India and Maldives Luxury Honeymoon

The City Palace, sat on the banks of Lake Pichola, is one of the architectural wonders of Rajasthan, its detailed art and workmanship a tribute to the skills of local craftspeople. A collection of towers, domes and arches, the Palace illustrates several architectural styles including Moghal and Rajput. The royal family claim to be ‘surya vansh’, descendents of the sun, and so the whole structure faces east and there is a stunning bejewelled image of the sun at the entrance. Inside the Palace there is an interesting collection of Rajput miniature paintings and the Crystal Gallery which houses a collection of art and furniture.

Enjoy wandering the old city with your guide, winding your way through lanes that teem with cows, elephants and people. You’ll pass shops, folk art hung on the walls of houses and beautiful latticed haveli windows.

Jal Sanjhvi is the art of drawing on water, a popular ritual performed at temples dedicated to Krishna where coloured powders are used to draw iconic images onto water. A full canvas takes about five hours to create, and you’ll arrive in time to see the picture completed.

This is a great introductory ride to see a side of Udaipur rarely visited by tourists. You will be taken by boat to a jetty where you will hop on your bikes ready to explore. Ride past the three lakes west of Udaipur town and through nearby villages, farms, and rolling green hills.

Explore the Badi Chaupad and Johari bazaars in Jaipur’s old city. Wandering through the maze of stalls and studios, you’ll witness craftspeople working on all sorts of forms of local art including zardozi embroidery, gota work, kinary, silver ornament work and precious and semi-precious stonework.

Visit a temple and partake in a short puja ceremony, where the temple priest will perform worship for you and offer blessings. You will also take a walk through Jaipur’s traditional markets filled with colourful fruit and vegetable stalls. Set against the backdrop of Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob’s vernacular architecture, the bustling alleyways are still where many merchant families live today.

Maharaja Jai Singh II, the founder of the pink city, was an avid astrologer and built five observatories around northern India. The Jantar Mantar is the largest of the five and houses what is believed to be the world’s largest sun dial. The observatory consists of 14 geometric devices for measuring time, tracking constellations and observing the orbits around the sun.

Amber, the ancient capital of the region, still recalls its heydays in the majestic ramparts rising steeply along the contoured hillsides. It is an extremely well preserved building and during your guided tour you’ll visit the Jagmandir, or Hall of Victory, with its glittering mirrors, the Jai Mahal and Temple of Kali.

As the light changes, so too does the colour of the Taj Mahal. One of the best times to visit is in the early hours when it is bathed in the ethereal glow of the morning light.

Visiting the Taj Mahal at sunset is a truly magical experience, as the light plays on the marble of the tomb and its reflection shimmers in the water. Heartbroken after the death of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, during the birth of their 14th child, Shah Jahan set about building the world’s most beautiful monument in her honour. It took a workforce of more than 20,000 men 22 years to build, painstakingly making sure every slab of marble, precious stone and stroke of calligraphy was perfect. It is undoubtedly one of the most impressive sights on earth and the world’s greatest symbol of love.