Why the road runs east from Jaipur
Most journeys in Rajasthan run west, into the desert. This one turns east, and it follows a line of history that our family finds endlessly moving. Nothing here is a detour. Every stop explains the next.
Jaipur: the Kachwaha kings built Amber and later a planned city for an astronomer-king.
- Nights
- Twelve
- Pace
- Two nights in most places
- Best months
- October to March
- Good for
- Lovers of art and architecture
- Starts
- Delhi
- Ends
- Khajuraho, flying to Delhi
- The Mughal alliance: the Kachwahas' alliance with the Mughals shaped everything that followed, and you see its fruit in the Taj Mahal at Agra.
- Orchha: the land rises into Bundelkhand, where the Bundela Rajputs made a capital in 1531, on a granite island where the Betwa splits in two.
- A palace for a friend: at Orchha, Bir Singh Deo built the Jahangir Mahal for his friend and patron, the Mughal emperor Jahangir.
- Khajuraho: an older world still. The Chandela kings, who claimed descent from the moon, built some eighty-five temples here, mostly between about 950 and 1050 CE, and about twenty-five survive.
- The same stories, from the other side: Bundelkhand remembers the Chandelas in the Alha Khand, the ballad of the heroes Alha and Udal, who fought against Prithviraj Chauhan, the king of Ajmer and Delhi whose name every Rajasthani child knows.
- Ranthambore: once the hunting ground of the Jaipur maharajas, now one of India's great tiger reserves.
- Gwalior: the fort where the Tomar king Man Singh built a palace of turquoise tiles above the plain.
Day by day, from the Pink City to the temples
- Delhi to Jaipur
- Four to five hours, or the morning train
- Jaipur to Ranthambore
- About three and a half hours
- Ranthambore to Agra
- Five to six hours
- Agra to Gwalior
- About two hours
- Gwalior to Orchha
- About three hours, via Datia
- Orchha to Khajuraho
- Four to five hours
Day 1: Delhi
- Met at the airport: and taken to a calm hotel to sleep.
- If you land in daylight: an hour at Humayun's Tomb in the late afternoon introduces the Mughal architecture you will follow all the way to Orchha.
Days 2 to 4: Jaipur
Getting there: about four to five hours on the expressway, or the morning train, arriving for lunch and a rest in a palace hotel.
Late afternoon: walk the walled city's bazaars as the lamps come on.
- Day three at first light: Amber Fort, before the crowds, given the whole morning.
- After lunch: the City Palace, where the royal family still lives, and the Jantar Mantar, Sawai Jai Singh II's observatory.
- Day four: morning light on the Hawa Mahal, then an afternoon with a miniature painter or a block printer.
- Sunset: at Nahargarh, over the city.
Days 5 and 6: Ranthambore
About three and a half hours south-east: settle in at your lodge, then an afternoon drive with your naturalist.
In a Gypsy: the open six-seat jeep we always book.
- The forest: dry deciduous country of dhok trees and ravines, fed by lakes below a fort, where old pavilions and hunting towers make every sighting look like a miniature painting.
- Day six is a forest day: a morning drive in the cold half-light, a late breakfast and rest at the lodge.
- Afternoon choice: a second drive, or a climb to Ranthambore Fort and its Trinetra Ganesh temple.
- The odds: two nights gives you three or four drives and a fair chance of a tiger, though no one can promise one. Our Ranthambore itinerary explains how we use them.
Day 7: Agra
- A last morning drive: if you like, then leave after breakfast for Agra, five to six hours by road.
- Sunset over the Taj: from Mehtab Bagh, the moonlight garden across the Yamuna, where the crowds rarely go.
Day 8: The Taj at sunrise, then Gwalior
As the gates open: the Taj Mahal's marble turns from grey to pink to white.
Fridays: the Taj is closed, so we fix this day before anything else.
- After breakfast: Agra Fort and the small, perfect tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah.
- About two hours south to Gwalior: crossing the Chambal on the way.
