North India tours, 13 days

Planet

Transport:
As you move from place to place, you’ll use public buses and series of trains, an effective way to help lower your carbon footprint, mingle with the locals and soak up the scenic views as you make your way to the next location. There will also be a lot of walking in each location to discover them. These walking trips will provide you with light exercise - looking after your well being, while also reducing the carbon footprint on the planet - looking after the planet’s well being!

Accommodation:
All of the places we stay in are locally run and passionate about doing their part when it comes to the environment. On this tour, we stay in hostels and spend 1 night camping in the desert, a great way to immerse yourself in a local Indian tradition. Whilst you’re staying in each of these places, we encourage you to use local services on offer, this way your money goes straight into the local community and economy.

Wildlife:
We visit a Monkey Temple on this trip. Just before we visit the park we have our Adventure Leader will speak to you to emphasise that there should be no flash photography, that you should not feed the monkeys and that you should not disturb or scare the monkeys. We want our travellers to see the amazing monkeys as there is much we can learn from them but at the same time we want to make sure everyone is respectful of them so that the monkeys do not feel threatened in any way.

Top Tips:
We suggest packing a reusable water bottle to ensure you have water on hand at all times and help minimise the trail of plastic left behind as much as possible. We do not advise to drink tap water but if there are refill points we highly encourage our travellers use this,. We also recommend packing as light as possible, to help keep your carbon footprint low.

People

Local tour guides:
We use native and bilingual guides. By using local tour guides we help support the local people and provide employment opportunities.

Local experiences:
You’ll learn about the local cuisine if you choose to have dinner at the Gurdwara and in the desert and our Adventure Leader will always be happy to give you recommendations for traditional restaurants. The Ganga Aarti in Varanasi is also a fantastic way to experience the Hindu culture of India as it gives an insight into the religion and beliefs of the country.

As a sign of respect, we think that it is important for travellers to learn a few key words or phrases in the native language, so we offer classes to learn Hindi and about the local culture.

All of our customers’ interactions are with local suppliers, and we promote integration between travellers and local people through our “unmissable” included activities and our optional activities, and opportunities for authentic cultural immersion.

Our Adventure Leaders are trained in ensuring that customers are aware of local customs and traditions, educating them on when it is appropriate to take photos and/or videos.