CULTURAL AND SPIRITUAL IMMERSION IN INDIA

This tour blends the best of India’s art, culture and spirituality. Your tour will begin in Delhi, the Capital City of independent India which rewards the determined sightseer with more than a thousand monuments. Continue your journey to discover Pink City Jaipur made up of forts and palaces and bustling bazaars. Jaipur is a fascinating destination, giving one the chance to experience India from ancient to modern in one fell swoop. Next, you will travel to Agra to discover the wonder that is the Taj Mahal. Discover the extraordinary sculptures of the Khajuraho Temples before travelling to Varanasi, a city as old as Babylon and Nineveh. Uncover the mysteries of the Hindu faith amidst the burning ghats, antique temples and heritage of crafts amongst its twisting bazaar streets filled with legendary Indian silks and brocades. Your final destination will be Mumbai, the country’s financial capital and centre of business, fashion and film-making.  Mumbai’s intensity is almost contagious – outlandish fashion and mind-boggling traffic, glistening skyscrapers and slums, bars and restaurants, mayhem and order, ancient bazaars and swish malls, loud temples and rare moments of tranquillity.

EXPERIENCES AVAILABLE:

Cycling

  • Explore the lanes of Old Delhi on a morning cycling tour 

Private Access / Exclusive Exploration

  • Tour of the private quarters of the City Palace in Jaipur 

Gastronomy

  • Cooking demonstration and meal with a local family in Delhi or Jaipur
  • Street food walk in Delhi or Jaipur 

Spiritual

  • Private Puja (worship) ceremony on the river ghats for prosperity and well-being 

Textiles

  • Block Printing Workshop in Jaipur
  • Visit weaver’s village in Varanasi 

Adventure

  • Wildlife – Tiger Safari in Panna National Park, near Khajuraho

Community Service

  • Visit an NGO in Delhi
  • Visit the SHEROES café in Agra that employs acid attack survivors
  • Visit the wildlife SOS Elephant rescue centre in Agra

GOURMET TOUR OF INDIA

This tour offers you an excellent opportunity to learn some of the treasured recipes of popular Indian dishes. Cooked as per recipes handed down from generation to generation. Join your hosts in hands-down cooking demonstrations held especially in your honor in their splendid heritage homes. India’s fabulous wealth of culinary delights is culled from her regional traditions and the cosmopolitan influences of contemporary times. Discover this splendid repository of food and beverage favorites that have seduced the taste buds of visitors from around the globe. En route stay at Luxury Camps, Heritage Homes, and Boutique Hotels to learn all about India’s great culinary traditions

BEST OF NORTH AND SOUTH INDIA

This tour blends the best of India’s art and culture taking you through some of the most popular destinations in North and South India. You will tour the capital city Delhi which rewards the determined sightseer with more than a thousand monuments, before travelling to Agra to visit the stunning Taj Mahal. Continue your journey to discover the proud and valorous regal splendour of Rajasthan amongst its magnificent forts and palaces, mansions and landscaped estates. Visit one of India’s premier Tiger parks – Ranthambore. This tour enables you to go on the trail of the majestic Royal Bengal Tiger in one of its prettiest refuge.  From there experience Ramathra which offers one a chance to experience the great outdoors and ‘village India ‘ at its best, combined with a little fort lifestyle and exceptional Rajput hospitality – a rural idyll; a birdwatcher’s paradise; a nature lover’s dream. Next enjoy the Pink city of Jaipur before flying off to the south India. Experience the charms of God’s own country – with its back waters, simple people and picturesque natural beauty. Heading out from historic port town of Cochin to the backwaters of Kerala and spend a leisurely afternoon cruising in the traditional Kettuvallom house boats, along the waterways that form a dense network in Alleppey. End your journey at the picturesque fishing village Mararikulam, staying in a beach resort with palm fringed beaches, the ultimate destination for relaxation.

 

EXPERIENCES AVAILABLE:

Cycling

  • Explore the lanes of Old Delhi on a morning cycling tour
  • Explore on cycles the country side in the vicinity of Cochin 

Private Access / Exclusive exploration

  • Tour of the private quarters of the City Palace in Jaipur 

Gastronomy

  • Cooking demonstration and meal with a local family in Delhi or Jaipur.
  • Street food walk in Delhi or Jaipur
  • Cooking demonstration of Syrian Christian cuisine with Nimmy Paul in Cochin 

Textiles

  • Block Printing workshop in Jaipur

Walking tours

  • Walking tour of the Jew Town in Cochin 

Community Service:

  • Visit an NGO in Delhi
  • Visit the SHEROES café in Agra that employs acid attack survivors
  • Visit the wildlife SOS Elephant rescue centre in Agra

TEXTILES AND TRIBES OF WESTERN INDIA

This tour is designed for those interested in textiles, tribes and photography. We travel in West Indian beginning in Ahmedabad, travelling west to Dwarka and then onwards to Bhuj, exploring the rich textiles traditions of the Kutch and Gujarat regions. The participants will have ample opportunity to study and discuss a broad range of contemporary and historic textiles including silk and cotton saris, mirror embroidery, ikat, tie-dye, wood block printing, and vegetable dyeing. Meet directly with artisans in their workshops. The itinerary is designed for modest travel, a mix of heritage hotels and lodges in order to make the trip cost low and to travel in a way that reflects the lifestyles of local people.