- Late afternoon at Jai Vilas: the palace the Scindias built in 1874 to receive the Prince of Wales, whose Durbar Hall holds two of the largest chandeliers in the world.
- Dinner: on the lawns of your palace guest house.
Days 9 and 10: Orchha
Gwalior Fort, early: the Jain giants cut into the cliffs in the low light.
Man Mandir: the palace of Man Singh Tomar, with its bands of turquoise and yellow tiles.
Also on the fort: Teli ka Mandir, the oldest and tallest building, and the Sas-Bahu temples of 1093.
- About three hours south, via Datia: where Bir Singh Deo's seven-storey palace on a rock is said never to have been lived in.
- Sunset in Orchha: walk over the bridge to the far bank and watch the sun go down behind the royal chhatris as the vultures come home to roost.
- Day ten, at opening: the Jahangir Mahal. Climb to the top terraces as the town appears below you in pale gold.
- The morning: the painted rooms of the Raja Mahal and the garden of the Rai Praveen Mahal.
- After a rest: the Laxminarayan temple for its murals, then the Chaturbhuj temple for the view at dusk.
- Evening aarti, if you can stand close crowds: at the Ram Raja temple, where Rama is worshipped as a king and receives an armed salute from the police every day.
Days 11 and 12: Khajuraho
A dawn walk by the Betwa: then four to five hours east through Bundelkhand's villages and granite hills.
The Southern Group, last hour of light: the setting sun shines straight into the sanctum of the west-facing Chaturbhuj temple, onto its serene four-armed Vishnu.
- Day twelve, as the gates open: the Western Group, with a licensed guide.
- The Lakshmana temple: the best preserved of all.
- The Kandariya Mahadeva: its spire rises about 31 metres above its plinth, built up from eighty-four miniature spires.
- Matangeshwar: still in daily worship, on your way out.
- Afternoon: walk through the old village to the Jain temples of the Eastern Group, or drive to Raneh Falls and the Ken gorge.
- Temple by temple: our Khajuraho temples guide.
Day 13: Home
- One last early walk: in the Western Group garden.
- Khajuraho Airport: about three kilometres from town, for the flight to Delhi and your connection home.
How to look at Khajuraho, and at Orchha
Look at the shape first: each Khajuraho temple is a mountain made by hand, a model of Mount Meru or Kailash.
The platform: it stands on a tall platform that you walk around clockwise.
East to west: the roof climbs from porch, halls and vestibule to the great curved spire over the small dark sanctum where the god lives.
- Built
- Mostly about 950 to 1050 CE
- Temples
- About 85 built, about 25 survive
- Tallest spire
- Kandariya Mahadeva, about 31 metres
- Erotic carvings
- Around a tenth of the whole
- Walk around
- Clockwise
- One grammar, many temples: once you know it, every temple makes sense. Our guide to reading temple architecture uses the same words for Rajasthan's temples at Osian and Ranakpur.
- Then count the walls: gods in their niches, guardians of the directions, elephants, musicians, soldiers and masons at work.
- The surasundaris: above all, the celestial women, taking a thorn from a foot or writing a letter.
- The famous carvings: the erotic sculptures make up only around a tenth of the whole.
- Why they are there: Hindu thought counts kama, pleasure and desire, among the four legitimate aims of life, and the loving couple was an auspicious image in Indian art for centuries.
- How our guides explain it: calmly and without nervous jokes, giving the same time to the masons as to the lovers.
- Orchha's lesson: the Jahangir Mahal is Mughal in its symmetry and its domes and Bundela in its brackets, balconies and lotus details, a record in stone of the alliance between two courts.
- You will have seen it before: the same conversation runs through Amber and Fatehpur Sikri, and by the Betwa you will be reading it for yourself.
The roads between, and what you eat on them
The land
The Chambal ravines: a maze of gullies carved by the river where Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh meet.
National Chambal Sanctuary: protected for its gharials, crocodiles and river dolphins.
- South of Gwalior: the country turns to scrub and granite, the Bundelkhand of hard, dry soil and proud villages.
