INCREDIBLE TRIP!!
My wife and I did this tour in Feb/March 2026. This tour greatly exceeded my wildest expectations! It was incredible from start to finish and we loved every minute of it!
•Old Delhi (pre-tour) was an amazing experience; so many new sights, from bullock carts to human-powered carts to vast waves of pedestrians to every kind of vehicle you could name. Old Delhi was commissioned by Shah Jahan and had a system of canals that have long since been filled in. The Old Delhi havelis used to be magnificent residences.
•We loved the National Crafts Museum (also pre-tour); unbelievably intricate ancient tapestries, fabrics, and handicrafts.
•The Red Fort and Jama Masjid are also spectacular.
•The British architecture of Lutyens’ New Delhi is also stunning and interesting
•Varanasi completely blew me away from start to finish. The Hindu/Buddhist/Jain rituals were completely outside of anything I could have ever imagined. Sunrise over the Ganges was something I’ll never forget. Varanasi was the highlight of the trip for me.
•The Taj Mahal left me completely speechless. I couldn’t believe we were really there! Our Oberoi hotel room looked out over the Taj Mahal!
•Jaipur and Udaipur were both magnificent. We saw snake charmers outside the Amber Palace. The famous Jaipur Rajasthani miniature paintings (private showing at the artist’s studio) were worth the trip by themselves; the detail of the paintings was unbelievable.
•Udaipur and Lake Pichola were great. The Udaipur City Palace was interesting, as was the Jagdish Temple. There were several opportunities for shopping for interesting handicrafts in Udaipur (Ganesh Handicrafts Emporium was my favorite). There were several shops offering unique Kashmiri handicrafts (hand-knotted silk rugs, papier mache items, pashminas, and other items).
•Cochin and Kerala were completely different from the cities of Northern India. We enjoyed visiting the spice markets of Old Cochin (great gifts BTW), as well as the Lake Kumarakom Resort.
•Mumbai was amazing, from the Victoria Train Station to the Gateway of India to the Elephanta Caves; we loved all of it.
India is an amazingly and wonderfully complex country with a fascinating mix of cultures and an extremely complicated history. Before embarking on this tour, one should consider reading about this magnificent country. My favorites:
•The VS Naipaul Indian trilogy
•”Shantaram” by Gregory Roberts
•”India; A History” by John Keay
•”India” by Audrey Truschke
People ask us why we wanted to go to India. Our answer: “What an adventure!” We saw things that we never imagined. The population density is unimaginable. There is a lot of poverty, to be sure, but India is on the move! Their public education system is second to none.
We had a wonderful Tauck Tour Director, Abhijat Sharma. Abhijat filled us full of Indian history, art, and culture. He is one of the best tour directors we have known.
If you are interested in the history and culture of India, and if you have a sense of adventure, and if you want to see and experience things you never imagined, this tour should be on your bucket list!