India is amazing country, a land of exotic colors and flavors—and a dream destination for many of us. But did you know it also has a fascinating LGBTQ+ history? This is the tour that will show you its most fabulous sights while introducing you to its LGBTQ+ side, with highlights that includimg the Taj Mahal at dawn and the beautiful pink city of Jaipur—but also a meeting with members of Indian culture’s traditional third sex (hijras), the sexy sculptures of the Khajuraho temples (including the LGB scenes!) and above all, celebration of Holi, the Hindu festival of Colors, Love, and Spring, with India’s gay prince (the crown prince of the kingdom of Rajpipla) Manvendra Singh Gohil—whom you many know from his appearances on the Oprah Show—at the refuge he has created for LGBTQ+ people in need. The tour price includes a donation to the Lakshya Trust, one of India’s key LGBTQ+ charities, founded by the prince to provide HIV/AIDS services.

Highlights:

• Amazing palaces, temples, and gardens—too many to mention!
• Great Indian food, and visits to bazaars
• The Taj Mahal at dawn (and later in the day too!)
• The beauty spots of Rajasthan: Jaipur and Udaipur
• A special rickshaw tour of old Delhi
• The exuberantly pansexual sculptures of the famous temples of Khajuraho
• A meeting with India’s 3rd sex community
• And the Festival of Colors, Holi, celebrated with Crown Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil in his city.
  Plus a fabulous extension to Mumbai, India's Queer Capital:

Our hotels are also a highlight!  All are 5 star, except for one restored palace!  Depending on circumstances, the hotels could change—but they will stay at this level.

Travelling in India can be difficult, but this tour will ease you past any problems, with our fabulous hotels, excellent food, specially prepared guides, and friendly LGBTQ+ atmosphere. All meals are included, and aside from being absolutely fabulous (and varied, with different regional specialties throughout) all meals will take place at restaurants which maintain the highest hygienic.  This is of course not a guarantee, but every effort has been and will be made.

Arrive in India and rest up for tomorrow! We arrange your transfer from the airport to the hotel but then leave you in peace.

Hotel:  The Lalit New Delhi is one of the city's top luxury hotels, and also its most central.  It is also at the forefront of the fight for LGBTQ+ right in India, as we will hear from its Head of DEI (not so common in India!).

This morning we visit old Delhi. We see the great Red Fort, the colorful Sikh temple, and take a rickshaw tour of Delhi’s vast and labyrinthine bazaar, the Chandni Chowk, with its many different market areas (food, sequins, spices, and so on).  After lunch in a restaurant famous for chaat (Indian street food) we return to New Delhi, the center of India's government since the British Raj, with the presidential residence (built for the British Viceroy) and the 138 foot high India Gate, a memorial to India’s 75,000 WWI casualties.  We make a visit to one of Delhi's most spectacular monuments, Mughal Emperor Humayun’s tomb, a great example of the architecture of the Mughal (Indo-Persian) period and a forerunner of the Taj Mahal.  Dinner at the hotel.

This morning we fly to Khajuraho.  Upon arrival, we begin our visit Khajuraho's fantastically sculptured temples, with their famous sex scenes, including of course the same-sex scenes, both G and L (or B).  And we learn about the mystery surrounding them:  are they a sex manual, like the Kama Sutra (or even illustrations of the Kama Sutra) or depictions of tantric sex, or.....who knows?  These are one of India’s great sights—but not, as far as we know, on any other LGBTQ+ India tour.  After a lovely lunch, with some time for shopping, we continue our tour of the temple.  Dinner at the hotel with specialties of this region, Udaipur.

Hotel:  the Lalit's Khajuraho property is a particularly charming spot, with lovely gardens looking out to the temples.

Today we take the train to Agra, arriving in time for lunch. Agra is the mother city of Mughlai cuisine, the rich cuisine of India’s Mughal rulers, heavy with aromatic spices, nuts, and dried fruits (and the basis for most worldwide Indian cuisine). Today’s lunch is in an authentic Mughlai restaurant.  In the afternoon, we visit our first great fort complex, the Agra Fort, a vast 16th century fortification that contains a whole series of exquisitely ornate palaces, with carved marble courtyards, halls of mirrors, and much more! Then we go to Mehtab Bagh, a restored Mughal garden on the river, to gaze across at one of the world's great wonders, the Taj Mahal, tomb of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan's beloved favorite wife, Mumtaz.  Dinner at the hotel.

Hotel: The Radisson Agra is a luxury hotel with fabulous views of the Taj Mahal from only 1 mile away!

This morning we visit the Taj Mahal around sunrise, when the dawn light turns the dome a soft, golden color—and also when the crowds are lightest, so you can get the best photos. You will see why the Taj is listed as one of the modern seven wonders of the world! We return to the hotel for breakfast, and then set off for Jaipur, stopping on the way for a visit to India's most famous bird sanctuary, Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur.  An artificial wetland created by Bharatpur's Maharajas for hunting, in the last 50 years it has become India's premiere wetland park, with amazing numbers of waterbirds and deer.  After lunch, we drive to Jaipur, to our most fantastic hotel, a restored palace of great elegance.  Dinner at the hotel.

Hotel: The Jai Mahal Palace is a vast complex of splendid rooms, garden pavilions, and colonnades, dating from 1745, and spread across 18 acres of garden—and converted into a luxury heritage hotel. Convenient for exploration of Jaipur, it is also a place to enjoy in and of itself.

