Luxury India Honeymoon Tour with Romantic Palace Stays

Married life in India starts with a warm welcome. After customs at Indira Gandhi International Airport, our representative greets you both with marigold garlands and a card from our team, then introduces the chauffeur who will take you through Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. The car is cool, the water is cold, and there are fresh towels on the back seat for the drive into the city. On the way, our representative runs through the week ahead, confirms any special requests, such as dietary needs or a birthday that falls during the trip, and gives you a direct phone number for the Jaipur office.

Check in at The Imperial, our usual choice, or a similar luxury hotel, subject to availability, on Janpath. This 1930s art deco building has white colonnades, palm-lined lawns and a collection of colonial-era prints along its corridors. Your room will have a honeymoon cake and flowers waiting. Spend the rest of the day resting, then enjoy a drink at the 1911 Bar, named after the year Delhi was declared the capital of British India. For dinner, consider the Spice Route restaurant, whose painted walls took seven years to complete and whose menu follows the old trading routes from Kerala to Thailand. Overnight stay in Delhi.

Sleep in, take a slow breakfast in the garden and then set off south along the Yamuna Expressway towards Agra. The road is smooth and fast, and your chauffeur will stop at a clean food plaza if you would like a coffee or a cold drink. As you approach Agra, he may suggest a short detour to Sikandra, the tomb of Emperor Akbar, a calm red sandstone mausoleum where blackbuck antelope graze in the gardens and few tourists stop. It is a pleasant place to stretch your legs and take photographs together beneath the gateway's inlaid marble patterns, with only birdsong for company.
Check in at the Taj Hotel and Convention Centre, our usual choice, or a similar luxury hotel, subject to availability, where the rooftop terrace looks towards the Taj. In the late afternoon your chauffeur drives you across the river to Mehtab Bagh, a Mughal garden laid out directly opposite the Taj Mahal. As the sun sets, the white dome shifts from cream to gold to pale rose, and its reflection appears in the water channels of the garden. It is one of the most romantic views in India and far quieter than the main complex. Dinner is at Esphahan at the Oberoi or another restaurant of your choice. Overnight stay in Agra.

Set the alarm early, because the best way to see the Taj Mahal as a couple is in the first hour of daylight, before tour groups arrive. Your guide meets you in the hotel lobby and takes you through the eastern gate. Standing together at the end of the long water channel as the morning mist lifts is the moment most honeymooners talk about years later. Your guide tells the love story of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, explains the marble inlay and leads you to the famous bench for a photograph. Remember the Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays, so we always arrange your visit on another day.

Return to the hotel for breakfast, then drive west towards Jaipur. Along the way, your chauffeur can stop at a village of dhurrie weavers or at a roadside stall for fresh sugarcane juice. Arrive in Jaipur in the afternoon and check in at Jai Mahal Palace, our usual choice, or a similar palace hotel, subject to availability. This eighteenth-century residence has eighteen acres of Mughal gardens, a large pool and a room decoration with rose petals and candles prepared for your arrival. Spend the evening at leisure, perhaps with a drink on the terrace as the peacocks call from the lawns. Overnight stay in Jaipur.

Couples who want to start the day in the air can take an optional hot air balloon flight at sunrise, drifting over the villages and forts around Amber. Otherwise, the day begins with Amber Fort, reached by jeep up the old ramp. Your guide takes you to the Sheesh Mahal, built for a queen who wished to see the stars inside her chamber, and the Sukh Niwas, cooled by water flowing through hidden channels. On the way back, stop for photographs of the Jal Mahal floating in Man Sagar Lake, and enjoy a light lunch back at the hotel beside the pool.

In the late afternoon, a professional photographer meets you at Patrika Gate or the City Palace courtyards for a ninety-minute session. The painted arches in pink, blue and yellow make the perfect backdrop, and the photographer will send you edited images within a week. At sunset, your chauffeur takes you back to Jai Mahal Palace, where a private candlelit dinner is set for you in the gardens, with lanterns, a Rajasthani menu or a Continental one and a musician playing the sarangi in the background. It is the evening that defines this romantic palace stay, and our team quietly handles every detail beforehand, from the flowers on the table to the timing of dessert. Overnight stay in Jaipur.

