Your chauffeur meets you at Delhi (DEL) arrivals and transfers you to your hotel. Depending on your landing time, the afternoon covers a gentle first taste of the capital, the towering Qutub Minar, the garden-set Humayun's Tomb, or a drive past India Gate along the ceremonial Rajpath.

It is a deliberately light start to shake off jet lag before the temples and monuments of the days ahead.

A short morning flight brings you to Khajuraho, the quiet Bundelkhand town whose temples are among India's finest medieval art. Your guide leads you through the Western Group, the crowning Kandariya Mahadeva and the Lakshmana temple, whose walls carry thousands of finely carved figures of gods, musicians, dancers and daily life.

Built by the Chandela dynasty between AD 950 and 1050, these are the best-preserved of the surviving temples and the reason the site holds UNESCO World Heritage status.

The morning is given to the Eastern Group, a cluster of elegant Jain temples, Parsvanath, Adinath and the Ghantai, set among the village lanes and quieter than the Western enclosure.

After lunch you fly back to Delhi, where your chauffeur is waiting for the evening transfer to your hotel. An easy night positions you for the drive to Agra the next morning.

A morning run down the Yamuna Expressway brings you to Agra by early afternoon and your hotel check-in.

You visit the Taj Mahal in the softer light of late afternoon, when the marble warms to amber and the day-trippers thin out; your guide unpacks Shah Jahan's love story and the flawless Mughal symmetry.

The evening rounds off with a Mughlai dinner, rich Awadhi-Mughal kebabs and slow-cooked curries that trace their roots to the imperial kitchens.

The morning starts at the red-sandstone Agra Fort, the Mughal seat of power where Shah Jahan spent his final years gazing at the Taj across the river.

You then drive to Jaipur, breaking the journey at Abhaneri to see the Chand Baori, one of India's deepest and most geometric stepwells, its 3,500 symmetrical steps plunging thirteen storeys underground.

You reach the Pink City by evening for check-in and a relaxed first night.

The morning belongs to the honey-coloured Amber Fort above Maota Lake, where the Sheesh Mahal mirror hall is the highlight (jeep ascent included).

Afterwards you visit an elephant village on the city's edge, a chance to meet, feed and learn about the resident elephants and their mahouts in an unhurried, ethical setting away from the fort crowds.

You begin at Jantar Mantar, the 18th-century royal observatory whose giant masonry instruments still track time and the stars, then photograph the five-storey pink facade of the Hawa Mahal, the 'Palace of Winds'.

The afternoon is yours for the bazaars of the old city, block-print textiles, blue pottery, silver and gemstones, or simply a slower pace before your final day.

After breakfast your chauffeur drives you back to Delhi along the highway, timed to your onward flight.

Depending on your departure, we can add a final Delhi stop or a lunch break en route; your driver delivers you to the airport with time to spare.