Delhi, Tigers and the Himalaya

A short journey across northern India in three steps: a night in Delhi, two in the jungle at Ranthambhore and three at about 2,050 metres in the Himalaya. It covers some 800 miles, the longest leg by air.

Length: Six nights
Pace: Three stays
Style: City, tigers, mountains, yoga
Route: Delhi to Ranthambhore to Manali

DelhiOne night
RanthambhoreTwo nights
ManaliThree nights

Days 1 to 2 · one night

Delhi

One night in Delhi to begin. The day takes in Connaught Place, the Red Fort built by the Mughals, India Gate, the Jama Masjid mosque and the bazaars of Old Delhi.

Where you stay

The Oberoi, New Delhi

The Oberoi, New Delhi was refurbished in January 2018 and looks out over the Delhi Golf Club towards Humayun's Tomb. It has a spa, pools and threesixty°, its restaurant.

A tiger walking through brush near water in Ranthambore National Park. — Photo: Dilip Poddar / Unsplash

Days 2 to 4 · two nights

Ranthambhore

A drive of about 249 miles south to Ranthambhore for two nights. Game drives in the national park, once the hunting ground of the maharajas of Jaipur, look for tigers in one of the largest wild populations in India. You also visit Ranthambhore fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site entered through four fortified gates, with ruins to wander and a temple to Ganesha.

Where you stay

SUJÁN Sher Bagh

SUJÁN Sher Bagh is a small tented camp deep in the jungle at Ranthambhore, its style drawn from the 1920s. It is well suited to families.

Days 4 to 7 · three nights

Manali

The journey continues north to Manali for the last three nights. The first day is kept gentle while you adjust to the altitude of about 2,050 metres. After that come the Hidimba Devi and Durga Mata temples with their pagoda roofs, Buddhist monasteries and the town bazaar, with yoga classes and workshops held outdoors in the mountains.

Where you stay

Sitara Himalaya

Sitara Himalaya has 10 guest rooms on a hill above Manali, ringed by high peaks, with cedar and pine forest, a riverside path and a waterfall walk close by. There is a spa at the top of the property with a hot plunge pool, sauna and steam room, and a yoga studio looking out over the mountains.

Ways to make it yours

This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.

Made around you

Most travel is bought. This is designed.

Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.

The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.