Luxury India Spiritual and Wellness Private Tour

Stepping out of the arrivals hall at Indira Gandhi International Airport, you will spot our representative holding a sign with your name, ready with a warm greeting and a short introduction to the days ahead. Your English-speaking chauffeur brings the car to the kerb, and the drive into the city takes forty-five minutes to an hour. Along the way, your representative hands you a folder with your itinerary, a list of our emergency contacts and a short guide to dress for temples and gurudwaras, which usually means covered shoulders and knees and a scarf to cover the head where required.

The Taj Palace in Chanakyapuri, set among landscaped gardens close to the diplomatic enclave, is our usual choice for Delhi, subject to availability. After a long flight, the best thing you can do is rest, hydrate and stretch, and the hotel spa offers a gentle foot massage or a steam bath to help your body adjust. If you feel up to it, take a short evening walk in the hotel gardens, or enjoy a light dinner of dal, rice and seasonal vegetables. A good night's sleep sets the tone for the slower pace of the days to come. Overnight stay in Delhi.

The morning starts at Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, the most visited Sikh shrine in the capital, with its golden dome and a holy pool known as the sarovar. Cover your head, remove your shoes and join the quiet stream of worshippers listening to hymns from the Guru Granth Sahib. Visit the community kitchen, or langar, where volunteers cook and serve dal and roti to thousands of people each day, free to all. Next, visit the Lotus Temple, a Baha'i house of worship shaped like a half-open flower, where people of every faith sit in silence. Note that both the Lotus Temple and Akshardham close on Mondays.

In the afternoon, the Delhi spiritual city tour continues at Swaminarayan Akshardham, a vast temple complex carved from pink sandstone and white marble, with elephants and dancers carved along its plinth. If today is a Thursday, end the evening at the Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah, the shrine of a fourteenth-century Sufi saint, where qawwali singers perform devotional songs after sunset in the courtyard. Your guide leads you through the narrow lanes to the shrine and explains the poetry being sung. On other days, the evening is quiet. Use it to rest, read or attend a meditation session at the hotel. Overnight stay in Delhi.

Your chauffeur drops you at New Delhi railway station early in the morning for the Shatabdi Express to Haridwar, a journey of about four and a half hours in an air-conditioned executive chair car, with breakfast served on board. The train passes through the fields of western Uttar Pradesh, with mustard flowers in winter and sugar cane later in the year, before the Shivalik hills appear on the horizon. A Haridwar chauffeur meets you on the platform and drives you to your hotel. Haveli Hari Ganga, a restored haveli with its own private ghat on the river, is our usual choice, subject to availability.

After a light lunch and rest, take the cable car up to the Mansa Devi temple on Bilwa Parvat hill, with a view over the town and the river as it divides into channels. As evening falls, your guide finds you a good spot at Har Ki Pauri, the ghat where it is believed Lord Vishnu left his footprint, for the Haridwar Ganga aarti. Thousands of pilgrims gather as priests wave large brass lamps over the water, and leaf boats filled with flowers and lit wicks float away on the current. Your guide explains the hymns and their meaning. Overnight stay in Haridwar.

Start the morning with a quiet walk to your hotel's private ghat to watch pilgrims take their first dip in the cold river, a sight that has continued unbroken for centuries. After breakfast, a family priest, or panda, at Kushavarta Ghat shows you the genealogy registers kept by priests in Haridwar, where some families can trace their ancestors' visits back many generations. Then drive up to Rishikesh and on to Narendra Nagar, about an hour and a half, where the retreat sits on the hillside above the town. On the way, pause at a viewpoint above the river where the Ganges finally widens into the plains.

Ananda in the Himalayas, built around the former palace of the Maharaja of Tehri Garhwal, is our usual choice, subject to availability. On arrival, you meet the resident Ayurvedic doctor for a personal consultation, who checks your pulse, asks about your sleep, diet and stress, and identifies your dosha type, vata, pitta or kapha. Based on this, the team designs your treatments, yoga sessions and meals for the next three days. The evening is free to settle into your room, walk the palace gardens and watch the lights of Rishikesh in the valley below. Dinner is light and served early. Overnight stay in Rishikesh.

The day starts with a sunrise yoga session in an open pavilion facing the mountains, guided by a teacher who focuses on gentle postures and breathing. After a healthy breakfast, your first Ayurvedic treatment might be abhyanga, a full body massage with warm herbal oil, or shirodhara, where a thin stream of warm oil is poured over the forehead to calm the mind. Lunch is matched to your dosha, with fresh vegetables, grains and spices chosen to balance your body. Rest, read or walk in the gardens in the afternoon. The library, the palace rooms and the quiet garden paths are ideal places to sit alone and slow down.

