Every tour we run, across India

3 nights · Agartala, Old Agartala

The processions and bathing rites of the fourteen royal deities, with the fair at night and a family's hospitality

From US$975 per person

4 nights · Agra, Bateshwar

Four days around the February craft festival, including a timed night-viewing slot at the Taj and the Bateshwar temple row at dawn.

From US$1,562 per person

4 nights · Ahmedabad

You fly kites from a pol rooftop with a family who have fought the Uttarayan sky for generations, and visit the kite makers of Jamalpur beforehand.

From US$1,625 per person

3 nights · Aizawl

Massed cheraw dancing in the city grounds, a bamboo dance lesson of your own and festival food stalls

From US$1,075 per person

4 nights · Alleppey, Champakulam

You watch a hundred-rower chundan vallam crew train, then take a reserved seat on the bank for race day.

From US$950 per person

4 nights · Vijayawada, Amaravati

See the goddess in a different form each evening, join a lamp-lit river procession, and queue with a local family.

From US$975 per person

4 nights · Amritsar

See Bandi Chhor Divas at the temple with the complex under thousands of lamps, plus the city's lit-up bazaars

From US$1,062 per person

7 nights · Port Blair, Swaraj Dweep

Ten days of settler-community performance in the capital, paired with Radhanagar and a reef day.

From US$2,200 per person

6 nights · Tirupati, Tirumala, Sri Kalahasti

Watch the deity processed on a different vahana each evening, including Garuda Seva, from reserved viewing positions.

From US$1,612 per person

3 nights · Araku, valley villages

Join the spring mahua festival with a host family, with night-long dhimsa circles and village feasting.

From US$700 per person

8 nights · Guwahati, Dirang, Tawang

Three days of masked monastic dance in the courtyard, with monk-led explanation and a Monpa village stay

From US$3,125 per person

6 nights · Itanagar, Ziro

Camp beside the paddy stages for four days of music, with Apatani village walks between sets

From US$2,125 per person

6 nights · Guwahati, Jorhat, Majuli

Learn the Bihu steps with a village troupe, eat the new year laru plate in a family home and join the field dancing

From US$1,938 per person

4 nights · Auroville, Puducherry

You attend the anniversary gathering at the amphitheatre and the readings, with two nights in the French quarter afterwards.

From US$1,025 per person

3 nights · Ayodhya, Faizabad

Watch several hundred thousand lamps go up on the river steps from a reserved vantage point, with the projection show and a dawn darshan.

From US$1,200 per person

3 nights · Badami, Pattadakal

You attend the classical dance programmes staged against the floodlit temples, with daytime site visits and a Banashankari fair morning.

From US$1,150 per person

4 nights · Bandhavgarh

Play Holi with Baiga and Gond households in the buffer, with drums, mahua-season food and five core-zone drives around it.

From US$2,025 per person

5 nights · Jagdalpur, Dantewada

Attend chariot processions and night assemblies of a 75-day festival, with the Shakti Peetha at the river confluence.

From US$1,650 per person

3 nights · Bengaluru

You follow the all-night Thigala procession through the pete lanes with a guide from the community, from the temple to the dawn finish.

From US$1,100 per person

4 nights · Bhopal, Sanchi

Four days around the January folk and tribal festival, with museum performances, craft workshops and Sanchi at dawn.

From US$1,425 per person

3 nights · Bhubaneswar

Three evenings of Odissi in a 10th-century temple courtyard, with a daytime visit to the dancers' training centre.

From US$850 per person

5 nights · Bhuj, Dhordo, Hodka

Two nights in the Dhordo tent city timed to a full moon, a guided walk out onto the white crust after dark, and the Kala Dungar viewpoint at dawn.

From US$2,188 per person

7 nights · Bodh Gaya, Rajgir

You join the Tibetan monastic season under the Bodhi tree, with daily teachings, chanting and, in some winters, the Dalai Lama's own programme.

From US$1,700 per person

4 nights · Patna, Vaishali

You spend two dawns and dusks on the Ganga with a family keeping the fast, carrying offerings down to the water with them.

From US$1,025 per person

4 nights · Bikaner, Katariyasar

Reserved viewing for the camel races and decoration contests, a morning at the camel research farm, and a night of Jasnathi fire dancing in a desert village.

From US$1,812 per person

5 nights · Bodh Gaya

You attend daily teachings and chanting under the Bodhi tree, with monks from five traditions explaining what their own liturgy says.

From US$1,175 per person

3 nights · Chandigarh

The February rose show and open-air concerts, paired with sector architecture walks and the Rock Garden

From US$738 per person

4 nights · Chennai

A Carnatic musician takes you to three sabhas a day, explains the raga and tala being played and eats canteen food with you between concerts.

From US$1,025 per person

3 nights · Sohra, Laitkynsew

Carol singing in village chapels, a Khasi Christmas lunch with a host family and the falls in cold clear air

From US$1,100 per person

4 nights · Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Ellora, Khuldabad

You attend the classical music and dance evenings staged beside the monuments, with both UNESCO cave sites by day.

From US$1,475 per person

6 nights · Jagdalpur, Dantewada

Attend the chariot processions and night assemblies of a 75-day festival, with the Danteshwari temple and a village madai.

From US$1,925 per person

4 nights · Chikmagalur, Baba Budangiri

You join the December pilgrimage to the shared Hindu and Muslim shrine on the range and hear both traditions explain it.

From US$1,350 per person

3 nights · Barkul, Kalijai

Cross to the goddess island among thousands of pilgrim boats, with the singing that goes with the crossing.

From US$812 per person

4 nights · Kakkabe, Napoklu

You join a clan household for the cutting of the first paddy sheaf, the procession home and the stick dances that follow it.

From US$1,600 per person

5 nights · Diu, Daman

Midnight mass at St Paul's in Diu and Bom Jesus in Moti Daman, with a fish curry Christmas lunch and two quiet beach days between them.

From US$1,875 per person

4 nights · Darjeeling, Ghum

You follow Tibetan new year through three monasteries, watching masked cham dance and sharing the butter tea and guthuk of the first days.

From US$1,125 per person

3 nights · Mawlynnong, Dawki

Carol singing in the chapel, a village Christmas lunch and the river at its clearest in the cold season

From US$1,075 per person

5 nights · Delhi, Agra

Light lamps on a rooftop with a Chandni Chowk family, shop the lamp markets by night and see the Taj on a clear autumn morning

From US$1,438 per person

5 nights · McLeod Ganj

Masked cham dances at Namgyal, butter sculpture offerings and new year meals with an exile family

From US$1,325 per person

4 nights · Diu

Midnight mass at St Paul's, the Ghoghla festival stage and food stalls, and a Christmas lunch of fish curry with an island Catholic family.

From US$1,562 per person

4 nights · Dwarka, Bet Dwarka

Midnight worship on Krishna's birth night inside the Jagat Mandir, the ceremonial flag change, and two quieter days at Nageshwar and Rukmini Devi.

From US$1,500 per person

4 nights · Gangtok, Enchey, Rumtek

You watch the masked dance that burns the old year at Enchey, then share Losoong archery and food with a Bhutia family.

From US$1,100 per person

4 nights · Somnath, Sasan Gir

Night worship at the jyotirlinga during the Shivratri vigil, the Bhavnath fair at Junagadh with its naga sadhu procession, and two lion drives.

From US$1,875 per person

6 nights · Panaji, Old Goa, Margao

You watch King Momo's float parade from a Fontainhas balcony, join a Carnival street dance and eat Carnival-week food in Catholic households.

From US$1,975 per person

6 nights · Panaji, Ponda, Sanquelim

You follow the Hindu spring float parades and romat dances inland, with temple visits and a spice plantation stay.

From US$1,812 per person

4 nights · Gokarna

You keep the all-night vigil at the Mahabaleshwar temple with a priest's family and help pull the chariot ropes in the rathotsava.

From US$1,225 per person

9 nights · Ahmedabad, Bhuj, Dhordo, Mandvi

You sleep in the tented city on the salt, walk the white desert at full moon, and spend three days with Ajrakh printers, rogan painters and bandhani tiers.

From US$3,375 per person

7 nights · Ahmedabad, Vadodara

Nine-night dance season: you learn the basic garba steps with a local family, then dance in a neighbourhood circle and at one of the big Vadodara grounds.

From US$2,750 per person

5 nights · Gulmarg, Srinagar

Attend the competition days on Apharwat, ski the lower mountain with a guide and finish on a Srinagar houseboat

From US$2,025 per person

3 nights · Gurugram, Faridabad

A full day at the crafts mela with a textile curator, plus an urban-history walk through surviving city villages

From US$738 per person

3 nights · Guwahati

Follow husori singers through a neighbourhood, learn the steps backstage at a Bihu stage and eat the new year sweets

From US$1,088 per person

4 nights · Gwalior, Behat

Attend the all-night classical concerts at Tansen's tomb, with a daytime sitting at Sarod Ghar and the fort at low sun.

From US$1,475 per person

4 nights · Hampi, Hosapete

You attend the classical performances staged on the temple platforms, see the floodlit gopuram and tour the site by day with a guide.

From US$1,550 per person

4 nights · Haridwar

Attend a principal bathing date with a historian, visit the akhara camps and watch the aarti from a riverside terrace

From US$1,225 per person

4 nights · Kurukshetra, Panipat

Join the lamp ceremony on Brahma Sarovar, hear the Gita recited in Sanskrit and visit the three Panipat battlefields

From US$925 per person

3 nights · Faridabad, Gurugram

Two days with master artisans at the crafts mela, choosing commissions and watching weaving and lacquer work up close

From US$775 per person

6 nights · Port Blair, Swaraj Dweep

The February dive demonstrations and music at Govind Nagar, paired with the year's clearest water offshore.

From US$1,925 per person

6 nights · Manali, Kullu, Naggar

Watch 200 village deities converge on Kullu, then visit the timber temples and orchards of the upper Beas

From US$1,612 per person

4 nights · Hyderabad

Break the fast with a Charminar family, eat haleem at midnight, and watch Eid prayers fill the streets at dawn.

From US$1,075 per person

4 nights · Imphal

Five days of Manipuri Holi run around your stay, with moonlight thabal chongba dancing; runs subject to conditions

From US$1,375 per person

5 nights · Jaipur

Registered entry to the festival, a reserved car to Clarks Amer and back, and two free mornings for the City Palace and Albert Hall before sessions start.

From US$2,000 per person

5 nights · Jaisalmer, Sam, Khuri

Reserved seating for camel polo and the full-moon concert, a turban-tying lesson from a local family, and two desert nights away from the main arena.

From US$2,438 per person

5 nights · Srinagar

The tulip garden in full bloom, orchard blossom at Pampore, a shikara dawn and a wazwan banquet

From US$1,475 per person

5 nights · Ranchi, Khunti villages

You spend the spring festival with an Oraon or Munda family, at the sacred grove ceremony and the drumming that follows for two nights.

From US$1,100 per person

5 nights · Sultanganj, Deoghar

You join the saffron-clad pilgrims for a stretch of the 105-kilometre barefoot walk, then reach the Jyotirlinga at dawn.

From US$1,025 per person

4 nights · Ramnagar, Dhikala

Arrive as the core zone reopens in mid-November, with film festival screenings and four early-season drives

From US$1,550 per person

5 nights · Jodhpur, Osian

Reserved seats for the fort courtyard concerts and the dawn rampart set, plus a night under canvas among the eighth-century temples at Osian.

From US$2,375 per person

3 nights · Jorhat

Jhumur drumming in the labour lines, Bihu competitions on the estate grounds and a new year feast in a bungalow

From US$1,125 per person

3 nights · Kalimpong

You go behind the competition benches with growers preparing their orchid spikes, then walk the show with a horticulturist judge.

From US$875 per person

3 nights · Kanyakumari

With a local host you take a position for the one full moon when sunset and moonrise can be seen over the same sea.

From US$725 per person

8 nights · Bengaluru, Mysuru, Srirangapatna

You see the palace illumination on several nights, watch the Jamboo Savari elephant procession from reserved seating and visit the elephants in camp beforehand.

From US$2,812 per person

7 nights · Kochi, Thrissur, Athirappilly

You take a reserved vantage point for the parasol exchange and the night fireworks, with a daytime visit to the elephants and drummers.

From US$1,812 per person

4 nights · Khajuraho, Raneh

Reserved seats for the February classical dance nights, plus a dawn session on Kandariya Mahadeva with a sculpture specialist.

From US$1,475 per person

4 nights · Kochi

A curator walks you through the main Aspinwall House pavilions and two satellite venues, with artist talks in the evenings.

From US$975 per person

5 nights · Kohima, Kisama

Five days among the morungs for log drums, wrestling, textiles and the night music festival

From US$2,000 per person

4 nights · Kolhapur, Jyotiba

You attend the goddess's nightly dressing and aarti with a temple family, then climb Jyotiba hill at dawn for the pink gulal rituals.

From US$1,225 per person

5 nights · Kolkata

You walk the big-budget pandals after dark with an art writer, watch idols leave Kumartuli by lorry and stand at the river for the immersion.

From US$1,775 per person

4 nights · Konark, Puri

Four evenings of classical dance on the open stage beside the floodlit temple, with the beach sand sculptors by day.

From US$1,075 per person

4 nights · Kovalam, Thiruvananthapuram

With a local host you watch the largest gathering of women in the world cook rice offerings on street hearths.

From US$950 per person

3 nights · Kurukshetra, Karnal

Attend the recitation week, float a lamp on the tank at the ceremony and browse the crafts fair with a curator

From US$725 per person

5 nights · Gangtok, Lachung

You keep Tibetan new year with Lachungpa families who stay through the snow, with masked dance at the 1880 monastery.

From US$1,575 per person

9 nights · Leh, Hemis

Two days of cham dance in the monastery courtyard, with a Buddhist scholar explaining each mask and movement

From US$2,900 per person

8 nights · Kochi, Agatti, Minicoy

Subject to current permit rules, you reach the southernmost island for the Lava drum and song performed on festival days, and climb the 1885 lighthouse.

From US$3,125 per person

6 nights · Leh

The winter scapegoat festival at the palace, with masked dance, butter sculpture and a bazaar in deep cold

From US$1,775 per person

3 nights · Lonavala, Karla, Mumbai

You join the Koli fishing community's pilgrimage up the cave steps, then eat with one of their families back on the Mumbai coast.

From US$1,100 per person

4 nights · Lucknow

Four days around the November craft festival, with reserved seats for the thumri and kathak evenings and a kite flyer's rooftop.

From US$1,362 per person

6 nights · Khajuraho, Orchha, Panna

Reserved seating for the open-air classical dance nights before the temples, with the Chandela sculpture explained by daylight.

From US$2,312 per person

5 nights · Gwalior, Orchha

All-night Hindustani classical concerts at Tansen's tomb in December, with the fort, Man Mandir and Bundela cenotaphs by day.

From US$1,850 per person

5 nights · Madurai

A temple scholar guides you through the marriage rituals and the hauling of the car, with a reserved vantage point for the crowds.

From US$1,312 per person

3 nights · Mahabalipuram

You attend the open-air classical performances staged in front of the floodlit bas-relief and meet a dancer beforehand.

From US$775 per person

12 nights · Mumbai, Nashik, Trimbakeshwar, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Ajanta, Ellora

You spend the Ganpati days inside a Mumbai mandal and at an idol workshop, stand at a Nashik Shahi Snan before dawn with a local guide, then close with two slow days in the painted caves.

From US$4,312 per person

7 nights · Mumbai, Pune

You help a family install their household idol, follow a dhol-tasha troupe through Girgaum and join the immersion procession on the final evening.

