No collection of India tour packages would be complete without the Golden Triangle. This legendary circuit between Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur has introduced more first-time travelers to India's soul than any other route in the country, and for excellent reason: it compresses nearly a thousand years of Mughal and Rajput civilization into a journey of just a few days.

Delhi, the capital of India, is where every Golden Triangle tour itinerary begins. The Red Fort's immense sandstone walls tell the story of five Mughal emperors. The lanes of Shahjahanabad — now Chandni Chowk — have been trading in spices, textiles, and street food since the 17th century. Humayun's Tomb, the geometric Qutub Minar, and the India Gate war memorial round out a city that is simultaneously ancient and ultramodern. Our Delhi city tours can be taken as a standalone day or woven into a multi-day circuit.

From Delhi, a four-hour drive through the Yamuna plains leads to Agra — home to what many consider the most beautiful building ever constructed. Our Taj Mahal tours from Delhi are timed for sunrise whenever possible: the moment the marble begins to glow pink-white in the early light, with almost no other visitors present, is one that travelers describe years later as the single most breathtaking experience of their travels. Beyond the Taj, Agra Fort (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and the ghost city of Fatehpur Sikri add layers of Mughal history that few India tours adequately cover.

The Triangle concludes in Jaipur — the Pink City. Our Jaipur sightseeing tours include the hilltop Amber Fort, reached by jeep through winding ramparts; the 953-windowed Hawa Mahal, whose latticed screens allowed royal ladies to observe street life unseen; and the City Palace, where the Maharaja of Jaipur's family still resides. The city's artisan markets — block-print workshops, gem-cutting studios, blue pottery showrooms, and silver jewelry bazaars — make Jaipur the most rewarding shopping stop in any India travel package.

Many of the travelers who first explored North India with Delight Tours India return specifically to book our South India tour packages. The south is a different civilization — older in many respects than the Mughal north, with Dravidian temple architecture of staggering complexity, Carnatic music traditions, and a cuisine that bears little resemblance to the tandoor-and-naan cuisine most travelers associate with India.

Kerala is the crown jewel of any South India itinerary. A night aboard a traditional rice-boat houseboat, drifting through the Alleppey backwaters with nothing but birdsong and coconut palms in view, is among the most peaceful travel experiences on the planet. Kerala's Periyar Tiger Reserve offers excellent wildlife encounters — elephants bathing in lake shallows, sambar deer at the forest edge — making our South India tours excellent choices as India tour packages for families.

Tamil Nadu's temple circuit — Madurai's Meenakshi Amman, Thanjavur's Brihadeeswarar, and Mahabalipuram's Shore Temple — showcases Dravidian architecture at its most ambitious. These are among the oldest continuously active religious sites in the world, their towers (gopuram) rising like stone mountains above flat coastal plains. Delight Tours' Tamil Nadu itineraries pair temple exploration with coastal beach time and culinary deep dives into Chettinad cuisine.