Complex and beguiling, India is a country unlike any other. Wondrous sights rich in romance and intrigue come alive in the “Golden Triangle”—Delhi, Jaipur and Agra. Delhi’s immense red sandstone marble tomb, commissioned by Emperor Humayun’s grief-stricken wife, will capture your heart, while Raj Ghat, a black granite memorial to the “Father of the Nation,” Mahatma Gandhi, will stir your soul. Jaipur’s Pink City and Agra’s Taj Mahal, a grand tribute to love, will leave you forever mesmerized.
This adventure by land and river will touch all of your senses, from Kolkata, where Mother Teresa’s humble home and tomb provide a place of pilgrimage, to the Rajbari Temples devoted to the Hindu god Shiva.
Start your trip with five luxurious nights at three different award-winning Oberoi hotels. Enjoy a rare opportunity to see the Taj Mahal two times—once at sunrise and once at sunset.
DAY 1: New Delhi
Arrive at New Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport. If your cruise/tour package includes a group arrival transfer or if you have purchased a private arrival transfer, you will be greeted by a Uniworld representative and transferred to your hotel, the beautiful Oberoi New Delhi Hotel. Its sophisticated comfort will offer you the perfect launching pad for your exploration of the city.
DAY 2: New Delhi
India’s sprawling capital city is colourful, confounding and completely captivating, an exhilarating mixture of ancient and modern, sacred and secular. Your perfectly paced, expertly-led city tour provides a soft landing, an ideal first foray into this fascinating land. The capital of modern India, New Delhi is not one city but many. Sprawling, home to 17 million people, inhabited for at least 2,500 years, New Delhi has been built and destroyed and rebuilt numerous times, and all of its conquerors have left traces. Your panoramic tour today will show you some of its most remarkable landmarks.
Featured Excursion: India’s Capital City: New Delhi City tour
DAY 3: New Delhi, Transfer to Agra
To gaze upon the Taj Mahal is a moment at the top of countless travel bucket lists, as well it should be. Widely considered one of the most beautiful monuments ever created, this “elegy in marble” is guaranteed not to disappoint—especially when viewed at the magical hour of sunset, as you are fortunate enough to see it today. This morning you will check out of your New Delhi hotel and head south via motorcoach to Agra. Once known as Akbarabad, Agra was the capital of the Mughal Empire for 100 years, until Shah Jahan moved the government back to Delhi—but Agra was the site of his best-known building project, the exquisite Taj Mahal, which draws visitors from all over the world.
Featured Excursion: Majesty and Grace: the Taj Mahal at sundown
DAY 4: Agra, Transfer to Jaipur
Is the Taj Mahal best seen at sunset or sunrise? It’s an impossible question to answer, so Uniworld guests have the rare pleasure of experiencing both. Wake up early this morning for a second visit to this unforgettable site, so you can see the white marble monument aglow with the rosy tinge of dawn.
Featured Excursion: Early morning at the Taj Mahal
DAY 5: Jaipur
Pink is the color of hospitality in Rajasthan, which gives you an idea of what to expect in the “Pink City” of Jaipur. You’ll see some marvelous things here, including the Amber Palace and Jantar Mantar, an ancient observatory still used by local astrologers to determine the position of the stars. What do the stars reveal about your destiny? You can find out today.
Featured Excursion: Jaipur: Rajasthan’s princely city
DAY 6: Jaipur, Fly to Kolkata (Embark), Cruising the Ganges River
Settle into your beautifully appointed suite aboard the Ganges Voyager II in Kolkata (the city formerly known as Calcutta), the gateway to your journey along the world’s holiest river. You leave Jaipur early today and fly to Kolkata, India’s second-largest city, the longtime capital of the British Raj, and the city many Indians consider their nation’s intellectual capital. Like Jaipur, it is young compared to the millennia-long history of the subcontinent; it was founded by the East India Company late in the 17th century. You’ll board the Ganges Voyager II, your supremely comfortable traveling hotel for the next seven nights, and settle into your suite. Enjoy a Welcome dinner and a cultural performance to cap your day.
DAY 7: Kalna
As incredible as it sounds, India is the birthplace of four of the world’s major religions (including Buddhism and Hinduism), and Kalna—India’s “Temple City”—has some of the most magnificent examples of Hindu temples on the entire subcontinent. Kalna, once an important trade port on the river, is best known today for the magnificent Hindu temples built by the maharajas of Bardhaman in the late 18th and 19th centuries. They are your destination today.
Featured Excursion: India’s “Temple City”
DAY 8: Matiari
Your ship serves as a time machine today, transporting you hundreds of years into the past, as we travel to an artisan village where craftsmen use materials and techniques that have remained unchanged for centuries. Matiari, a West Bengal village nestled above the banks of the river and surrounded by farms, is also home to a thriving metal-working tradition that you will see in action today.
Featured Excursion: Matiari master craftsmen with an introduction to brass
DAY 9: Murshidabad, Baranagar
Curiosities abound in India, and that includes the country’s eclectic architectural styles. But a palace with a thousand doors? Such a thing does indeed exist, as you’ll see for yourself today, along with some famous terra-cotta carvings, the ruins of a mosque and yet another cultural curiosity—the game of cricket, India’s beloved (and rather complex) national sport. Today’s adventures take you to a duo of Bengali towns - Murshidabad and Baranagar - each one boasting surprising and beautiful architectural monuments closely linked to the ruling families of the area.
