10-Day Heart of India

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With your guide, you'll begin your day by visiting Mumbai’s most famous monument, Gateway of India. You'll then visit the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station - a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Crawford Market which is more than a century old. Afterwards, you'll visit the open-air laundry “Dhobi Ghat”, Mahatma Gandhi's residence in Mumbai “Mani Bhavan”, Haji Ali Dargah, Malabar Hill and take a drive around Marine Drive also known as “Queens Necklace”.

This morning, you'll say goodbye to Mumbai and transfer to the airport for your flight to Indore. On arrival, you'll travel 2.5 hours to Maheshwar, situated on the banks of sacred river Narmada, to your hotel, Ahilya Fort Hotel. Originally built on the banks of the river by Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar who ruled Maheshwar from 1765 to 1796 to act as his personal residences, Ahilya Fort was converted into a hotel in 2000 by Prince Richard Holkar, the son of the last Maharaja of Indore.

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Today, you'll head off on a day trip to the ruins of the 15th-century fortified city of Mandu. These ruins are some of India’s finest examples of Afghan architecture as well as baobab trees, brought here on ancient trade routes from Africa. This picturesque and romantic Mandu is full of World Heritage-listed palaces, tombs, monuments and mosques. Some of the monuments worth visiting include Jahaz Mahal, Hindola Mahal, Gateways, Mandu Fort, Jami Masjid, Hoshang Shah’s Tom and Roopmati Pavilion.

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Today, you have the day free to relax at Ahilya Fort or explore Maheshwar. You could start your day with a daily puja by 11 Brahmins dating from the time of Queen Ahilya Bai. Later, you could visit a Rehwa Society, an NGO (closed on Tuesdays) which was started by the Holkars to revive the craft of Maheshwar and to give employment to women. You could also take a village walk to the two villages of Naodatodi and Bothu, both accessible by a 20-minute boat ride across the Narmada river.

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You'll drive to Indore with a stop en route at Omkareshwar, an island shaped like Om in the holy Narmada river. Om is the holiest symbol of Hinduism. Serene Omkareshwar is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga shrines in India, a large number of pilgrims visit the shrine every year to take blessings of Lord Shiva. After witnessing this devotion in this sacred town, you'll continue on to Indore.

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This morning, you'll travel to Bhopal with a stop en route at the ancient city of Ujjain beside the Kshipra river. One of Hinduism's seven sacred cities, Ujjain is also one of the four cities in the world that hosts the Kumbh Mela, the world's largest religious and cultural human gathering, which happens every 12 years. After exploring Ujjain and its cluster of grand temples, you'll continue onto Bhopal.

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This morning, you'll head out on a city tour of the fascinating city of Bhopal and its old city, which is an atmospheric mix of mosques and markets, narrow alleyways and grand Islamic architecture. The highlights of this city tour will include the Taj-ul-Masjid mosque, Moti Masjid and Shaukat Mahal. In the afternoon, you'll head to the UNESCO-listed Bhimbetka Rock Shelters to see the Palaeolithic paintings depicting hunting and stylised figures in yellow and red ochre dating back 30,000 years.

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In the morning, you'll drive to Sanchi to visit the UNESCO World Heritage Buddhist stupas and learn of their significance in the introduction of Buddhism to the country. You'll then continue to Udayagiri, one of India's most important archaeological sites consisting of 20 rock-cut caves that are protected monuments managed by the Archaeological Survey of India. In the afternoon, you'll return to Bhopal for some free time.