Your chauffeur welcomes you at Delhi (DEL) and transfers you to your hotel, where your guide gives a gentle briefing on the spiritual arc of the journey ahead.

In the evening you visit the Birla Mandir (Laxminarayan Temple), a serene, colourful Hindu temple that makes an easy, contemplative first stop after a long flight.

You take a morning train north from Delhi to Haridwar, one of Hinduism's seven holiest cities, where the Ganges leaves the mountains for the plains.

At dusk you join the Ganga Aarti at Har-ki-Pauri ghat, hundreds of oil lamps floating on the river, chanting priests and a wave of devotion that is among the most moving sights in India.

A short drive brings you to Rishikesh, cradled in the Himalayan foothills where the Ganges runs clear and green, the birthplace of modern yoga.

You check in to a riverside ashram or wellness retreat and ease into the setting with an evening yoga session on the bank, breathing to the sound of the river.

You begin at dawn with a guided meditation as the valley wakes, followed by a visit to the Vashistha Gufa, an ancient riverside cave where sages have meditated for centuries.

At sunset you attend the Ganga Aarti at Parmarth Niketan ashram, a more intimate, song-filled ceremony led by resident students on the ghats.

You take a nature walk to and across Laxman Jhula, the famous swaying iron footbridge over the Ganges, exploring the temples and cafés of the far bank.

The day includes a guided forest meditation in the quiet above the town, a chance to sit with the stillness before you turn back towards the plains.

You drive back down to Delhi, arriving in the afternoon for a deliberate rest day, a decompression between the spiritual first half of the tour and the monuments to come.

The evening is at leisure: a spa treatment, a quiet dinner, or simply an early night before the Golden Triangle begins.

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

You visit the Taj Mahal at sunset, when the marble warms to amber and gold and the crowds thin, your guide unpacking Shah Jahan's love story and the monument's perfect symmetry.

You drive to Jaipur, pausing at the UNESCO ghost-city of Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar's perfectly preserved red-sandstone capital, abandoned within decades of its building.

Reaching the Pink City by evening, you round off the day at Chokhi Dhani, a lively recreated Rajasthani village with folk dance, camel rides and a traditional thali dinner.

Your final morning takes in the highlights of the Pink City: the honey-stone Amber Fort with its Sheesh Mahal (jeep ascent included), the five-storey Hawa Mahal facade, and the City Palace or Jantar Mantar observatory.

In the afternoon your chauffeur transfers you for your flight to Delhi and onward home.