From US$2,438 per person

3 nights · Majuli

Three nights of masked Krishna drama in different satras, with backstage access while the masks go on

From US$1,188 per person

4 nights · Manali

Three days of the temple fair with offerings, nati dancing and drum processions in the cedar grove

From US$1,150 per person

4 nights · Imphal

Join the family day when daughters return home, cooking eromba and chak-hao in a valley household; runs subject to conditions

From US$1,438 per person

5 nights · Agra, Barsana, Nandgaon, Vrindavan

Watch the lathis come out from a host family's rooftop, then play colour in Vrindavan with a guide, protective kit and a car waiting.

From US$1,850 per person

4 nights · Mathura, Vrindavan, Gokul

Stay up for Krishna's midnight birth at the Janmasthan, then follow the cradle rituals through the Vrindavan temples at dawn.

From US$1,350 per person

5 nights · Shillong, Smit, Sohra

Attend the Khasi state ritual at the chief's thatched house, then two days in the rain country below

From US$1,812 per person

6 nights · Aizawl, Reiek, Thenzawl

Watch and then learn the cheraw dance between clapping bamboo poles, with village feasts and weaving workshops

From US$2,000 per person

4 nights · Mon, Shangnyu

Six days of Konyak new year run around your stay, with ceremonial dress, feasting and dance in the village itself

From US$1,688 per person

3 nights · Mount Abu

Folk and skating performances by the lake, the craft market, and two mornings kept free for Dilwara and the old cantonment quarter.

From US$1,188 per person

4 nights · Mumbai

You install an idol with a Girgaum family, follow a drum troupe through Lalbaug at night and walk with the immersion procession to Chowpatty.

From US$1,438 per person

3 nights · Munnar

You spend the Tamil harvest days with a plantation family in the labour lines, boiling the new rice and helping decorate their cattle.

From US$738 per person

6 nights · Mysuru, Srirangapatna

You see the palace illumination across several nights, meet the elephants in camp and watch the Jamboo Savari from reserved seating.

From US$2,225 per person

7 nights · Dimapur, Kohima, Kisama, Khonoma

Five festival days among the morungs with log drum, wrestling and night concerts, plus a village stay at Khonoma

From US$2,750 per person

4 nights · Nainital, Almora

Attend the seated baithak singing sessions, learn the ragas used and join the colour day with a hill family

From US$1,112 per person

3 nights · Rajgir, Nalanda

You spend days on the Mahavihara brick and evenings at classical dance staged in the hill amphitheatre nearby.

From US$775 per person

4 nights · Nashik, Trimbakeshwar

You take a rooftop position above Ramkund before dawn for the Vaishnava bathing on 11 September, then cross to Kushavarta for the Shaiva akharas on 12 September.

From US$1,812 per person

3 nights · Nashik

You stay in a serviced tent near the akhara camps, sit in on night kirtan and walk the ghats with a priest who explains the akhara order.

From US$1,312 per person

4 nights · Port Blair, Shaheed Dweep

Join the island's one great public gathering with a Bengali settler family, from pandal building to the final immersion.

From US$1,325 per person

4 nights · Netarhat, Latehar villages

You join Oraon households for the sal blossom rite at the sacred grove and the drumming that carries through the night.

From US$875 per person

4 nights · Delhi

Reserved parade seats on Kartavya Path, the Beating Retreat ceremony and a briefing on India's constitution with a historian

From US$1,312 per person

5 nights · Calangute, Mapusa, Arpora

You see the Mapusa Carnival float parade from the market square, then do the Saturday night market with a Goan musician as host.

From US$1,600 per person

4 nights · Diskit, Sumur

Two days of cham dance at the monastery with a Buddhist scholar, plus the hot springs at Panamik

From US$1,550 per person

7 nights · Bhubaneswar, Puri, Konark

Watch the three chariots built, then pulled up the Grand Road by thousands, from a reserved balcony position.

From US$2,025 per person

6 nights · Bhubaneswar, Konark, Puri

Five evenings of Odissi and Bharatanatyam on the open stage beside the floodlit temple, with daytime temple study.

From US$1,612 per person

3 nights · Ooty, Coonoor

You visit the Botanical Garden show and Sim's Park with a horticulturist, then take tea at a 19th century club.

From US$750 per person

3 nights · Orchha

See a deity receive a state salute, follow the processions and lamp-lit Betwa ghats, and sit in on Bundeli folk performance each night.

From US$988 per person

5 nights · Pahalgam, Chandanwari

Walk the first stage of the pilgrimage route with a scholar, visit the support camps and understand how it is organised

From US$1,400 per person

4 nights · Panaji, Old Goa

You watch King Momo's parade from a riverfront balcony, join a street dance and eat Carnival food with a Fontainhas household.

From US$1,400 per person

3 nights · Patiala, Chandigarh

Two evenings of classical and Sufi music in the palace courtyards, with a daytime gharana lesson

From US$825 per person

3 nights · Patiala, Ludhiana

A day in the stands at the Rural Olympics watching bullock carts and tractor feats, plus a kabaddi village visit

From US$862 per person

4 nights · Patna, Vaishali

You keep two dawns and dusks at the river with a fasting family, carrying their bamboo offering baskets down to the water.

From US$1,000 per person

4 nights · Pelling, Tashiding

You watch the Chaam masked dance cycle in the royal monastery courtyard and continue to Tashiding for the Bumchu water reading.

From US$1,150 per person

4 nights · Port Blair

Four evenings of settler-community performance and food at the exhibition ground, with daytime history and beaches.

From US$1,112 per person

4 nights · Prayagraj

Sleep in a serviced tent on the Arail sand, cross the pontoon bridges at dawn and sit with an akhara mahant through an interpreter.

From US$1,600 per person

4 nights · Puducherry

You watch the veterans' parade and the flag ceremony with a Franco-Tamil host, then eat a long colonial-era lunch.

From US$950 per person

4 nights · Pune

You visit the five senior mandals with a historian, help prepare prasad at Dagdusheth and take a reserved balcony for the immersion procession.

From US$1,350 per person

5 nights · Amritsar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana

Join a village harvest, dance bhangra at a Baisakhi fair and attend the Khalsa anniversary processions

From US$1,225 per person

4 nights · Anandpur Sahib, Chandigarh

Watch Nihang horsemanship and gatka martial arts, visit Virasat-e-Khalsa and eat in the warriors' langar

From US$1,088 per person

5 nights · Puri, Bhubaneswar

Watch the chariots being built without metal fastenings, then see them hauled up Bada Danda from a reserved balcony.

From US$1,400 per person

6 nights · Pushkar, Ajmer

You walk the trading lines at dawn with a camel dealer, watch the Kartik Purnima bathing from a respectful distance, and sleep in a tented camp at the fairground edge.

From US$2,625 per person

4 nights · Raipur, Rajim, Sirpur

Sit with sadhu camps at the three-river confluence during the February fair, with nightly folk theatre and the brick temples by day.

From US$1,325 per person

9 nights · Delhi, Mandawa, Pushkar, Jaipur

You camp two nights at the fairground edge, walk the trading lines at dawn with a camel dealer, then decompress among the frescoed merchant houses of Shekhawati.

From US$3,688 per person

7 nights · Delhi, Vrindavan, Mathura, Jaipur

Flower Holi at the Banke Bihari temple, a widows' Holi at a Vrindavan ashram, then the organised colour party and elephant-free procession in Jaipur.

From US$2,812 per person

3 nights · Rajgir

You spend days on the pilgrim paths and evenings at the open-air amphitheatre, meeting the dancers between performances.

From US$750 per person

3 nights · Rameswaram

With a temple scholar you follow the all-night vigil at the Jyotirlinga and the dawn bathing at Agni Theertham.

From US$812 per person

4 nights · Ranchi, Khunti

You follow the tribal new year from the village sacred grove ceremony to the drumming procession through central Ranchi.

From US$950 per person

3 nights · Ranthambore, Sawai Madhopur

You join the pilgrim climb to Trinetra Ganesh inside the park, see the letters posted to the deity, and take two buffer-zone drives either side.

From US$1,438 per person

7 nights · Rishikesh

Attend the Parmarth Niketan festival with classes from visiting masters, kirtan evenings and the Ganga aarti

From US$1,775 per person

4 nights · Shantiniketan, Bolpur

You spend the fair days with a folklorist, following Baul lineages from stage to stage and sitting in on Santhal dance at night.

From US$950 per person

3 nights · Shantiniketan

You join the Holi-day spring festival in yellow, learn two Tagore songs beforehand and dance with students on the campus grounds.

From US$850 per person

3 nights · Shillong

Blossom walks, a choral performance, festival stages at night and a Sunday service sung in Khasi

From US$1,150 per person

4 nights · Shimla

Ridge concerts and flower shows, a performance at the 1887 Gaiety Theatre and a backstage tour

From US$1,075 per person

6 nights · Gangtok, Ravangla, Pelling

You attend the warrior cham dance for the state's guardian mountain, the one festival found nowhere outside Sikkim.

From US$1,600 per person

6 nights · Gangtok, Rumtek, Pelling

You follow Tibetan new year through masked dances, butter sculpture and household visiting with a Bhutia family.

From US$1,550 per person

5 nights · Margao, Chandor, Colva

You take the Margao float parade from a town balcony, then eat Carnival-week food in two Salcete family kitchens.

From US$1,688 per person

8 nights · Kalpa, Tabo, Kaza

Masked ritual dances in the monastery courtyard, with monastery kitchens, teachings and the high villages

From US$2,438 per person

4 nights · Srinagar

The tulip garden at opening, the Mughal terraces in blossom and a dawn shikara to the floating market

From US$1,225 per person

3 nights · Gosaba, Pakhiralay

You attend the forest goddess rites before the honey season, when fishing families bless their boats and stage sung theatre until dawn.

From US$900 per person

5 nights · Nagpur, Tadoba, Chandrapur

You take the first permits of the season in October, see the Gond harvest observances in the buffer villages and visit the Markanda temples.

From US$2,475 per person

7 nights · Madurai, Thanjavur, Alanganallur

You help boil the first rice with a farming family, see decorated cattle and take a safe stand at a regulated jallikattu.

From US$1,775 per person

6 nights · Madurai

With a temple scholar you follow the celestial marriage rituals and the hauling of the temple car through the streets.

From US$1,600 per person

5 nights · Dirang, Tawang

Three days of cham dance in the monastery courtyard in deep winter, with monk-led explanation each evening

From US$2,250 per person

6 nights · Hyderabad, Pochampally

Eat haleem at three rival cauldrons after sunset, learn dum biryani from a Hyderabadi home cook, and see the old city lit past midnight.

From US$1,475 per person

5 nights · Hyderabad, Warangal

Help build a flower stack with village women, sing the nine-night songs, and float the offering on a Kakatiya lake.

From US$1,225 per person

4 nights · Thanjavur, Chidambaram

You attend the Bharatanatyam performances in the Nataraja temple precinct and meet dancers between their sets.

From US$988 per person

3 nights · Thekkady

On the one full moon when the ruined hilltop shrine inside the reserve opens, you join the pilgrim walk up with a forest guide.

From US$775 per person

4 nights · Tirupati, Tirumala, Tiruchanur

Four evenings of processional deities on different vahanas, watched from reserved positions, including Garuda Seva.

From US$1,225 per person

5 nights · Agartala, Old Agartala

The week of the fourteen royal deities, with processions, the temple fair and a Tripuri family's hospitality

From US$1,500 per person

5 nights · Udaipur

You follow the Gauri processions from the old city down to Gangaur Ghat, watch the decorated boats cross Pichola at dusk, and see the palace bonfire rites.

From US$2,188 per person

3 nights · Ujjain

The city's biggest night, with managed darshan timing, the nine days of preceding worship and the Shipra ghats at dawn.

From US$1,100 per person

6 nights · Varanasi, Sarnath, Prayagraj

Watch a million oil lamps take the ghats from a private boat, then sit through the aarti with a priest who explains each gesture as it happens.

From US$2,188 per person

5 nights · Agra, Mathura, Barsana, Vrindavan

Stand with a Barsana family as the women take up their staves, then play colour in Vrindavan's temple courtyards with a guide who keeps you safe.

From US$1,938 per person

6 nights · Haridwar, Rishikesh

Attend a major bathing day on the ghats with a historian, visit akhara camps and see the evening aarti from a boat

From US$1,600 per person

6 nights · Vadodara

Six of the nine nights on the city's garba grounds, with a family teaching you the steps beforehand and loaning you the clothes to dance in.

From US$2,125 per person

5 nights · Varanasi, Sarnath

Spend the Kartik full moon on a private boat as a million lamps are lit along the ghats, with reserved seats at the music festival.

From US$1,975 per person

4 nights · Varkala

You walk the yellow-robed pilgrim route to Narayana Guru's samadhi and sit in on the teaching sessions with an interpreter.

From US$800 per person

3 nights · Visakhapatnam, Simhachalam

Join the one day a year the sandalwood coating comes off the deity, with a pre-dawn start and a local host in the queue.

From US$850 per person

4 nights · Warangal, Medaram

Walk in with Koya pilgrims, watch the jaggery offerings to Sammakka and Saralamma, and sleep well clear of the crowds.

From US$1,025 per person

5 nights · Wayanad, Kannur

A scholar brings you to family shrine performances after midnight, where the costumed dancer speaks as the deity.

From US$1,225 per person

5 nights · Kolkata

You hop pandals after dark with an art critic, watch the clay idols leave Kumartuli, join Sindoor Khela and see the immersion at the river.

From US$1,812 per person

4 nights · Ziro

Four days of bands on field stages, camping on site, with morning village walks between the music

From US$1,500 per person

4 nights · Ziro, Hija

Attend the friendship and fertility rites as a guest of a host clan, with shaman chanting and feasting

From US$1,438 per person

4 nights · Ahmedabad

A farsan shop crawl at dawn, a Jain no-root cooking lesson, the Agashiye thali and a late night at Manek Chowk. No alcohol anywhere, by law.

From US$1,438 per person

3 nights · Aizawl, Falkawn

Market shopping with a Mizo cook, hearth-smoked pork and a chilli and passion fruit tasting

From US$1,000 per person

4 nights · Vijayawada, Guntur, Pedana

Walk Asia's largest chilli yard, cook gongura mutton in a Telugu kitchen, and print kalamkari between meals.

From US$1,025 per person

3 nights · Amritsar

Eat six sittings across the katras with a food writer, learn kulcha at a tandoor and finish on Lawrence Road

From US$725 per person

6 nights · Vijayawada, Guntur, Rajahmundry

Eat your way through the hottest cuisine in India, from a Guntur chilli yard to a delta kitchen cooking pulasa.

From US$1,438 per person

3 nights · Araku, Ananthagiri

Work a harvest day on a cooperative slope, then cup your lot against commercial arabica with the roaster.

From US$775 per person

6 nights · Jorhat, Kaziranga, Guwahati

Pluck and taste with an estate manager, cook masor tenga with an Assamese family and sit at the Guwahati auction tables

From US$2,062 per person

3 nights · Bengaluru

A 7 am tiffin-room crawl through the old quarter, filter coffee at a 1920s counter and a brewer's tasting across three microbreweries.

From US$950 per person

3 nights · Bhubaneswar, Pahala, Cuttack

Cook dalma and mustard fish in a city home, bake chhena poda, and watch silver filigree worked in Cuttack.

From US$800 per person

2 nights · Chandigarh

Eat across the planned markets with a food historian, from 1960s chole stalls to Himachali trout kitchens

From US$538 per person

4 nights · Chikmagalur, Baba Budangiri, Aldur

You climb to the cave shrine where the first beans were planted, then pick, pulp and cup on a working estate through the harvest.

