From Delhi: 6-Day Private Golden Triangle Tour with Udaipur

The Golden Triangle is forts, sandstone and desert light. Udaipur is lakes, white marble and hills, and arriving there after Jaipur is the most satisfying change of gear in Rajasthan.

Delhi

Jama Masjid and a rickshaw ride through Chandni Chowk past the Red Fort. Then India Gate, Humayun's Tomb — the 1560s Mughal garden tomb that the Taj was built from the memory of — and Qutub Minar.

Agra

The Taj Mahal, best at sunrise, and Agra Fort with the tower where Shah Jahan was held prisoner by his son for the last eight years of his life, the Taj visible along the river.

Jaipur, via Fatehpur Sikri

Akbar's abandoned capital on the road, then Amber Fort, the City Palace, Jantar Mantar and the Hawa Mahal.

Udaipur

The drive south is long — around 400 km — and the landscape changes as the Aravallis rise.

The City Palace runs for most of a kilometre along Lake Pichola, the largest palace complex in Rajasthan, built up in pieces by twenty-two rulers over four hundred years. The museum inside holds the peacock mosaics and the glass rooms people photograph most.

Jagdish Temple, 1651, Indo-Aryan, with the stone elephants at the top of thirty-two steps and constant activity around it.

Saheliyon ki Bari, the garden of fountains, lotus pools and marble elephants built for a queen's forty-eight attendants.

And a boat on Lake Pichola at sunset, which is what everybody remembers — the Lake Palace floating out in the middle, the ghats on the shore, and the hills going flat and dark behind.

Options

Private air-conditioned car and driver for the full six days with local guides in each city; hotels at three or four star, or none if you are arranging your own.

The Taj is closed on Fridays, which sets how the days fall.