Royal Heritage, 6 Nights

Arrival, a proper check-in, and nothing strenuous: an evening drive through Lutyens’ Delhi as the government buildings light up, ending at India Gate when the lawns fill with Delhi families and ice-cream carts. Dinner at one of our three recommended Delhi tables — first night’s reservation made for you.

A whole day where the value package gets half: Jama Masjid and the Chandni Chowk rickshaw loop in the cool of the morning, a spice-market walk through Khari Baoli, lunch in Old Delhi, then the afternoon south — Humayun’s Tomb, Qutub Minar, and time in Lodhi Garden or Khan Market instead of a highway. Your guide today is a Delhi historian, not a checklist reader.

The expressway after breakfast, Agra by lunch, and the afternoon at Agra Fort, where Shah Jahan spent his last years looking down the river at the tomb he built. Then the day’s real appointment: Mehtab Bagh, the moonlight garden directly across the Yamuna, as the sun sets behind the Taj. Tomorrow you walk inside; tonight you just look.

Through the east gate at opening with your guide, the mausoleum ticket included, and the monument nearly to yourselves for the first golden hour. Back for a slow breakfast, then west with a full stop at Fatehpur Sikri — the guide walks you from the Diwan-i-Khas to the Buland Darwaza. You reach Jaipur by early evening and check into a heritage haveli, with dinner on its rooftop.

Amber Fort early, before the coaches — jeep to the gate, the Sheesh Mahal, the saffron garden on Maota Lake — with a pause at the Panna Meena ka Kund stepwell nearby. The afternoon is hands-on: a private blue-pottery workshop where a master craftsman has you shaping and glazing your own tile, fired and couriered to you at home. Evening free in the bazaars.

Hawa Mahal from the terrace cafes opposite while the light is still soft, then the City Palace including the painted Pritam Niwas courtyard doors, and Jantar Mantar with a guide who can actually read the instruments. Late afternoon at leisure — tailors, gem museums or the hotel pool — before the send-off: a candlelit Rajasthani thali dinner with live folk music on a haveli rooftop.

No long drive back — breakfast at the haveli, a last lassi if there is time, and a 30-minute transfer to Jaipur International for your flight home. Ahmedabad and Mumbai have direct connections; for other cities we route you through Delhi on a single ticket.