Couples & Honeymoon

Three tours carry the couples tag

Three, and here they are. Golden Triangle & Spirituality — 8 days, from EUR 1,175, Delhi to Jaipur to Agra to Varanasi. India's facets & Maldives — 15 days, from EUR 3,140, Rajasthan and Mumbai with four nights on a Maldivian island at the end. Travel component: Paradise island Maldives — 5 days, from EUR 700, a beach stay designed to bolt onto the end of an India trip rather than stand alone.

That is the whole list. We would rather show you three real trips than tag twenty and let you find out later.

Three is a short list, not a short choice

Every tour we sell is private and guided. Not "small group" — private. It is you two, a driver, and a guide. There are no scheduled departures and no fixed dates to work around, with one exception: a Holi trip that has to run when Holi runs. You pick the month, we build the dates.

So the couples tag is a shortlist, not a fence. The 15 India itineraries, 6 in Nepal, 6 in Sri Lanka and 3 in Bhutan are all private too. If a couple wants Sri Lanka or Bhutan instead, nothing about the trip changes except the country.

What the 8-day trip does, day by day

Golden Triangle & Spirituality is the Golden Triangle with Varanasi attached, which is what makes it worth eight days instead of five. Two nights in Delhi: Jama Masjid, India Gate, the Bangla Sahib Gurudwara, a walk through Lodhi Garden. Two in Jaipur, including an evening at the Raj Mandir cinema for whatever Bollywood film is showing, then Amber Fort, Jantar Mantar, the City Palace and a rickshaw ride through the bazaars. One night in Agra for the Taj Mahal — closed on Fridays, so the dates matter — and Agra Fort. Two nights in Varanasi: the evening Aarti ceremony on the ghats, then a sunrise boat ride the next morning and Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon.

Rooms are Deluxe grade: The Suryaa in Delhi, Trident in Jaipur and Agra, Madin Hotel in Varanasi.

Day 8 is honest about itself. You fly Varanasi to Delhi, get a hotel room near the airport for about three hours, have dinner, and fly out late. It is a travel day, not a holiday day. Plan the flight home accordingly.

What the 15-day trip does

India's facets & Maldives runs Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Mumbai, then the Maldives. In Agra there is a cooking demonstration with a local family and dinner with them afterwards. Between Agra and Jaipur you stop at Fatehpur Sikri and the Chand Baori stepwell at Abhaneri. Jodhpur is one night — Mehrangarh Fort and the Jaswant Thada mausoleum. Ranakpur's Jain temple sits on the road to Udaipur, where you get two nights and a boat on Lake Pichola. Mumbai gets two: Elephanta Island by ferry, the Gateway of India, the Dhobi Ghat laundry, Mani Bhavan.

Then a speedboat from Malé airport and four nights on the island.

Be clear-eyed about the shape of this trip. Ten days of moving through Rajasthan and Mumbai come first, and they are full days. The beach is a reward at the end, not a rhythm running through the middle. If you want the reverse — mostly still, a little touring — say so and we will build it the other way round.

Room tiers, and what we do not have

Four tiers: Standard, Deluxe, Superior, Executive. There is no five-star or luxury tier, and there are no overwater villas anywhere in what we sell. The Maldives room on the 15-day trip is a Superior Beach Bungalow at Embudu Village Resort — on the sand, not on stilts over the water. If an overwater villa is the point of the honeymoon, book that part elsewhere; we would rather tell you now than at the resort.

What the Superior tier does buy on that trip is character. Shahpura House in Jaipur and Ratan Vilas in Jodhpur are family-run heritage houses, not chain hotels.

Included, and not

All three tours include the same list: hotel accommodation, breakfast, a German-speaking guide, someone reachable 24 hours a day for the whole trip, and a bottle of water on arrival. Guiding is in German. If you want it in English, put that in your first email — it is a question for the team in Delhi, not a promise this page can make.

International flights are not included. The Varanasi to Delhi hop on the 8-day trip is domestic and written into the itinerary. Mumbai to Malé on the 15-day trip is an international sector and sits outside the price. Lunches and dinners are yours, apart from the shared dinner in Agra.

When to go

Months decide more than budget does in India. October to March is the workable window for the Golden Triangle and Varanasi; April and May in Rajasthan are hard going. Our month-by-month guide to India has the detail, and the Maldives guide covers the tail end of the 15-day trip.

If none of the three fit

The Maldives component has cheaper siblings built the same way, all five days: Goa from EUR 350, Marari in Kerala from EUR 400, the Andamans from EUR 410. And if you would rather skip India entirely, The wonderful world of Sri Lanka runs 13 days from EUR 750 and The land of happiness covers Bhutan in 6 from EUR 2,160. Neither carries the couples tag. Both are private, guided and yours alone.