A REAL TASTE OF INDIA

A UNIQUE 8 DAY FULLY ESCORTED GASTRONOMIC TRIP TO NORTH INDIA

Experience hands-on cooking demonstrations and tasting sessions hosted by some of India’s top chefs.
Meet one of India’s celebrity chefs who will demonstrate her unique cooking style.
Dine in some of the best traditional and contemporary restaurants in north India.
Shop for ingredients in local markets where the colours and aromas of fruits, herbs and spices bombard the senses. 
Enjoy vegetarian cuisine at its very best as a Delhi household open its doors and invite us to dine with them in their home and reveal family recipes passed down from generation to generation.
Visit world famous sites including Gandhi Smriti Museum, the Taj Mahal and capture a glimpse into daily life in a local village.

DAY 1: DELHI
On arrival at Dublin airport, meet and greet by Indian Dreams representative.
Assistance with check-in formalities. 
Departure on international flights (Dublin – London – Delhi)
On arrival at Delhi international, meet and greet by Indian Dreams tour escort. 
Transfer to hotel .  Assistance with check-in at the hotel, The Muse, New Delhi (or similar).
                             
Rooms will be available for immediate occupancy.                                                                                                           

Afternoon: Guided sightseeing tour of New Delhi
Visit the 12th century Qutab Minar, gracefully hand-carved for its entire height of 234ft and the iron pillar which has withstood the ravages of time and not rusted even after 1500 years. Continue on a drive of Lutyens Delhi past the grand Presidential Palace known as Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Secretariat buildings and war memorial – India Gate. Sir Edwin Lutyen, British architect and visionary, was called upon to design a new capital for the British rulers of India
Return to the hotel. 

Evening at leisure (Dinner on direct payment)

DAY 2: DELHI
Breakfast at the hotel

Morning: Meet with a famous Delhi Culinary Expert – Nita Mehta or Komal Taneja 

Nita Mehta is one of India’s top chefs.  She runs a hugely successful culinary academy with a state of the art demonstration kitchen.  Her book ‘Flavours of Indian Cooking’ won the Best Asian Cookbook Award at the Versailles World Cookbook Fair.

Komal Taneja is the author and host of the popular Indian TV show “Kuch Kitchen Se”.  Komal has boldly experimented with new ideas and concepts and has created recipes which are customised for today’s past pace of life. Her articles and recipes have been in published in many reputed magazines and news papers including The Times of India, HT Brunch, Savy Cook Book, Femina, 4D Woman, Meri Sangini, Grehshobha, Grehlakshmi,  Femina Cook Book and many more….

Accompanied by one of the above cooking experts, you will shop for vegetables and meat at a local Indian market.  This will be followed by an interactive cooking demo with the cooking experts and lunch.

Afternoon: Visit Gandhi Smriti Museum – this is the house where Mahatma Gandhi spent his last 144 days of his life before he was assassinated on the inauspicious day of 30 January 1948. Located on 5, Tees January Marg, the Government of India later converted it into a national memorial and dedicated it to Gandhiji. A quiet and calm place to visit, the memorial has been re-designed and innovative technology been used in such a way to highlight various aspects of the life of Mahatma, his ideas, principles and values.
Return to hotel.

Evening: Transfer to Daniell’s Tavern at the Hotel Imperial for a chef demo and dinner
A graceful landmark of Lutyens Delhi, the Imperial exudes an old-world charm and elegance of the British Raj.  Restored to its former glory it boasts several renowned restaurants and well-known chefs.

In 1786 Thomas and William Daniell arrived in India to paint the unrivalled scenery and architecture of Hindoostan. Daniell's Tavern relives the journey of the Daniell’s and traces Thomas and William Daniell's footsteps on a gastronomic journey through each of the places they visited. Interestingly, some of the recipes have been taken out of the diaries of the Daniells. The pan-Indian restaurant showcases original lithographs by the Daniells.
Return to the hotel

DAY 3: DELHI
Morning: After breakfast drive to Old Delhi, visiting Raj Ghat & Shanti Vana the cremation sites of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Continue to the historic Red Fort of Old Delhi and onto Jamma Masjid – India’s largest mosque. Walk through Chandni Chowk – the heart of commercial activity of old Delhi with its wholesale bazaars and its myriad narrow lanes crammed with small shops spilling out onto the pavement and selling everything from jewellery, brocades to exotic spices.