Featured Excursion: Visit to Murshidabad City, ride by buggy to Katra Mosque and visit to Baranagar village
This evening, following dinner onboard, take in a lively and fun-filled Bollywood-style show, complete with music and dancing.
DAY 10: Mayapur
Today the ship heads back toward Kolkata, cruising past lush fields of rice, sugarcane, tomatoes and eggplant, among many other crops, but your river adventure is not over. You still have some fascinating locations to visit; they lie on the opposite bank of the river from your upstream ports of call. Your stop is in Mayapur, sometimes called the spiritual capital of the world. Few places of worship exist on such a head-spinning scale as what you will witness today in Mayapur, the center of the international Hare Krishna movement and home to the new Temple of the Vedic Planetarium, still under construction.
Featured Excursion: Hare Krishna complex and Temple of the Vedic Planetarium
DAY 11: Bandel, Chandannagar, Kolkata
Most students of history know a thing or two about the British colonial powers in India, but few are aware that the French had colonies here, too—including one that existed as late as the 1950s. You’ll visit this former French outpost today, as well as a famous Shia pilgrimage center. You’ll continue to cruise toward Kolkata today, stopping en route in Bandel and Chandannagar, a little piece of France that survived in India for a couple hundred years.
Featured Excursion: Excursion by boat to the shore of Bandel, and India’s French colonial heritage
DAY 12: Kolkata
The city of Kolkota is virtually synonymous with the enduring legacies of Mother Teresa— recently canonized as a Catholic saint—and the colonial-era British Raj, both of which you will get better acquainted with today.
Featured Excursion: Kolkata city tour—visit the Flower Market, colonial sites and Kumartulli
Choice of NGO's Kolkata Rescue visit or Mother Teresa’s home and tomb
Enjoy a Farewell dinner tonight.
DAY 13: Kolkata (Disembark)
Your incredible Indian adventure ends early this morning, as you disembark and transfer to the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport for your flight home—or extend your journey with an optional extension in Varanasi.
Fares are capacity controlled and subject to change at any time without notice - book now to secure a bargain!
Twin share - from $10,199 per person
29 Nov 2019
07 Dec 2019
Twin share - from $10,399 per person
11 Nov 2019
21 Nov 2019
Twin share - from $10,899 per person
07 Oct 2019
25 Oct 2019
04 Nov 2019
Twin share - from $11,199 per person
09 Nov 2020
19 Nov 2020
27 Nov 2020
05 Dec 2020
Twin share - from $11,599 per person
02 Jan 2020
10 Jan 2020
18 Jan 2020
27 Jan 2020
14 Feb 2020
22 Feb 2020
02 Mar 2020
26 Sep 2020
05 Oct 2020
15 Oct 2020
23 Oct 2020
31 Oct 2020
Solo traveller rates available on request. Freecall our local travel team on 1300 41 198 to secure your cabin. We can also assist with booking your flights and arranging travel insurance.
Signature Suite
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Note: The itineraries presented are subject to modification due to water levels, closures because of public holidays or other uncontrollable factors. Every effort will be made to operate programs as planned, but changes may still be necessary throughout the cruise. This day-to-day schedule is subject to change. Your final day-to-day schedule will be provided onboard on the first day of your cruise/tour.
Travel at 60 and Uniworld booking conditions apply. Please contact us for more information.
PRICES: All prices are per guest in Australian Dollars based on double occupancy unless otherwise noted. Fares are capacity controlled and are subject to change at any time without notice. Availability of all stateroom categories cannot be guaranteed. Fares for single guests are available upon request. Additional restrictions may apply. If you have purchased your airfares with Uniworld River Cruises (Australia) Pty. Ltd. and/or you have purchased a cruise-tour package with Uniworld River Cruises (Australia) Pty. Ltd. that includes air, your entire package price will be guaranteed at time of initial payment. For current pricing, please refer to our website.
RESERVATIONS AND PAYMENTS: A deposit of at least 10% of the cruise-tour fare (cruise-tour plus pre and or post land extensions, less applicable discounts), per person is required within 72 hours of reservation. Final payment is due at least 120 days prior to departure. Reservations will be cancelled if final payment is not received in a timely manner. For all guests booking air travel through Uniworld River Cruises (Australia) Pty. Ltd., promotional or otherwise, an additional non-refundable deposit of A$1,500pp, unless otherwise stated, is required at the time of booking. Upon receipt of air deposit your airfare, tax and fuel surcharges are final. Your travel agent shall, on receipt of any monies, hold such monies for each and every person named in the booking until the booking is confirmed at which times those monies shall be remitted promptly by your Travel Agent to us. All such monies received by us will be deposited as required by law. We will be entitled to keep for each account any interest earned on such monies. It is a condition of our confirmation or your booking and acceptance of your cruise, may be disbursed by us as and when we see fit or in respect of the services to be provided or fees payable under the cruise program, and the payment of a deposit or otherwise for your cruise or cruise/tour, shall be deemed to be a direction to disburse such monies as aforesaid.
ITEMS NOT INCLUDED IN THE PUBLISHED PRICE: These include, but are not limited to, airfares to and from your destination except where specified; airport/departure taxes; aircraft seat assignments, cost of passport and visas; taxes; excess baggage charges; laundry; phone calls; all items of a personal nature; items not included on regular menus; expenses for additional sightseeing not specified in the itinerary; and health, accident, baggage, or travel protection plans.
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