Golden Triangle and Ranthambore Tiger Safari: 8-Day Private Tour

Arrive in Delhi

Your driver meets you outside the arrivals hall at Indira Gandhi International Airport with a sign bearing your name and takes you to your hotel. Bank ATMs and mobile phone counters are in the arrivals area if you need rupees or a local SIM; your driver will wait. The drive in is a first look at New Delhi's wide, tree-lined avenues.

After a long flight, the best plan for the first day is very little. Check in, rest and adjust to Indian time; staying awake until a normal bedtime helps with jet lag. If you land early and feel fresh, an easy walk in Lodhi Garden, where 15th- and 16th-century tombs of the Sayyid and Lodi sultans stand among lawns and old trees, is a gentle introduction to the city.

Keep the first dinner simple. Delhi is known for rich North Indian cooking such as dal makhani and tandoori kebabs; for the first few days, stick to freshly cooked hot food and bottled or filtered water.

Your coordinator in Mumbai will call or message to welcome you, confirm tomorrow's start time and answer any questions.

• ArrivalMeet and greet at the airport; private transfer to your hotel
• AfternoonRest, or an optional walk in Lodhi Garden
• EveningFree, with an early night before tomorrow's sightseeing

OvernightDelhi. See the hotel options below.

Old and New Delhi with your guide

Start in Old Delhi, the walled city built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the 17th century. Climb the steps of the Jama Masjid, one of India's largest mosques, then take a cycle-rickshaw through Chandni Chowk, a tangle of lanes selling silver, saris, sweets and spices. Walk on to Khari Baoli, the great spice market, and pass the red sandstone walls of the Red Fort.

After lunch, cross into New Delhi. Humayun's Tomb, finished around 1570, is the garden tomb that inspired the Taj Mahal and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Continue to the 73-metre Qutub Minar, begun around 1200 and also UNESCO listed, then drive along Kartavya Path past the President's House to India Gate.

For a quieter moment, add Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, the Sikh temple whose community kitchen serves free meals to thousands of visitors daily.

Wear clothes that cover shoulders and knees and shoes that slip off: they come off at the Jama Masjid and the gurudwara, where heads are also covered (scarves are provided). The Red Fort is closed on Mondays, so your guide plans around it. Old Delhi is the place to try street food with your guide, from stuffed parathas to hot jalebis.

• MorningJama Masjid, cycle-rickshaw through Chandni Chowk, the spice market and the Red Fort
• AfternoonHumayun's Tomb and the Qutub Minar
• EveningIndia Gate, then dinner at leisure

OvernightDelhi.

To Agra: the fort and the Taj at sunset

After breakfast, drive south to Agra on the Yamuna Expressway, one of India's fastest highways, arriving in time for lunch. The road runs straight across the flat farmland of the Yamuna plain, past wheat and mustard fields and brick kilns, with clean rest stops for coffee on the way.

In the afternoon, explore Agra Fort, the red sandstone citadel of the Mughal emperors and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Akbar began it in the 1560s, and his grandson Shah Jahan added white marble palaces and halls of audience. Your guide shows you the octagonal tower where, by tradition, Shah Jahan spent his last years gazing at the Taj Mahal. If time allows, stop at the tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah, the Baby Taj, a jewel box of inlaid marble built in the 1620s by the empress Nur Jahan for her father.

At sunset, walk in Mehtab Bagh, the Moonlight Garden on the far bank of the Yamuna, for the classic view of the Taj across the river. Before dinner, try petha, Agra's translucent sweet made from ash gourd, sold all over the city.

• MorningDrive from Delhi to Agra
• AfternoonAgra Fort, and the Baby Taj if time allows
• SunsetThe Taj Mahal from Mehtab Bagh

OvernightAgra, a short drive from the Taj Mahal.

The Taj Mahal at sunrise, then into tiger country

Your guide collects you before dawn for the Taj Mahal, entering as the gates open 30 minutes before sunrise. Built by Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal and finished in 1653, the white marble glows pink and gold in the first light, and the gardens are at their quietest.

After breakfast, head south-west to Ranthambore. By road, we stop at Fatehpur Sikri, Emperor Akbar's abandoned 16th-century capital, then continue on country roads through mustard fields and villages. If you prefer, take a train from Agra to Sawai Madhopur, the station 13 km from the park; your driver meets you there.

