Splendors of India & Sufi Festival Safari

Welcome to India! As you arrive at Delhi’s International Airport you will be met and transferred to the Taj Mahal Hotel for two nights. Tonight you will meet up with your fellow travelers for a Welcome Dinner.

This morning you commence your private guided tour of Old Delhi, starting with a visit to the Red Fort and a rickshaw ride in Chandni Chowk, which was once the grandest of markets in India.

This afternoon you’ll visit New Delhi, driving past Rashtrapati Bhawan, India Gate and the Old Secretariat. Then on to Humayun’s Tomb, which was the first garden-tomb in the Indian subcontinent and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993. You’ll end with a visit to Qutub Minar the world’s tallest brick minaret before returning to your hotel for the evening.

This morning you will be transferred to Delhi’s airport for your flight for Jodhpur. Upon arrival in Jodhpur you will be transferred by road to Nagaur. You will be staying three nights in Nagaur at the Ranvas Hotel within Ahhichatragarh Fort. This evening you will enjoy the Sufi music concert.

Today you have an opportunity to participate in various festive activities of the Sufi Festival.

The World Sufi Spirit Festival of Nagaur and Jodhpur welcomes the most beautiful of sacred traditions from Asia and Africa, while showing off the wealth of Rajasthan’s traditional heritage, a heritage at the crossroads of Indian, Afghan, Mughal, Arab and Persian civilizations, between Hinduism and Sufi Islam.

The Ahhichatragarh Fort (Nagaur Fort) will open the door to a musical voyage of initiation into another world. Prepare yourself to experience the true magic. The Nagaur festival is very exclusive, private and only accessible to resident guests (of Royal Tents & Ranvas.) The event is well attended by an elite crowd from India and abroad.

Today you will be transferred by road to Jodhpur (135 Kms / 2 ½ Hrs). Jodhpur is known as the “Sun City” for the bright, sunny weather it enjoys all year. Upon arrival you will check in at Hotel Vivanta by Taj Hari Mahal then proceed to visit the massive Mehrangarh Fort & Jaswant Thada.

Encircled within the massive city walls, the majestic Mehrangarh Fort keeps watch over a maze of rooftops from its perch on a rocky mountaintop. Bathed in yellow light at night, this imposing stronghold has the reputation of being the best maintained fort in Rajasthan, and the palace complex, with its network of courtyards, is well worth exploring.

Sprawled in the shadow of the mountaintop fort, the Blue City also boasts the Jaswant Thada, a beautiful marble crematorium constructed for the maharajahs in the 19th century.

Your journey continues today as you are transferred by road to Jawai Leopard Camp (3½ hrs). You will be staying at the Jawai Leopard Camp, the only luxury accommodation within this unexplored region of outstanding natural beauty which attracts an impressive array of migratory birds. But the big cats are the predominant attraction of this camp.

You will enjoy game drives in customized 4×4 with guides and trackers who are uninhibited by restrictions, as this is not part of national park but a vast sprawling wilderness of craggy hills, scrub, grassland and winding sand riverbeds.

After your morning game viewing excursion you will be transferred to the Udaipur airport (3 hrs drive) for a flight to Delhi.

Upon arrival in Delhi you will be met and transferred to the Taj Mahal Hotel for the night.

This morning you will be transferred by road to Agra (3 ½ hours). On arrival in Agra you will check into the ITC Mughal Hotel.

In the afternoon you will visit Agra Fort. The red sandstone fort was renovated and converted into a palace during Shah Jahan’s era and reworked extensively with marble and pietra dura inlay. Later you will visit the Taj Mahal, said to be one of the most elegant and harmonious buildings in the world. The Taj Mahal is the manifestation of the wealth and luxury of Mughal art as seen in its architecture, garden design, painting, and calligraphy.

This morning you will visit the Taj Mahal at sunrise which is a completely different experience than your visit the previous afternoon!

You will then return to the hotel for breakfast then you will be transferred by road back to Delhi and the international airport for your flight home.