Walk from Chandni Chowk to Khari Baoli, Asia's largest wholesale spice market. It is a congested, busy and interesting walk through this market with shops on both sides selling spices, nuts, herbs and dried fruits, the air pungent with different smells and aromas!

Continue walk from the spice bazaar to Karim’s for lunch – tucked away in a narrow lane to the south of Jamma Masjid, Karim’s is an authentic Mughlai eatery which is an Old Delhi institution. Named after a legendary 19th century chef, the restaurant is now run by his descendants.

After lunch transfer on the New Delhi Metro to Connaught Place (a 10 minute ride away). This is the commercial heart of New Delhi.

Afternoon at leisure to rest or shop for souvenirs.  Return transfer to the hotel.

Evening: Cooking demo of pure vegetarian cooking at a traditional Marwari Indian home with a Maharaj who will share just one or two of his age-old family secrets recipes!

The best place to sample traditional vegetarian food is in the homes of Delhi’s people. No restaurant in Delhi offers the variety and quality of vegetarian food that can even hope to match home-cooked food.

Return to hotel.  Overnight at the hotel

DAY 4: DELHI – AGRA
Breakfast at the hotel
Morning: Drive to central Delhi’s Bengali Market for a taste and glimpse of authentic street food and delectable Indian sweets.  Go anywhere in North India and there is no escaping the omnipresent sweet shop! The Punjabi and Mughlai sweets are quite strong on the palate while the Bengali variety is more delicate. Observe Indian sweets and Chaat in the making at “Nathus” or at “Bengali Sweets”, the two most sought-after restaurants in the heart of Delhi’s theatre district.
Return to hotel to check out and transfer to Agra

Stop en route to have lunch at the famous Indian fast food chain – Haldiram. 
Haldiram is India’s leading and largest Indian snack and fast-food outlets serving an amazing variety of traditional Chaat (finger food) to modern adaptations of traditional recipes, to signature sweets. Their dried snacks, line the shelf of many international grocery outlets. Haldiram is now a household name in India.

Afternoon: Arrive Agra and check into the Mughal Sheraton hotel.

Evening: Chef demo of the culinary secrets of the Mughal Emperors followed by dinner at the Peshawari Restaurant.  This is a specialty restaurant serving north-west frontier cuisine. Food is cooked in front of the guest in a large Tandoor placed in the show kitchen. The atmosphere of the restaurant is rustic.  The floors are in stone, the tables are wooden with stools. This specialty restaurant believes in educating its guest in how Tandoor food is to be enjoyed and hence cutlery is not a part of the design. The guests are provided with aprons instead of napkins to protect their clothing. Food is served in Khurjaware and Hiball glasses are replaced with copper tumblers.
Dinner at Peshawari restaurant.

Overnight at Mughal Sheraton, Agra

DAY 5: AGRA - JAIPUR
Morning:  visit Taj Mahal - the seventh wonder of world, built by Shah Jahan as a memorial to his wife Mumtaz Mahal on the banks of river Yamuna. After her untimely death, Shah Jahan had her mortal remains buried in this mausoleum. And after his own demise he was placed to rest next to his beloved queen in the same mausoleum The Taj has been called the most extravagant monument ever built as a symbol to love. The great monument took almost 22 years to build and was completed in 1653. Around 20,000 workers from all over the country and central Asia were recruited to translate this dream into a reality.

Visit to Agra Fort: visit the Agra Fort. The foundation was laid by Emperor Akbar in 1565 and continued till the time of Shah Jahan. The high red stone monument stretches for around 2.5 kms, dominating a bend in the river Yamuna northwest of the Taj Mahal. The palace is a notable for its smooth blending of Hindu and central Asian architectural styles.

Return to the hotel to check-out and drive to Jaipur,  enroute visiting Fatehpur Sikri.

Fatehpur Sikri - situated around 40 km from Agra was built by Emperior Akbar in 1569 and abandoned after 15 years due to scarcity of water.  This was the capital of the Mughal emperor Akbar between 1570 to 1586. Fatehpur Sikri’s sprawling structure is made of red sandstone and combines both Hindu and Muslim architecture.
                               
Stop for typical Rajasthani lunch at Laxmi Vilas Palace, home to the rulers of the erstwhile state of Bharatpur.

