Heart of India (2012)

Delhi • Jaipur • Ranthambore • Agra • Khajuraho • Varanasi
  • 16 days
  • from only:
  • $2895
  • $181 per day
    Land Tour Only
  • 17 days
  • from only:
  • $3645
  • $215 per dayIncludes international airfare and government taxes
IN THIS SECTION:
Detailed Itinerary
NEW—Enhanced Itinerary
Video: Travelers' experiences of Heart of India
Festival Departures
NEW—Private Departures
Is this Adventure Right for You?
It's Included
Unique Accommodations
Extend Your Adventure
Optional Tours
Local Team & Insider Tips
Grand Circle Foundation
World Classroom
Your Travel Handbook
Air information
LearnMore
Interested in learning more? Our Travel Counselors are ready to assist you
Request A Call Request A Call
CT

Customize your trip

Learn how to customize your adventure, or view standard air routing and travel times. The choice is yours with our True Choice program.

Read More Request A Call
CT

Customize your trip

With our True Choice Program, you can choose to stay longer before or after your trip on your own, or combine two adventures to maximize your value. Here are more ways to create the OAT adventure that’s right for you:

  • Choose our standard air routing, or work with us to select the airline and routing you prefer
  • Make your own international flight arrangements directly with the airline, applying frequent flyer miles if available
  • Stay overnight in a connecting city before or after your trip
  • Request to arrive a few days early to get a fresh start on your adventure
  • Choose to “break away” before or after your trip, spending additional days or weeks on your own
  • Extend your adventure with our optional pre- and post-trip extensions
  • Combine your choice of OAT adventures to maximize your value
  • Upgrade to business or premium economy class

The air options listed above will involve an additional fee of $100 per person for confirmed requests (as well as incremental airfare costs based on your specific choice). This service fee will be waived for Inner Circle/Sir Edmund Hillary Club members.

Or, when you make your reservation, you can choose our standard air routing, for which approximate travel times are shown below.

GATEWAY

TRAVEL TIME*

Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Portland, OR, San Francisco, Seattle

22hrs

Boston, Chicago, Washington, DC (Dulles)

20hrs

Dallas, Denver, Houston, Orlando, Minneapolis

24hrs

New York (JFK)

15hrs

Miami

25hrs

* Estimated total time, including connection and layover. Actual travel time may vary.

The information above reflects approximate flight times from the gateway cities listed to Delhi, India. Routing is based on availability and subject to change. You will receive your final air itinerary approximately 14 days prior to departure.

REFER and EARN

Earn increasing rewards as a Vacation Ambassador

REFER and EARN as a Vacation Ambassador with
the BEST referral program in the industry

Inspiring new travelers to join the OAT family is a rewarding experience—both for you and your new travelers.

Share your love of travel with others and, for each referral who embarks on an OAT trip, you will earn $100 in CASH or credit. With your 4th referral departing on a 2012 departure, your reward increases to $200 in CASH or credit per person. And once you refer 8 travelers departing in either 2012 or 2013, you'll earn a FREE trip valued up to $4,500 per household—which will bring the total value of your earned rewards up to $5,600.

And you are also passing along savings to your new traveler: We'll instantly deduct $100 off the cost of their reservation when they mention your name and Customer Number while reserving.

To learn more about the benefits of our Vacation Ambassador Referral Program, please call us toll-free at 1-800-955-1925 or click here.

ALSO SEE:
Photo & Video Gallery
Solo Friendly Travel
Frequently Asked Questions
View all Trip Leaders, read Insider Tips, and more
Font Size: AAA
Print
Send To a Friend
Request a Call
Add To My Travel Planner

Grand Circle Foundation

GCF Icon

A Day in the Life of a Ranthambore Community

OAT was founded upon the principle that travel needs to be about more than just sightseeing if it's going to change people's lives—which is why most OAT adventures feature a day of in-depth cultural exchange through Grand Circle Foundation’s A Day in the Life program. By continuing to expand our worldview through exposure to other cultures, we are learning and growing throughout our lives—and the more we engage ourselves in the daily lives of the villages we visit, the more valuable our learning becomes.

"It was apparent that the principal and this school are incredibly dedicated to the students. It is clearly an extremely worthwhile project!"

Holly Keating, 1-time traveler
East Greenwich, Rhode Island

Meet the People of a Ranthambore Community

Village visit Ramsinghpura Village women's cooperative

Your Day in the Life experience will bring you to the village of Ramsinghpura, India. As the men head to the farms to tend their crops in the early morning light, the women attend to the household chores and send the children off to school. The wildlife of nearby Ranthambore National Park does not roam on these narrow roads—and neither do the tourists who come from far and wide. After all, you don't often see scenes of everyday village life in the glossy pages of travel brochures or guidebooks.

In Ramsinghpura, your day begins with a short stroll. You visit the village grocer to see what types of goods are available for sale. Then, you stop by the health clinic. Established by the government primarily to immunize children against infectious diseases, the clinic hosts biweekly doctor visits to benefit the community. Across the street, a city council building called Mahila Mandir focuses on women's health issues, such as prenatal care and gynecological specialties. In rural villages throughout India, centers like this one are incentivizing women with cash to give birth in hospitals as opposed to their homes—because the government knows it's the one surefire way to improve the country's abnormally high infant and maternal mortality rates.

A special highlight of every Day in the Life is a visit to a local school, because it's always enlightening to see how other cultures educate their children. The day in Ramsinghpura ends with a visit to a women's cooperative, which offers women a way to earn income through the creation of traditional handcrafts. You learn about the purpose of the organization directly from the woman who runs it, and have the opportunity to try your hand at block printing.

By the end of your Day in the Life, you'll have experienced something that most visitors can rarely say they've seen: an honest look at another culture that isn't dressed up for the sake of tourism. As responsible travelers and true world citizens, we feel it's just as important—if not more so—than monuments, wildlife, or scenery. We like to think of it as bridging the gaps between cultures … one Day in the Life at a time.

Alan and Harriet Lewis founded Grand Circle Foundation in 1992 as a means of giving back to the world we travel. Because they donate a portion of the profits from every trip, we consider each one of our travelers as a partner in the Foundation’s work around the world. To date, the Foundation has pledged or donated more than $91 million in support of 300 different organizations—including 60 villages and nearly 100 schools that lie in the paths of our adventures.

Learn More »