In the late afternoon, your chauffeur takes you down into Rishikesh. Walk across Ram Jhula, the suspension bridge over the Ganges, to Parmarth Niketan, one of the largest ashrams in the town, for the evening aarti on the riverbank. Children from the ashram's school, dressed in saffron, sing hymns as the lamps are lit and offered to the river, and visitors are welcome to join in. The Rishikesh yoga retreat atmosphere of the town is at its best at this hour, with the hills dark against the sky. Return to the retreat for dinner. The driver waits near the bridge. Overnight stay in Rishikesh.

After an early session of pranayama, the breathing techniques that form a core part of yoga, drive to the Neelkanth Mahadev temple, about thirty-two kilometres from Rishikesh along a winding road through the forests of Rajaji National Park. The temple, with its colourful carvings of gods and goddesses, marks the spot where Lord Shiva is said to have drunk the poison that rose from the churning of the ocean, turning his throat blue. The drive itself is beautiful, with views of the river valley and chances to see langur monkeys and birds along the way. Your guide explains the rituals performed by pilgrims at the temple.

Back at the retreat, the afternoon focuses on meditation. A teacher leads a session in yoga nidra, a guided relaxation practised lying down, which helps release tension and improve sleep. You may then choose another treatment from the spa menu, perhaps a herbal steam or a body scrub with turmeric and chickpea flour. Dinner is light and nourishing, and many guests choose an early night to prepare for tomorrow's travel. The retreat team gives you notes on yoga postures and breathing that you can continue at home. Ask the team for any extra guidance on poses. Overnight stay in Rishikesh.

Enjoy a final sunrise yoga session and a leisurely breakfast before saying goodbye to the retreat team. Your chauffeur drives you to Jolly Grant airport in Dehradun, about an hour away, for your flight to Varanasi, either direct or via Delhi depending on the season's schedule. A Varanasi chauffeur meets you on arrival and drives you to the Taj Nadesar Palace, a nineteenth-century palace set in forty acres of gardens and mango orchards, our usual choice and subject to availability. The palace once belonged to the Maharaja of Benares, and its rooms and verandahs keep a sense of quiet that is rare in this busy city.

In the late afternoon, your guide takes you to the old city, walking through the narrow lanes down to Assi Ghat, the southernmost of the main ghats. Here you board a private boat to watch the evening aarti from the water at Dashashwamedh Ghat, as priests perform the ceremony with lamps, incense, conch shells and bells. Many visitors light a small leaf boat with a candle and flowers and set it on the river with a quiet wish or prayer. Dinner tonight is served in the hotel garden. The kitchen offers light vegetarian dishes, with khichdi and fresh fruit for those still following the retreat diet. Overnight stay in Varanasi.

The day begins in the dark, as you head down to the river for a sunrise boat ride. As the sun rises over the far bank, you see the ghats come to life: pilgrims bathing, priests offering prayers, people doing yoga and washing clothes on the steps. Your guide explains the importance of Manikarnika Ghat, where Hindus believe cremation on the riverbank brings release from the cycle of rebirth. Then join a gentle yoga session at Assi Ghat, part of the morning ritual of Subah-e-Banaras held there every day at dawn. The programme includes Vedic chanting, music and a short fire ritual, and visitors of every background are welcome to sit quietly at the back or join the yoga.

In the afternoon, drive about thirteen kilometres to Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon after reaching enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. See the Dhamek Stupa, the ruins of the old monasteries and the Mulagandha Kuti Vihara temple, decorated with Japanese murals of the Buddha's life. The Sarnath Museum, home of the lion capital of Ashoka, is closed on Fridays. A Buddhist monk or your guide leads a short meditation in the Deer Park, closing your Varanasi spiritual tour on a quiet note. Return to the palace for a final dinner, served on the lawn under the old mango trees. Overnight stay in Varanasi.

Take a final quiet morning in the gardens of the palace, perhaps with a short meditation or yoga practice of your own, using the notes given at the retreat. After breakfast and checkout, your chauffeur drives you to Lal Bahadur Shastri airport, about forty-five minutes from the hotel, for your flight to Delhi. If time allows, stop on the way at the Bharat Mata Temple, which has a large relief map of undivided India carved in marble instead of an idol, an unusual place of worship opened by Mahatma Gandhi. It is a quiet spot, rarely crowded, and a good way to end the spiritual chapter of the tour.

In Delhi, our representative meets you at the domestic terminal and helps you transfer to the international departures area, or to an airport hotel if your onward flight is the next day. Many guests leave with a few things to keep the calm of the tour going at home: herbal oils from the retreat, a string of rudraksha beads from Rishikesh or a small brass lamp from the lanes of Varanasi. Our team in Jaipur keeps in touch until you are on board, and we hope the river and its rituals remain with you long after you leave India. Safe travels home.