- The greeting: people say Ram Ram and speak Bundeli, a cousin of Hindi with its own songs.
- Between Orchha and Khajuraho: farming villages where wheat and gram grow around the wells, and small shrines to the folk hero Hardaul stand at the edge of the fields.
The food
Jaipur: lassi before noon, and a royal Rajput dinner of laal maas, the fiery mutton of the old hunting parties.
Agra: the Mughal kitchen takes over, with kormas and the candied pumpkin called petha.
- Gwalior's breakfast: bedai, a puffed fried bread stuffed with spiced lentils, with a sharp potato curry and hot jalebi.
- Gwalior in winter: the sesame brittle called gajak arrives from nearby Morena.
- Orchha, a pilgrim town: its bazaar is vegetarian, with poha and jalebi after sunrise, peda for pilgrims to carry home, and roasted green chickpeas by the bridge in the cool months.
- A family lunch: we arrange one in a Bundelkhand family home, where bread is baked over embers on a clay stove.
- Our side of the border: our Rajasthani food guide explains the dishes.
Where you'll stay
Delhi: a calm first night
- Two quiet choices: The Imperial, with its colonial corridors and gardens, or The Oberoi, New Delhi. Both are quiet enough to sleep off a long flight.
Jaipur: palaces in our home city
Rambagh Palace: for royal history and its lawns.
- The Oberoi Rajvilas: for calm on 32 acres outside the city.
- Samode Haveli: a nobleman's house inside the walls.
- Compare them: our guide to luxury hotels in Jaipur.
Ranthambore: a lodge on the forest's edge
The Oberoi Vanyavilas: luxury tents in walled gardens, the most comfortable.
- SUJAN Sher Bagh: the spirit of an old hunting camp and some of the park's best naturalists.
- Aman-i-Khas: a small, quiet camp of large white tents.
Agra and Gwalior: a view of the Taj, then a royal guest house
The Oberoi Amarvilas: about 600 metres from the monument, and every room looks towards the Taj, which matters on a one-night stop.
- ITC Mughal: the calmer garden alternative.
- Taj Usha Kiran Palace, Gwalior: built around the turn of the twentieth century (sources give 1880 or 1902) as a guest house for the Scindias' royal visitors, in gardens beside Jai Vilas.
- Ask for: a heritage room in the original building.
Orchha: character over polish
No grand palace hotel: and we think that is part of Orchha's charm.
- Amar Mahal: our usual choice, built in the Bundela manner with domes, courtyards and a pool, a short walk from town.
- Sheesh Mahal: for atmosphere above polish, the simple state-run hotel occupies a royal wing between the two great palaces, and you wake up inside the fort.
Khajuraho: a new palace, or the forest
The Oberoi Rajgarh Palace: opened in November 2025 in a restored Bundela palace on a hill outside town, the first true palace hotel near the temples.
- In town: several well-run modern hotels let you walk to the Western Group at opening time.
- If you extend to Panna: Taj's Pashan Garh, built of local dry-stone on the edge of the forest, is the most polished lodge.
- Compare them: our guides to where to stay in Orchha and Khajuraho and luxury hotels in Khajuraho.
When to go, and what each season trades
October and November: warm and clear, with Ranthambore newly reopened after the monsoon and green.
December and January: cool and bright by day and cold at night, which matters on an open jeep at dawn.
Winter fog: some mornings bring thick fog over the plains around Agra and Gwalior. It can delay trains, but it makes the forts rise out of the mist.
- Best months
- October to March
- Coldest
- December and January
- Fog
- Some winter mornings near Agra and Gwalior
- Hottest
- April to June, often above 40 degrees
- Monsoon
- July to September, core zones closed
- February and early March: lovely everywhere, and warm enough for long afternoons at the temples.
- April to June: Bundelkhand's granite soaks up the heat, and Khajuraho is one of the hottest places in central India.
- July to September: the monsoon turns the scrub green and swells the Betwa over its rocks, but it is humid, and the core zones of Ranthambore and Panna close.