Today we visit Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, and surely one of the highlights of a trip to India. The walled city of pink houses (originally painted pink in 1876 to celebrate a visit of the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII) surrounded by desert hills with hilltop forts, could scarcely be more enchanting. We start our day by driving up into the hills to see the Amber Fort, with its astonishingly ornate royal apartments. On our way down, we stop for views of the Jal Mahal, a palace set in the middle of a lake, and then visit the lovely city palace. At lunch, we try the Jaipuri thali, a traditional platter of local specialities.

In the afternoon, we experience one of the tour’s great highlights: a meeting with members of India’s traditional third sex, hijras.  Dinner at the hotel.

This morning we spend some time learning about (and of course possibly buying) Jaipur’s amazing crafts, especially its cloth printing and silks.  Then we set off on a drive to Deogarh, a historic 17th-century fort-palace in rural Rajasthan. Built in 1670 as a residence for the powerful Chundawat Rajput clan, the Palace was later transformed into a heritage hotel by the royal family, blending traditional architecture with modern amenities with its historical legacy. Don't miss the traditional miniature paintings at the shop. Dinner at the hotel.

After breakfast we will enjoy 1 and half hour trip on a Raj-era rural train though an area of unspoilt natural scenic beauty. We will have a chance to feed the monkeys (and many birds) that surround the line! After the train journey, we will drive to Udaipur.

Hotel: The LaLiT Laxmi Vilas Palace. Built by His Highness Maharana Fateh Singh in 1911, The LaLiT Laxmi Vilas Palace Udaipur is an epitome of the culture and historical heritage of the princely state of Rajasthan. Overlooking the Fateh Sagar Lake, with the majestic Aravalli hills in its backdrop, this beautiful heritage palace is one of the finest 5-star hotels in Udaipur, it glows with royal elegance.

Today we visit Udaipur, one of India’s gems.
Nestled in the Aravali hills, Udaipur is surrounded by 7 lakes and known mainly for its historic forts, palaces, temples, and gardens. Udaipur was voted Best City in the World by Travel & Leisure Magazine in 2009, and it is a popular wedding destination, for Indians and foreigners.

Many movies and TV series have been filmed at least in part here, including Octopussy, Darjeeling Limited, Heat and Dust, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and Gandhi—also of course many Bollywood movies!

We will tour the city today, visiting the amazing City Palace—the largest and most flamboyant in Rajasthan—and the beautiful Sakeliyon-ki-Bari garden, created as a retreat for 18th century court ladies.

We will also take a boat trip on Lake Pichola and visit a miniature painting school. Our meals today will be even more special than usual. Lunch will introduce us to a new regional cuisine, Mewari, described by Condé Nast Traveller, as “simple, rustic, and flavoursome” (and the meal will start with one of Professor Lear’s favorite Indian foods, clear-colored but headily perfumed rose sherbet….)  Dinner at the hotel.

But this evening we return to Udaipur for a beautiful show of traditional Rajasthani dances!

Today we leave Rajasthan and venture into the neighbouring state of Gujarat. We visit the famous Adalaj step well and the ashram where Gandhi lived for 12 years with his followers, to learn about modern India's father and the independence movement that he led—the model for so many nonviolent resistance movements.  Dinner will be at the hotel and will introduce us to our fourth regional cuisine Gujarati, known for its variety of flavors and textures—and its bright colors.

Hotel:  The Hyatt Ahmedabad is is one of the city's finest hotels, and it is also next door to the city's busiest shopping mall.

After a leisurely breakfast drive to Vadodara. In the afternoon, we visit Lakshmi Vilas Palace. Still the residence of Vadodara’s royal family, Lakshmi Vilas represents the Raj and its architecture on steroids! Built over 500 acres, this is the largest private home built till date and four times the size of Buckingham Palace. The elaborate interiors boast well-maintained mosaics, chandeliers and artworks, as well as a highly impressive collection of weaponry and art, especially the work of the period's leading artist, Raja Ravi Verma who was commissioned by the then Maharaja of Baroda to adorn the palace. It’s set in expansive park-like grounds, which include a golf course.

Hotel:  ITC Vadodara is an up-to-date 5 star hotel, designed to echo the history of Gujarat:  for instance, it is arranged around the pool, designed to recall the step wells which we have visited on our tour.

Today is a highlight of our tour—indeed a highlight of the life of our company. We will drive to the city of Rajpipla to celebrate Holi, the Hindu Festival of Colors, Love, and Spring, with Crown Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil, at his farmhouse, which he opened in 2018 to help house vulnerable LGBTQ+ people who might otherwise be "left with nothing" when "their families disown them after coming out.” Despite his royal status, Manvendra can empathize with this experience, because his family disowned him publicly when he came out after a long and difficult emotional journey, including an unconsummated marriage to a princess and a nervous break-down —in short, a royal version of the coming out story that many have known. The tour price includes a donation to the Lakshya Trust, a key Indian LGBTQ+ organization founded by the Prince, and there will be an opportunity for those who wish to make further contributions to the trust.

In the evening we return to Vadodara for our farewell dinner at Gazra Café. In an old, brick building among tall trees, overlooking Sursagar Lake, Gazra Café is Gujara's first eatery to champion the LGBTQIA+ cause. You will be welcomed by a smiling Maya Urmila Koli, who identifies as a transgender. The chef is gay; a couple of the serving staff are transgender; and plans are afoot to bring more LGBTQIA+ people into the fold. Just the right place for us to toast India's LGBTQ+ past, present, and future, and the new friends we have made on our tour!

After breakfast, we drive to Ahmedabad airport and return to Delhi. You can leave India late at night on March 23 or on March 24—or you can continue on our LGBTQ+ tour of Nepal!

Note:  if you wish to leave India on March 24, we can arrange a hotel room for you near the airport.