From US$1,400 per person

3 nights · Barkul, Balugaon

Buy mud crab at the dawn auction, cook it in mustard with a fishing family, and eat prawns in coconut milk on the water.

From US$700 per person

4 nights · Madikeri, Siddapur

You pick cherries with the estate crew at first light, follow the pulping and drying yards and score the lots at the cupping table.

From US$1,438 per person

4 nights · Diu, Daman

Sorpotel and balchao cooked with an old Daman family, a bebinca baking lesson, and a tasting of cashew feni that would be illegal 50 km north.

From US$1,562 per person

3 nights · Darjeeling

You cup eight Darjeeling lots blind with a professional taster, then learn momo and thukpa in a Tibetan family kitchen.

From US$800 per person

3 nights · Delhi

Eat across Chandni Chowk, cook nihari with a Purani Dilli household and taste Nashik wines with a sommelier

From US$850 per person

3 nights · Diu, Vanakbara

The dawn fish auction at Vanakbara, a sorpotel and balchao lesson in an old town kitchen, and a feni tasting that would be illegal across the bridge.

From US$1,188 per person

3 nights · Gangtok

You cook gundruk, kinema and chhurpi with a Nepali-Sikkimese home cook, then drink tongba in a neighbourhood millet beer room.

From US$800 per person

5 nights · Panaji, Loutolim, Ponda

You cook recheado and xacuti with Catholic and Hindu families, visit a working cashew feni distillery and shop the Mapusa market.

From US$1,650 per person

7 nights · Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat

A farsan shop crawl at dawn, a Jain no-root cooking lesson, and undhiyu buried in a sealed matla in a Surat courtyard. No wine, this is a dry state.

From US$2,625 per person

2 nights · Gurugram

Eat Haryanvi village food, a Kashmiri family menu and a Naga supper, with a craft brewery tasting in between

From US$575 per person

3 nights · Guwahati

Market walk at Fancy Bazar, a tenga cooking class in a family kitchen and a cautious ghost chilli tasting

From US$1,062 per person

4 nights · Karnal, Rohtak

Eat through the dairy belt, press your own white butter, and take a Haryanvi wrestling lesson at an earth akhara

From US$888 per person

5 nights · Hyderabad, Secunderabad

Cook kacchi biryani in a family kitchen, compare three old-city haleem or marag houses, and drink Irani chai where the city does.

From US$1,275 per person

3 nights · Jaipur

Kachori and chaas at dawn in Bapu Bazaar, a Marwari home lesson in thali balance, and a royal-recipe dinner of safed maas to finish.

From US$1,312 per person

3 nights · Jodhpur

A shikar-style cook teaches you to balance Mathania chilli against garlic and curd, bookended by a dawn kachori crawl through Sardar Market.

From US$1,375 per person

2 nights · Jorhat

Pluck with the garden crew at dawn, follow your leaf through the factory and cup six liquors with the manager

From US$800 per person

9 nights · Chikmagalur, Coorg, Mangaluru, Udupi

Harvest and cupping on two estates, Kodava pork cooked in a planter's kitchen and a Mangalurean fish curry lesson on the coast.

From US$2,925 per person

3 nights · Kolhapur

A masala mill visit to watch kanda lasun ground fresh, then cooking both the red and white rassa with a family that has made them for generations.

From US$950 per person

4 nights · Kolkata

You buy hilsa at dawn in Maniktala, cook lunch in a Ballygunge home kitchen and taste nolen gur sweets at four shops older than a century.

From US$1,025 per person

3 nights · Kurukshetra, Karnal

Eat the dhaba classics with a food writer, make bajra roti in a farm kitchen and visit a dairy cooperative at dawn

From US$675 per person

3 nights · Lucknow

Eat nihari at dawn, pound galawati mince with a kebab family and cook a sealed-pot biryani with a home cook in her own kitchen.

From US$1,100 per person

6 nights · Nashik, Mumbai, Alibaug

Tastings and a blending session on the Nashik plateau, then Malvani fish curry cooked with a Konkan family in their own kitchen.

From US$2,000 per person

5 nights · Shillong, Sohra, Mawphlang

Market cooking with a Khasi family, cloud honey tasting on the southern slopes and kyat in a village home

From US$1,625 per person

5 nights · Aizawl, Thenzawl

Market cooking with a Mizo household, smoked pork from the hearth and a passion fruit and chilli tasting

From US$1,562 per person

3 nights · Mumbai

Breakfast in an Irani cafe, a dawn fish auction at Sassoon Dock and a home-cooked Parsi lunch with the family that makes it.

From US$950 per person

3 nights · Nashik, Gangapur

Tastings and a blending session at two estates, a vineyard breakfast at first light and a long lunch cooked with the estate's own cheeses.

From US$1,112 per person

4 nights · Port Blair, Shaheed Dweep

Work a market garden at dawn, meet the fishing boats, and cook mustard fish with the family who grew the mustard.

From US$1,275 per person

4 nights · Delhi

Breakfast nihari, a spice market tasting, a home kitchen lesson in korma and a late-night kebab crawl on Asaf Ali Road

From US$1,025 per person

4 nights · Candolim, Mapusa, Anjuna

A Friday morning at the Mapusa market with a cook, a shack kitchen session on rechead fish and urrak tasting at a village still.

From US$1,225 per person

3 nights · Sumur, Hunder

Pick and split apricots with a village family, help press kernel oil and eat the valley's orchard cooking

From US$1,225 per person

6 nights · Bhubaneswar, Puri, Nayagarh

Eat the temple's fifty-six foods in Puri's Ananda Bazaar, bake chhena poda in its home district, and cook mustard fish on the coast.

From US$1,475 per person

3 nights · Panaji

A market round with a Goan cook, rissois and bebinca at a working bakery, and urrak and feni tasting in a Fontainhas taverna.

From US$1,025 per person

3 nights · Patiala

Cook nargisi kofta with a former palace cook, tour the old bazaars and taste Indian single malts poured the local way

From US$800 per person

3 nights · Patna

You roast litti over coal with a street cook, learn sattu drinks and paratha in a home kitchen and tour the old sweet shops.

From US$650 per person

3 nights · Pune

A misal crawl across three old-city houses, a home thali cooked on a traditional stove and a brewer's tasting in Koregaon Park.

From US$988 per person

5 nights · Amritsar, Ludhiana

Kulcha breakfasts, a dairy visit, a farmhouse cooking day and a midnight Grand Trunk Road dhaba crawl

From US$1,175 per person

3 nights · Puri, Penthakata

Eat the temple's earthen-pot food in Ananda Bazaar, then cook sea fish in mustard with a fishing family.

From US$738 per person

2 nights · Raipur

Eat chila, farra, bafauri and dubki kadhi where locals do, then cook angakar roti with a Chhattisgarhi household.

From US$675 per person

7 nights · Jaipur, Deogarh, Udaipur

Cook laal maas with a Rajput shikar cook, learn thali balance in a Marwari home kitchen, and taste Indian wine at the Udaipur end of the trip.

From US$3,375 per person

4 nights · Rishikesh, Narendra Nagar

Cook onion-free ashram food, learn hemp-seed chutney with a hill family and taste Garhwali millet breads

From US$975 per person

3 nights · Shillong, Umiam

Market cooking with a Khasi household, a pork and rice beer lunch and honey tasting above the lake

From US$1,062 per person

6 nights · Gangtok, Temi, Ravangla, Dzongu

You work a day on an organic farm, walk the state's only tea estate and cook with fermented greens in a Lepcha kitchen.

From US$1,475 per person

4 nights · Betul, Cavelossim, Loutolim

A dawn auction at the Betul jetty, crab xec xec cooked at a village shack and sorpotel made over two days with a Salcete family.

From US$1,400 per person

5 nights · Hyderabad, Secunderabad

Six guided meals from Nimrah's chai bench to a Paigah-family lunch, plus a pearl and spice market walk.

From US$1,262 per person

3 nights · Vadodara

A morning farsan crawl through Dandia Bazaar, a lesson in steaming khaman from a shop that has made it for decades, and lilva kachori in season. A dry city.

From US$1,062 per person

4 nights · Varanasi

Eat through the old city with a Banarasi food writer, including the winter-only milk foam and a paan-making session.

From US$1,400 per person

4 nights · Visakhapatnam, Ananthagiri

Buy at the fishing harbour at dawn and cook the catch, then cup Araku arabica with the growers who roast it.

From US$950 per person

4 nights · Kolkata

You shop for hilsa at dawn in Maniktala, cook a five-course Bengali lunch with a home chef and taste nolen gur sweets across four old shops.

From US$1,025 per person

3 nights · Alleppey, Kainakary

A Kuttanad family teaches you duck roast and matta rice, followed by a canal-bank toddy shop lunch with their neighbours.

From US$762 per person

3 nights · Auroville

You work a morning on an organic farm, visit the dairy that makes the township's cheese and eat at the solar-cooked kitchen.

From US$725 per person

3 nights · Chennai

You grind and brew decoction in a Mylapore kitchen, eat an unlimited leaf lunch and hunt Burmese atho on Rangoon Street.

From US$762 per person

3 nights · Kanyakumari, Nagercoil

You cook red fish curry with a fishing family, then appam and stew in a Nagercoil kitchen 20 kilometres from Kerala.

From US$700 per person

6 nights · Kochi, Kottayam, Alleppey

You cook with a Syrian Christian family, buy fish at the harbour auction and eat a toddy shop lunch inland.

From US$1,438 per person

3 nights · Kochi, Kadamakkudy

You follow pepper from the Mattancherry auction floor to a home kitchen, then eat a toddy shop lunch by the paddy channels.

From US$712 per person

3 nights · Madurai

You eat kari dosai at a griddle stall, drink jigarthanda at the shop that claims it, and visit the 4am flower market.

From US$725 per person

4 nights · Puducherry

You cook meen puyabaise with a Creole family, visit the morning fish market and taste wine at Union Territory prices.

From US$1,025 per person

3 nights · Rameswaram, Thangachimadam

You attend the harbour auction, then cook crab masala and nandu rasam with a fishing family in their own kitchen.

From US$738 per person

6 nights · Madurai, Karaikudi, Thanjavur

You cook pepper chicken in a merchant mansion kitchen, grind your own masala and eat on a banana leaf with the family.

From US$1,562 per person

3 nights · Thanjavur, Kumbakonam

A delta family cooks ennai kathirikai and fresh ponni rice with you, and a Kumbakonam cafe shows how degree coffee is pulled.

From US$738 per person

4 nights · Thekkady, Peermade

You walk a spice smallholding with its owner, grind your own masala and cook pepper chicken in a plantation kitchen.

From US$988 per person

2 nights · Agartala

Ujjayanta Palace and its museum, the Old Agartala royal temple, Battala cane market and the border flag ceremony

From US$650 per person

3 nights · Agra, Fatehpur Sikri

Visit Fatehpur Sikri, then Itmad-ud-Daulah, then the Taj at sunrise, with a historian showing how the Mughal style evolved across fifty years.

From US$1,225 per person

3 nights · Ahmedabad

The dawn heritage walk through the UNESCO pols, Sidi Saiyyed and the Jama Masjid, then a guided afternoon among the Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn buildings.

From US$1,188 per person

2 nights · Aizawl

Bara Bazar at opening, the state museum, Solomon's Temple and the Durtlang panorama at sunset

From US$675 per person

2 nights · Alleppey

You board a crewed rice barge at noon, cruise into the Kuttanad channels, eat fish cooked on board and moor beside a village.

From US$525 per person

4 nights · Vijayawada, Kondapalli, Nagarjuna Sagar

Carve poniki wood with a Kondapalli toy family, climb the fort, then cross the reservoir to the Buddhist island museum.

From US$988 per person

4 nights · Amritsar

Jallianwala Bagh and the Partition Museum with a historian, survivor testimony, and the Wagah ceremony from reserved seats

From US$988 per person

8 nights · Port Blair, Swaraj Dweep, Shaheed Dweep

The Cellular Jail and Ross Island, then Radhanagar, reef snorkelling and the quiet beaches of Neil, all by ferry.

From US$2,600 per person

7 nights · Visakhapatnam, Araku, Borra

Ride the Kirandul hill train through 58 tunnels, sleep in the coffee valley, and walk Thotlakonda above the sea.

From US$1,675 per person

2 nights · Araku, Borra

Ride the Vistadome up through 58 tunnels, descend into Borra Caves, and sleep on a working coffee farm.

From US$538 per person

9 nights · Guwahati, Bomdila, Dirang, Tawang

Cross the Sela Pass at 4,170 m, spend two days at India's largest monastery and visit the 1962 battlefields

From US$3,250 per person

7 nights · Lucknow, Ayodhya, Varanasi

Cross eastern Uttar Pradesh from Nawabi Lucknow through Rama's city to the ghats of Banaras, by train and private car.

From US$2,350 per person

3 nights · Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal

An architectural historian walks you through the experiments at Aihole, the finished temples at Pattadakal and the Badami caves in sequence.

From US$1,025 per person

6 nights · Hampi, Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal

The Vijayanagara capital and the Chalukya sites in one run, with a guide who connects the two architectural traditions.

From US$1,975 per person

7 nights · Khajuraho, Bandhavgarh

Two days of Chandela sculpture, then five drives in the park, linked by the long and genuinely interesting road east.

From US$3,350 per person

6 nights · Jagdalpur, Dantewada, Barsur

Travel to 11th century temples and villages almost no foreign visitor reaches, with local operators and flexible routing.

From US$2,025 per person

3 nights · Bengaluru

Walks through the Kannada market lanes, the British cantonment grid and Lalbagh with a historian who explains how they never merged.

From US$1,025 per person

4 nights · Bhopal, Sanchi, Udayagiri, Bhimbetka

Both World Heritage sites at low sun with an archaeologist, plus the Gupta rock-cut caves and the unfinished Bhojpur temple.

From US$1,600 per person

4 nights · Bhubaneswar, Dhauli, Ratnagiri

Jain cave inscriptions, Ashoka's remorse at Dhauli, and the Buddhist monasteries of Ratnagiri and Lalitgiri.

From US$988 per person

5 nights · Bhuj, Dholavira, Dhordo

A full day at the UNESCO Harappan city with an archaeologist, crossing the salt causeway to Khadir island, plus Lakhpat's abandoned port walls.

From US$2,250 per person

6 nights · Patna, Nalanda, Rajgir, Barabar

You follow the Mauryan story from Pataliputra's ruins to the polished Barabar caves with a historian of ancient India.

From US$1,400 per person

2 nights · Bikaner, Deshnoke

A guided morning in the fort's painted halls, an afternoon walk through the Rampuria haveli lanes, and the Karni Mata rat temple done properly with a priest.

From US$938 per person

6 nights · Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Nalanda

You cover the enlightenment site, the hill where the Lotus Sutra was taught and the ruined university, with a Pali scholar guiding.

From US$1,350 per person

6 nights · Chandigarh, Shimla

Modernist Chandigarh, then the UNESCO toy train up to the colonial hill station for three nights

From US$1,475 per person

5 nights · Chennai, Mahabalipuram

Two city days are followed by the UNESCO shore temple and rathas, with a Covelong beach afternoon and a sculpture workshop.

From US$1,225 per person

2 nights · Sohra

Nohkalikai at dawn, Arwah cave with its fossils, the Wei Sawdong ladders and the Bangladesh-facing escarpment

From US$775 per person

4 nights · Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Ajanta, Ellora

Two unhurried cave days with an art historian, plus Daulatabad's tunnel climb and the Mughal tomb at Bibi Ka Maqbara.

