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Overview
With an altitude of 1, 370 metres, Kathmandu’s breathtaking views will amaze you as will the elaborate ornate palaces, temples, and squares. Nepal’s capital city is an extremely captivating, interesting place to visit. You will enjoy being able to stroll through the city of Kathmandu as it is ideal for exploring by foot. As you wander through the city squares you will come across many markets and craft shops where you can buy locally made goods. The people of Kathmandu are known to be some of the friendliest people in Asia and you will be captivated by their hospitality everywhere you go. Nepalese cuisine is also going to tempt your palate as you experience the tastes and flavours of the region. As you visit the Durbar Square with its highly detailed wooden temples and Swayambhunath, a 2,000 year old Buddhist stupa, you will begin to appreciate the history of this enchanting ancient city.
Tour Highlights
- Experience the life and style of this ancient kingdom as you visit Durbar Square.
- Learn ancient cuisine secrets as you have a cooking lesson with a local Nepalese family.
- Thrilling panoramic views greet you as you experience the top of the world in a once in a lifetime plane ride with views of Mt. Everest.
- Gain spiritual insight as you visit the ancient temples and holy monuments of this captivating land.
- Explore the unique streets of Thamel while enjoying the sights and sounds of this bustling area.
Itinerary
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Day 1:
Fly to Kathmandu
After breakfast transfer to the airport for your flight to Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu. Upon arrival, an Explore India representative will greet you and transfer you to your hotel.
In the afternoon we will enjoy a drive to a local market followed by a rickshaw ride to Kathmandu’s Durbar Square. Durbar Square is a generic term used to describe places opposite old royal palaces in Nepal. There are 3 Durbar Squares in the Kathmandu Valley and all three are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Later, we will attend a Nepalese cooking class at the home of local family.
Meals: Breakfast, DinnerAccommodation: Shangri-La Hotel & ResortShangri-La Hotel & Resort
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Day 2:
Kathmandu
In the morning enjoy a guided sightseeing tour of Kathmandu. We will visit Pashupatinath, Swoyambhunath Temple which is one of the most significant Hindu temples of the Shiva in the world, located on the banks of the river in the eastern Kathmandu. A glimmering spire crowning a cone shaped wooden hill, Swayambhunath Stupa is the most ancient and mysterious of all the holy shrines in the Kathmandu valley. We will also visit the Budhhhanath, the largest stupa in Nepal and the holiest Tibetan Buddhist temple outside of Tibet.
Meals: Breakfast, DinnerAccommodation: Shangri-La Hotel & ResortShangri-La Hotel & Resort
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Day 3:
Kathmandu
After breakfast we will embark on a sightseeing tour of Patan. Officially called Lalitpur, Patan is one of the major cities of Nepal located in the South central part of Kathmandu Valley. Later, we visit Bungamati village development committee in Lalitpur, a village dating back to the 6th century.
Meals: Breakfast, DinnerAccommodation: Shangri-La Hotel & ResortShangri-La Hotel & Resort
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Day 4:
Kathmandu
In the morning (weather permitting) we will enjoy a luxury one hour flight around Mt. Everest, also known in Nepal as Sagarmatha. Mt. Everest is earth’s highest mountain and is located in the Mahalangu mountain range in Nepal and Tibet. These are the most breathtaking views you will ever see of this spectacular site, make sure your cameras are ready!
Later, we will visit Bhaktapur, the“City of Devotees”, located 8 miles east of Kathmandu. Bhaktapur is one of 3 royal cities in the Kathmandu valley and is considered a cultural treasure. With the best preserved palace courtyards and old city center in Nepal it is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Next, we will drive to visit the beautiful and historic temple, Chagu Narayan Temple – another UNESCO world heritage site and the oldest temple in Nepal. After lunch we will discover some interesting old Nepalese houses and interact with the very engaging local people.Meals: Breakfast, DinnerAccommodation: Shangri-La Hotel & ResortShangri-La Hotel & Resort
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Day 5:
Kathmandu – Delhi
After breakfast you will transfer from your hotel to the airport for your flight to Delhi. Upon arrival, an Explore India representative will greet you and transfer you to your hotel.
Meals: Breakfast, DinnerAccommodation: Shangri-La Hotel & ResortShangri-La Hotel & Resort
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Day 6:
Delhi – Home
At the specified time, you will be transferred from your hotel to the airport where you will board your flight home.
What’s included
- First Class Accommodation
- Escorted Roundtrip Airport Transfers
- Daily Breakfast & Dinner
- All Sightseeing Tours with Chauffeur in an Air Conditioned ar
- Local Airfare
- Roundtrip Mount Everest airfare
- Entrance Fees to All the Monuments
- Local English Speaking Tour Guide
- All Activities & Exclusive Events Per Program
What’s excluded
- Personal expenses
- Services other than in our inclusion
- Nepal Tourist Visa Fees USD $25 per person.
