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Our new Maharashtra Temples and Tigers motorcycle adventure is a unique blend of spectacular Moghul forts and palaces, ancient temples, and wild countryside and nature reserves. Every day is an adventure, and every day is a complete change from the last. We travel like Indian princes (and princesses!) on our Enfield motorcycles, and we get treated like them too.

Highlights

• Experience the great Indian Railways, 1^st class of course
• The unique heartland of ancient Indian culture
• Khajuraho erotic temple complex
• Orcha ancient temple complex
• Bandhavgargh Tiger Reserve
• Taj Mahal
• Other stunning examples of stunning Moghul architecture at its finest
• Riding through the jungles of the ancient heart of India

Itinerary

DAY 1 DEPART UK Catch your overnight flight to Delhi.

DAY 2 ARRIVE DELHI. We will greet you personally upon your arrival and drive you to our city centre hotel in an A/C minibus. Relax and refresh after your long international flight. We also offer a tour of both Old and New Delhi with our English speaking guide in the comfort of an A/C coach, with plenty of time to take advantage of the many shopping bargains Delhi has to offer. Welcome dinner party tonight on the town. Singh Sons Hotel.

DAY 3 DELHI - BHOPAL. By train. We have the rare opportunity to experience India’s famous railway system in style, with our 1st class sleeper compartments, and also a chance not to experience Delhi’s traffic! Watch the big city give way to green village countryside as we are treated like the Raj on our overnight overnight train journey by train (that would take 3 days by motorcycle. We transfer from the train station to our hotel (once a royal palace) for lunch. This afternoon there is an optional guided city sightseeing tour. Bhopal is known as the City of Lakes. It has two very beautiful lakes, the Upper Lake, or Bada Talab, built by King Bho, and the Lower Lake, or Chot Talab, collectively known as the Bhoj Wetland. The Van Vihar National Park and museum are situated beside the Upper Lake. We also have a chance this afternoon to test ride the bikes and get familiar with control layouts. Dinner tonight in the hotel’s garden restaurant. Palace Hotel

DAY 4 BHOPAL. Our first ride out, to the ancient Buddhist caves. Way back in 1819, a party of British army officers on a tiger hunt in the forest of western Deccan suddenly spotted their prey, on the far side of a loop in the Waghora river. High up on the horseshoe-shaped cliff, the hunting party saw the tiger, silhouetted against the carved façade of a cave. On investigating, they discovered a series of carved caves, each more dramatic than the other. Hewn painstakingly as monsoon retreats or varshavasas for Buddhist monks, the cave complex was lived in from 200 BC to about 650 AD. There are 30 caves, including some unfinished ones. Five are chaityas or prayer halls and the rest are viharas or monasteries. Palace Hotel.

DAY 5 BHOPAL - JABALPUR. After breakfast we leave the city to ride beautiful backroads through jungles and hills, on to the holy city of Jabalpur. Here, the numerous gorges have been used to surround the city with a series of lakes, which, shaded by fine trees and bordered by fantastic crags, add much beauty to the suburbs. However, many of these lakes now have been encroached upon for the purpose of fishing or for building works, although greenery still exists. The city itself dates from the 19th century, and is laid out in wide and regular streets. It has a beautiful collection of marble rocks called Bhedaghat surrounding the holy Narmada River.

DAY 6 JABALPUR - BANDHAVGARH TIGER RESERVE.  If you've ever seen a film on tigers in India, the chances are they were filmed in Bandhavgarh - nowhere else in India are you more likely to see the tiger in the wild. Located in the Vindhya Hills, Bandhavgarh encompasses 32 hills covered with a mixed forest of sal, dhobin and saga, and large stretches of grassland with bamboo groves. Dominated by a large fort said to have been built by Lord Rama, the hero of the Indian epic Ramayana, Bandhavgarh currently has about 50 tigers. We stay in a well appointed jungle lodge on the edge of the Reserve.

DAY 7    BHANDHAVGARH TIGER RESERVE. Rising before dawn, we take a guided jeep safari into the reserve to stalk the tiger. Abundant wildlife in this ancient reserve keeps our wheels turning, covering most of the reserve by mid-morning. Depending on our good luck, we will have had at least one sighting of the big cats. The rest of the day is free for you to explore the local roads by bike. An additional optional jeep safari is available this evening if you haven't had the chance to see the tiger, or want to savor this once in a lifetime experience again.

DAY 8 BHANDHAVGARH - KHAJURAHO EROTIC TEMPLES. The ride to Khajuraho, once the great Chandela capital, today a village of a few thousand people, takes us through mystical jungles and river valleys, to one of the world’s most incredible examples of ancient carved temple architecture anywhere. Tradition records the existence of 85 temples, of which only 25, strewn amidst lakes and fields, have survived. The temples at Khajuraho are brilliant examples of medieval Indian architecture, and were built under later Chandela kings between 950 and 1050 AD. Each ancient structure in India has a fascinating story to tell, but few match the temples of Khajuraho. A Unesco World Heritage Site. We check into our comfortable hotel and dinner on the town.

