Northern India 2026-27

Departure for Delhi on scheduled Ita Airways/Air India flights – meals on board – overnight flight.

Arrival in Delhi – meeting with the local guide and transfer to the hotel – early check-in - breakfast at the hotel – lunch at leisure – in the afternoon, visit of Delhi (the Friday Mosque, Jama Masjid, rising among the narrow lanes of Old Delhi; the Sikh temple Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, where amid gleaming white marble you come across Sikh warriors absorbed in chants and rituals; the Raj Ghat, the cremation site of Mahatma Gandhi; the Parliament; the Presidential Palace – exterior –; India Gate; Qutab Minar; rickshaw ride through the old city) - at sunset, panoramic tour of Delhi illuminated, with India Gate and the majestic government buildings - dinner at the hotel – overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel – departure for Jaipur (6-hour transfer) – lunch at leisure – on arrival, check-in at the hotel – rickshaw ride to discover the old city of Jaipur – visit of the Lakshmi Narayan temple to attend the evening prayer - dinner at the hotel - after dinner, Jaipur by night: panoramic tour by private coach with guide – overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel – in the morning, excursion by jeep to Amber Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated 11 kilometres from Jaipur at the foot of the Aravalli Hills - 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 on the way at a textile and carpet cooperative, a well-known collection centre for the work of craftsmen from the surrounding villages and countryside – lunch at leisure – in the afternoon, visit of the “pink city”, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (painted this colour as a sign 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 futuristic for its time: a grid layout with districts clearly laid out according to the crafts practised there, wide streets up to 30 metres across, homes on the first floor and workshops at ground level - visit of the City Palace (1729), with its museums and the elegant courtyards of the royal family, and of the Astronomical Observatory, Jantar Mantar, a complex of 18th-century astronomical instruments used by the Maharaja to calculate the ascendant, horoscopes, local time and the time in every place in the world - visit of the Palace of the Winds, the Hawa Mahal, the famous façade of latticed windows from which the women of the Maharajas’ court looked out over the market – dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – tour leader available – overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel – departure for Agra (5-hour transfer) – stopping on 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 – continuation to the abandoned city of Fatehpur Sikri, built in the 16th century by Emperor Akbar and preserved intact as testimony 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 available – overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel – visit of 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 represents the high point of Mughal architecture in India; an inscription on the arch of the mausoleum’s main gateway reads: “A palace of pearls among gardens and canals, where the pious and the blessed may live for ever”. 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 the meeting of the divine and the human, and it rises in all its beauty at the centre of geometric gardens – the chaharbagh – adorned with canals in which its four minarets and great white dome are reflected – in the afternoon, visit of Agra Fort, the residence 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 river Yamuna - The palaces that can be visited today are the work of the 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 available – overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel – departure by train on the Shatabdi Express to Jhansi (approximate times 9.50/12.35) – continuation by coach to Orchha (about 1 hour) – on arrival, visit of Orchha, a small town rich in ancient palaces, fortresses and temples, which was the capital of the feudal state in the 17th century (the Jehangir Mahal Palace – a welcome gift for the visit of the Mughal emperor in the 17th century –, the Sheesh Mahal Palace, known as the “Palace of Mirrors”, and the Phool Bagh Palace, an extraordinary summer residence - visit of the temples of Ram Raja and Chaturbhuj and of Laxminarayan with its exuberant frescoes) – lunch at leisure – dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – tour leader available – overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel – departure for Khajuraho – lunch at leisure – arrival in Khajuraho and visit of the town with its superb sandstone temples, built between the 10th and 11th centuries and famous for the tantric sculptures of erotic subjects that cover their façades, decorated with statues and bas-reliefs of remarkable artistic value – dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – tour leader available – overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel – departure from Khajuraho for Varanasi by coach (7-hour journey) – lunch at leisure - dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – tour leader available – overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel – boat excursion on the sacred river Ganges along the Bathing Ghats, the stone steps where pilgrims come to greet the sunrise with ritual ablutions - visit of the city’s most significant places and monuments: the ghats on the Ganges, the Durga temple, the golden temple of Vishwanath and the Chowk, the liveliest bazaar in the city - visit of the bazaar and the streets of Varanasi – at sunset we attend the Ganga Aarti prayer ceremony - lunch at leisure - dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – tour leader available – overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel – in the morning, visit of Sarnath, one of the most venerated sites of world Buddhism and the birthplace of this way of life – lunch at leisure – transfer to the airport - departure from Varanasi on a scheduled Air India flight to Delhi – on arrival, transfer to the hotel - dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – tour leader available – overnight stay.

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

N.B. – for departures flying with Air India, overnight stay at the hotel

Departure from Delhi on scheduled Ita Airways/Air India flights for the return to Italy.

N.B. – for departures flying with Air India: breakfast at the hotel – transfer to the airport – departure for the return to Italy.