From US$1,562 per person

6 nights · Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Ellora, Ajanta, Lonar

The two cave complexes, Daulatabad, Khuldabad's Sufi tombs and a dawn descent into the Lonar meteorite crater.

From US$2,025 per person

5 nights · Raipur, Sirpur, Bhoramdeo

Early brick temples and 11th century carving with an archaeologist, in a part of India where you will meet no other visitors.

From US$1,550 per person

5 nights · Chikmagalur, Belur, Halebidu

A sculpture specialist takes you through the two UNESCO Hoysala temples, with estate stays and a Mullayanagiri sunrise between them.

From US$1,775 per person

3 nights · Diu

The 1535 sea fort and St Paul's Baroque interior with a guide, the quarried Naida caves, and the tidal Gangeshwar lingams at low water.

From US$1,000 per person

6 nights · Darjeeling, Manebhanjan, Sandakphu

You trek the Nepal border ridge to 3,636 metres, sleeping in trekkers' huts, for the one view that holds Everest and Kangchenjunga together.

From US$1,400 per person

2 nights · Mawlynnong, Dawki

An early boat on the transparent Umngot, the Riwai root bridge, the bamboo sky walk and a night in a Khasi home

From US$725 per person

7 nights · Delhi, Agra, Jaipur

Private car and resident host, the Taj Mahal at sunrise, a Mughal garden breakfast and an afternoon at a Jaipur block-printing workshop

From US$1,850 per person

6 nights · Dharamshala, Bir, Palampur

Kangra Fort, the Masroor rock-cut temples, a tandem paraglide at Bir and the narrow-gauge railway

From US$1,525 per person

3 nights · Diu

The 1535 fort and lighthouse with a local historian, St Paul's gilded interior, the quarried Naida caves and the tidal Gangeshwar lingams.

From US$1,000 per person

3 nights · Dwarka, Shivrajpur

The temple complex and Nageshwar jyotirlinga, then two days at Shivrajpur beach with a guided low-tide reef walk at Narara.

From US$1,125 per person

5 nights · Sasan Gir, Somnath, Junagadh

Three safaris, the jyotirlinga at dawn with the sea behind it, and a pre-dawn climb of Girnar's 4,000 steps to the Jain temples.

From US$2,125 per person

7 nights · Panaji, Old Goa, Chandor, Tiracol

A conservation historian takes you through the UNESCO churches, two family-owned Indo-Portuguese houses and the river forts.

From US$2,275 per person

10 nights · Ahmedabad, Patan, Modhera, Vadodara, Bhuj

Rani ki Vav's seven storeys of sculpture, the abandoned sultanate capital at Champaner, the Ahmedabad pols and Harappan Dholavira, each with a specialist guide.

From US$3,875 per person

6 nights · Gurugram, Agra, Jaipur

Start without entering Delhi traffic, then run the classic circuit by private car with the Taj at sunrise

From US$1,650 per person

2 nights · Guwahati

Kamakhya at opening time, the silk looms of Sualkuchi, an Assamese thali lunch and a sunset sailing to a sandbar

From US$775 per person

2 nights · Gwalior

Walk the full fort plateau with a historian, from Man Mandir's tile work to the Jain colossi and the Sas Bahu temples.

From US$738 per person

4 nights · Hampi, Anegundi

An archaeologist walks you through the sacred centre, the Vittala complex and the royal enclosure over three days, then across the river to Anegundi.

From US$1,475 per person

5 nights · Port Blair, Swaraj Dweep

Snorkelling at Elephant Beach, a kayak through the mangrove creeks, and three sunsets on the best beach in India.

From US$1,600 per person

5 nights · Kalka, Shimla, Mashobra

Ride the UNESCO narrow gauge, walk the Ridge with a historian and spend two nights in the cedar forest above town

From US$1,475 per person

4 nights · Hyderabad

Golconda at opening, the restored tomb gardens, Chowmahalla, Salar Jung and the Paigah screens, all with one city historian.

From US$988 per person

3 nights · Imphal

Kangla Fort, the war cemetery, Ima Keithel with a trader and a Ras Lila performance; runs subject to conditions

From US$1,100 per person

3 nights · Imphal, Red Hill

The Commonwealth cemetery, Red Hill and the Moirang INA museum with a military historian; runs subject to conditions

From US$1,150 per person

4 nights · Jaipur

A planned-city walk through the nine blocks, a guided hour at Jantar Mantar, Amber before the coaches, and a late afternoon at Nahargarh for the view.

From US$1,438 per person

3 nights · Jaisalmer, Sam

Two nights in town for the fort lanes, the Jain temples and Patwon ki Haveli, then one under canvas on the dunes with a camel ride at sunset.

From US$1,438 per person

6 nights · Srinagar, Pahalgam

Two houseboat nights on Nigeen, the Mughal gardens with a historian, the old city shrines and the Lidder valley

From US$1,725 per person

6 nights · Ranchi, Netarhat, Latehar

You visit Hundru, Dassam and Jonha with a local naturalist, then watch sunrise from the Netarhat ridge and reach the Lodh falls.

From US$1,225 per person

3 nights · Jodhpur

An early private entry to the fort museum, a guided walk through the Brahmpuri lanes, and a sunset drive to Kaylana Lake with the ramparts behind you.

From US$1,250 per person

5 nights · Kalimpong, Lava, Rishyap

You move from the ridge town into cloud forest at 2,100 metres, walking in red panda country with a park naturalist.

From US$1,225 per person

2 nights · Kanyakumari, Padmanabhapuram

You watch sunrise at the confluence, ferry to the Vivekananda rock and tour Asia's largest wooden palace with a guide.

From US$488 per person

11 nights · Bengaluru, Belur, Halebidu, Hampi, Badami, Pattadakal

An art historian leads you through four UNESCO listings, from Hoysala soapstone friezes to the Vijayanagara bazaars and the Chalukya experiments.

From US$3,725 per person

2 nights · Khajuraho

Two guided visits at opening and late light, covering all three temple groups and the museum with an art historian.

From US$725 per person

5 nights · Kochi, Kumarakom

Three nights on the colonial peninsula, then a canoe-and-houseboat pairing on the quieter northern shore of Vembanad.

From US$1,225 per person

3 nights · Kohima

The war cemetery and tennis court ground with a military historian, the state museum and Kohima village

From US$1,125 per person

4 nights · Kolhapur, Panhala, Radhanagari

A historian walks you along Panhala's ramparts and Shivaji's escape route, then the Shahu palace collection and the bison forest.

From US$1,312 per person

6 nights · Kolkata, Chandannagar, Serampore

You take the river north to the old French, Danish and Portuguese settlements, then return by local train with a conservation architect.

From US$1,438 per person

3 nights · Konark, Raghurajpur, Puri

The coastal road through the dune belt, a painters' village day, and the Sun Temple at opening time twice.

From US$762 per person

4 nights · Kovalam, Thiruvananthapuram

You climb the Vizhinjam lighthouse, watch the dawn catch at Hawa Beach and tour Kuthiramalika and the Napier Museum.

From US$900 per person

4 nights · Kurukshetra, Rakhigarhi, Panipat

Pair the Mahabharata sites with a day at the Rakhigarhi excavation trenches and the three Panipat battlefields

From US$950 per person

6 nights · Gangtok, Lachung, Lachen, Gurudongmar

You cross both northern valleys with two acclimatisation nights, reaching a sacred lake above 5,000 metres at dawn.

From US$1,850 per person

11 nights · Leh, Kargil, Padum

Drive over the Pensi La into Zanskar for Phugtal's cave monastery and valleys cut off for half the year

From US$3,425 per person

6 nights · Kochi, Agatti

You snorkel and dive the shallow lagoon with a local instructor, with two mainland nights built in around the small-aircraft schedule.

From US$2,312 per person

7 nights · Kochi, Agatti, Bangaram

You stay on an uninhabited island with reef access from the beach, a boat to the Thinnakara sandbanks and the territory's only bar.

From US$3,250 per person

7 nights · Leh, Nimmu, Alchi

A graded itinerary down the Indus to apricot villages and the eleventh-century murals, with an art historian

From US$2,100 per person

3 nights · Lonavala, Karla, Bhaja, Lohagad

Dawn at the Karla chaitya hall before the pilgrims arrive, then Bhaja's stupas and a guided climb through Lohagad's four gateways.

From US$1,025 per person

6 nights · Lucknow, Ayodhya, Varanasi

Cross eastern Uttar Pradesh from Nawabi courts to Rama's city and on to the ghats of Banaras by train and car.

From US$2,150 per person

9 nights · Gwalior, Orchha, Khajuraho, Bhopal, Sanchi

All three of the state's World Heritage sites with a specialist art historian, including Bhimbetka at low sun.

From US$3,062 per person

5 nights · Madurai, Karaikudi

Two temple days are followed by three in the merchant villages, with a mansion cooking session and an antiques hunt.

From US$1,200 per person

5 nights · Chennai, Mahabalipuram, Puducherry

A private car links the Pallavan monuments, a Covelong surf morning and the French quarter two hours south.

From US$1,225 per person

9 nights · Mumbai, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Pune, Raigad

A UNESCO run through Elephanta, Ajanta, Ellora and the Maratha fort landscapes, with a historian walking you up Raigad's 1,400 steps.

From US$2,875 per person

5 nights · Majuli, Jorhat, Kaziranga

Ferry to the satras, estate tasting in the tea belt and two safaris in the rhino grassland

From US$1,875 per person

4 nights · Manali, Sissu

Drive the Atal Tunnel into the rain shadow, stay in a Lahauli village and visit the gompas and barley terraces

From US$1,175 per person

4 nights · Imphal, Red Hill, Moirang

The Commonwealth war cemetery, the Red Hill memorial and the INA museum with a military historian; runs subject to conditions

From US$1,500 per person

5 nights · Agra, Mathura, Vrindavan

Pair the three Agra World Heritage sites with two days in Krishna's country, including Kusum Sarovar at sunrise.

From US$1,775 per person

7 nights · Shillong, Sohra, Nongriat, Mawlynnong

Descend the 3,000 steps to the double-decker bridge, sleep in the gorge and cross the clear Umngot by boat

From US$2,188 per person

5 nights · Dibrugarh, Mon, Longwa

A planter's bungalow night, then up into the Konyak ridges with three nights of village hospitality

From US$1,938 per person

2 nights · Mount Abu

A slow guided hour inside the Dilwara temples before the pilgrim coaches arrive, then Guru Shikhar, Achaleshwar and the Nakki Lake circuit on foot.

From US$875 per person

3 nights · Mumbai

Two guided walks through the UNESCO ensembles with a conservation architect, plus the ferry to Elephanta before the day crowds.

From US$1,025 per person

4 nights · Mysuru, Srirangapatna, Somanathapura

The palace and Jaganmohan gallery with a historian, then Tipu's fort, the Gumbaz and the Hoysala temple at Somanathapura.

From US$1,475 per person

6 nights · Kohima, Viswema, Dzukou

The war cemetery and battlefield ground with a military historian, then a trek up to the high flower valley

From US$2,125 per person

4 nights · Nainital, Binsar

Colonial Nainital with a local historian, the cable car to Snow View and two nights facing a 300 km snow skyline

From US$1,100 per person

4 nights · Nalanda, Rajgir, Pawapuri

You pair the ruined university with Vulture's Peak, the hot springs and the Jain water temple, all within 20 kilometres.

From US$950 per person

4 nights · Port Blair, Shaheed Dweep

Cycle between the three beaches, snorkel straight off Bharatpur, and walk out to the coral arch at low tide.

From US$1,225 per person

5 nights · Netarhat, Lodh, Betla

You combine the ridge viewpoints with Jharkhand's highest waterfall and two dawn safaris in an almost empty tiger reserve.

From US$1,125 per person

4 nights · Delhi, Agra

Three Delhi days plus the Gatimaan Express to Agra for a sunrise Taj Mahal visit and Itimad-ud-Daulah's riverside tomb

From US$1,225 per person

4 nights · Sinquerim, Reis Magos, Siolim

Fort Aguada, Reis Magos and Chapora with a historian, then the Portuguese house lanes of Siolim and Saligao.

From US$1,312 per person

3 nights · Hunder, Diskit

Cross the 5,300 m pass after acclimatising, ride a Bactrian camel on the Hunder sand and visit the Diskit Maitreya

From US$1,150 per person

2 nights · Orchha, Jhansi

Climb Jahangir Mahal and the Chaturbhuj tower with a guide, then watch the cenotaphs from the far bank at sunset.

From US$675 per person

6 nights · Jhansi, Orchha, Khajuraho

Travel the Bundelkhand heritage line from Rani Lakshmibai's fort through the Bundela capital to the Chandela temples.

From US$2,100 per person

3 nights · Panaji, Old Goa

Two slow walks with a conservation architect through the Latin Quarter at dawn and the UNESCO basilicas before the coaches arrive.

From US$1,100 per person

4 nights · Patna, Sonepur, Vaishali

You cross the Ganga to Asia's largest cattle fair, then drive north to the Ashokan lion pillar where the Buddha last preached.

From US$925 per person

3 nights · Port Blair, Wandoor, Chidiya Tapu

Museums and the jail, then a marine park reef day and a dawn mangrove paddle at the island's southern tip.

From US$975 per person

6 nights · Prayagraj, Varanasi, Sarnath

Combine the confluence with the ghats of Banaras, travelling the stretch of the Ganges that matters most to Hindus.

From US$2,025 per person

3 nights · Puducherry

An architect walks you through White Town and the Tamil quarter, explaining the two building traditions either side of the canal.

From US$775 per person

4 nights · Pune, Sinhagad, Shivneri

Shaniwar Wada and Parvati with a Maratha-history specialist, then dawn climbs at Sinhagad and Shivneri with bhakri at the summit.

From US$1,400 per person

7 nights · Amritsar, Patiala, Anandpur Sahib

Oral histories at the Partition Museum, Patiala's princely halls and the Sikh holy towns of the Shivalik edge

From US$1,775 per person

4 nights · Pushkar, Ajmer

Two quiet days on the lake, then the Chishti dargah at Ajmer for evening qawwali, the 1199 Adhai Din ka Jhonpra and the hill fort above the city.

From US$1,500 per person

3 nights · Raipur, Sirpur, Rajim

Walk a 7th century brick temple and an excavated Buddhist capital with an archaeologist, then the three-river confluence at Rajim.

From US$975 per person

12 nights · Jaipur, Ranthambore, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer

Five bases, four of them in heritage or palace properties, with private guides at Amber, Kumbhalgarh, Mehrangarh and the living fort of Jaisalmer.

From US$6,000 per person

4 nights · Rajgir, Nalanda, Pawapuri

You combine the Buddha's hill retreat with the ruined university and the Jain water temple, driving no more than 20 kilometres a day.

From US$925 per person

3 nights · Rameswaram, Dhanushkodi

A jeep runs the sandbar road to the 1964 ruins and Arichal Munai, with a fishing hamlet lunch on the way back.

From US$762 per person

3 nights · Ranchi

You take Hundru, Jonha and Dassam over two days with a local naturalist, plus the Patratu escarpment drive at sunset.

From US$675 per person

6 nights · Shantiniketan, Bishnupur, Murshidabad

You add Malla terracotta temples, Baluchari weavers and the Nawabi river capital to the Tagore town, all by road and rail.

