Victoria Terminus railway station; the Dhobi Ghat, billed as the biggest open-air laundry in the world, and handling half a million items a day; and the Dabbawalla, a 130-year-old hot-lunch delivery service. Fly to Udaipur for two nights at the 4-star Trident Hotel. (B)

Day 4 With lotus pools, fountains and marble statuary in a series of serene gardens; and the scenic Aravalli hills rising around the city, there are Rajput-era monuments galore in Udaipur. Visit to the City Palace, then sail on the lake to Jagmandir Island where a golden sandstone palace rises from the water’s edge. In the evening, visit to the al-fresco Ambrai restaurant to enjoy a drink and dinner with a gorgeous view of the lake. (B, D)

Day 5 Travel (6hrs) to the ‘Blue City’ of Jodhpur, its old-town buildings painted, top to toe, in indigo hues, creating the illusion of a sea amid the sands, lapping at the 16^th-century city walls and swamping the streets with a cornucopia of shops. Enjoy dinner at the rooftop Indique restaurant, with a fabulous view of the fort. Overnight at the 5-star Taj Hari Mahal. (B, D)

Day 6 Visit the dominating, 15^th-century Mehrangarh (‘Fort of the Sun’), one of the largest in India. Covering 1,200 acres of a rocky clifftop, 122m above the town, it is still owned by the Jodhpur royal family who, legend has it, descended from the sun god; and continue to the white marble Jaswant Thada monument, a regal 19^th-century memorial. Travel (7hrs) to Jaipur, enjoy a cocktail and dinner at the Rambagh Palace, and stay for two nights at the 4-star Trident Jaipur. (B, D)

Day 7 Among Jaipur’s magnificent monuments, visit the Hawa Mahal (Palace of Winds) with its wall of windows, from which the women could observe unseen; the pink-walled City Palace, its temples and pavilions spread between courtyards and gardens; and the 18^th-century Jantar Mantar Observatory, UNESCO listed as India’s most significant site for observation of astronomical positions. Enjoy a cooking demo and dinner with a local family. (B, D)

Day 8 Take to the air to see the Pink City and its surrounds on an optional balloon ride this morning (£225, bookable locally, dependent on weather). Drive to nearby Amer to visit the Amber Fort, known for its huge, gated ramparts and Hindu design, and crowning a small hill overlooking Maota Lake. Travel (4hrs) to Ranthambore National Park, enjoy a ‘Tiger Talk’ by a naturalist, and stay two nights at the 4-star Ranthambore Kothi Boutique Hotel. (B, D)

Day 9 Explore Ranthambore with morning and afternoon game drives by jeep. The renowned reserve is a wilderness of jungle, meadows, and forests, where tigers and leopards, wild boar and sloth bears, birds, bats and flying foxes live undisturbed; and soft-shelled turtles share lake waters with snub-nosed marsh crocodiles. (B, L, D)

Day 10 Drive (7hrs) to Agra and enjoy a sunset visit to the Taj Mahal. There are acres of print which describe the beauty of this romantic icon, and yet it still thrills at first sight. Two nights at the 4-star Trident Agra. (B, D)

Day 11 Visit the ‘baby Taj’, Itmad-ud-Daulah, a forerunner of its more famous monument, and the first mausoleum to be built in white marble, rather than red sandstone; continue to the 16^th-century Agra Red Fort, a UNESCO listed and lavishly opulent palace, set beside the Yamuna River and encompassing the perfect and peaceful Pearl Mosque. Enjoy a rooftop drink, with sunset views of the Taj Mahal. (B)

Day 12 Begin the day with an optional sunrise visit to the Taj Mahal (£30, bookable locally). Drive (5hrs) to Delhi, where traffic-choked streets meet ancient monuments, colonial architecture, and the futuristic lotus-shaped Baha’i Temple. Visit Qutab Minar, the 73m-tall ‘tower of victory’, built in the 12^th century, and now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Two-night stay at the 5-star Taj Mahal Hotel - Delhi. (B)

Day 13 Visit the Raj Ghat memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, marking the place of his cremation; the 17^th-century, Jama Masjid (‘Friday mosque’), the second-largest mosque on the Indian sub-continent, facing Mecca, and raised thirty steps above the street; the 16^th-century mausoleum of Mughal Emperor Humayun, UNESCO listed as the first garden-tomb in India; and the monumental India Gate arch, straddling the Rajpath. See the Red Fort, parliament building and Viceroy’s House as you drive through the city. (B)

Day 14 Leave on the morning Shatabdi train to Amritsar (7hrs), its labyrinthine lanes, colonial avenues, and contemporary malls combining to create a showpiece of Punjab. Enjoy an optional event of local culture with a Palki ceremony at the Golden Temple (£22, bookable locally). Two nights at 5-star Taj Swarma. (B)

Day 15 Visit the Golden Temple, gleaming with hundreds of kilos of gold leaf. The most sacred place of pilgrimage, in the holiest city of the Sikh religion, it stands as an island of serenity amid the melee of the medieval ‘old town’. Continue to visit the ‘world’s largest’ community kitchen, where thousands of volunteers feed tens of thousands of people every day; and the garden memorial to those killed in the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Drive to the Indo-Pakistan ‘Wagah Border’ village and see the Changing of the Guard ceremony. (B)

Day 16 Travel by road (8hrs) into the Himalayan foothills, to the Queen of Hill Stations, Shimla. A happy mix of cool colonial charm and fabulously colourful Himachal character, the old British ‘summer capital’ covers a long ridge at the end of the line for the renowned, narrow-gauge, ‘Toy Train’ railway. Two nights at the 5-star Oberoi Cecil. (B)

Day 17 Visit the very grand Viceregal Lodge (now named Rashtrapati Niwas), its majestic façade matched by manicured gardens at the summit of Observatory Hill, its museum recording the British colonial era with texts and photographs. Continue to Shimla’s neo-gothic Christ Church, with fabulous views from its surrounds, and five stained-glass windows depicting the Virtues. Afternoon at leisure in Shimla, perhaps to enjoy its two very different shopping experiences, The Mall’s broad pedestrian avenue and the tumble of twisting lanes in the bazaar. (B)

Day 18 Board the Toy Train for its spectacularly scenic journey (5hrs), crossing bridges and cutting through countless tunnels on its route to Kalka, where we switch to the Shatabdi train for Delhi (4hrs), with a light dinner aboard. Overnight at the 5-star Taj Palace Hotel. (B, L, D)

Day 19 Transfer to Delhi airport for your return flight. (B) 

• Key
• B - Breakfast
• L - Lunch
• D - Dinner