North Eastern Mystery Tour

You are met on arrival at Delhi's international airport with a traditional welcome and transferred to your hotel. The rest of the day is at leisure to recover from your flight. Overnight in Delhi.

A full day exploring the two faces of the capital. Old Delhi centres on the Mughal-era Red Fort, a rickshaw ride through the lanes to the great Jama Masjid — India's largest mosque — and Rajghat, the memorial at Mahatma Gandhi's cremation site. In the afternoon, imperial New Delhi unfolds: India Gate, the Presidential Palace and government quarter, the 1570 garden tomb of Humayun and the soaring Qutub Minar. Overnight in Delhi.

Jama Masjid

— India's largest mosque, its courtyard holding up to 25,000 worshippers.

Humayun's Tomb

— The first garden-tomb on the subcontinent and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Qutub Minar

— The tallest brick minaret in the world.

A morning flight carries you east to Dibrugarh in Upper Assam, where you transfer to a heritage tea bungalow. After lunch you take a tea tour through a 157-year-old garden, learning how the leaf is grown, plucked and processed into the world-famous Assam brew. In the evening, an ethnic Assamese troupe performs a cultural programme. Overnight at the tea bungalow.

Heritage tea garden

— A working 157-year-old estate; factories operate March to December.

At first light you cruise the mighty Brahmaputra in a country boat to a river island, watching for migratory water birds and the elusive Gangetic dolphin, with a nature walk on the grasslands. Later you drive to Digboi — Asia's oldest continuously producing oilfield — to see the centenary Oil Museum and the Commonwealth War Cemetery, and visit the Tai-Phakial tribal village with its Buddhist monastery and stilted bamboo houses. Overnight at the tea bungalow.

Digboi

— Asia's oldest oil town, home to a centenary oil museum and 1939–45 war cemetery.

Tai-Phakial village

— An ethnic village whose roots date to the Ahom period, with a Hinayana monastery.

You drive on to Jorhat, pausing at Sivasagar, the 600-year capital of the Ahom kings who came from Thailand via Myanmar in the 13th century. Here you see the towering Shiva Temple, the great amphitheatre of Rang Ghar and the Tai-Ahom Museum's relics. On arrival in Jorhat you check into a tea bungalow, with a Satriya dance performance in the evening. Overnight at the tea bungalow.

Sivasagar

— Former Ahom capital; the Shiva Temple, Rang Ghar amphitheatre and royal tanks.

A short drive to Neematighat brings you to the ferry for Majuli, the largest inhabited river island in the world and the heart of Assam's Vaishnavite culture. You visit the satras (monasteries) founded in the 16th century by Srimanta Shankardev, meeting monks who still nurture the Satriya dance, and pass through Assamese and Mishing tribal villages. In the afternoon you drive to Kaziranga and check into your jungle lodge. Overnight at the jungle lodge.

Majuli Island

— The world's largest inhabited river island, famed for its Vaishnavite satras.

An early elephant-back safari takes you into the central range of the park, followed after breakfast by a jeep safari through the western range, and another jeep drive into the eastern range after lunch. Kaziranga, on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra, shelters more than 75% of the world's one-horned rhinos, along with wild buffalo, elephants, swamp deer, tigers and abundant birdlife. Overnight at the jungle lodge.

Kaziranga National Park

— World Heritage grassland holding most of the planet's one-horned rhinos.

You leave Assam behind and climb into Meghalaya, "the abode of clouds", reaching the hill capital of Shillong by evening. Wrapped in mist and inhabited by the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo peoples, Meghalaya is one of India's prettiest states and is known for its matrilineal society. The rest of the day is free to relax or explore. Overnight in Shillong.

A day excursion takes you to Cherrapunjee, long recorded among the wettest places on earth, along a spectacular road of deep gorges and hills draped in ferns, moss and orchids. You see its dramatic waterfalls, explore limestone caves and, on the return, walk part of the David Scott Trail through the so-called Sacred Forest. Overnight in Shillong.

Cherrapunjee

— Famed for record rainfall, waterfalls and limestone caves in the Khasi hills.

You descend to Guwahati, Assam's largest city on the Brahmaputra. In the afternoon you visit the Kamakhya Temple, a major centre of Tantric Shakti worship set on the sacred Nilachal Hill, with sweeping views over the river and the surrounding country. Overnight in Guwahati.

Kamakhya Temple

— A revered Shakti temple on Nilachal Hill overlooking the Brahmaputra.

After breakfast the morning is free until check-out. In the afternoon you transfer to Guwahati airport for your flight to Delhi, where you connect with your onward international flight home. Tour ends.