From US$1,475 per person

2 nights · Shillong

Iewduh market at dawn, Don Bosco Museum, a cathedral walk and an evening in the live music quarter

From US$700 per person

3 nights · Kalka, Shimla

Ride the UNESCO toy train in a rail motor car, tour the Viceregal Lodge and walk the colonial core with a historian

From US$925 per person

5 nights · Chandor, Loutolim, Margao

Owner-led visits to two Indo-Portuguese houses, the Rachol seminary museum and the Holy Spirit church with a heritage historian.

From US$1,600 per person

8 nights · Kalpa, Kaza, Mudh

Walk into Pin Valley National Park, watch a Buchen morality play and visit the Nyingma monastery at Kungri

From US$2,362 per person

6 nights · Kolkata, Sundarbans

You pair three city days of trams, markets and Kumartuli with three days of tidal forest and village homestays.

From US$1,550 per person

10 nights · Chennai, Mahabalipuram, Thanjavur, Madurai, Rameswaram, Kanyakumari

A private car runs the full southern arc from Pallavan shore carvings to the three-seas sunrise at Kanyakumari.

From US$2,438 per person

5 nights · Bomdila, Dirang, Tawang

Cross at 4,170 m, drive up to the earthquake lake at 3,700 m and walk the 1962 battlefield positions

From US$2,188 per person

4 nights · Hyderabad

Golconda at opening time, the Qutb Shahi tombs, Chowmahalla's Durbar Hall and the Paigah stucco screens with a city historian.

From US$1,025 per person

3 nights · Tirupati, Chandragiri, Sri Kalahasti

Darshan on day one, then Chandragiri's Vijayanagara palaces and an afternoon with Sri Kalahasti's kalamkari pen artists.

From US$862 per person

7 nights · Agartala, Udaipur, Melaghar, Pilak

Royal temples, the water palace, southern Buddhist sculpture and the Akhaura border market country

From US$2,000 per person

4 nights · Udaipur, Kumbhalgarh, Ranakpur

A full City Palace morning, a sunset boat to Jag Mandir, then a day on the 36 km Kumbhalgarh wall and under Ranakpur's 1,444 marble pillars.

From US$1,875 per person

5 nights · Ujjain, Omkareshwar, Maheshwar

Mahakaleshwar at dawn, the island shrine at Omkareshwar by boat and the Holkar weaving ghats at Maheshwar.

From US$1,850 per person

9 nights · Delhi, Agra, Lucknow, Varanasi

Sunrise at the Taj, a kebab walk through old Lucknow, and two slow dawns on the river at Varanasi.

From US$2,812 per person

7 nights · Nainital, Binsar, Kausani

Colonial Nainital, the Jageshwar temple grove and three sunrises over a 300 km Himalayan skyline

From US$1,638 per person

3 nights · Vadodara, Champaner

The audio-guided palace route and the Fateh Singh collection, then a full day among Champaner's mosques and step tanks with a heritage guide.

From US$1,125 per person

6 nights · Varanasi, Sarnath, Bodh Gaya

Follow the Buddha from his first sermon at Sarnath to the tree at Bodh Gaya, with the Hindu city as the counterpoint.

From US$2,100 per person

5 nights · Varkala, Kappil

Cliff mornings and sunsets are paired with a paddled ferry to a temple island and a lagoon canoe day at Kappil.

From US$1,025 per person

4 nights · Visakhapatnam, Borra, Araku

Ride the 58-tunnel railway up to the coffee valley, descend into the limestone caves, and finish on the city's beaches.

From US$1,025 per person

4 nights · Warangal, Laknavaram, Pakhal

Two days of monuments, then island cottages at Laknavaram and a dawn boat on Pakhal with a local birder.

From US$925 per person

4 nights · Wayanad

A guide takes you up to the neolithic carvings, onto Chembra's permit trail and down to Meenmutty's three stages.

From US$925 per person

11 nights · Kolkata, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Sundarbans

You cover the Raj city, the tea hills and the mangrove forest in one unhurried loop with the same guide team throughout.

From US$2,800 per person

5 nights · Amritsar, Harike

City days paired with two dawns at the Beas-Sutlej Ramsar site looking for wintering duck and river dolphin

From US$1,262 per person

10 nights · Port Blair, Rangat, Diglipur

The long convoy road north to Saddle Peak and the Ross and Smith sandbar, with limestone caves on the way.

From US$3,075 per person

6 nights · Rajahmundry, Papikondalu, Konaseema

A full day on the Godavari gorge by boat, then coconut canals and village temples in Konaseema.

From US$1,400 per person

11 nights · Dibrugarh, Roing, Dibang, Namdapha

The remote east, with Idu Mishmi villages, forest lakes and four nights in India's richest rainforest park

From US$3,625 per person

12 nights · Guwahati, Kaziranga, Majuli, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Manas

The whole valley end to end by road and ferry, with four safari drives and three heritage bungalow nights

From US$3,750 per person

3 nights · Ayodhya

Join the 14 km Kartik Purnima circuit with a local family, including the Saryu bathing ghats and the folk singing groups.

From US$1,025 per person

4 nights · Chitrakote, Kanger, Jagdalpur

Stay on the lip of India's widest waterfall, go into Kutumsar by lamp and walk Tirathgarh's tiers with a forest guide.

From US$1,225 per person

5 nights · Jagdalpur, Chitrakote, Kanger

Stay on the lip of India's widest waterfall, descend into limestone caves by lamp and walk Tirathgarh's tiers.

From US$1,475 per person

3 nights · Diu

Nagoa and Ghoghla with lifeguards and water sports, a sunset on the fort ramparts, and the first legal cold beer in a fortnight of Gujarat.

From US$938 per person

4 nights · Darjeeling, Glenburn

You stand on Tiger Hill at dawn for Kangchenjunga, then pluck and taste first flush with the estate manager who grades it.

From US$1,100 per person

5 nights · Delhi

Walk Tughlaqabad, Mehrauli, Shahjahanabad and Lutyens' Delhi with archaeologists and conservation architects

From US$1,200 per person

5 nights · McLeod Ganj, Palampur

Walk to the 2,850 m ridge with a mountain guide, then two nights on a working Kangra tea estate

From US$1,425 per person

2 nights · Diu

Two unhurried days at Nagoa and Chakratirth with lifeguards and water sports, a sunset on the fort walls and a cold beer that is entirely legal.

From US$750 per person

4 nights · Gangtok, Tsomgo

You take the permit-controlled road to a frozen or thawing glacial lake at 3,780 metres, with an acclimatisation day before.

From US$1,075 per person

8 nights · Agonda, Palolem, Cola

Slow coastal days on the southern bays with turtle nesting beaches, a river kayak and no resort crowds.

From US$2,100 per person

5 nights · Gokarna, Om, Kudle

You walk the headland path between all four coves, swim the calm bays and take a boat to the beaches with no road access.

From US$1,312 per person

6 nights · Gulmarg

Six days of lift-served off-piste with certified mountain guides, avalanche briefings and transceiver training

From US$2,475 per person

3 nights · Gulmarg

Ride both gondola stages, walk to Khilanmarg and ride ponies up to the glacial lake with a mountain guide

From US$900 per person

9 nights · Shimla, Kalpa, Tabo, Kaza, Manali

Cross the cold desert with two acclimatisation nights, visiting Tabo, Dhankar and Key with a Buddhist scholar

From US$2,688 per person

5 nights · Srinagar, Pampore

Pick crocus at dawn with a Pampore family, separate stigmas indoors and see the valley's chinars turn

From US$1,525 per person

6 nights · Gulmarg, Srinagar

Ski or walk the high meadow with mountain guides, ride the gondola to 3,980 m and warm up on houseboat kahwa

From US$1,950 per person

8 nights · Ranchi, Netarhat, Betla, Hazaribagh

You cross the plateau at the end of the monsoon, when every river is loud, staying in forest rest houses and village homes.

From US$1,650 per person

4 nights · Durga Devi, Sitabani

Birding the river zones for over 200 species, catch-and-release mahseer fishing and permit-free buffer walks

From US$1,425 per person

3 nights · Jorhat

Arrive for the June picking, taste the flush as it is made and sit in on the estate's own grading session

From US$1,100 per person

3 nights · Kalimpong

You spend mornings in commercial nurseries with growers, visit the cheese dairy and judge your own favourites at the April show.

From US$800 per person

2 nights · Kaziranga

Be on the first jeeps of the season when the grass is high, the mist thick and the lodges almost empty

From US$850 per person

9 nights · Kochi, Munnar, Thekkady, Alleppey

A private car and driver links Fort Kochi, an estate bungalow, the Periyar lake and a full-board houseboat night.

From US$2,188 per person

3 nights · Konark, Chandrabhaga

Join the pre-dawn sun-worship bathing at the beach tank and the fair that follows, with the temple to yourself afterwards.

From US$725 per person

4 nights · Gangtok, Lachung, Yumthang

You drive north with permits in hand, walk the Shingba rhododendron slopes at their flowering peak and bathe in the sulphur springs.

From US$1,350 per person

10 nights · Leh, Nubra, Pangong

Cross the Khardung La to the dunes and orchards of Nubra, then camp beside Pangong at 4,350 m with all permits arranged

From US$3,200 per person

9 nights · Kochi, Kavaratti, Kalpeni, Agatti

A passenger vessel from Kochi links several atolls, with lagoon landings by local boat and nights in a cabin at sea.

From US$2,688 per person

3 nights · Lonavala, Rajmachi, Bhushi

You walk the cliff rim in full cloud, climb to Rajmachi with a local trek leader and watch the Bhor Ghat trains work through the rain.

From US$925 per person

7 nights · Manali, Hampta, Chandratal

Trek four days from pine forest over a 4,270 m pass into the Lahauli desert, with Chandratal if the pass is open

From US$1,950 per person

8 nights · Shillong, Tura, Nokrek, Sohra

The state's least visited third, with Wangala drumming, Nokrek forest and the rain belt to finish

From US$2,500 per person

3 nights · Munnar, Kolukkumalai

A 4am jeep climb to the Kolukkumalai ridge for sunrise above the cloud, with estate walks on the following days.

From US$750 per person

2 nights · Netarhat

You watch sunrise from the eastern point and sunset from Magnolia, walking sal forest tracks with a forest guide between them.

From US$475 per person

5 nights · Delhi

Sunder Nursery, Lodi Garden and Mehrauli at their greenest, with a weekend classical concert at Nehru Park

From US$1,112 per person

6 nights · Candolim, Anjuna, Arambol

You work your way up the coast from the fort beaches to the drum circles, with a shack-cooking session and two market nights.

From US$1,775 per person

3 nights · Coonoor, Ooty

You ride the UNESCO mountain railway up from Mettupalayam, then walk the Wenlock Downs and climb Doddabetta.

From US$775 per person

4 nights · Pahalgam, Aru

Day walks to Baisaran, Betaab and the Aru meadows with a local mountain guide, plus a riverside trout lunch

From US$1,025 per person

7 nights · Pahalgam, Aru, high camps

A supported trek over 4,000 m ridges to two alpine lakes, with cooks, ponies and full camp equipment

From US$2,100 per person

3 nights · Pelling

You wake for three successive sunrises on the ridge, walk up to Sanga Choeling and cross the Singshore gorge bridge.

From US$825 per person

5 nights · Prayagraj, Chitrakoot

Boat the confluence, then move into the sandstone gorges where Rama spent his exile, with riverside aartis at Ramghat.

From US$1,675 per person

3 nights · Ranchi, Patratu

You see Hundru and Dassam when the rivers are loudest, with wild mushroom cooking and a reservoir boat in the clearing weather.

From US$700 per person

5 nights · Rishikesh, Shivpuri

Two rafting days through grade three rapids, a riverside camp night and a sunrise climb at Kunjapuri

From US$1,175 per person

4 nights · Shimla, Narkanda

Winter Shimla with Christ Church at Christmas, snow walks at Hatu peak and hot springs at Tattapani

From US$1,138 per person

7 nights · Gangtok, Lachung, Yumthang, Lachen

You drive from 1,650 metres to above 5,000, with protected-area permits arranged and two acclimatisation nights built in.

From US$1,950 per person

7 nights · Palolem, Agonda, Cola

Slow days on the southern crescents with kayaking in the Sal backwaters, a boat to Butterfly cove and a turtle nesting morning.

From US$1,925 per person

9 nights · Shimla, Sarahan, Kalpa, Tabo, Kaza

Climb gradually through Kinnaur with two acclimatisation nights, then four nights among the monasteries with a Buddhist scholar

From US$2,688 per person

4 nights · Srinagar, Pampore

Pick crocus at first light, separate stigmas with a saffron family and walk the gardens in full autumn colour

From US$1,262 per person

4 nights · Kolkata, Sundarbans core

You take a live-aboard launch on a five-hour tidal run into the core area, with ruins, watchtowers and two nights sleeping on the water.

From US$1,350 per person

7 nights · Coimbatore, Coonoor, Ooty, Kodaikanal

You ride the UNESCO rack railway up from Mettupalayam, then walk tea estates and shola forest at 2,000 metres.

From US$1,688 per person

6 nights · Hyderabad, Nirmal, Adilabad

Drive teak forest roads to Kuntala and Pochera at full flow, with a night in tribal Adilabad country.

From US$1,362 per person

6 nights · Thekkady, Alleppey, Kochi

A private car links the forest, a full-board houseboat night and two nights on the Fort Kochi peninsula.

From US$1,475 per person

5 nights · Prayagraj, Varanasi

Sleep in a canvas camp on the Sangam sand, bathe at dawn if you choose, and talk with akhara ascetics through an interpreter.

From US$2,000 per person

9 nights · Rishikesh, Joshimath, Ghangaria

Trek to the UNESCO meadow in full bloom and up to the 4,100 m Sikh lake shrine with mountain guides

From US$2,362 per person

4 nights · Visakhapatnam, Borra, Araku

Storm-watching from the headlands, the caves at their dripping best and Katiki waterfall in full flow.

From US$875 per person

4 nights · Warangal, Mulugu, Palampet

Forest roads to a full-flow waterfall, the Eturnagaram sanctuary and Ramappa in the rain, when the basalt turns black.

From US$862 per person

7 nights · Darjeeling, Glenburn, Kalimpong

You pluck and taste first flush with an estate manager, ride the steam loop to Ghum and walk to monasteries above Kalimpong.

From US$1,775 per person

3 nights · Agartala, Melaghar

A dusk boat to the lake palace, the Tripura Sundari temple by train and a Tripuri bamboo-tube lunch

From US$1,000 per person

2 nights · Agra

Cut and set marble inlay with a karigar, watch zari embroidery in Kinari Bazaar and learn how petha is boiled in a family workshop.

From US$775 per person

4 nights · Ahmedabad, Adalaj

A booked Calico Museum tour, an afternoon with Ahmedabad block printers, and the Adalaj stepwell read by an architectural historian.

From US$1,562 per person

3 nights · Aizawl, Reiek

A night in a Mizo household, the Reiek heritage village and a Sunday service with the city choirs

From US$1,025 per person

3 nights · Alleppey, Champakulam, Muhamma

You spend a morning in a yard where kettuvallam planks are stitched with coir, then at a loom shed that still spins by hand.

From US$725 per person

3 nights · Vijayawada, Amaravati, Undavalli

Read the Amaravati reliefs with an archaeologist who knows which panels went to London, then the rock-cut halls at Undavalli.

From US$800 per person

3 nights · Amritsar

Attend the 3am palki ceremony, volunteer a shift in the langar kitchen and return at dusk for kirtan by the tank

From US$775 per person

6 nights · Port Blair, Ross Island, Mount Harriet

Walk the Cellular Jail wings, the ruined British capital on Ross and the Japanese bunkers with an island historian.

