Wellness India: Ancient Traditions & Inspiring Icons

Arrive in Delhi, a home to diverse cultural and spiritual traditions, where you are met and transferred to your elegant hotel.

After breakfast, experience your first foray into India’s rich spiritual heritage with guided visits to both a Hindu and Sikh temple. While Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest and most varied faiths, Sikhism is among the youngest, stressing honesty, selflessness and service; it is in the massive kitchens of the historic Sikh temple you visit that thousands of free meals are prepared for the community daily. Later, drive past iconic sites, such as the Parliament House and India Gate.

Depart Delhi for Udaipur and transfer to your luxurious hotel on the tranquil banks of Lake Pichola. Enjoy the afternoon at leisure. Before dinner, contemplate your intentions with a guided meditation, led by an expert who offers tips for establishing a daily practice. Tonight’s dinner is accompanied by local music and traditional dancing.

Visit the opulent City Palace on Lake Pichola. Fusing Rajasthani and Mughal architectural styles, the site is actually a complex of several palaces and structures linked by expansive courtyards. Then, enjoy a refreshing outing when you bike ride through the surrounding countryside, stopping for a picnic lunch. Come late afternoon, embark on a sunset cruise on Lake Pichola, sailing past its picturesque ghats and palaces, and pausing at the 17th-century water palace of Jag Mandir. View this magnificent monument with its domes, marble pillars and fountains as well as its special approach from the water — a row of marble elephants that seem to be guarding the island. Later, enjoy a cooking demonstration followed by dinner with a local family.

Choose to rise early for a yoga session before breakfast. After breakfast, take a short drive outside of the city to Delwara and the temple complex of Eklingji and Nagda to explore its more than 100 temples dedicated to Shiva and Lord Vishnu, and take in the tranquil atmosphere of prayer time. Following lunch, choose to partake in a guided heritage walking tour or to relish a relaxing afternoon at leisure.

Fly to Jaipur and explore Amber Fort, an imposing edifice of red sandstone perched on a hilltop. After lunch, journey two hours to extraordinary Amanbagh, set in the beautiful Rajasthani countryside. Enjoy an introductory talk on the importance of Ayurveda in India and how it impacts all aspects of health and wellness. You also have the opportunity to meet privately with an Ayurvedic doctor, who provides personalized recommendations based on your dosha (body type).

Today, enjoy one of these Design Your Day activities. Explore the Remnants of Historic Bhangarh, an abandoned city rumored to be haunted. Visit the Workshops of Local Craftspeople, including sandal makers, carpet weavers and sculptors. Take Part in a Photogenic Cow Dust Tour, observing local farmers. Return to your hotel for an evening at leisure.

Relish a restorative day at leisure. Perhaps enjoy your hotel’s wellness amenities, such as yoga; schedule your included treatment at its soothing holistic spa; or return to Jaipur for more exploration.

The “Crown of Palaces,” the incomparable Taj Mahal was designed to represent eternal paradise. Today, drive four hours to Agra to visit this immortal gesture of love, viewing it just as the setting sun bathes it in deep hues of pink and orange.

Rise early to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise, its glowing surface suffused in a gentle morning mist. Return to your hotel for a relaxing afternoon at leisure. This evening, fly to the spiritual heart of India: Varanasi. Settle into your superbly located heritage hotel right on the banks of the Ganges River.

Rise early for a sunrise cruise on the Ganges River to observe life along the ghats (stone steps leading down to the river), as locals and pilgrims come to cleanse themselves, literally and spiritually, in the sacred waters. After breakfast, rest at the hotel or pay an optional visit to Sarnath, where the Buddha delivered his first sermon more than 3,000 years ago. Take an evening boat ride and experience the pitru tarpana, an ancestor ceremony in which you may light a candle to release in the river in memory of a loved one who has passed on; this is one of the most moving local customs you can experience. End the night witnessing the aarti ceremony, when chanted prayers and rhythmic drumming fill the air as lantern-bearing priests bid the gods and goddesses a restful slumber.

Fly to Delhi. Your afternoon is free to relax and enjoy the amenities of your hotel.

Transfer to the airport for your flight home.