Ignite your senses in wonderful India
FROM its many ancient traditions t diti to t its it truly t l breathtaking scenery, India will ignite your curiosity, enliven your senses and warm your soul.
It’s a place where you can’t help but feel wide awake and fully present in the moment, with stunning sights building memories at every turn.
One of the most rewarding ways to explore incredible India is on an escorted tour with Mercury Holidays, where a tour manager and friendly, expert local guides will look after you all the way, making India’s famously frazzling bureaucracy something you simply don’t have to worry about.
With a seamless itinerary, all meals included, like-minded company, and insider knowledge on tap, you can relax and turn your attention fully to India’s splendours.
DELHI, TAJ ANDTIGERS
AFTER a chance to rest from your flight, chances are your tour will start with a look around colourful Delhi.
Travelling through narrow, crowded streets on a rickshaw will transport you back in time, as you pass Old Delhi’s vibrant food markets where bread makers bake delicious-scented naan bread in tandoor ovens and chai wallahs brew their sweet tea.
Get a sense of the lavish life lived by former rulers at the regal Red Fort — and discover the beautifully planned imperial city of New Delhi, much of it designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. Mercury Holidays, known for the excellent value and authenticity of its award-winning tours, offers a great range of appealing India options, starting in Delhi or Kerala.
Its Essence of Northern India tour reveals the Golden Triangle of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur — plus the chance to spot Bengal tigers on a jungle safari in Ranthambore National Park, a maharajas’ hunting ground until 1970.
This ten-day, eight-night tour includes one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Taj Mahal, at Agra. Words can’t do justice to this remarkable monument to love. It really must be seen to appreciate its stupendous beauty. Almost as enthralling is the Amber Fort, just outside the Pink City of Jaipur, a building of fairytale grandeur and the home of Rajasthan’s royal family until 1728.
Arrive in the heart of the four huge courtyards by elephant or Jeep, passing snake charmers, harems and the Palace of Mirrors on the way.
Back in the city, the tiny windows on the façade of the Hawa Mahal, known as the Palace of the Winds, reveal how royal women looked out at the streets below without being seen. Unforgettable India: Magical experiences await on an escorted tour, such as a visit to the Taj Mahal (left) or to Kerala’s backwaters by houseboat A Royal Indian Odyssey, also from Mercury Holidays, is a longer, 15-day tour option that starts with the Golden Triangle but goes further, while also featuring journeys on colonial railways.
It extends to Jodhpur, where in the 15th-century sandstone fort, you’ll get a real feel for life as a royal in an Indian court. There’s a visit to the white-marble Ranakpur temple complex, and to Udaipur, known as the Venice of the East, where the stunning Lake Palace seems to float on water.
Yet more highlights include Gandhi’s ashram at Ahmedabad, and fabulous Mumbai, featuring the Gateway of India and the UNESCO-listed caves of Elephanta Island.
And new is the 11-day Beyond India’s Golden Triangle, which is fantastic value from just £999pp. It includes Delhi, Agra and Jaipur and also reveals Jodhpur’s marble palaces, the Jain temples of Ranakpur and the legacy of Udaipur’s Mughals.
India brims with magical sights, building unforgettably colourful memories.
And a carefully planned escorted tour with Mercury Holidays is an ideal way to see it, offering security and reassurance, along with all meals and authentic special touches that show you each destination’s true character and take you beyond the norm. Let your great Indian adventure begin!