Check in to your lodge on the edge of the park in time for a sunset drink. Your naturalist will brief you on tomorrow's safaris over dinner. Lay out warm layers, a hat and your camera tonight, as the morning start is early and dawn drives are cold in winter.

• SunriseThe Taj Mahal with your guide
• DayDrive to Ranthambore via Fatehpur Sikri, or train to Sawai Madhopur
• EveningCheck in at your jungle lodge; safari briefing over dinner

OvernightRanthambore, 2 nights, at a lodge on the edge of the park. Dinners included.

Two jeep safaris in Ranthambore National Park

Wake before dawn with tea and biscuits, then climb into an open six-seat jeep, called a gypsy, with your driver and naturalist. The forest department assigns each safari to one of the park's ten zones, and the vehicle follows set tracks within it. Mornings are cool and the light is soft; scan the tracks for pugmarks and listen for the alarm calls of sambar deer and langur monkeys that warn of a tiger nearby.

Return to the lodge for a late breakfast and rest through the middle of the day by the pool or in the garden. Early in the afternoon, head out again for a second safari as the heat eases and animals move towards water.

Back at the lodge, compare photographs and sightings over dinner. If you would like to see Ranthambore Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a much-visited Ganesh temple, we can swap one safari for a walk up to its gates.

• DawnMorning safari, about 3 hours
• MiddayBreakfast and rest at the lodge
• AfternoonSecond safari as the heat eases
• EveningDinner at the lodge

OvernightRanthambore.

A last safari, then the Pink City

Take your third safari at dawn, often the best chance of the trip as tigers return from the night's hunting along the tracks and lake shores. Even without a tiger, Ranthambore is rewarding: look for leopards on the rocky ridges, sloth bears, marsh crocodiles basking by the lakes, spotted deer and sambar, and birds such as the crested serpent eagle and the colourful Indian paradise flycatcher in the cooler months. The ruined pavilions and banyan trees inside the park, below the walls of the old fort, make it one of the most atmospheric tiger reserves in India.

After a late breakfast, drive north to Jaipur through the Aravalli hills and small Rajasthani towns, past fields of wheat and mustard, which turns the countryside yellow in winter. Your driver can stop for chai at a roadside dhaba. Check in to your hotel in the afternoon and rest after the early start.

The evening is free. Your hotel can arrange a rooftop dinner, or your driver can take you to a well-known local restaurant for Rajasthani thali.

• DawnThird safari in Ranthambore
• Late morningBreakfast and drive to Jaipur
• EveningFree in Jaipur

OvernightJaipur, 2 nights.

Amber Fort and the Pink City

Drive out early to Amber Fort, the hilltop palace of the Kachwaha rulers and part of the UNESCO-listed Hill Forts of Rajasthan, before the heat and the tour buses arrive. Walk up through its courtyards to the Sheesh Mahal, the Hall of Mirrors, whose ceilings are set with thousands of tiny mirrors that sparkle in the light of a single flame. We take you up by jeep, not by elephant. On the way back, stop to photograph the Jal Mahal floating in Man Sagar Lake.

In the afternoon, explore the walled old city, founded in 1727 and painted pink in 1876 to welcome the Prince of Wales. See the honeycomb façade of the Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds; the City Palace, still home to the former royal family, where two enormous silver urns stand in the hall of private audience; and the Jantar Mantar, an 18th-century observatory with a giant stone sundial and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

End with an hour in Johari and Bapu bazaars for jewellery, textiles and block prints, or watch the sunset from Nahargarh Fort above the city. For a snack, try pyaaz kachori, a spiced onion pastry, or ghewar, a honeycomb-like sweet.

• MorningAmber Fort and the Hall of Mirrors; photo stop at the Jal Mahal
• AfternoonHawa Mahal, City Palace and the Jantar Mantar
• EveningOld city bazaars, or sunset from Nahargarh Fort

OvernightJaipur.

Drive back to Delhi for your flight

After a relaxed breakfast, drive back to Delhi, straight to the international airport. Please book a flight leaving after 6 pm to allow for traffic.

The highway runs north-east through the Aravalli hills and the farming towns of eastern Rajasthan and Haryana, with clean highway restaurants for lunch and coffee. Traffic thickens as you reach Gurugram on the edge of Delhi, which is why we build in a generous margin.

If you are flying on within India, or to another country from Jaipur, we can end the tour at Jaipur airport instead and save you the drive.

• MorningBreakfast and check out
• DayPrivate drive to Delhi airport, or transfer to Jaipur airport