INDIA
Visit the Taj without
the crowds The Taj Mahal is a requiem to love. It took emperor Shah Jahan 22 years to build this Mughal masterpiece to honour his queen, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1631. However, all is not serene on an average day here. Receiving around eight million visitors each year, a mass of selfie-craving crowds override the transcendental calm the Taj demands. Fortunately, there’s a solution nearby. The Oberoi Amarvilas is so close that its huge Mughal-themed rooms possess views of the Taj. On the day of your visit, there’ll be a gentle wake-up call by a personal butler prior to 5am for coffee, before being ferried by buggy to the Taj’s entrance ahead of the arrival of the madding crowds. With a private guide, and in relative peace, there’s enough time to explore the site, including the breathtaking marble dome, rising 240ft high and encrusted with jewels. It’s then that the cool marble mastery warms to memories of everlasting love. HOW TO DO IT: Rooms at The Oberoi Amarvilas start from £430 plus taxes per night, including breakfast.
oberoihotels.com
Relax on a private beach
Fifty years ago Goa was the abode of hippies letting it all hang out — quite literally — on its golden sand beaches. These days, greater modesty and privacy is afforded just south of Goa, around the beaches of Gokarna, where the Western Ghats meet the Arabian Sea. The hilltop retreat of Kahani Paradise is so hidden it can only be spied from the sea. This luxurious six-suite villa overlooks a picture-perfect beach called Paradise. It was a British holiday-home to the Bellm family, but, since 2018, they’ve run it as an exclusive villa hideaway. With ocean and forested mountain views, it’s a sustainable oasis, self-sufficient in water and energy. Tropical forests and flower-filled gardens provide homegrown organic produce while local fisherfolk proffer fresh catch each day. The eclectic pan-Asian decor stems from family items collected over decades, notably antique Rajasthani doors, complemented by contemporary and exuberant Indian textiles. Royal Enfield motorcycles are offered to guests wanting to explore. There are also yoga classes and massage treatments, although the infinity pool and Paradise Beach may prove too great a draw to foray far. HOW TO DO IT: Kahani Paradise may be rented as individual suites, full-board from £420 per night, or in its entirety. October to April is dry season.
kahaniparadise.com
Climb aboard the
Maharajas’ Express India maintains its trains with aplomb, and the luxurious Maharajas’ Express captures the yesteryear of the British Raj. The train’s 448sq feet Presidential Suite has two bedrooms and a living room as well as a 24-hour valet and tour guide
for off-train excursions. There are two fine-dining cars serving table d’hôte meals and turbaned barmen shake cocktails in the quintessentially colonial Raja Club. One of its most engaging itineraries is the seven-day Indian Panorama odyssey. From Delhi, it puffs south via Jaipur to Ranthambore for a morning wildlife safari. Visits also include the Indo-Aryan architecture of Khajuraho’s temples, where Kama Sutra carvings force blushes redder than a bloody mary. And then on to India’s holiest city, Varanasi, where life and death is celebrated in a series of elaborate riverside rituals. HOW TO DO IT: Staying in the Presidential Suite and doing the Indian Panorama itinerary costs £21,749 per person based on two sharing.
maharajaexpresstrain.com
Navigate the world’s
greatest festival in style Days at Kumbh Mela begin at sunrise when the camp’s chaiiwala (tea seller) brings milky sweet tea to your tent. A cacophony of drums, bells and devotional chanting assails the senses long before you reach the tented city of sadhus (holy people). Governed by an astrological cycle of 12 years, the planet’s largest spiritual gathering takes place at the River Ganges’ sacred cities of Prayagraj, Ujjain, Haridwar and Nashik. Millions of Hindus, ecstatic with joy, stream towards the Ganges to bathe and wash away their sins. For soul-seeking travellers attending the 2025 Prayagraj Kumbh Mela, a small group tour offers a luxury tented camp close to the action. After navigating through the day with an expert guide, the event finishes with a private chef’s fine fare and philosophical discussions with a spiritual guru. After the Mela’s metaphysical high, the tour ends with a stay at the fabulous Glenburn Penthouse in Kolkata. HOW TO DO IT: Steppes Travel’s nine-day Kumbh Mela package costs £7,795 per person based on two sharing.
steppestravel.com
Stay at a tea plantation
This veritable Himalayan treasure has thrived for 165 years in the shadow of the world’s third highest mountain, Kangchenjunga, which looms over the landscape at a staggering 28,100ft. Still a working tea plantation, it now also functions as a bygone era escape, offered by the third- and fourth-generation Prakash family, whose descendants bought Glenburn from its original Scottish owners. The two bungalows are still decorated in antique colonial style, with hand-block printed tea motifs, Burmese teak flooring and locally embroidered linen. The tea theme is pervasive. There’s iced Darjeeling tea, green tea toiletries and green tea oil in the massage treatment room. Tealeaf Tibetan dumplings, meanwhile, are served at candlelit dinners. Glenburn shows guests the day-to-day workings of the 1,000-acre plantation, and myriad hiking trails crisscross the Himalayan forest to viewpoints that show the surrounding mountains in all their glory. HOW TO DO IT: Rooms from £455 based on two sharing, on an all-inclusive basis.
glenburnteaestate.com MARK STRATTON
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER – LUXURY COLLECTION 21
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