 

EXPERIENCES AVAILABLE:

Walking tours

Early morning walking tour of the old town in Ahmedabad

THE ARAVALI HILLS MARWARI HORSE TRAILS

During the course of this extraordinary journey, the riders become a part of the breath-taking landscape, almost ‘at one’ with the surroundings, and get to see historical monuments and scenery which might be missed on a more conventional Safari. Add to this, the expertly schooled horses and professional guiding, you will have the Safari of a lifetime.

INDIAN ART, FOOD, AND WINE TOUR

Your journey begins in the cosmopolitan city of Mumbai – commercial, financial and trade capital of the country. Then you will fly to Aurangabad and visit the superb caves at Ajanta and Ellora. We visit India’s wine growing region, Nasik. Stay at Sula Beyond – India’s first vineyard resort. At the end we stay at central India’s incredible fort Ahilya.  “What’s that sound?” you think to yourself as you hear the chanting upon entering Ahilya Fort. As you step out onto the balcony of your room, it grows clearer. It’s one of the gardeners intoning, “Ram Sita Ram…Ram Sita Ram…”, a chant that continues to be in the background during your stay at this beautiful heritage resort.

ACTIVE ADVENTURE IN TIGERLAND

This active tour in packed with adventure offers you the thrill of coming face to face with untouched cultures as well as wilderness regions of great natural beauty. You will travel to central India’s three famous national parks having diverse wildlife, landscapes and tribal communities which make it a fascinating region to cycle through forested corridor which serve as a refuge to dispersing wildlife across the parks. Also on offer will be night safaris, walking in the buffer forests and canoe safaris.

You will also visit Agra to marvel at the wonder that is the Taj Mahal.

EXPERIENCES AVAILABLE:

Gastronomy

  • Farm to Table hands on cooking demonstration with in-house chef at the lodge in Pench

JUNGLE BOOK CYCLING EXPERIENCE

India is a land of diverse culture, geography, flora and fauna. Some of the rarest species of animals and birds find their home, in the central regions of the country. This tour weaves through two of India’s best tiger parks. It offers exclusive chances to see the best of the Indian wildlife, closely, in its natural habitat. We cycle through the very jungles of Seoni mentioned in the Jungle Book. Apart from the wildlife, the tour provides distinctive opportunity to experience rural life in India and meet with local people who live in harmony with wildlife. The soul of India lives in its villages, 60 percent of the population still lives in villages of India! Our route will be mostly through the forests that serves as a corridor for Tigers to disperse between national parks.

EXPERIENCES AVAILABLE:

Gastronomy

  • Farm to Table hands on cooking demonstration with inhouse chef at the lodge in Pench

BIRDING IN INDIA

This premier birding journey takes you to some of the best birding spots in India. Arrive in Delhi and then travel to Bharatpur, hop off point for Kheoladeo National Park, one of the great ornithological wetland wonders of the world. A birders’ paradise for long, the historic park continues to attract birding enthusiasts from around the globe.

Next you will travel to Chambal Sanctuary which is well known for the gharials and marsh crocodiles. The Sanctuary boasts of a rapidly increasing and impressive bird list of over 330 species of resident and migratory birds and is gaining a reputation as one of the most reliable places to see the Indian Skimmer. It is one of the last surviving habitats of the Gangetic River Dolphin. A quick visit to Taj Mahal in Agra before you head to the national parks in central India. – Satpura and Pench National parks. Satpura is one of India’s best kept secrets; this thick, dry deciduous forest is characterized by hilly backdrops, gorgeous water bodies and a rather stunning blend of landscapes. This is the only Park allowing walking safaris in India.

The forests of Pench National Park were the setting for Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book. Pench National Park is a wild playground harbouring country’s maximum density of prey animals, chased by estimated 65 Tigers. It has an appealing landscape of dry and moist deciduous forest and the vegetation is of undulating scrublands as well as bamboo patches around hilly areas.

BIKE 4 TIGERS

The Bike4Tiger Challenge itinerary has been designed by Royal Expeditions to experience the landscape penned in Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book and support its conservation.

The Bike4Tiger Challenge travels between these two parks over 3 full days of fun off-road biking terrain. It’s about 180 kms of quiet dirt forest tracks and undulating trails along this connecting forest landscape, home itself to a number of elusive tigers. Pedal through quaint and untouched tribal village communities that often bear the brunt of conflict with both predators and crop raiding prey like spotted deer, wild pig and Nilgai antelope.

The ride is designed for those who like biking, are fit (or want to get fit!) and adventurous, but do not have to be expert off-road bikers. Ages vary from 35 to 75 in 2016. Participants should enjoy a physical challenge, as the trail will cover between 45kms and 65kms each day, or 8 hours in the bike saddle. The scenery is glorious forest or rural terrain, most of it easy biking for those used to off road biking, but there are one or two uphill challenges and some fun off road downhills. The two nights of the bike trip are spent in a comfortable pre-set tented camp, besides forests and near village fields.

This is a unique trip for those who like getting off the beaten track and wants to get a real insight into India’s ancient rural heartland and its forests whilst being happy to support its conservation efforts.

 

EXPERIENCES AVAILABLE:

Gastronomy

  • Farm to Table hands on cooking demonstration with in-house chef at the lodge in Pench