19 Days
Delhi * Udaipur * Rohetgarh * Jaisalmer * Khimsar * Pushkar or Bikaner * Mandawa * Jodhpur * Jaipur * Agra * Varanasi

Celebrate the best desert festivals with the incredible sights, cultures and philosophies of North India ?s 5000-year old civilization. Travel through the stately capital of Delhi to the desert sands of royal Rajasthan; a land of exquisite Mughal art and architecture, colorful costumes and camel traders. Visit Udaipur ?s palace museum with its impressive façade that towers over Lake Pichola and explore Jaipur?s old walled city made of pink sandstone where skilled jewelry designers and weavers work as they did centuries ago. Wander through the living fortress city in Jaisalmer and view the filigreed havelis (merchant houses). Watch the sunset over vast sand dunes on a camel safari, and travel by jeep to tribal villages. View the magnificent Meherangarh Fort in Jodhpur and spend an afternoon with carpet weavers and the Bishnoi tribes in their natural surrounding. En route stop at Fatehpur Sikri, Emperor Akbar?s beautiful deserted capital with its pink sandstone fort and its pristine white marble edifice ? a tribute to his teacher Salim Chisti. View one of the most famous and stunning pieces of architecture on Earth ? the Taj Mahal. Shop for hand woven silks, incense and exotic itar (perfume) in the ancient bazaars of Varanasi . Watch pilgrims at prayer on an early morning boat ride along the holy stepped ghats (river banks) on the Ganges River.

Participate in the famed Pushkar or Bikaner Camel Fair amidst colorfully costumed tribes, music, dazzling stalls filled with local handicrafts and wildly decorated tents. And don?t forget the centerpiece of these festivals ? the camels! Beautifully adorned and painted, thousands of these beasts of burden are displayed and bartered during these vibrant cattle fairs. Amidst the color and chaos there is so much living going on in India . N F V

TOUR CODE: NIF
TOUR DATES:
2008: Oct 29-Nov 16 (Pushkar Camel Fair)
2009: Jan 2-20 (Bikaner Camel Fair), Oct 18-Nov 5, 2009 (Pushkar Camel Fair)

2008 TOUR PRICES:
Land Package: $4590 (6+ members)
+$190 (4-5 members)
+$300 (2-3 members with local guides)
Single Supplement: $2420

Approx. International Air: $1440 (Los Angeles/Chennai/Los Angeles)
Approx. Internal Air: $691

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