North India’s classic loop swaps the usual single-city trip for three very different cities in six days: the Mughal tombs and chaotic old bazaars of Delhi, a sunrise at the Taj Mahal reached by India’s fastest train, and the burning ghats and dawn boat rides of Varanasi, the subcontinent’s oldest living city. It’s a lot of ground, but the connections — a 100-minute bullet train and a 90-minute flight — keep the pace sane.
Day 1Arrive & Old Delhi
Land in the capital and ease into its oldest quarter by evening, when Chandni Chowk’s lanes are at their liveliest.
🚕 Prepaid Taxi — IGI Airport to Hotel
~45 min · ₹750 ($9) flat fare
Book at the prepaid taxi counter in the Terminal 3 arrivals hall rather than any driver who approaches you first — it’s a fixed government rate and the safest way into the city.
🏨 Check-In — The Lalit New Delhi
Check-in 2pm · from $140 USD/night
A central 5-star on Barakhamba Road, a 10-minute walk from Connaught Place, with a rooftop pool that’s a welcome break from the heat most of the year.
The Lalit New Delhi · +91 11 4444 7777 · thelalit.com
🕌 Jama Masjid at Sunset
Evening · free entry, ₹400 ($5) camera fee
India’s largest mosque, built by Shah Jahan the same decade he began the Taj Mahal — climb the south minaret for a rooftop view over Old Delhi just before the evening call to prayer.
🍽️ Chandni Chowk Food Walk
~2.5 hrs, evening · ~$30 USD/person
A guided walk through the 17th-century bazaar’s lane-maze for stuffed parathas at Paranthe Wali Gali and jalebi fried to order at Old Famous Jalebi Wala.
Delhi Food Walks · +91 98105 29648 · delhifoodwalks.com
Day 2New Delhi’s Tombs & Monuments
A full day moving between Mughal-era Delhi and the wide colonial boulevards the British built on top of it.
🏛️ Humayun’s Tomb
Morning · ₹600 ($7)/person (foreigner)
The Mughal garden-tomb that set the template for the Taj Mahal eighty years later — red sandstone and white marble on a raised plinth, inside a Persian-style charbagh garden.
🕌 Qutub Minar
Late morning · ₹600 ($7)/person (foreigner)
A 240-foot, 800-year-old minaret of carved red sandstone — the tallest brick minaret in the world — standing over the ruins of Delhi’s first mosque and the rust-resistant Iron Pillar.
🏛️ India Gate & Rajpath Drive-By
Afternoon · free
A slow drive down the ceremonial boulevard Edwin Lutyens designed, past the 138-foot war memorial arch and the sandstone domes of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
🍽️ Dinner — Indian Accent
Dinner · ~$60 USD/person tasting menu
A tasting menu that reworks Indian classics with modern technique, inside The Lodhi hotel; regularly ranked among Asia’s best restaurants, so book a table well ahead.
Indian Accent · +91 11 4512 1123 · indianaccent.com
Day 3Agra by the Gatimaan Express
A day trip to the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort aboard India’s fastest train, back in Delhi in time for dinner.
🚄 Gatimaan Express — Delhi to Agra
Departs Hazrat Nizamuddin ~8:10am, ~100 min · ~₹1,500 ($18)/person Executive Chair
India’s fastest train, topping 160 km/h across the plains of Uttar Pradesh — book the Executive Chair Car for the extra legroom and an onboard breakfast.
🕍 Taj Mahal
Mid-morning · ₹1,500 ($18)/person foreigner (incl. mausoleum)
Ustad Ahmad Lahauri’s white-marble mausoleum for Shah Jahan’s wife Mumtaz Mahal — arrive as close to the 6am gate opening as the train allows, since the marble’s glow and the crowds both peak by midday.
🏰 Agra Fort
Early afternoon · ₹650 ($8)/person foreigner
The red sandstone fortress-palace the Mughal emperors ruled from before Delhi — Shah Jahan spent his last years here under house arrest, looking out at the Taj Mahal he built.
🚄 Gatimaan Express — Agra back to Delhi
Departs Agra Cantt ~5:35pm, ~100 min · ~₹1,500 ($18)/person Executive Chair
The same train covers the return leg in the evening, putting you back in Delhi in time for a late dinner near the hotel.
Day 4Fly to Varanasi
A short flight east to the Ganges’ holiest city, arriving in time for the evening’s main event.
✈️ IndiGo — Delhi to Varanasi
~1h20m flight · from ₹4,500 ($54)/person
Several daily nonstops cover the 420 miles in under ninety minutes; book an afternoon departure so there’s no rush after the morning’s Delhi checkout.
🏨 Check-In — BrijRama Palace
Check-in 2pm · from $180 USD/night
A restored 18th-century palace directly on Dashashwamedh Ghat, reachable only by boat or on foot along the riverfront — ask for a Ganges-facing room for aarti views from your own balcony.
BrijRama Palace · +91 70420 74208 · brijramapalace.com
🪔 Ganga Aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat
Evening, ~7pm · free from the ghat, ₹200 ($2.50) for a boat seat
A nightly fire ritual performed by seven priests in unison on a riverside stage — watch from the ghat steps, or better, from a rowboat a few yards offshore as the oil lamps are raised toward the water.
Day 5Sunrise on the Ganges & Sarnath
The ghats at their most atmospheric before sunrise, then an afternoon at the site of the Buddha’s first sermon.
🚣 Sunrise Boat Ride on the Ganges
5:45am departure, ~1.5 hrs · ₹1,200 ($14) private boat for 2
Row past the burning ghats of Manikarnika and Harishchandra as cremation pyres still smolder from the night before, while bathers and priests begin their morning rituals along eighty-some ghats.
Varanasi Guru Boat Tours · +91 85952 56696 · varanasiguru.com
☕ Breakfast — Blue Lassi Shop
Morning · ~$3 USD/person
A tiny, fourth-generation shop near Manikarnika Ghat serving thick lassi topped with fruit, nuts, and pomegranate in clay kulhad cups — cash only, and the line moves fast.
🛕 Sarnath
Afternoon · ₹300 ($3.60)/person foreigner
The deer park 8 miles outside the city where the Buddha gave his first sermon after enlightenment — the brick Dhamek Stupa and the Ashoka Pillar fragments sit in quiet, grassy ruins, a world away from the ghats.
🍽️ Dinner — Riverside Thali
Dinner · $12–18 USD/person
A traditional multi-course vegetarian thali at a ghat-side restaurant — most hotels can point you to one with a Ganges view, and very few places in the old city serve meat at all.
Day 6Free Morning & Departure
One last look at the ghats before the flight home.
☕ Free Morning — Assi Ghat
Morning · free
The city’s southernmost major ghat is calmer than Dashashwamedh and lined with cafes — a good spot for a last chai and a slower goodbye to the river.
🚕 Transfer to Lal Bahadur Shastri Airport
~30 min · ₹500 ($6) flat fare
Varanasi’s airport (VNS) handles domestic and a handful of international connections; budget extra buffer time, since the single access road can back up around flight banks.
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