Evening : Arrive Jaipur

Proceed to Shahpura House, the grand home of Rajput nobleman and now converted into a heritage hotel.
Check-in and early dinner

Overnight at Shahpura House, Jaipur

DAY 6: JAIPUR (The Pink City)
Breakfast at the hotel

Early Morning: Guided walking tour of the picturesque fruits & vegetable markets
Continue to the Maharaja's City Palace, the former Royal residence, part of it converted into a museum. A small portion is still used by the Royal family of Jaipur. Built in the style of a fortified campus, the palace covers almost one-seventh in area of the city. One of the major attractions in the museum is the portion known as Armoury Museum housing an impressive array of weaponry-pistols, blunderbusses, flintlocks, swords, rifles and daggers. Later visit the Jantar Mantar, which is the largest stone and marble crafted observatory in the world.

Return to hotel by local rickshaws driving through the lanes of the Pink City.  Jaipur got its name from its founder Sawai Jai Singh (1693-1743), who had the vision to create a meticulously planned city as his capital. All the houses in the old city are painted pink, including the famous Hawa Mahal, thereby giving the city its alternative name, the Pink City.

Afternoon : At leisure.

Evening:  Interactive cooking demo of Royal Rajput dishes by the family chefs and a talk by the owners of Shahpura House.

Overnight at Shahpura House, Jaipur

DAY 7: JAIPUR (The Pink City)
Breakfast at the hotel

Morning: check out of hotel and drive to Amber with a photo stop of the Palace of Winds en-route. This ornate 5 storey façade was built especially for the ladies of the court so they could watch unnoticed the processions and life on the streets below.

Amber is a classic, romantic Rajasthani fort palace. The rugged, time-ravaged walls of the Fort may not look beautiful from the outside, but the interior is a virtual paradise. Miniatures painted on the walls depict hunting, war scenes and festivals. Precious stones and mirrors are embedded into the plaster. Ascend the Fort on elephant back or by jeeps.

Continue onwards to Samode Bagh – less than one hour drive away

Special welcome and check in to Samode Bagh – a superb Mughal walled garden restored to its former glory.  It has fruit tress, water channels, fountains, a blue mosaic- tiled swimming pool and rectangular gardens.
Check into the richly decorated Mughal tents of traditional design with attached bathrooms and air-conditioning.
Lunch and cooking demo of village or rural India fare including different types of bread (bajara, ki, roti) and sweet-milk lassi, gatta curry and other local country dishes.

After lunch, camel safari visiting a local farm, village and school

Evening: Ladies will find Indian saris in their tents for the evening ahead.

Proceed to the majestic Samode Palace for a farewell dinner on the candle-lit terrace by the pool

Overnight at the tented camp at Samode Bagh

DAY 8: JAIPUR – GURGAON, DELHI
Breakfast at leisure and time to enjoy the pool and peaceful environs of Samode Bagh.

Later drive to Gurgaon by coach with photo-stops enroute.

Late afternoon: Arrive Gurgaon
Not long ago a sleepy suburb of Delhi, Gurgaon now boasts over a million inhabitants, slick office complexes housing companies ranging from Accenture, Dell, Xerox to Microsoft and more shopping malls, bars, pubs per square mile than anywhere else in India. Home to the upwardly mobile, young population of India, it is an exhilarating glimpse into the India of the future....

Evening: Farewell dinner at a trendy restaurant serving contemporary Indian cuisine.

After dinner, transfer to Delhi International airport to for return flight.

Price from €1800.00pp
Single supplement €550

Above rates include following:-

• Meeting & Assistance on arrival / departure at Airport / Hotel.
• Arrival / Departure transfers, sightseeing & surface travel using AC  car
• Accommodation for total 08 nights on Twin Sharing room plus breakfast basis.
• Cookery Demo and Meals as mentioned in the program.
• Entrances at the places of visit as per program
• English speaking Accompanying guide from Delhi / Delhi staying in different hotels other those of group members.
• Elephant Ride / Rickshaw Ride as mentioned in program..
• All presently applicable taxes including service tax.

Rates do not include:-

• Any services other than the ones mentioned above.
• Visa charges
• Any Airfare.
• Any airport taxes.
• Any extras like table drinks, telephone calls, any tips, laundry etc or any other items of personal nature
• Still camera or video camera fees
• Any tips to drive / guide / escort
• 02 wash and change rooms on the last day

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