India small group tour, temples and palaces
Please contact us for details and prices.
Single Supplement from £349, ask for details.
Late availability on these dates: 05 Sep, 03 Oct, 31 Oct
Description of India small group tour, temples and palaces
Head to the north of India for 12 days of temples, palaces and making friends with like-minded people that you haven't even met yet. Small groups are amazing for travelling with confidence and sharing unique experiences that will stay with you long after your holiday has finally drawn to a close.
This small group tour of India places you on the banks of the mighty Mother Ganges as you visit Varanasi one of the holiest and most spiritual cities on earth. Jaipur, Agra, the Taj Mahal and time spent in the countryside of Rajasthan add to the excitement of cultural discovery with the frenetic energy of Delhi definitely kick starting this 12 day tour like you mean to go on.
After getting to grips with life in India's capital you'll head south to Jaipur where a sightseeing tour unveils Amber fortresses, palatial properties and the Jantar Mantar Observatory as well as numerous organic encounters at the pink city's traditional food and handicraft markets.
Swapping city streets for countryside allows you to really compare and contrast urban and rural lifestyles with the remote village of Tordi inviting ample excuses to experience India from a whole new angle.
Birdwatching in Keoladeo National Park and visiting the world's largest step well, Chand Baori, in the village of Abhaneri, provide fascinating precursors to the mother of all Mughal palaces, the Taj Mahal. After taking in the Taj in all her glory your small group of intrepid explorers will take a path less travelled on the banks of the river Yamuna in the company of a local guide. This intensely personal Taj Mahal viewing opportunity allows you to glimpse the palace and Agra fort at sunrise for an insightful cultural treat to truly savour.
More spiritual awakening awaits after you ride the rails on an overnight sleeper train to Varanasi. As one of the world's most ancient of holy cities, Varanasi has become one of India's most important Hindu pilgrimage sites with Aarti ceremonies on the banks of the Ganges offering an unforgettable and deeply moving experience for travellers and worshippers alike.
From home-cooked meals with Muslim families and meeting some of the best sari sewers in India, to sightseeing at the Sarnath temple, the site of Buddha's original sermon, this small group tour leaves no stone unturned when it comes to enlightening and eclectic cultural encounters.
Accommodation: this 12 day small group holiday utilises a variety of locally-owned heritage hotels and converted havelis and palatial properties to provide a comfortable and authentic experience for responsible travellers. Upgrades for flights back to Delhi rather than a sleeper train are also available at the end of this tour. You can also extend the trip by heading from Varanasi to Kathmandu in Nepal. Please get in touch for more details.
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Price information
Please contact us for details and prices.
Single Supplement from £349, ask for details.
Check dates, prices & availability
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Reviews
1 Reviews of India small group tour, temples and palaces
Reviewed on 29 Sep 2024 by Cella Eftimescu
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Meeting the people. The village tour near Agra, a masala tea at our Dehli guide house, lunch at Sheroes Caffe, the flower & vegetables market tour in Jaipur,
Old Dehli Chandni chowk tour and the Aarti ceremony in Varanasi
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Try to find some time to wander by yourself, without guides or companions. Sometimes we felt as if we were under a glass bell, in our posh A/C car and stylish
hotels, isolated from the world around us. The charm of India also lies in the noise and chaos that surrounds you.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
It did benefit the local people but did not reduce environmental impact. We have been given all the time plastic bottles with water which was nice but
damaging. Nor did it support conservation.
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
An overwhelming experience, full of colour, amazing sites, tastes and unforgettable encounters.
Read the operator's response here:
Your suggestion about taking some time to explore independently during the trip is a good one. We do try and leave a bit of free time for this in places, and especially in the evenings you can go and look around your local area. There should also be some free time during site visits and while visiting markets etc. where you can leave the guide and just be by yourselves for a bit. We do need to keep to a schedule of course though, so I appreciate this can be a bit limited during busy days.
With the water bottles, we are trying to find a middle ground with this. Throughout our booking and pre-travel process we are actively suggesting and encouraging the purchase and use of the Watertogo bottles. These allow you to drink good clean water throughout your trips, without needing to use refillable or disposable bottles. However, we have had complaints when we have tried stopping providing any water bottles at all, which is why these are still made available. We do now also need to make sure we make it possible for these to be collected and recycled better, which we are working on now.
Responsible Travel
Planet
How our company is making a difference:We know that making the positive difference we aim to achieve will not be an easy task. However, our enthusiasm and commitment towards our travel responsibility mission is far stronger than any obstacles. We believe that in order to achieve any objective, the company has to have accurate policies and procedures for the employees and the guests to follow in order to reach our goal.
In India in particular, we encourage our travelers to not contribute to the already excessive garbage that floods the cities. We brief them on the best means of disposing of empty water bottles and food wrappers.
We have decided that the environment is a major component of any local community and any negative effect on the environment would directly have an impact on the lives of the inhabitants of the local community. Therefore, we have drawn up a strict environmental protection policy that all our employees and travelers have to abide by. For example, we recycle empty ink cartridges. A company collects them and disposes of them the correct manner.
Following a full audit of our tours concentrating on the welfare of elephants being used for tourists, and following discussions with responsibletravel.com, we no longer offer elephant rides at Amber Palace or Dera Amer.
In India, travelers are encouraged not to tempt children or any locals with food and sweets. The culture has to be respected at all times.
For us, Responsible Travel is the only way to travel.
As responsible travelers, we recognize the need to reduce our plastic consumption and provide sustainable alternatives to our customers. That's why we've partnered with Water to Go to offer a fantastic solution.
Water to Go is a company on a mission to tackle the issue of plastic pollution by providing travelers with reusable filter bottles. These bottles are not your average water containers. They are designed with advanced filtration technology that allows you to safely refill your bottle from natural water sources, taps, and even in places where tap water is not typically considered safe to drink.
People
Throughout our long tourism business journey, exceeding 15 years of travel operation in the Middle East, we have succeeded in establishing strong links with the communities we are dealing with in the host destinations.We believe that the Responsible Travel concept has to be a two-way strategy with both the travelers and the local community gaining benefits. We benefit the local communities we visit using a wide scope of activities that have a positive impact on the local economy, directly by donating money to charity organizations, financially supporting some local communities and by recruiting employees who belonging to the local community. We encourage our guests to buy local products and make use of services that people local community offer. We help indirectly through capacity building projects we implement with our employees and through the experiences and culture exchanges that take place between the locals and the travelers during our tours.
We promise to support the local community of every destination we take our travelers to. We will do this by employing local guides, using local handicraft shops and recommend shops to our travelers so that their holiday spending contributes to the people of that country. Furthermore, we provide each traveler with a tipping guide. By doing this we set a concept of tipping and gratuity for every person who will offer a form of service to the traveler.
We have also considered the social aspect of the local community and how to respect the customs and traditions of the inhabitants helping us operate our tours. We always provide our guests with all the information needed to understand the community they are visiting and we create valuable opportunities for the travelers and the locals to mingle and exchange ideas and thoughts.
The first objective is to operate our tours in the most perfect way possible. Our second objective, but not second in importance, is to benefit the local community, protect the environment, and have a positive social impact on the inhabitants living in our host destinations. One of the ways of doing this is to inform and educate our travelers on the cultures of the destinations. By doing this we aim to create a form of respect between the travelers and the local citizens who they will face along their tours.
We educate all our staff on the real life situations of each destination. Sales consultants will use this information to inform potential travelers of the correct information and threats that they may face. By creating long lasting relationships with our local ground handlers, we are able to establish what needs the community has and through their information we can inform our travelers what they can contribute to the local community from their home countries.
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