Literary India

India! It’s a lot. That’s part of why you want to go — and maybe part of why you haven't yet. This tour makes travelling the famous Delhi–Jaipur–Agra route manageable without flattening it. You'll navigate the narrow lanes of Old Delhi with guides who know when to push forward and when to stop for chai and jalebi. You’ll have a full day to immerse yourself in the Jaipur Literature Festival. You'll stand before the Taj Mahal at sunrise, when the crowds are thinner and the light does that thing you've seen in photographs. You'll spend two nights at a quiet haveli in Rajasthan, where the pace slows down and there's time to think.  

And throughout, you'll read and discuss Midnight's Children — Salman Rushdie's sprawling, funny, chaotic novel about newly independent India — with a small group of people who actually want to talk about the book.

Connect your on-the-ground experience to a landmark work of literature  
Rushdie “re[drew] the literary map of India” with Midnight’s Children. His narrator Saleem Sinai, born at the same moment as the Indian republic, takes you on a riotous and sometimes magical journey through history, politics, life. Conversations move easily between text and terrain: How do we create and remember history? How do individuals carry the weight of nations within their own lives?  

Travel with guides who value context as much as you do  
We’ve been taking travellers like you to India since 1970 and know how much it’s changed. Your guides are scholars and researchers who love to share India’s history — and its present. They help you develop not just a fuller understanding of India, but a way of traveling that embraces complexity rather than smoothing it away. 

Enjoy the energy of India without being overwhelmed by it  
Get the benefits of our small groups, always 
You may have seen tours of 35 or 40 people advertised as “small group.” Or even been on one of these big-bus experiences. Our tours are truly small, with a cap of 16. This means lots of face time with your guides, stays at family-run hotels that are off-limits to big groups, and the freedom to enjoy the company of new friends or take time for yourself.