- Late February: the Khajuraho Dance Festival, held every year since 1975, brings India's great classical dancers to an open-air stage before the Western Group for about a week. Rooms book up months ahead.
- November or December: Vivah Panchami, the wedding of Rama and Sita, is staged in Orchha like a royal wedding, with a procession and the whole town as guests.
- December: the Tansen Samaroh fills Gwalior's cold nights with classical music beside the tomb of the great singer.
- 14 January: Makar Sankranti covers Jaipur's sky with kites, a lovely start to a January journey.
- February or March: Mahashivratri brings a fair to the Matangeshwar temple at Khajuraho.
- Month by month: our pages on the best time to visit Orchha and the best time to visit Khajuraho.
Make it yours
With less time
Nine nights: drop Ranthambore and Gwalior, with three nights in Jaipur, one in Agra, two in Orchha and two in Khajuraho.
- The fast train: the Gatimaan Express from Agra to Jhansi, under half an hour from Orchha.
- The trade: you lose the tigers and the fort, but the days become gentle.
With more time
A second night in Gwalior: for the music, the tomb of Tansen and the restored temples of Bateshwar.
- Two nights by Panna: under an hour from Khajuraho, where tigers poached to local extinction by 2009 were brought back and now breed again.
- On to the Ganga: fly from Khajuraho to Varanasi when the seasonal flights run, as in our Rajasthan and Varanasi journey.
For palace lovers
- Swap Ranthambore for Udaipur: fly from Delhi to Udaipur at the start for two nights on Lake Pichola before Jaipur.
- A line of palaces: from the lakes of Mewar to the river of the Bundelas.
For families
What children love: the jeep drives, the elephants and monsters on Khajuraho's walls, and the giant carved boar of the Varaha shrine.
- The little zero: in the stone of Gwalior's Chaturbhuj shrine, one of the oldest written zeros in India.
- How we adapt it: shorter temple visits, hotels with pools, and a morning at the bird park of Bharatpur to break the drive from Ranthambore to Agra.
For repeat visitors
- Start in Gwalior: if you know Jaipur and the Taj, and go deeper into Bundelkhand, to the Chandela hill fort of Kalinjar, the forest of Panna and the Ken gorge.
- The same idea in Rajasthan: our Offbeat Rajasthan journey does it for Mewar and Hadoti.
How we look after you
Met and seen off: we meet you at Delhi Airport and see you onto your flight at Khajuraho at the end.
One chauffeur, three states: the same private driver the whole way, so you are never handed between companies at a border.
When the train is quicker: we book the Gatimaan Express in executive class, with your luggage handled and the car waiting at the other end.
- Arrival
- Met at Delhi Airport
- Driver
- One chauffeur through three states
- Train
- Gatimaan Express, executive class
- Permits
- Ranthambore, booked once dates are fixed
- Prices
- Quoted after one conversation
- A local guide in every place: our own walled-city guides in Jaipur, a naturalist in Ranthambore, a guide from a local family in Orchha and a licensed temple guide in Khajuraho.
- Ranthambore permits: tied to each guest's passport details and sold out early, so we book them as soon as your dates are fixed.
- Planned around the light: the Taj around Fridays, the temples around sunrise and sunset.
- Your planner on WhatsApp: throughout the journey.
- No published prices: every journey is shaped by the season and the rooms you choose, so we quote after one conversation.
- Read more: our guides to trains in India and private chauffeur journeys.
Who will love it, and who should choose another journey
Lovers of stone and paint: painted ceilings, carved stone and the stories behind them.
The Taj and a tiger, without the crowds: of the classic circuit.
- Quiet towns over busy shopping streets: Orchha will suit you.
- It suits: second-time visitors to India, families with curious children, photographers, and anyone who has read about Khajuraho and wants to understand it properly.
- Not the right journey: if you want the desert and the lakes of western Rajasthan, or a palace hotel every single night.
- For the desert and lakes: choose The Royal Rajputana.
- For a shorter first look at India: choose the Golden Triangle with Ranthambore.
- Unsure: tell us how you like to travel, and we will say honestly which suits you.
