From Delhi: 4-Day Golden Triangle & Ranthambore Tiger Safari (from $197.95)

Four days, and one of them is a tiger reserve

The tightest itinerary that fits Ranthambore in. It works because the park sits between Agra and Jaipur, so the safari costs a night rather than a detour.

Day 1: Delhi to Agra

Morning pickup from your hotel, airport or preferred location in Delhi, then the Yamuna Expressway — three and a half to four hours.

Your guide meets you in Agra. The Taj Mahal: Shah Jahan began it in 1632, the year after Mumtaz Mahal died bearing their fourteenth child. Twenty thousand workers and twenty-two years.

Then Agra Fort, and the Musamman Burj, the tower where Aurangzeb imprisoned his father for the last eight years of his life with the Taj visible along the river.

Day 2: Agra to Ranthambore via Fatehpur Sikri

Akbar's capital of 1571, abandoned fourteen years later when the water gave out, and preserved whole because of it — the Buland Darwaza, the Panch Mahal, the marble dargah of Salim Chishti.

Then south to the park, about six hours.

Day 3: safari

Early morning or afternoon, in an open gypsy (six seats) or canter (twenty), on a zone the forest department allocates. Nobody chooses their zone.

Ranthambore covers 1,300 square kilometres of dry deciduous forest around a tenth-century hill fort that still stands inside the reserve. Around seventy tigers live here, and they are unusually habituated to vehicles, which is why this park gives the best odds in north India.

Certain regardless: sambar, chital, nilgai, langur, crocodiles at the lakes, and the fort above.

Day 4: Jaipur, then Delhi

Amber Fort, the City Palace, Jantar Mantar, the Hawa Mahal, and the drive back.

Three options

Car, driver and guide; or with three-star or four-star hotels and the safari included.

Practical

Ranthambore closes 1 July to 30 September. Permits are limited — book early. The Taj is closed on Fridays.