- Taxes additional of $227 per person
- Gratuities
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This is a tour extension. Add this on to a tour of your liking. Contact us on how you can extend your journey.Recent Reviews
Feedback re Explore India re Journey of the Senses - March 5 - 26, 2016. We are still processing what we experienced in India. When we think about all that was included in our “Journey of the Senses”, we feel we touched on many aspects of life there - the history, architecture, religious practices, the food, village life, city life, mountain villages, the culture - folk music and dances, the craftsmanship, both the modern and the “old” India. We appreciated the experiences with many different modes of transportation - rickshaw, elephant, camel, horseback, boat; the many internal flights and the comfortable coach with its excellent driver and impressive driver’s assistant. The switch made by Rajeev to automobiles from bus in Srinagar was also much appreciated. We especially appreciated the hotel accommodations. The Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai will remain a highlight of our visit. The restaurant meals throughout the tour were excellent. The cooking class and the Kashmiri lunch at your brother’s home gave us a unique insider view of private life - one which would be difficult to accomplish with larger groups. The visit to Varanasi was unforgettable. All in all, it was a spectacular, extremely well organized journey and we appreciate all the attention to the details which made the trip so wonderful. The Journey of the Senses tour you have put together is indeed spectacular and the reviews published on your website express the delight of Explore India customers. Best wishes and thanks,
Gail Brimbecom
Toronto, Canada
At last I sending you some feedback re our trip. As I said on the phone we were very pleased with experience. We were very impressed with our 2 drivers, Balvinder and Kool, as well as the 3 men at the houseboats. all were very pleasant, helpful and knowledgeable. My personal feeling is that 1 day long drive in kashmir was enough as the roads do not make for a relaxing experience, however we really enjoyed the day trip to Sonamarg. The vegetable market was wonderful. The guide we had in Varanasi was good with the information he gave us, however, The stop at the Bird Sanctuary was really nice and I wish we had been able to have more time there - I know it was an added stop at our request but I think it was very worthwhile to include it in the tour. All the hotels were very good, the Jaipur Marriott was outstanding. Would certainly recommend your company to others.
Carol Cook and Karen Kaler
Vancouver, Canada
A hearty thank you to you and all involved with Explore India. Angela and I are very pleased with everyone and everything that happened during our tour. attached find an ad for my art show this Saturday at the Two Rivers Art Gallery in Prince George, I managed to finish a few paintings of India for the exhibit. Thank you again!
Jerzy (George) Lesniewicz
Prince George, Canada
Dear Nazir, We had a wonderful trip and were very pleased with the quality of the tour. The staff was very professional and friendly. We really appreciated the friendliness and great care your clients received. We have already recommended your company to others and hope to return to India again. The highlights for us were the safari and visiting the Taj Mahal. One suggestion I have is to suggest clients bring candies or small gifts (pencils, pins etc.) or a book to give to the children in the villages. We have so many fond memories and new friendships from our voyage. I hope to use your services again soon. Namaste
Edward and Patrice Campagnaro
Summerland, Canada
Dear Nazir, I wanted to let you know what a great time we had on our visit to India. We really enjoyed seeing your country, and all of the amazing sites it has to offer. We also found almost everyone we encountered to be very kind and friendly. There is so much beauty in India, and we look forward to visiting again. Everything on the tour was very well coordinated and organized. While I know that some of the people on our trip found the schedule to be a bit too busy for them, I did not think so at all. I believe there was enough down time to rest between locations, and I thought the pace was very good. Our bus driver and his assistant (Ravi & Shankar I believe) were great! They were very friendly and super helpful. I have also never seen anyone who could maneuver a bus like he did! It was amazing the places he managed to take that bus! Lastly, I want to let you know what a great tour guide Arvind was! We really enjoyed having him lead us through the sites of India. He is very knowledgeable and engaging, and his love for your country showed as he described the rich history of the things we saw and answered our questions. I especially enjoyed how if you asked him a question outside of the bus, he would often ask us to wait, and he would answer the question for the entire group on the bus. It made some of the long bus trips very interesting and alleviated some of the monotony of sitting on a bus. He was a great tour guide and I highly recommend him! Thank you all for a great trip. Robin and I really enjoyed our visit. Thank You,
Mark & Robin Nilsson
North Carolina, USA
We want to let you know what a fabulous trip to India we had this past September. It was much more than we expected in every way! India is such a beautiful, interesting country and we hope to see more of it some day. I wanted to let you know how wonderful our guide Rajeev Sharma is. He went out of his way to accommodate all of us His knowledge of his country and his English were excellent. He is the best guide we've ever had in all our group travels. He's a real treasure for your company. It was nice to meet you in New Delhi and everyone appreciated you taking the time to do that You are a good representative for Explore India which we think is an outstanding travel company. Many thanks for your service to us and the wonderful, memorable holiday in India!