DAY 9 KHAJURAHO EROTIC TEMPLES. Today we have the entire day for a guided tour of the temple complex. We cover the entire main clusters of temples and several outside the village. If you prefer, you can opt to relax in the hotel spa for the afternoon before an optional performance of traditional Indian Dance in the temple grounds this evening. This is the most respected and famous Traditional music and dance performance in all of India with most of the top Traditional dancers in the country attending.

DAY 10 KHAJURAHO - ORCHA TEMPLES. We continue on through the heart of India on our quest for ever stranger, ever more bizarre temple complexes to Orcha, the ancient city situated on the banks of the Betwa River. It is famous for Raja Ram Temple and various other historic monuments. Orcha was founded in the 16th Century by the Bundela Chieftain, Rudra Pratap Singh. The main buildings are the Jehangir Mahal, Raj Mahal, Rai Praveen Mahal, Laxmi Narayan Temple and the Chaturbhuj Temple. The various palaces and temples were built in the 16th and 17th centuries and retain many of their original features. Our accommodation in Orcha tonight is a little bit special - luxury tents with TV's & en suite bathrooms, in a lovely garden with views of the temple structures.

DAY 11 ORCHA - GWALIOR MARBLE CANYON. We head north today towards the fascinating city of Gwalior. We have a chance to see some of city sights this afternoon before we check into our comfortable hotel.  At the heart of Gwalior is Gwalior Fort, built by Raja Man Singh Tomar. This formidable structure, popularly known as the Gibraltar of India, had the reputation of being one of the most invincible forts in India. It occupies an isolated rock outcrop, the hill is steep and virtually unscalable and the fort is surrounded by high walls which enclose buildings from several periods. The old town of Gwalior lies at the eastern base of the fortress, described by the great Mughal Emperor Babur as "the pearl in the necklace of the forts of Hind". In the east of the city are two magnificent examples of early Mughal architecture. One is the mausoleum of the 16th century Sufi saint Ghous Mohammed, and the other is the tomb of Mian Tansen, a great singer and one of the 'Nine Jewels' of Emperor Akbar's court. Close to the heart of the city is the splendid Jai Vilas Palace, patterned on the style of the 'Palais de Versailles' in France and combining Tuscan, Italian and Corinthian styles of architecture.

DAY 12 GWALIOR - AGRA. When we approach busy Agra City outskirts on the way to our hotel near the Taj Mahal, there is a point where the road runs along the river and it's possible to get a glimpse of what this once magnificent city must have looked like. The high, red sandstone walls of the city loom over the Yamuna River. Behind this row of battlements and bastions lies a refined world of marble pavilions, landscaped gardens and serene mosques. The Fort in Agra is one of earliest surviving Mughal buildings in the city, and a Unesco World Heritage Site, as is the Taj Mahal itself. We pass the fort for tonight and check into our hotel near the Taj Mahal for dinner and a good night’s rest.

DAY 13 AGRA. (free day) The Taj Mahal is one of the great wonders of the world, poetry in marble! No visit to the Indian sub-continent is complete without a sunrise/sunset visit. For centuries, the Taj Mahal has inspired poets, painters and musicians to try and capture its elusive magic in words, colour and sound. Since the 17th century, travellers have crossed continents to see this ultimate memorial to love, and few have been unmoved by its incomparable beauty. It was built in memory of the beautiful Arjumand Bano Begum, who won the heart of the Mughal prince Khurram. We rise early for out sunrise visit to the Taj. At this time of day the white marble seems iridescent, there are not the crowds, making it the best time to experience this wonder. Our day is filled with guided tours, shopping, exploring the monuments and city of Agra. There is also an optional sunset visit the Taj Mahal at sunset for those who wish before dinner in our hotel restaurant.

DAY 14 AGRA - DELHI. (210 km). After all we have seen thus far, it's not quite over yet, today it's on the motorcycles again for the last leg of our tour along the main highway that takes us back to our hotel in Delhi. There we'll complete our tour with a farewell dinner in one of Delhi's fine restaurants. Singh Sons Hotel. 

DAY 15 DEPART DELHI. After breakfast this morning our tour ends, transfer to Gandhi International airport is in an A/C minibus. Your return flight will arrive in the UK later this evening.

Total distance                                     c. 1300 km

Maharashtra Temples and Tigers Adventure Dates Rider Passenger Sgl rm suppl. 08 Nov - 22 Nov 2008 £2,745.00 £2,545.00 £495.00 07 Nov - 21 Nov 2009 £2,745.00 £2,545.00 £495.00 06 Nov - 20 Nov 2010 £2,845.00 £2,645.00 £525.00

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Price includes: 11 days Royal Enfield 500 Bullet; oil and maintenance/spares; 4WD air-conditioned jeep support vehicle, trailer and spares; group leader with medical kit/training; Enfield mechanic and local guides; tours/guides listed; 1^st class rail ticket; flights and airport transfers; all entrance fees to monuments / parks / reserves; 13 nts hotel accommodation; all meals; soft drinks/bottled mineral water on tour; road maps/information packets

Price excludes: Refundable security/damage deposit US$500, to pay locally on arrival; visas (c. £30-35); fuel; alcoholic beverages; laundry service; tips / gratuities. Travel insurance is available from H-C Travel.

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| Rajasthan Palace Classic Tour | Ladakh High Roads | Kerala Mountains and Beaches |