Golden Triangle Tour 5 Nights 6 Days

Day 1:

Arrive in Delhi

Your driver meets you at Indira Gandhi International Airport and drives you to your hotel, helping with check-in. The rest of the day you can relax at the hotel, which matters more than it sounds if you've just flown overnight.

If you're up for it, we can arrange a gentle introduction: the white marble calm of Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, a walk in Lodhi Garden among 15th-century tombs, or dinner at a restaurant your guide recommends. Otherwise, sleep.

Overnight stay in Delhi.

Day 2:

A Full Day across Old and New Delhi

After a healthy breakfast, start your sightseeing from Old Delhi, built by Shah Jahan in the 1600s. You view the walls of the Red Fort, step inside Jama Masjid, the country's largest mosque, and take a cycle rickshaw through Chandni Chowk, where shops sell everything from cardamom to bridal brocade. You pause at Raj Ghat, Gandhi's riverside memorial.

After lunch you move to New Delhi. You will visit Humayun's Tomb, whose Persian-inspired garden layout shaped later Mughal architecture, and Qutub Minar, a soaring 12th-century minaret covered in carved inscriptions. The day ends with a drive past India Gate and the government buildings on Raisina Hill.

Overnight in Delhi.

Day 3:

Delhi to Agra, the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort

You leave after breakfast for the 3-4 hour drive to Agra via the Yamuna Expressway, and check into your hotel.

In the afternoon your tour guide takes you to the Taj Mahal, the marble tomb Shah Jahan built for Mumtaz Mahal, completed around 1653. You'll hear how the inlay work was done, why the minarets lean slightly outward and how the garden's proportions were planned. Next comes Agra Fort, a walled palace city of red sandstone where Shah Jahan was later confined by his son. You finish at Mehtab Bagh across the Yamuna, watching the marble turn amber as the sun drops.

Overnight stay in Agra.

Day 4:

Sunrise at the Taj, then Fatehpur Sikri and Abhaneri

Wake up early and get ready to experience the beauty of the Taj Mahal at sunrise. Afterwards, enjoy a healthy breakfast at the hotel, check out, and make a short visit to Itmad-ud-Daulah, the jewel-box tomb known as the "Baby Taj," whose inlay predates the Taj itself.

Then you move on to Jaipur. En route you visit Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar's capital of the 1570s, abandoned within a generation and remarkably intact, with the vast Buland Darwaza, the Panch Mahal and Salim Chishti's marble shrine. Further along the road you climb down into Chand Baori at Abhaneri, a 9th-century stepwell whose thousands of steps fall away in a perfect lattice. You arrive in Jaipur in the evening.

Overnight stay in Jaipur.

Day 5:

Jaipur's Forts, Palaces and Bazaars

An early start takes you to Amber Fort, above Maota Lake, where you pass through the painted Ganesh Pol into courtyards and the glittering Sheesh Mahal. On the way back you stop at Jal Mahal, which seems to rest on the surface of Man Sagar Lake.

In the walled city you tour the City Palace, part museum and part royal residence, and Jantar Mantar, Maharaja Jai Singh II's observatory of monumental stone instruments. You photograph Hawa Mahal, whose pink façade of 953 windows was built so royal women could watch processions unseen.

The evening is yours. You might browse Johari Bazaar for gemstones and Bapu Bazaar for textiles, or head out to a Rajasthani village-themed dinner at Chokhi Dhani.

Overnight in Jaipur.

Day 6:

Free Morning and Return to Delhi

Your last morning is unplanned. Watch sunrise from Nahargarh Fort, visit the Galtaji temple complex tucked into a gorge, try a block-printing or cooking workshop, or sleep in and shop.

After check-out you drive back to Delhi, roughly five to six hours, and your driver drops you at the airport, railway station or hotel, timed to your onward plans.