Rajasthan and Golden Triangle tour by train
Description of Rajasthan and Golden Triangle tour by train
This Mumbai to Delhi tour, a two week small group holiday that is fully guided throughout, takes in not only India’s famous Golden Triangle, but also some of Rajasthan’s other cultural highlights, and the sacred city of Varanasi. Following a carefully crafted itinerary, we use trains to access these fascinating and evocative regions and sites, with some additional private transfers when necessary.
This India holiday starts in Mumbai where you have a couple of days to acclimatise and take in this bustling city, including a guided tour of Dharavi, one of the largest slums in Asia and a hive of small scale businesses and big dreams. Here you will have the opportunity to see the work of our sister NGO, Reality Gives, which we support by donating 80% of the profits of this trip, funding its important work here and in New Delhi.
Moving north to the state of Rajasthan, cultural highlights along the way include Udaipur, also known as ‘Venice of the East’ with its magnificent lake system that envelops palaces and temples, the magnificent ‘Blue City’ of Jodhpur and the state capital of Jaipur, with its famous Amber Fort and palaces. This tour is not just about Rajasthan’s architectural wonders, we also include plenty of experiences to make sure that you gain an understanding of Rajasthani culture and people, their food, arts and rural lifestyles.
The final two stops on this itinerary are cultural and spiritual classics: The Taj Mahal and then Varanasi, the religious hub of India and where you will witness many sacred sights including the daily puja or prayer ceremonies on the Ganges. Throughout this holiday, your local guide will ensure that you maintain a cultural connection with local people, with the emphasis of our holidays being to experience “real" India all throughout.
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5 Reviews of Rajasthan and Golden Triangle tour by train
Reviewed on 14 Aug 2017 by Nicky Parsons
The feeling that we saw the real India, having a wonderful guide who knew the area well and took us to places and restaurants that we wouldn't have visited by ourselves, having so many diverse experiences as well as seeing the sights, bike-riding, camel trekking, trains... Read full reviewReviewed on 28 Dec 2016 by Judy Ainger
We had really memorable moments and sights in each place we visited, but our side trip to Bharatpur Wildlife Sancturary, and the birdwatching was a wonderful experience. The ancient forts and palaces and tombs and temples were amazing to see... Read full reviewReviewed on 04 Mar 2015 by Pauline Hughes
A fantastic experience. I feel I learned so much about India. This was the best possible experience I could have had. Read full reviewReviewed on 18 Apr 2014 by terry matthews
Sharing meals and time with local families. In their homes and on a camel trek were certainly two of the highlights. Having Krishna as a guide added a special dimension to the trip. Read full reviewReviewed on 18 Apr 2014 by susan richards
This was more than a holiday, it was an experience...If you relish the thought of the unexpected and want to see some authentic indian life, this tour is for you. Read full reviewResponsible Travel
Planet
On our Rajasthan Tour, we make an effort to minimize our carbon footprint. We we use trains and public transport whenever possible. On some days the logistics require us to use a private van. The itinerary includes one flight from Mumbai to Udiapur but we are currently working to replace this flight with an overnight train.Additionally, our company uses 100% recycled paper for all our print products. This does not only include brochures, hand-outs and feedback forms, but also envelopes and carry bags. We have recently transitioned from using paper feedback forms after our tours to an online form. Guests fill it out using their own electronic devices. We have also moved away from providing plastic water bottles after our tours. We now use a communal water tank with re-usable glasses.
Online through our NGO's website, we offer merchandise products after the tour that represent an upcoming green and fair-trade movement in India. For example we sell shirts from 'No Nasties', a t-shirt label that provides 100% fair-trade and 100% organic cotton t-shirts.
People
A key feature of our Rajasthan Tour, like all of our multi-day tours, is connecting with and understanding the local communities that you visit. Visiting a place with the intention of listening and learning is a key aspect of responsible travel in our opinion and we encourage and facilitate this as much as possible throughout the tour. This is particularly important for our visit to the Bishnoi village.We use 80% of the profits from this tour to support our NGO, Reality Gives. Currently, profits generated from the tours enable Reality Gives to run programs for the Dharavi (Mumbai) and Sanjay Colony (New Delhi) communities. Reality Gives is currently developing and testing several high-quality curricula and teacher training modules that we plan to make widely available for other NGOs to use. We plan to use resource sharing like this as a way to support local NGOs in Rajasthan in a sustainable and helpful manner.
Reality Gives provides high quality English, Computer and Life Skills classes/syllabus for vulnerable individuals, prominently young people. We also run a Teachers Training Course to ensure that not only we have the high-quality syllabus, but quality teachers (in India there is a shortfall of 800,000 teachers, and the present ones are not of good quality). In addition to this, we provide Community Centres as hubs for young people to express their creativity through a wide range of inspiring activities that children from low-income communities too often do not have access to (drama classes, dance classes, sport, for example). Our syllabi, as well as teachers training, will be available to other NGOs to use.
Since 2009, the profits from our tours have enabled Reality Gives to work with more than 8,000 young people from Dharavi and Sanjay Colony.
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