Discovery India 2026-27 New

Departure to Jaipur on scheduled Etihad flights – meals on board – overnight flight.

Arrival in Jaipur – transfer to the hotel - check-in at the hotel - dinner at the hotel - evening at leisure – tour leader on hand – overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel – morning excursion to Amber Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, 11 kilometres from Jaipur at the foot of the Aravalli Hills, on the road to Delhi - visit to the fortress, reached by jeep - The Fort was built from 1591 onwards by Maharaja Man Singh I and boasts beautiful palaces finely decorated with latticed windows and mirror mosaics. It was the royal residence of the Maharaja of Amber, one of the most powerful in Rajasthan, until Jaipur was built in 1727 - return to the city, stopping along the way at a textile and carpet cooperative, a well-known collection point for the work of artisans from the surrounding villages and countryside – lunch at leisure – in the afternoon, visit to the “Pink City”, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (painted pink as a gesture of welcome for the visit of the future King Edward VII of England in 1863), built by Maharaja Jai Singh II in the 18th century to an urban plan that was visionary for its time: a grid layout with districts clearly assigned according to the artisans’ trades, wide streets up to 30 metres across, homes on the first floor and workshops at street level - visit to the City Palace (1729) with its museums and the elegant courtyards of the royal family, and to the Jantar Mantar astronomical observatory, a complex of 18th-century astronomical instruments used by the Maharaja to calculate ascendants, horoscopes, local time and the time in every part of the world - visit to the Palace of the Winds, the Hawa Mahal, with its famous façade of latticed windows from which the women of the Maharajas’ court looked out over the market – dinner at the hotel – after dinner, Jaipur by night: panoramic tour with private coach and guide – overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel – departure for Agra (5-hour transfer) – stop along the way at Abhaneri, to visit one of the largest stepwells in the world, built by King Chandra to store water and provide relief from the intense heat of Rajasthan, and a stop in an Indian village – continue to the abandoned city of Fatehpur Sikri, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, built in the 16th century by Emperor Akbar and left intact as a testament to the genius of the most enlightened of all the Mughal Emperors – lunch at leisure - arrival in Agra and check-in at the hotel – dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – tour leader on hand – overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel – visit to the superb Taj Mahal, built by Emperor Shah Jahan in the 17th century entirely of white marble and precious and semi-precious stones - the Taj Mahal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, represents the high point of Mughal architecture in India; an inscription on the arch of the mausoleum’s main gate reads: “A palace of pearls among gardens and canals, where the pious and the blessed may live forever”. This sentence sums up the meaning of the whole building, through which Emperor Shah Jahan sought to immortalise his love for his beloved Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal is symbolically described as the meeting of the divine and the human, and rises in all its beauty at the centre of geometric gardens – the chaharbagh – adorned with water channels that mirror its four minarets and great white dome – in the afternoon, visit to Agra Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, home of the Mughal Emperors, also known as the Red Fort, one of the principal symbols of Mughal architecture - The Lal Qila was built by Emperor Akbar from 1565 onwards, with high fortified walls, on the banks of the sacred Yamuna river - The palaces open to visitors today are the work of Emperors Jahangir and Shah Jahan and bear witness to the ancient splendour and wealth that characterised life at the Mughal court - lunch at leisure – dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – tour leader on hand – overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel – departure for Delhi (about 4 hours) – lunch at leisure - visit to Delhi with a guide (the Friday Mosque, Jama Masjid, rising among the narrow lanes of Old Delhi, Raj Ghat, the cremation site of Mahatma Gandhi, Qutab Minar, rickshaw ride through the old city, barefoot visit to the Sikh temple Gurudwara Bangla Sahib where, amid gleaming white marble, you encounter Sikh warriors absorbed in chants and rituals, and a walk in the Lodhi Gardens with the monumental tombs of the Lodi dynasty) - at sunset, panoramic tour of Delhi illuminated, with the India Gate and the majestic government buildings - dinner at the hotel - evening at leisure – tour leader on hand – overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel – morning visit to Delhi with a guide (Humayun’s Tomb, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the first garden tomb built in India, in red sandstone and marble, visit to Gandhi Smriti, the museum housed in Birla House where Mahatma Gandhi spent the last days of his life and where he was assassinated, a walk around Connaught Place and a visit to the Lotus Temple, a temple of the Bahá’í faith and a masterpiece of modern architecture shaped like a lotus bud with twenty-seven marble petals) – lunch at leisure - tour leader on hand – late-afternoon transfer to the airport – departure from Delhi on scheduled Etihad flights back to Italy.

Arrival in Italy.