From US$1,850 per person

5 nights · Chennai, Tirupati, Chandragiri

A guided special-entry darshan at Tirumala with all the paperwork handled, plus Chandragiri Fort and the Alipiri steps at dawn.

From US$1,350 per person

7 nights · Vijayawada, Amaravati, Pedana, Nagarjuna Sagar

Trace Satavahana Buddhism from Amaravati to Nagarjunakonda, then print kalamkari with a Pedana block-cutting family.

From US$1,588 per person

3 nights · Araku, Ananthagiri

Spend a shandy market morning with Bagata families, learn the dhimsa step, and visit the tribal museum with its curator.

From US$738 per person

7 nights · Itanagar, Ziro, Hong village

Stay with an Apatani family, walk the bamboo groves and learn how rice and fish are farmed in the same field

From US$2,375 per person

7 nights · Guwahati, Majuli, Sivasagar, Jorhat

Stay beside a monastery on Majuli, sit in on mask making at Samaguri and watch Ahom monuments at first light

From US$2,188 per person

3 nights · Auroville

A forester who planted here in the 1980s walks you through land that was bare laterite, explaining check dams and species choice.

From US$750 per person

2 nights · Ayodhya, Nandigram

Walk the Ramkot quarter and Guptar Ghat with a Ramcharitmanas scholar who reads the relevant verses where each episode is set.

From US$800 per person

3 nights · Badami, Bagalkot

A village household teaches you jolada rotti on a hot griddle and the peanut masala for enne badanekai, plus a market morning.

From US$925 per person

4 nights · Bandhavgarh

Three core drives plus two days with Baiga and Gond households on millet farming, forest produce and traditional tattooing.

From US$1,925 per person

6 nights · Jagdalpur, Kondagaon, Chitrakote

Visit three Adivasi weekly markets with an interpreter, cast dhokra with a family and sleep above the falls.

From US$1,850 per person

4 nights · Bengaluru, Ramanagara

A 5 am round of the KR flower market, then a day with silk reelers and weavers in the towns that supply the Mysuru trade.

From US$1,275 per person

3 nights · Bhopal

Walk the old city with a historian of the Begums, eat sutli kebab on Ibrahimpura and spend a morning in the Tribal Museum.

From US$1,100 per person

3 nights · Bhubaneswar, Dhauli

Follow the style from 7th-century Parasurameswara to the 55-metre Lingaraj with an architectural historian, ending at Ashoka's edict.

From US$775 per person

6 nights · Bhuj, Ajrakhpur, Nirona, Bhujodi

You dye in indigo with Ajrakh printers, watch the one family still practising rogan painting, and sit with Mutwa and Meghwal embroiderers in Banni villages.

From US$2,500 per person

8 nights · Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Nalanda, Vaishali, Patna

You meditate under the Bodhi tree at dawn, climb Vulture's Peak, walk the Nalanda monastic ruins with an archaeologist and stand at Ashoka's Vaishali pillar.

From US$1,850 per person

12 nights · Bodh Gaya, Nalanda, Rajgir, Vaishali, Varanasi, Lumbini

You complete the four great Buddhist sites across two countries, crossing into Nepal for the Buddha's birthplace at Lumbini.

From US$2,975 per person

4 nights · Bikaner, Raisar, Gajner

You spend a day with Raika camel herders, help at the milking, taste camel milk kulfi at the research centre, and ride low dunes at Raisar at dusk.

From US$1,625 per person

3 nights · Bodh Gaya

You meditate at the diamond throne at dawn, cross the Falgu sand to Sujata village and climb to the Dungeshwari austerity caves.

From US$725 per person

3 nights · Chandigarh

Guided access to the UNESCO Capitol Complex with an architect, plus the Jeanneret house, the Corbusier Centre and the furniture archives

From US$775 per person

3 nights · Chennai

A historian walks you through the temple tank quarter at dawn, then into the Government Museum's bronze gallery.

From US$738 per person

3 nights · Sohra, Nongriat

Descend 3,000 steps with a Khasi guide, sleep beside the root bridges and walk on to Rainbow Falls at dawn

From US$1,125 per person

3 nights · Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Paithan

A day at the Paithani silk looms learning the gold-border weave, then naan qalia cooked with an old city family.

From US$1,075 per person

7 nights · Raipur, Kanker, Kondagaon, Jagdalpur

Visit three weekly Adivasi haats, work with dhokra casters and wrought-iron smiths, and stay at a royal residence on the way in.

From US$2,100 per person

3 nights · Virajpet, Kakkabe

A planter family cooks pandi curry with their own kachampuli, and you visit an ainmane clan house with its ancestor shrine.

From US$1,150 per person

4 nights · Silvassa, Dudhni

You paint rice-paste figures on a mud wall with a Warli artist in her own village, then spend a day on the Dudhni reservoir in the forest hills.

From US$1,375 per person

4 nights · Darjeeling, Ghum

You ride the steam loop to Ghum, spend a morning at the Mountaineering Institute with a climbing instructor and sit in on dawn prayers.

From US$1,025 per person

3 nights · Mawlynnong, Nohwet

Sweep the lanes with your hosts at dawn, cook jadoh in their kitchen and sit in on a village council discussion

From US$1,025 per person

4 nights · Delhi

Thursday night Sufi singing at Nizamuddin, a dawn breakfast crawl in the lanes and a morning learning Urdu letterforms

From US$1,100 per person

4 nights · McLeod Ganj

Monastery mornings, a thangka lesson at Norbulingka, a Tibetan cooking class and a Men-Tsee-Khang consultation

From US$1,075 per person

2 nights · Dwarka, Bet Dwarka

You attend the pre-dawn mangla aarti with a temple priest, take the Okha ferry to the island shrine, and see the flag raised on the spire at dusk.

From US$875 per person

3 nights · Gangtok, Rumtek

You visit Rumtek with a Buddhist studies guide, read thangkas at the Tibetology institute and join evening prayers at Do-Drul Chorten.

From US$850 per person

4 nights · Sasan Gir

Two safaris and a guided visit to a forest ness, where a Maldhari family explains buffalo herding alongside lions and what compensation looks like.

From US$1,750 per person

5 nights · Siolim, Panaji, Dudhsagar

You join the well-jumping and boat processions of Sao Joao on 24 June, then see Dudhsagar in full flow.

From US$1,475 per person

4 nights · Gokarna, Kumta

You sit through an all-night masked performance, meet the troupe in daylight and cook kane fry and neer dosa with a coastal family.

From US$1,150 per person

9 nights · Ahmedabad, Patan, Bhuj, Ajrakhpur

You dye with natural indigo at Ajrakhpur, watch double-ikat patola woven at Patan where one sari takes months, and visit embroidery collectives in Kutch.

From US$3,500 per person

4 nights · Gulmarg, Tangmarg

Spend a day with a Gujjar herding family, learn how the flocks move up each May and eat their dairy cooking

From US$1,100 per person

3 nights · Guwahati, Hajo, Sualkuchi

Weave a few inches of muga yourself, cup six teas at the auction centre and sit with a priest at Hayagriva Madhava

From US$1,125 per person

3 nights · Gwalior

A khayal house concert with Gwalior gharana singers, a private look at Jai Vilas and a gajak workshop in Morar.

From US$1,150 per person

3 nights · Hampi, Anegundi

You cross by coracle with the ferrymen, work a morning in a banana plantation and eat jolada rotti cooked in an Anegundi household.

From US$1,112 per person

3 nights · Haridwar

Learn how ancestral rites are performed, join the evening lamp ceremony and ride both temple ropeways

From US$775 per person

4 nights · Kurukshetra, Karnal

Walk the Mahabharata sites with a Sanskrit scholar, milk buffalo at a dairy village dawn and learn millet bread in a farm kitchen

From US$862 per person

6 nights · Dharamshala, Bir

Monastery mornings, a Tibetan cooking lesson, the Norbulingka craft workshops and a day walk towards Triund

From US$1,550 per person

3 nights · Hyderabad

String your own pearls with a Laad Bazaar family, watch lacquer bangles being turned, and blend an attar with a perfumer.

From US$762 per person

4 nights · Imphal, Loktak

A dawn boat among the phumdis with a fishing family and the floating national park with its naturalists; runs subject to conditions

From US$1,438 per person

4 nights · Jaipur, Sanganer, Bagru

You block print your own cloth at Sanganer, try the wheel at a blue pottery studio, and watch kundan setting in a Johari Bazaar workshop.

From US$1,625 per person

4 nights · Jaisalmer, Khuri, Kuldhara

You walk with a Rajput herder and his camels between two villages, sleep in a mud-plastered homestay, and read the abandoned streets of Kuldhara with a guide.

From US$1,875 per person

6 nights · Srinagar

Spend days with a Pashmina weaver, a walnut woodcarver and a hereditary waza cook preparing a full banquet

From US$1,650 per person

5 nights · Hazaribagh, Khunti

You paint with Sohrai and Khovar artists on their own house walls and eat millet meals cooked on a mud stove.

From US$1,075 per person

4 nights · Kaladhungi, Ramnagar

Visit Jim Corbett's preserved winter home, walk the villages of his man-eater accounts with a historian, then two safaris

From US$1,350 per person

4 nights · Jodhpur, Salawas, Guda Bishnoi

You take tea with a Bishnoi family, learn why they died for the khejri tree in 1730, then sit at a pit loom and weave a row of your own durrie.

From US$1,688 per person

4 nights · Jorhat, Majuli

A heritage bungalow, the Gymkhana Club, a gibbon walk at dawn and two nights among Majuli's satras

From US$1,562 per person

3 nights · Kalimpong

You read the 1959 scripture collection at Durpin with a monk, walk to Thongsa and Tharpa Choling and hear how the wool caravans worked.

From US$775 per person

4 nights · Kanyakumari, Nagercoil, Suchindram

A historian shows you the wooden palace, the musical pillars at Suchindram and the Mathur aqueduct inland.

From US$900 per person

7 nights · Udupi, Kundapura, Gokarna

You sit through an all-night masked yakshagana performance, meet the troupe behind the masks and eat Udupi temple food.

From US$2,225 per person

3 nights · Kaziranga

Two safaris plus a river crossing to a stilt village for apong, weaving and a bamboo-cooked lunch

From US$1,250 per person

8 nights · Kannur, Bekal, Wayanad

A local scholar takes you to family shrine performances after dark, where dancers in costume speak as the deity.

From US$1,938 per person

4 nights · Khajuraho, Ajaigarh, Kalinjar

Climb two Chandela hill forts with no other visitors, and eat dal bafla cooked on a wood fire in a farming household.

From US$1,350 per person

3 nights · Kochi

You sit in on a Kathakali actor's two-hour face painting, then train barefoot in a Kalaripayattu pit the next morning.

From US$675 per person

4 nights · Kohima, Khonoma, Dzuleke

Rice terrace work with an Angami family, a forest walk in their conservation area and two village nights

From US$1,500 per person

3 nights · Kolhapur, Panhala

You train at dawn in a red-earth pit with the akhada's wrestlers, learn the grips and the diet, and attend a district dangal bout.

From US$988 per person

4 nights · Kolkata

You walk Dalhousie Square and the cemeteries with a city historian, ride a heritage tram and get into Marble Palace before the crowds.

From US$950 per person

2 nights · Konark, Chandrabhaga

A full morning on the plinth with an art historian decoding the wheels, the astronomy and the erotic panels, then the ASI museum.

From US$525 per person

5 nights · Kovalam, Poovar

A country boat takes you through the Neyyar estuary to a sandbar beach, with a fishing village morning and temple visits.

From US$1,175 per person

2 nights · Kurukshetra

Verse-by-verse sessions at Jyotisar with a Sanskrit scholar, a dusk aarti on Brahma Sarovar and the 48 kos sites by car

From US$525 per person

8 nights · Leh, Alchi, Hemis

Two acclimatisation days in Leh, then the eleventh-century murals at Alchi and dawn prayers at Thiksey and Hemis

From US$2,600 per person

5 nights · Leh, Stok

Two full rest days with Amchi medicine and old town walks, then dawn prayers at Thiksey and the Hemis and Shey circuit

From US$1,550 per person

2 nights · Lonavala, Bhaja village

A chikki maker shows you the jaggery slab and cutting, and a farming family cooks pithla bhakri on a wood stove at the fort base.

From US$650 per person

4 nights · Lucknow, Kakori

Work with chikankari and zardozi artisans, take a kathak lesson and walk the 1857 Residency with a military historian.

From US$1,475 per person

7 nights · Indore, Maheshwar, Mandu, Omkareshwar

Work with Maheshwari handloom weavers in the fort, boat the Narmada at dusk and walk Mandu's ruined hill city.

From US$2,475 per person

2 nights · Madurai

You enter at opening with a guide who reads the pillar sculpture, then return for the night palanquin procession.

From US$488 per person

2 nights · Mahabalipuram

An archaeologist takes you round the rathas, caves and Arjuna's Penance, showing where the carving was abandoned mid-cut.

From US$525 per person

3 nights · Mahabalipuram

A hereditary carver teaches you to rough out a small granite panel and explains the proportional canon he works to.

From US$800 per person

8 nights · Pune, Pandharpur route, Lonavala, Mumbai

You walk a stretch of the Pandharpur Wari with pilgrims, eat in village kitchens on the route and watch the Ghats run with water.

From US$2,312 per person

2 nights · Majuli

Morning prayer at a monastery, a Satriya dance lesson, mask carving at Samaguri and a cycle through the rice fields

From US$700 per person

3 nights · Majuli, Jorhat

Pottery built without a wheel, loin-loom weaving, apong in a stilt house and a planter's bungalow night to finish

From US$1,088 per person

4 nights · Manali, Naggar

Temple carving with a local craftsman, a village siddu kitchen, Naggar Castle and the Roerich estate

From US$1,100 per person

5 nights · Imphal, Loktak, Moirang

A dawn boat among the floating islands with a fishing family, Kangla Fort and a Ras Lila performance; runs subject to conditions

From US$1,750 per person

5 nights · Imphal

Classical Manipuri dance at a temple, a thang-ta training session and sagol kangjei on the old polo ground; runs subject to conditions

From US$1,688 per person

3 nights · Mathura, Vrindavan, Govardhan

Walk the Vrindavan parikrama at dawn, sit through the Banke Bihari darshan and hear hereditary singers at Radha Raman.

From US$1,025 per person

6 nights · Shillong, Mawphlang, Smit, Kongthong

Walk the David Scott trail with a Khasi historian and stay in the whistling village where children are given tunes

From US$2,000 per person

6 nights · Aizawl, Hmuifang, Serchhip

Stay with Mizo families on the crests, join a Sunday service and cook bai over a wood fire

From US$1,875 per person

3 nights · Mon, Longwa

Stay in Konyak homes, visit morungs and log drum sheds and meet elders in their own houses with family present

From US$1,312 per person

4 nights · Mon, Longwa, Hongphoi

Walk between ridge villages, sit with a hereditary chief and see the house that lies in two countries

From US$1,625 per person

3 nights · Mount Abu, Delwara village

You visit a working marble carving yard below the temples, watch chisels cut lotus ceilings, and try a simple relief under a master carver.

From US$1,250 per person

4 nights · Mumbai

You shadow a dabbawala sorting run at Churchgate, spend a morning with Dharavi potters and visit a dhobi ghat washing pen.

From US$1,225 per person

3 nights · Munnar

You pluck alongside an estate team at dawn, follow the leaf through the KDHP factory and cup six grades with the taster.

From US$700 per person

3 nights · Mysuru

A dawn market round with a cook, a day at the silk looms that supply the Mysore sari trade and a sandalwood oil workshop.