After a slow breakfast, there is time for a last walk around the gardens or a quick visit to Johari Bazaar, where jewellers sell silver, gold and gemstones, and the bride can choose a set of lac bangles in her favourite colours. Your chauffeur then drives you to Jaipur International Airport for the short flight to Udaipur, which takes about one hour. Saying goodbye to your driver is part of the day, as he has looked after you since Delhi. On arrival at Udaipur's Maharana Pratap Airport, a new chauffeur greets you and drives you into the city, about forty minutes away.

Check in at the Taj Lake Palace, our usual choice, subject to availability, a white marble palace that seems to float in the middle of Lake Pichola and is reached only by boat. Rooms look onto the water, the City Palace and the Aravalli hills. In the late afternoon, your private boat sets out on the lake, gliding past the ghats where women wash clothes, the island of Jag Mandir and the old havelis along the shore. Step onto Jag Mandir for a drink in the gardens as the sun goes down, then return to the hotel for dinner at Neel, overlooking the lake. Overnight stay in Udaipur.

Your guide meets you at the hotel jetty and accompanies you across to the City Palace, the largest palace complex in Rajasthan. Inside, the Mor Chowk courtyard has three peacocks in coloured glass mosaic, and the Krishna Vilas has miniature paintings of royal processions and festivals. The Udaipur city tour continues with a walk through the lanes to the Jagdish Temple, the busy Bada Bazaar and a miniature painting workshop where the artists use squirrel-hair brushes and natural pigments. If you would like a souvenir of the honeymoon, the painter can create a small portrait of the two of you on paper or silk.

The afternoon is free for a nap, a swim or a couples' spa treatment at the hotel's Jiva Spa, which is housed on a traditional boat moored beside the palace. At around six o'clock, your chauffeur takes you to Bagore ki Haveli, an eighteenth-century mansion on Gangaur Ghat, for the Dharohar folk dance show. The highlight is the bhavai dance, in which a woman balances a tower of brass pots on her head while dancing on a glass plate. After the show, dinner is on a rooftop restaurant overlooking the illuminated City Palace across the lake. Overnight stay in Udaipur.

A day without a fixed schedule is a gift on any honeymoon. Spend the morning beside the pool or join a short cooking class in a local family home, where you learn to make dal, paneer curry and fresh chapati together, then sit down to eat what you have cooked. Those who prefer to stay active can ride a bicycle through the farm lanes around Badi Lake with a local guide, or visit Saheliyon ki Bari, the garden of the maidens, with its marble elephants, lotus ponds and fountains that once delighted the princesses of Mewar. Your chauffeur is available all day from mid-morning.

As evening approaches, the car takes you up the hill to the Sajjangarh Monsoon Palace, which stands about five kilometres west of the city on top of the Bansdara peak. The sunset view over the lakes, with the city lights coming on below, is quite special. Return to the hotel for a final dinner together, either at the Lake Palace's floating restaurant or at the Rooftop Lounge of Upre at Lake Pichola Hotel, which has a direct view of the City Palace and the Taj Lake Palace. Ask your waiter for kesar pista kulfi for dessert. Overnight stay in Udaipur.

Wake to the lake for one last time and enjoy a long breakfast on the terrace before checking out. A boat takes you back to the shore, where your chauffeur waits to drive you to the airport for your flight to Delhi, which takes about one hour twenty minutes. If you have a little time before the flight, he can stop for some last shopping in Hathi Pol, known for its miniature paintings, silver jewellery and embroidered textiles. Remember to keep valuables and any fragile purchases in your hand luggage for the domestic flight, which has a lower baggage allowance than international carriers.

On arrival in Delhi, our representative meets you and takes you to the international terminal or to a hotel in Aerocity if you have a late evening flight and would like a day room to rest and shower. We will stay in touch until you are both checked in, and we look forward to seeing the professional photographs from Jaipur when you receive them. Many of our honeymoon guests return for an anniversary trip to Kerala or the Himalaya, and we would be delighted to welcome you back. Thank you for choosing Heritage India Private Tours for your luxury honeymoon in India.