Margo & Peter Yee
Vancouver, Canada
Just got your note in the mail welcoming me home, so I thought I would just reply. Explore India gave me an experience I will never forget!! You lived up to everything you advertised and so much more. The attention to detail and making sure each and every one of us was having a good time were wonderful. We had an extraordinary group of 10. Such fun and jaw dropping adventures we old folks had. I would recommend your company without hesitation. Currently we are sharing photographs. George Lum was a star and I think he has given you a link. We are planning to get together in the next few weeks for a recap and just because we had so much fun together. Thank you, if there are any suggestions, I would say that the itinerary had too much in it. Our age group would have appreciated some down time for a drink or two.
Meg Holdsworth
Vancouver, Canada
Dear Nazir, Namaste. Our tour to India was one of our most memorable trips ever. Starting with our pickup at the airport, wonderful accommodation throughout and an excellent guide, we experienced India in the best possible way. Harry went out of his way to show us the country he obviously loves and made sure that we did not see it from the sterile environment of a bus. He created many experiences for us that we will never forget and we feel that we now have a true picture of life in India as well as a better knowledge of its history. We have already recommended your tour company to friends and will continue to do so. The service you provide is second to none and we thank you.
Elaine and Lorne Ettinger
Kelowna, Canada
Hi Nazir, the "Explore India" trip was wonderful! I can honestly say it exceeded my expectations .Our guide, Yajur, was terrific...,easy to understand, .informative, organized, thoughtful and kind.He had such patience in answering our questions ,even when they might have seemed foolish or repetitive . I felt I really learned about the people, the history,the culture and the politics....In a country that large and diverse we can only scratch he surface, but I certainly have more understanding and appreciation. The hotels were first rate and the service fantastic. The care that I received in dealing with my food allergies and when I banged my head in the bus ( my own fault!) was more than I could have expected. Your staff in India are to be commended for their complete attention to detail....everything from the supplying of water on the buses, the use of hand sanitizer as we got back on after an excursion, to the speed and efficiency in getting us checked in at the hotels was managed extremely well. The bus and our driver were superb! The extra trip that was arranged to the village to see the school and hospital was something special. The main attractions of course,the Taj Mahal, the Ganges both at sunset and sunrise, the caves, were truly magical and will stay at he top of my memory list....so many terrific memories, I could go on and on!..the dancers, the elephant ride at dusk, Mother Theresa's Mission, the cooking demonstration, Old Delhi, bicycle rickshaws...etc etc!....and of course the artistry evident in all parts of Indian life. I bought a magnificent vase of white marble, inlaid with mother of pearl, that I will always treasure. You ask for suggestions...my only one would be the occasional simpler meal....our North American digestive systems are not used to all the spices,as delicious as they are, it takes us longer than 2 weeks to get used to them! The food was beautifully prepared and presented and the restaurants treated us all very well....we just have a harder time adjusting to the spices for every meal. Because of my citrus allergy, they often made me something different and I did appreciate so much the extra care...those meals were lovely...often less spicy, and that's when I would hear some comments from a few of the others, that they would have liked the simpler food occasionally too. Not everyone of course...many loved every meal! I am in Palm Springs at present, enjoying beautiful sunny California weather and relaxing down here till April. I have told everyone what a remarkable trip it was and I'm sure you will get some calls in the future. I could recommend the trip to anyone! Thank you for an experience of a lifetime!
Marilee McBain
Surrey, Canada
03 MAR, 2018: The trip was very interesting and educational. We appreciated the opportunity to see a broad spectrum of life in India and particularly the countryside and life in the villages. The accommodations and the food were excellent. And the weather couldn’t have been any better. The guide for our tour, Yajur, had a vast array of knowledge which he pleasantly and willingly passed on. He answered in great detail the questions our group had and had a vast and varied knowledge of India, its culture and history and provided the information freely and willingly. The entire group got on well together and appreciated the active agenda provided. The bus provided (with driver Lalit and assistant Ranjit) was excellent and fit the size of the group well – we appreciated the fact that we were not jammed in as sardines. And we really appreciated going off the main roads and into interior portions of the country. The trip and the experience have certainly whetted our appetite to revisit the country and see different aspects. Thanks to you, Nadir and Mansoor.
Bill & Laurie Shaw
Saskatoon SK, Canada
Tour Extensions
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You can read hundreds of online reviews of destinations and hotels, but with our up-to-date first-hand knowledge, we will be able to compare and contrast different options and ensure we find something that is just right for you.
You will travel to India like a member of our own family. Our deep love and passion for India and its people, we are a family owned and operated luxury travel company.
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No company is big or small when you have 100% capability of exceeding guest expectations. A rating of 10 out of 10 does not adequately reflect the level of the experience and value of the tour that we provide to India especially for the first time visitors. Explore India’s success can be traced all the way back to those early days of learning what it means to be a host and to this day, our motto is to treat the guest like a member of the family. A sure testimonial to the business, given the fact that many Canadians have travelled not one, not twice, but three times with Explore India, the early teachings seem to have paid off, as touring to India with us is a sought-after experience in Canada and beyond.