From US$1,112 per person

8 nights · Dimapur, Kohima, Mon, Longwa

Stay in Konyak houses, meet the last tattooed elders with their families present and see the border chief's house

From US$3,000 per person

7 nights · Kohima, Khonoma, Mokokchung

Terraced farming with an Angami household, morung carvings at Ungma and two village homestays

From US$2,438 per person

5 nights · Nainital, Jageshwar, Almora

The deodar temple grove with an archaeologist, a jagar drumming night and a bal mithai lesson in Almora

From US$1,325 per person

2 nights · Nalanda, Rajgir

You read the monastery quadrangles and stupa layers with a site archaeologist, then match objects to buildings in the museum.

From US$550 per person

5 nights · Bodh Gaya, Nalanda, Rajgir

You follow the Chinese pilgrim's seventh century route with a Buddhist studies scholar, reading his account at each site he described.

From US$1,175 per person

4 nights · Nashik, Trimbakeshwar, Anjaneri

A priest takes you through an evening aarti at the ghats, then you climb Brahmagiri at sunrise to the river's source.

From US$1,225 per person

3 nights · Delhi

Two guided morning walks through the walled city with a historian, a rickshaw ride through Khari Baoli and a Sufi music evening

From US$800 per person

4 nights · Turtuk, Hunder

Stay with a Balti family near the Line of Control, learn buckwheat cooking and walk the terraced irrigation channels

From US$1,475 per person

8 nights · Bhubaneswar, Puri, Konark, Raghurajpur

Read Konark's wheels and Mukteshwar's archway with an art historian, then paint pattachitra with a Raghurajpur family.

From US$1,850 per person

3 nights · Coonoor

You pluck on a Nilgiri estate, follow the leaf through an orthodox factory and score six lots in the cupping room.

From US$725 per person

3 nights · Orchha

Read the Lakshmi Narayan wall paintings with an art historian, then throw pots and cook dal bafla with village families.

From US$1,075 per person

4 nights · Pahalgam, Anantnag

A day with a Bakarwal herding family, fly fishing with a licensed ghillie and the eighth-century Martand ruins

From US$1,175 per person

4 nights · Panaji, Divar, Chorao

You cross by local ferry to the river islands, canoe the mangrove channels at high tide and eat with a Divar farming family.

From US$1,200 per person

2 nights · Patiala

Tour Qila Mubarak with a conservation architect, have a turban tied by a city master and dine on princely court dishes

From US$600 per person

2 nights · Patna

You study the Didarganj Yakshi with a museum curator, walk the Mauryan pillared hall at Kumhrar and finish with evening aarti on the Ganga.

From US$525 per person

3 nights · Pelling, Yuksom

You visit Pemayangtse and the Rabdentse ruins with a Buddhist studies guide, then stand at the 1642 coronation throne at Norbugang.

From US$875 per person

2 nights · Port Blair, Ross Island

Walk the Cellular Jail wings with an island historian, cross to the ruined British capital, and stay for the evening show.

From US$675 per person

3 nights · Prayagraj, Kaushambi

Walk Civil Lines and Anand Bhavan with a historian, see the Ashokan pillar, and drive out to the excavated Buddhist city.

From US$1,075 per person

4 nights · Puducherry, Arikamedu

An archaeologist takes you to the Indo-Roman port excavation and the museum amphorae, then along the old canal line.

From US$1,050 per person

5 nights · Pune, Alandi, Dehu

You join pilgrims for a day on the Pandharpur route, sing abhangas with a dindi group and eat in the village kitchens that feed them.

From US$1,600 per person

4 nights · Amritsar

Serve in the free kitchen, attend the 3am opening of the shrine, walk the old city with a historian and see the Wagah ceremony

From US$950 per person

4 nights · Puri, Raghurajpur, Konark

Two days learning pattachitra and palm-leaf engraving with Raghurajpur families, plus the Sun Temple and the temple precinct.

From US$950 per person

3 nights · Pushkar

A pandit family guides you through a lake-side rite, explains what a non-Hindu may and may not join, and walks the full 52-ghat circuit with you barefoot.

From US$1,188 per person

4 nights · Raipur, Kanker

Prepare properly for the south with the state museum, the tribal culture park and a night at a royal residence on the Bastar road.

From US$1,300 per person

8 nights · Jodhpur, Bikaner, Jaisalmer

You sit at the loom with Salawas weavers, visit a camel milk dairy outside Bikaner, and spend one night in a herder's camp beyond the Sam dunes.

From US$3,250 per person

2 nights · Rajgir

You climb to Gridhakuta at dawn with a Buddhist studies guide, continue to the Saptaparni cave and end in the hot springs.

From US$525 per person

2 nights · Rameswaram

You enter at opening with a guide who explains the 22 wells, the Setupati corridors and where non-Hindus may walk.

From US$500 per person

4 nights · Ranchi, Khunti

You stay with a Munda family, learn Sohrai wall painting, grind millet for the evening meal and sit in on mandar drumming.

From US$900 per person

3 nights · Ranthambore, Kutalpura

Two safaris, then a day with the Dastkar cooperative learning patchwork quilting from women whose families were moved out of the reserve.

From US$1,375 per person

4 nights · Rishikesh

Learn a Sanskrit hymn with a teacher, attend the ghat ceremony nightly and walk up to Neelkanth Mahadev

From US$900 per person

3 nights · Shantiniketan

You tour Uttarayan and the murals with an art historian, sit in on an open-air class and sketch beside Ramkinkar Baij's sculptures.

From US$775 per person

3 nights · Shillong, Mawphlang, Smit

Walk part of the David Scott trail with a Khasi historian and sit in the Syiem's thatched house at Smit

From US$1,100 per person

4 nights · Shimla, Mashobra

Cook siddu with a hill family, watch a nati folk evening and pick fruit at a Kotgarh apple estate

From US$1,112 per person

7 nights · Gangtok, Pelling, Yuksom, Ravangla

You visit Rumtek, Pemayangtse, Tashiding and Dubdi with a Buddhist studies guide, and stand at the 1642 coronation throne.

From US$1,775 per person

7 nights · Kalpa, Tabo, Kaza, Langza

Study the 996 murals at Tabo, attend dawn prayers at Key and stay with families at 4,400 m

From US$2,225 per person

4 nights · Srinagar

Two nights on a Nigeen houseboat, a walking day in the timber old city and a full wazwan with a hereditary waza

From US$1,175 per person

5 nights · Srinagar

Days with a shawl weaver, a coppersmith and a papier-mache painter, with certification guidance for buyers

From US$1,475 per person

3 nights · Gosaba, Bali Island

You walk the 1903 cooperative embankments, watch Bonbibi folk theatre at night and plant mangrove seedlings with a women's group.

From US$862 per person

4 nights · Tadoba, Agarzari

Four safaris plus two days with Gond families in the buffer, learning how a village lives alongside a tiger population.

From US$2,025 per person

9 nights · Chennai, Mahabalipuram, Chidambaram, Kumbakonam, Thanjavur, Madurai

An art historian walks you through all three UNESCO Chola temples and a working bronze foundry at Swamimalai.

From US$2,225 per person

4 nights · Dirang, Tawang

Dawn chanting with several hundred monks, the Urgelling birthplace gompa and a Monpa village hearth evening

From US$1,875 per person

7 nights · Hyderabad, Warangal, Palampet, Pochampally

Walk Ramappa and Warangal Fort with an archaeologist, then spend a day tying ikat yarn alongside a weaving family.

From US$1,775 per person

4 nights · Thanjavur, Kumbakonam

An art historian takes you to Brihadeeswarar, Darasuram and Gangaikonda Cholapuram and reads the plinth inscriptions with you.

From US$950 per person

3 nights · Thanjavur, Swamimalai

In a hereditary sthapati workshop you model wax, watch the clay mould fired and see metal poured and the mould broken.

From US$800 per person

3 nights · Thekkady, Vandanmedu

You watch a Kalaripayattu pit session and a Kathakali makeup room, then spend a morning curing cardamom with a grower.

From US$725 per person

2 nights · Tirupati, Tirumala

Special-entry darshan with the booking, dress code and declaration handled, plus the Srivari Museum and laddu kitchens explained.

From US$650 per person

6 nights · Agartala, Melaghar, Udaipur, Unakoti

Ujjayanta Palace, a boat to Neermahal at dusk, Tripura Sundari temple and the hillside Shiva reliefs

From US$1,812 per person

6 nights · Agartala, Gomati, Jampui

Cook gudok in a bamboo tube with a Tripuri family, watch Hojagiri dancing and meet cane weavers

From US$1,750 per person

4 nights · Udaipur, Nathdwara

Three studio sessions with a Mewari miniaturist learning squirrel-hair brushwork, plus a day at Nathdwara watching pichwai temple cloths being painted.

From US$1,750 per person

2 nights · Ujjain

A permitted 4 am ash ritual at Mahakaleshwar, then Kal Bhairav, Harsiddhi and the Jantar Mantar with a Sanskrit scholar.

From US$775 per person

4 nights · Ujjain, Indore

Read Kalidasa where he wrote, work the masonry instruments at the observatory and eat through Indore's 2 am Sarafa market.

From US$1,475 per person

4 nights · Lucknow

Cook dum pukht with a Lucknawi household, then spend a morning with the embroiderers who still work shadow stitch by hand.

From US$1,438 per person

10 nights · Haridwar, Guptkashi, Kedarnath, Badrinath

Walk the 18 km to Kedarnath with a priest's family, then reach Badrinath and the last village before Tibet

From US$2,850 per person

4 nights · Vadodara, Champaner, Pavagadh

You read the Jami Masjid's 172 pillars with an architectural historian, then climb Pavagadh at dawn to the Mahakali temple before the pilgrim crowds.

From US$1,438 per person

3 nights · Varanasi, Sarnath

Two sunrise boat rides, a walking tour of the weaving lanes and the evening aarti from the water with a scholar of the city.

From US$1,112 per person

3 nights · Visakhapatnam, Thotlakonda, Bavikonda

Walk two 2,000-year-old monasteries with an archaeologist, then Simhachalam temple and the Visakha Museum.

From US$762 per person

3 nights · Warangal, Palampet, Ghanpur

Read the Ramappa brackets and the fort's fallen sculpture with a specialist, including the half-ruined Ghanpur group nobody visits.

From US$725 per person

3 nights · Wayanad

You pick with an estate team in harvest season, pulp and dry the beans, then cup your own lot with the planter.

From US$725 per person

6 nights · Kolkata, Santiniketan, Bishnupur

You sit in on a Visva-Bharati open-air class, hear Baul singers in their own village and watch a Baluchari sari come off the loom.

From US$1,475 per person

3 nights · Ziro

Walk the paddy and fish terraces with a farmer, visit three villages and spend two nights in an Apatani home

From US$1,188 per person

9 nights · Port Blair, Swaraj Dweep

A full PADI Open Water course with a Havelock school, then four fun dives at the outer pinnacles.

From US$2,925 per person

3 nights · Auroville

You take a pre-booked inner chamber slot, join a collective meditation and walk the twelve gardens with a resident.

From US$775 per person

9 nights · Bodh Gaya, Rajgir

You sit a guided meditation retreat near the Mahabodhi Temple, with afternoon walks to the Rajgir hills and the hot springs.

From US$1,475 per person

7 nights · Bodh Gaya

You sit a structured retreat with a resident teacher at a long-established centre, walking the temple circuit each evening.

From US$1,100 per person

4 nights · Chandigarh, Morni

Sunrise walks at Sukhna, yoga on the lake promenade and two nights in the pine hills above the plains

From US$1,025 per person

4 nights · Sohra, Nongriat, Mawsynram

Caving at Mawsmai and Mawjymbuin, a swim in the gorge pool and two days walking the root bridge network

From US$1,438 per person

5 nights · Chikmagalur, Kemmangundi

Dawn on Mullayanagiri, the grassland ridges of Baba Budangiri, Hebbe Falls and daily yoga on a plantation verandah.

From US$1,600 per person

5 nights · Madikeri, Dubare, Kakkabe

Shade-forest walks with a naturalist, the Thadiyandamol ridge at dawn, Kaveri mornings at Dubare and daily yoga on an estate verandah.

From US$1,775 per person

3 nights · Shnongpdeng, Dawki

Kayak and swim the upper river, camp on the sand, and snorkel a stretch where you can count stones below

From US$1,062 per person

6 nights · Delhi, Rishikesh

Ayurvedic consultation and sunrise yoga above the Ganga, bracketed by Delhi's shrines and gardens

From US$1,612 per person

7 nights · Dharamkot, McLeod Ganj

A guided introduction to Buddhist meditation with resident teachers, plus forest walks and Tibetan medicine

From US$1,612 per person

4 nights · Dwarka, Shivrajpur

Dawn aarti, unhurried satvik meals without onion or garlic, long empty beach walks and sunset at the Dwarka lighthouse each evening.

From US$1,312 per person

7 nights · Om Beach, Gokarna

Daily yoga above the cove, Ayurvedic treatments, the Yana rock walk inland and unhurried beach days with no itinerary.

From US$2,100 per person

4 nights · Gulmarg

Gentle snowshoe walks, hotel spa treatments and long fireside afternoons with no skiing required

From US$1,475 per person

3 nights · Gurugram

Ayurvedic treatments, a round on a championship course and a gentle recovery programme for long-haul arrivals

From US$900 per person

5 nights · Haridwar, Kankhal

Consultations and treatments at long-established Ayurvedic institutions, with a herb garden and dispensary visit

From US$1,312 per person

6 nights · Port Blair, Swaraj Dweep

Four days of certification with a resident school, then two fun dives at the outer pinnacles once you are qualified.

From US$2,025 per person

7 nights · Jibhi, Shoja, Naggar

Forest walks, village kitchens, hot stone treatments and no more than one transfer every third day

From US$1,688 per person

4 nights · Kalimpong, Relli valley

You walk ridge to river each morning, take afternoon tea with trading families and finish with hot millet tongba by a wood stove.

From US$988 per person

8 nights · Coorg, Chikmagalur, Kudremukh

Estate walks, a Kaveri source trek, daily yoga on a plantation verandah and Ayurvedic treatments in the Ghat foothills.

From US$2,650 per person

14 nights · Chowara, Alleppey

The guest completes a vaidya-prescribed panchakarma course at a Green Leaf centre, with daily therapy, diet and yoga, then two restful lagoon nights.

From US$2,875 per person

4 nights · Kohima, Viswema, Dzukou

Climb four to five hours to the high valley, camp in the rest house and come down through Angami farmland

From US$1,438 per person

21 nights · Chowara

A registered vaidya prescribes and supervises a full course at a Green Leaf centre, with diet, yoga and daily therapy throughout.

From US$3,875 per person

14 nights · Pulinkudi

The shortest stay in which panchakarma can properly be done, with consultation, treatment, kitchen diet and rest.

From US$2,750 per person

4 nights · Gangtok, Lachung, Yumthang

You walk gently at altitude, soak in the Yumthang springs each afternoon and sleep in a wood-heated orchard homestay.

From US$1,275 per person

8 nights · Nimmu, Stok, Leh

A gentle itinerary built around acclimatisation, with Indus-side orchard houses, short walks and Amchi medicine

From US$2,475 per person

6 nights · Saboo, Leh

An itinerary built entirely around gentle acclimatisation, with short valley walks, Amchi consultations and no passes

From US$1,738 per person

5 nights · Manali, Naggar

Vashisht sulphur baths, forest walks, apple-estate lunches and no more than one short drive a day

From US$1,350 per person

6 nights · Shillong, Sohra, Jowai, Laitlum

Caving at Mawmluh, a swim under Krang Suri falls and dawn on the Laitlum ridge above the cloud line

From US$1,938 per person

5 nights · Mount Abu

Daily sessions at the Brahma Kumaris campus, satvik meals, plateau walks in the sanctuary and unhurried afternoons at 1,220 metres.

