Your passport to adventure
PHONE: 0800 448 596
PHONE: 0800 448 596
Bursting with colour, sights and sounds, the diverse natural and cultural history of India is wonderful to immerse yourself in. On one of our India tours, you'll find that this beautiful country is the home of breath-taking contrasts, vibrant places and people, as well as the most impressive landscapes.
All of our staff have visited and explored India, so we know it well and really enjoy opening its doors to new visitors, and showing repeat travellers places and experiences they haven’t considered before.
Our India tour packages have been completely re-worked and updated with itineraries designed to strike a balance between including must-see sites like the Taj Mahal and the Golden Temple, with a range of different activities and local experiences much more off the beaten track. Examples could include a walk through fields and homesteads with a local villager on the opposite bank of the Yamuna River to the Taj Mahal, more exploration on foot through villages and markets, and performing Langar Sevar (helping prepare and serve food) in the huge community kitchen at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
With an updated and improved selection of hotels, including some fascinating heritage properties, smaller group sizes, and excellent drivers and guides, we’re confident in saying that our current itineraries will provides travellers with the best India tours money can buy. You will find both small-group, shoestring and tailor-made tours featured.
All of our India tour packages, including the group tour itineraries, can be run privately and customised to fit your personal requirements, interests, budget and available dates.
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The best time to visit is between October to March as the weather is warm, dry and sunny.
India usually only experiences three seasons a year – mainly, summer, monsoon, and winter. The north of India will experience extreme heat in the summer and icy cold winters . November to January is the winter season whereas April and May are the hotter months – there is a brief spring season in February and March but mainly in North India.
India experiencing autumn is debatable but the ancients have identified such a season among the five other seasons – Vasanta - Spring, Greeshma - Summer, Varsha - Rainy, Sharat - Autumn, Shishira - Winter, and Hemanta - mild winter.
The Taj Mahal - bigger and more majestic in person. This world wonder was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and took over twenty-two years to complete.
The currency in India is the Indian rupee (sign: ?; code: INR). The rupee is subdivided into 100 paise (singular: paisa). 5 rupees 75 paise would normally be written as ?5.75.
There are many ATMs in most towns, but we suggest carrying cash as a backup. A useful technique is to keep small notes (?10-50) in your wallet or in a pocket, and to keep larger notes separate. Then, it will not be obvious how much money you have.
Indian food has a well-deserved reputation for being hot, owing to the Indian penchant for the liberal use of a variety of spices, and potent fresh green chilies or red chilies powder - however the degree of spiciness does vary throughout the country.
It is, of course, impossible to do full justice to the range and diversity of Indian food - not only does every region of India have a distinctive cuisine, but you will also find that within a region its communities have different styles of cooking and often have their own signature. The adventurous traveler is to try various by lanes of the city and look for food in unlikely places like temples in search of culinary nirvana.
Indian food has a well-deserved reputation for being hot, owing to the Indian penchant for the liberal use of a variety of spices, and potent fresh green chilies or red chilies powder - however the degree of spiciness does vary throughout the country.
It is, of course, impossible to do full justice to the range and diversity of Indian food - not only does every region of India have a distinctive cuisine, but you will also find that within a region its communities have different styles of cooking and often have their own signature. The adventurous traveler is to try various by lanes of the city and look for food in unlikely places like temples in search of culinary nirvana.
I thought it was very good we didn't have to worry about anything everything was in order and kept with the schedule as planned, unless we wanted to deviated from it to do somethingelse. The trip really a trip of a life time.
There was a time many years ago that I wanted to travel to Egypt and didn't because of the cost. This trip was, to me, very affordable. I think everyone should experience this trip. The tour guide was alos excellent, Sherif Mohammad.
I liked the fact we were met at the airport and helped thru customs and getting a visa and then upon leaving taken to where we needed to go. Its always tough to figure out where everything is in a foreign airport when you do not travel much
We had a wonderful time and great memories. We felt safe the whole time and would recommend this trip to anyone of any age as long as you can walk a lot. They are with you from arrival to departure and any problems that arose the guides would try their best to solve. They also showed remarkable patience for other people in other groups we saw that were acting like idiots.
Conscientious in early communication; knowledgeable, humorous and caring tour guides; an exemplary itinerary that was well organized yet flexible; an overall extraordinary experience. I'd recommend them enthusiastically.
Took care of every single detail from prior to our arrival in Cario until we we're dropped of at the airport a week later.
Our hotels, tours, meals, and tour group we're all wonderful.
Our tour guide was wonderful!
The price was great and the people wonderful!
My experience with Encounters was excellent from start to finish. The Tour Guide, Sheriff, was the most passionate, enthusiastic and professional guide I have ever had on a tour and his love for Egypt really made me enjoy my time so much more.
I was cautious about arriving in Egypt given the current circumstances about the country, but felt safer that I did living in London as soon as I arrived. All of the Encounters staff are very professional.
Time: GMT+5:30
Dial Code: +91
Area: 3,287 million km²
Elevation: The lowest point In India is Kuttanad at ?2.2m (?7.2 ft.) | The highest point in India is Kangchenjunga at 8,586m (28,169 ft.)
Population: 1,354,051,854 (2018)
Capital: New Delhi
Governemnt: Parliamentary system
Language: Hindi, English
India also called the Republic of India is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast.
The Indian subcontinent was the birthplace of the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE. The following millennium saw the composition of the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism.
In 2017, the Indian economy was the world's sixth largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. After market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the fastest growing economies in the world and is considered a newly industrialised country.
With a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society, India also has a variety of wildlife in a collection of protected habitats. The Indian climate is greatly influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert. Four major climatic groupings predominate India: tropical dry, tropical wet, subtropical humid and montane.
The two major language families that are spoken in India include Indo-Aryan (spoken by about 74% of the population) and Dravidian (spoken by 24% of the population). India has no national language, but Hindi has the largest number of speakers and is the official language of the government. English is used in administration, business and education. India is renowned for its religious diversity and Hinduism is the predominant religion, followed by Islam.
Our video features aim to bring our adventure tours to life in a way that no photo can, giving you a great taste of the destination.
Need some travel inspiration or looking for some handy travel tips? Our blog provides excellent insight into our travel destinations - from tour updates to country guides, packing lists to little known things to do, you'll find it all in our travel blog.
Travel guide to some of the most beautiful and interesting place to visit on an Encounters Travel tour of India.
Landlocked 2,000-year-old Nepal is surrounded by China and India.
