Luxury India Tours, Taj, forts and palaces

Planet

We put a lot of thought in working with local providers, making sure that everyone involved in your trip is committed to sharing advice on how best to leave a lighter footprint. We promote excursions which foster a more sustainable tourism and commit to maintaining small-group sizes to limit negative environmental impacts in accordance to the carrying capacity of the visited site.

We are trying to keep the extra unneeded waste to a minimum in all our tours through our “bring it in, bring it out” policy for litter and rubbish such as food packaging and recycling wherever possible. We have a recycling policy in our UK and local offices and re-use or recycle the information booklets we provide to every client on arrival wherever possible. Moreover, we do not produce a glossy brochure, concentrating on a comprehensive website, and providing as much information to our travellers as possible electronically, reducing the use of paper and inks.

On your trip we will include transport modes like traditional cycle rickshaws or a ride on a horse carriage to the Taj Mahal, which reduces our carbon footprint and will also give you the opportunity to meet and interact with the local people. On your city excursions, we will give preference to slow, possibly non-motorized forms of mobility, such as city walks or bicycles. If motorized forms are unavoidable, we make sure that vehicle sizes are as small as appropriate and proper licensing on vehicles and certifying to national emission standards are maintained.

Accommodation
For your tour we have chosen very special, responsible Heritage resorts like the Taj Hotels, a group that puts great effort towards reducing energy, waste and water footprint while leaving a positive impact in the destinations and the communities. To help the resorts reduce the impact of daily operations, the Taj partnered with EarthCheck - the world's leading environmental management, benchmarking and certification program for the travel and tourism industry. Additional initiatives that are supported through your stay at the Taj group include the Olive Ridley Turtle Protection Programme to enhance the survival of this endangered species through educating locals and releasing hatchlings safely into the sea, or the Coral Regeneration Programme aimed to increase the coral coverage near the resort and create a healthy reef ecosystem, the innovative use of plastic bottles (to make park benches at the resort for example), or the use of green power (thermal use, wind turbine generator). You can participate in certain initiatives if you wish.

Another special place we chose is the Suryagarh Hotel, which represents a unique way of life, carefully preserving the traditions of the past, with beautiful courtyards, pure architecture true to an ancient craft, grand Rajasthani architecture, wood flooring, traditional handcrafted furnishings and heritage art piece.

Architecture
On this tour you will also contribute to the conservation of unqiue UNESCO World Heritage Sites, such as the iconic Taj Mahal, an architectural masterpiece and one of the new Seven Wonders of the World; or the Agra Fort, known as the Red Fort of Agra, a walled imperial city founded in 1565 by the Emperor Akbar (1556-1605) - its  palaces, grand mosques and elaborate public hall are crafted from pink-red sandstone and are testament to an era when Indo-Muslim art, strongly marked by influences from Persia, was at its height. Another three UNESCO World Heritage Sites you will visit are in Delhi – the Red Fort, Qutab Minar, and Humayun's Tomb. Qutub Minar is the second tallest minar in India and is made of red stone and marble covered with intricate carvings and verses from the Qur'an.

People

We make sure we only work with local guides that come from the very region you are visiting. Through this trip you are hence giving back to their families and communities. While many operators pay per day or per tour, our guides receive an hourly rate which allows a fair and fruitful reward for their expertise. We provide staff with written employment contracts and fair working conditions (e.g. overtime payment, national wage requirements, no discrimination, grievance mechanisms in place and no child labour).

Furthermore we ensure that our drivers do not more than 9 hours of driving per day and are provided adequate accommodation and do not drive at night (with the exception of airport pick-ups/drop-offs). After a driving period of 4.5 h the driver must take a break of at least 45 min. Our tour guides receive special training in how to leave a lower impact on the trips and in regional conservation projects.

Through staying at the Heritage resorts we chose for you, you support also the local community. The Taj group maintains time-honoured traditions central to the Indian homecoming. They provide jobs to the local community, support endangered artisan practices and revive regal history at palaces where royal families are still in residence. With the Taj group, over 7000 associates of ´Give Back´, an employee volunteer programme, also invest their time in mentoring and guiding youngsters, cleaning the local neighbourhood, taking up activities in the areas of hygiene and sanitation, local education, bringing guests to local villages and supporting the preservation and promotion of local art and culture.

If you want to do souvenir shopping, we will take you to local markets where locals of that very region craft their products to help keep the money earned in that very community. When we take you to local shops or markets we change the selected shops on a rotating basis. Also we make sure food stops are at locally owned cafes or restaurants and give customers recommendations on locally owned shops and restaurants, especially new start-ups.

We ensure customer awareness by familiarizing our guests with local history, culture, religions and traditions, by informing on culturally appropriate behavior, (e.g. dress codes for religious sites, taking photographs of people, language tips, etc.).