From US$1,625 per person

6 nights · Munnar, Chowara

Three nights of walking and cardamom-garden mornings, then three nights of consultation-led treatment at a classified coastal centre.

From US$1,438 per person

7 nights · Mysuru

Early led and self-practice classes at an established school, with Sanskrit and philosophy sessions and afternoons free for the city.

From US$1,950 per person

5 nights · Mukteshwar, Dhanachuli

Orchard walks, long mountain views, hill-food kitchens and one short drive every other day

From US$1,350 per person

3 nights · Netarhat

You walk a different forest track each morning, nap through the afternoon and spend the nights under one of eastern India's darkest skies.

From US$650 per person

4 nights · Pahalgam

Gentle riverside walking, Kashmiri massage, long fireside evenings and no transfers after arrival

From US$1,100 per person

4 nights · Pelling, Khecheopalri, Yuksom

You walk forest trails on the edge of the UNESCO park, stay by the sacred lake and eat from organic farms each evening.

From US$1,025 per person

5 nights · Puducherry, Auroville

You join the ashram's silent meditation, then take a pre-booked inner chamber slot at the Matrimandir with an Aurovilian guide.

From US$1,225 per person

5 nights · Pushkar

Daily morning asana on a ghat-facing roof, a satvik cooking class without onion or garlic, and afternoons free in a town that serves no meat or alcohol.

From US$1,562 per person

4 nights · Rajgir, Venu Van

You walk the five hills slowly with a meditation teacher, bathe in the sulphur tanks each afternoon and sit with the stupa monks at dusk.

From US$875 per person

7 nights · Rishikesh

Twice-daily practice with a lineage teacher, pranayama and philosophy sessions, plus an Ayurvedic consultation

From US$1,675 per person

5 nights · Mashobra, Shimla

Forest walks and spa days above the town, with one day in Shimla and no other transfers

From US$1,400 per person

8 nights · Yuksom, Pelling, Ravangla, Yumthang

You walk the lower trails of the UNESCO park, bathe in the Yumthang sulphur springs and finish with a monastery retreat day.

From US$2,100 per person

6 nights · Netravali, Cotigao, Agonda

Forest walks to the bubble lake and a canopy watchtower, then unhurried beach days with daily yoga at a village school.

From US$1,825 per person

5 nights · Dirang, Tawang, Khinmey

Butter tea and buckwheat cooking in village kitchens, the Dirang sulphur pools and slow acclimatisation

From US$2,062 per person

3 nights · Tirupati, Talakona

Walk the 3,550-step pilgrim stairway at dawn, then two days of forest trails and the Talakona waterfall with a naturalist.

From US$800 per person

5 nights · Udaipur

Dawn yoga on a ghat terrace, a course of Ayurvedic massage at a lakeside clinic, and unhurried afternoons with one palace or temple a day.

From US$2,062 per person

7 nights · Rishikesh

Twice-daily practice with a lineage teacher, Ayurvedic consultation, the nightly aarti and a Ganga rafting morning

From US$1,675 per person

14 nights · Varkala

You take twice-daily classes with one teacher at a cliff shala, with an Ayurveda consultation and weekly bodywork alongside.

From US$1,938 per person

10 nights · Varkala, Chowara

A registered vaidya prescribes your treatment course at a classified centre, with a prescribed diet and no alcohol throughout.

From US$2,000 per person

5 nights · Ziro, Talley

Trek up to fir and orchid forest above the rim, camp a night and return through the bamboo villages

From US$1,750 per person

3 nights · Agartala, Sepahijala, Rudrasagar

Spectacled langur in the sanctuary forest and migratory birds on two lakes with a local naturalist

From US$1,025 per person

4 nights · Agra, Bah

Two days at a mango-farm lodge in the Chambal ravines with boat safaris for gharial and skimmer, then the Agra monuments.

From US$1,775 per person

7 nights · Port Blair, Wandoor, Swaraj Dweep

Glass-bottom boats in the marine park, mangrove creeks at Chidiya Tapu, and two days of reef snorkelling.

From US$2,112 per person

8 nights · Pasighat, Along, Siang valley

Raft grade three water on the upper Brahmaputra, cross cane suspension bridges and stay in Adi homes

From US$2,750 per person

8 nights · Guwahati, Kaziranga, Nameri, Manas

Six safaris across three parks, including a dawn elephant-back ride and a rafting drift down the Jia Bhoroli

From US$2,625 per person

4 nights · Bandhavgarh

Seven jeep drives across Tala, Magadhi and Khitauli with a dedicated naturalist, plus the fort hill and the interpretation centre.

From US$2,225 per person

8 nights · Bandhavgarh, Kanha

Six drives at each park with resident naturalists, comparing sal-forest and meadow habitats and tracking barasingha at Kanha.

From US$4,000 per person

7 nights · Bhopal, Bhimbetka, Satpura

Pair the heritage sites with walking and canoe safaris in Satpura, the one major reserve where you can leave the jeep.

From US$2,938 per person

4 nights · Bhuj, Hodka, Chhari Dhand

Dawn sessions in the Banni grassland for raptors, cranes and houbara habitat, with a Maldhari herder explaining the grazing system.

From US$1,750 per person

3 nights · Bikaner, Gajner

Two dawn sessions at the Jorbeer raptor reserve with a local birder, then the Gajner lake hide for imperial sandgrouse coming to water at first light.

From US$1,312 per person

6 nights · Raipur, Achanakmar, Bhoramdeo

Game drives for tiger, gaur and leopard in a quiet reserve, with Baiga villages and a temple in the hills.

From US$2,025 per person

3 nights · Satapada, Barkul

Dawn boats at the lake mouth for Irrawaddy dolphins, a sand bar landing, and the sanctuary island with a naturalist.

From US$738 per person

3 nights · Mangalajodi, Bhubaneswar

Three mornings poled through the reed beds by the former poachers who now guide, with a hundred thousand birds around you.

From US$775 per person

3 nights · Sasan Gir

Four permitted jeep drives across different routes with a naturalist, plus the Devalia interpretation zone as a guaranteed backup sighting.

From US$1,500 per person

8 nights · Sasan Gir, Dasada, Ahmedabad

Four jeep safaris in Gir for the world's only wild Asiatic lions, two drives for khur in the Little Rann, and a dawn at Nal Sarovar.

From US$3,250 per person

2 nights · Gurugram

Two early mornings with an ornithologist at Sultanpur and the Aravalli Biodiversity Park, with a Basai marsh walk

From US$538 per person

4 nights · Gwalior, Morena

Boat the Chambal ravines for gharial and skimmer, then walk the 200 reassembled temples at Bateshwar with the archaeologist's survey in hand.

From US$1,600 per person

3 nights · Hampi, Daroji

Dusk sessions at the Daroji bear sanctuary feeding rock, plus dawn birding in the boulder scrub and a sunrise climb on Matanga hill.

From US$1,188 per person

4 nights · Haridwar, Chilla

Safaris in the elephant and tiger forest on the city's edge, with riverside birding and a night in the buffer

From US$1,075 per person

5 nights · Sultanpur, Kalesar, Morni

Dawn birding at Sultanpur with a ornithologist, sal forest drives at Kalesar and two nights above the Morni lakes

From US$1,100 per person

6 nights · Port Blair, Swaraj Dweep

Guided snorkel and dive sessions reading coral health, bleaching recovery and reef fish behaviour with a specialist.

From US$2,138 per person

7 nights · Tirthan, Sainj, Jibhi

Trek into UNESCO-listed forest with park naturalists, stay in village homestays and fish for trout with locals

From US$1,850 per person

4 nights · Jaisalmer, Desert National Park

Two dawn jeep drives in the 3,000 square kilometre park looking for bustard, chinkara and desert fox, with a conservation biologist along for one of them.

From US$2,000 per person

5 nights · Srinagar, Dachigam

Look for the Kashmir stag in Dachigam with a park naturalist and count wintering duck on the Ramsar wetlands

From US$1,550 per person

4 nights · Betla, Netarhat

You take dawn and dusk safaris in a tiger reserve with almost no other vehicles, and walk to two forts swallowed by forest.

From US$950 per person

3 nights · Ramnagar, Bijrani

Six open-vehicle drives with a naturalist across Bijrani and Dhela, plus an evening talk on Project Tiger

From US$1,275 per person

4 nights · Dhikala, Dhikuli

Stay inside the grassland core at the historic rest house, with watchtower evenings and four core-zone drives

From US$1,775 per person

7 nights · Bengaluru, Kabini, Bandipur

Jeep and boat safaris in the Nilgiri biosphere for elephant herds, tiger, dhole and leopard with resident naturalists.

From US$3,100 per person

3 nights · Kaziranga

Jeep safaris in Kohora, Bagori and Agoratoli with a resident naturalist, plus a gibbon walk in Panbari forest

From US$1,312 per person

4 nights · Kaziranga

Six drives across all four ranges, a session with anti-poaching staff and an afternoon of camera trap work

From US$1,750 per person

6 nights · Thekkady, Munnar

Tribal trackers lead dawn walks in the tiger reserve, followed by the Eravikulam tahr slopes above Munnar.

From US$1,562 per person

5 nights · Khajuraho, Panna

Four game drives in a reserve rebuilt from zero tigers in 2009, bracketed by the Western and Eastern temple groups.

From US$2,025 per person

11 nights · Leh, Ulley, Rumbak

Track snow leopard with village spotters in deep winter, with ibex, blue sheep and wolf regularly seen

From US$3,725 per person

8 nights · Kochi, Agatti, Kadmat

A dive school on a nine-kilometre island takes you out to the outer reef wall daily, with reef sharks, turtles and big schooling fish.

From US$3,000 per person

10 nights · Leh, Ulley, Rumbak

Winter tracking with village spotters in Hemis National Park, returning to Leh for warmth between sessions

From US$3,475 per person

11 nights · Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Pench

Nine game drives across three forests with resident naturalists, plus a village walk with Baiga and Gond families.

From US$5,125 per person

8 nights · Bhopal, Bhimbetka, Satpura

Walk and canoe in the one reserve that allows it, tracking sloth bear and gaur on foot, then the prehistoric painted shelters.

From US$3,312 per person

5 nights · Nagpur, Tadoba

Six jeep safaris across the core and buffer zones with a naturalist, plus an evening with the Gond villagers who share the forest edge.

From US$2,188 per person

5 nights · Imphal, Keibul Lamjao, Sendra

Track the world's only deer that lives on floating vegetation, with the park's own naturalists; runs subject to conditions

From US$1,812 per person

8 nights · Aizawl, Lunglei, Phawngpui

Walk the orchid slopes of the state's highest peak with park staff, looking for Blyth's tragopan and rare blue vanda

From US$2,500 per person

7 nights · Aizawl, Champhai, Murlen

Birding in one of India's least visited parks, with rice terraces and Myanmar views from the eastern crest

From US$2,250 per person

4 nights · Munnar, Marayoor

A naturalist walks you up the Rajamala grasslands for Nilgiri tahr, then into Chinnar's dry forest and the dolmen fields.

From US$1,025 per person

5 nights · Dimapur, Wokha, Doyang

Watch the world's largest falcon roost gather at dusk with the village conservation team that stopped the hunting

From US$1,750 per person

4 nights · Sattal, Bhimtal

Dawn sessions with a Himalayan bird guide across the seven lakes, with forest hides and over 200 species possible

From US$1,150 per person

5 nights · Port Blair, Shaheed Dweep

Guided snorkel sessions on the fringing coral and a tide-pool walk at Howrah Bridge with a marine naturalist.

From US$1,550 per person

8 nights · Satapada, Mangalajodi, Bhitarkanika

Dawn boats for Irrawaddy dolphins and a million winter birds, then mangrove creeks with the country's largest saltwater crocodiles.

From US$1,925 per person

9 nights · Bhubaneswar, Similipal, Gahirmatha coast

Sal forest and waterfalls in the tiger reserve, then the olive ridley nesting coast with a marine biologist.

From US$2,112 per person

4 nights · Ooty, Avalanche

A naturalist walks you through shola forest and permit-only high grassland looking for Nilgiri tahr and endemic birds.

From US$1,025 per person

3 nights · Port Blair, Mount Harriet

Snorkelling at North Bay, then forest trails above the harbour with a naturalist and the old ten-rupee-note viewpoint.

From US$925 per person

5 nights · Harike, Ropar, Kapurthala

Boat the Beas for Indus river dolphin, count wintering duck at Harike and walk a community-run marsh

From US$1,275 per person

4 nights · Puri, Satapada

Dawn boats for Irrawaddy dolphins at the lagoon mouth, a sandbar landing, and the Puri temple precinct by evening.

From US$900 per person

4 nights · Raipur, Barnawapara

Game drives in a quiet dry-forest sanctuary for leopard, sloth bear and gaur, with Sirpur on the way back.

From US$1,400 per person

6 nights · Ranthambore, Bharatpur, Jaipur

Four game drives in open canters and jeeps across different zones, then two mornings of cycle-rickshaw birding inside UNESCO-listed Keoladeo.

From US$3,000 per person

2 nights · Ranthambore

Three game drives across different zones with a naturalist in the jeep, plus a morning walk up the ramp to the UNESCO fort and the Ganesh temple.

From US$1,125 per person

4 nights · Ranthambore

Six drives with a fixed vehicle and seat, a photographer-naturalist guiding on light and position, and a dawn session at Surwal Lake outside the park.

From US$2,375 per person

10 nights · Shimla, Tabo, Kibber

Track snow leopard with Kibber village spotters in sub-zero conditions, with ibex and blue sheep daily

From US$3,350 per person

4 nights · Srinagar, Dachigam

Park drives for the Kashmir stag with a naturalist, plus wetland birding at Hokersar and the lakes

From US$1,275 per person

3 nights · Kolkata, Sundarbans

You spend two full days on a licensed boat with a forest guide, reading pugmarks, watching crocodiles and sitting out the dusk vigil at Sudhanyakhali.

From US$950 per person

4 nights · Nagpur, Tadoba

Six jeep drives across core and buffer zones with a senior naturalist, working known territories at Telia, Tadoba lake and Kolsa.

From US$2,312 per person

3 nights · Tadoba

Five drives timed to the dry-season pools when tigers must come to water, with a photography-focused guide and a fixed vehicle.

From US$1,850 per person

3 nights · Thekkady

Tribal guides lead you on a dawn border hike and a bamboo raft crossing, with a late boat on the lake for elephants.

From US$825 per person

5 nights · Agartala, Amarpur, Sepahijala

Boat up the Gomati to the Devatamura cliff carvings and track spectacled langur in the sanctuary

From US$1,562 per person

8 nights · Delhi, Agra, Dudhwa

Three days of grassland and sal-forest safaris for tiger and swamp deer, bracketed by Agra's three World Heritage sites.

From US$3,000 per person

5 nights · Corbett, Ramnagar

Six safaris across Dhikala and Bijrani with a naturalist, elephant grassland drives and a riverside birding walk

From US$1,775 per person

4 nights · Wayanad

Early vehicle rounds in both sanctuary ranges with a naturalist, plus a dusk watch on the elephant crossing road.

From US$988 per person

4 nights · Kolkata, Sundarbans

You spend two full days on a licensed boat with a forest guide, reading pugmarks, watching crocodiles and meeting honey collectors.

From US$1,100 per person