Luxury 8-Day Golden Triangle Tour with Shimla & Manali in Delhi

Plains for four days, mountains for four

Eight days of Mughal monuments would be too much of one thing. This itinerary runs the Golden Triangle and then climbs — Shimla at 2,200 metres, Manali at 2,000 in the Kullu valley — with five-star hotels and a luxury car throughout.

Days 1–3: Delhi and Agra

Luxury transfer on arrival, then India Gate, Qutub Minar, Humayun's Tomb and the Lotus Temple.

Then Agra: the Taj Mahal at sunrise, Agra Fort, and optionally Itimad-ud-Daulah — the Baby Taj, the 1620s marble tomb that introduced pietra dura to India and made the Taj possible.

Jaipur

Amber Fort on its ridge, the City Palace, Jantar Mantar and the Hawa Mahal, with Fatehpur Sikri on the road in.

Shimla

The British moved the entire government of India up here every summer from 1864 because Delhi was unbearable. What they left is a hill town that looks like nowhere else in the country.

The Ridge and Mall Road are pedestrian-only, lined with colonial buildings — Christ Church, the second-oldest in north India, and Viceregal Lodge, where the decision to partition India was taken in 1947 and whose teak-panelled rooms are open to visitors.

Jakhoo Temple sits at the highest point under a 33-metre Hanuman statue. Monkeys there take glasses; leave them in the car.

Manali

About eight hours on from Shimla through the Kullu valley, alongside the Beas river.

Hadimba Devi Temple, built in 1553 in deodar wood with a pagoda roof, in a cedar forest that feels considerably older than the building. Solang Valley for the snow views, Vashisht for the hot springs, and Old Manali for the slow end of the trip.

Practical

Five-star hotels, luxury car and driver, and licensed guides throughout.

The mountain roads are switchbacks and the drives are long. Shimla and Manali are cold from November to March and can snow in January — carry layers whatever the plains are doing.

The Taj is closed on Fridays.