Maharajas, Mountains and Monks
Other Suggested Itineraries: South by Southwest | Treasures of India's Northwest | South India - Tamil Nadu | Ladakh and Kashmir
Maharajas, Mountains and Monks
Day 1 - Calcutta
VIP arrival at Calcutta airport. Mercedes limousine to Taj Mahal hotel where you check into your luxurious suite. Dinner at one of the Taj's fine hotel restaurants.
Day 2
One of the Maharaja of Burdwan's drivers will pick you up in the morning and take you to the Calcutta Polo Club, the oldest private polo club in the world. Have lunch with the Maharaja and his wife while watching a polo match.
Take a private tour of the fascinating city with its elegant (and sometimes crumbling) old colonial architecture.
Attend a private cocktail party and dinner at the Maharaja's home where you will meet and dine with Calcutta's intelligentsia and aristocracy.
Day 3
Go riding or play golf or tennis at the Tollygunge Club, an exclusive country club. Enjoy a champagne lunch at the Club outside on the lawn with the Maharaja and his wife.
After lunch have a private tour of the Victoria Memorial Museum with the museum curator, who takes you into the private back rooms.
In the evening be a guest at a sensational Indian wedding.
Day 4
Fly to Bagdogra, then drive several hours through the Himalayas to the remote hill station of Darjeeling, famed as a center of tea cultivation.
You will stay in the lovely summer palace of the Maharaja of Burdwan perched on the edge of a breathtaking gorge at an altitude of almost 7,000 feet, with magnificent views of the snow-capped Himalayas above and the lush tea plantations below.
End your day with a gourmet, traditional Bengali dinner in the palace.
Day 5
Rise early to drive to Tiger Hill (8,500 feet) where you will witness the spectacular, world-famous sunrise over Kangchenjunga (28,169 feet), the third highest mountain in the world after Mount Everest and K2. You will also see the peak of Mount Everest just behind Kangchenjunga, which is on the border of Nepal and India.
Afterwards have a private tour of the Ghoom monastery, and meet and have tea with the most senior monks.
Ride back to Darjeeling on the UNESCO World Heritage-protected Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, or "Toy Train", a charming narrow-gauge railway built in the late 19th century that's still hauled by steam locomotive through the high Himalayan peaks.
Tour a tea plantation, and have lunch at the owner's home, including, of course, a tasting of the excellent locally grown tea.
Return to the palace for a cocktail party and dinner with Darjeeling's most colorful people.
Day 6
Drive through the astonishingly beautiful Himalayan foothills to Sikkim, which was once a separate Buddhist kingdom with its own monarchy but has been governed by India since 1975. The last queen was actually an American socialite named Hope Cooke, born in San Francisco and now living in New York.
Visit a terraced orchid farm spilling down the side of a steep mountain; over 500 exotic species of rare and endangered orchids live in Sikkim and are flown all over the world to be sold.
Have a traditional dinner in Gangtok, the capital city, with some of the remaining Sikkim royalty.
Day 7
Visit Happiness Home, a Gangtok orphanage for girls, and take some of the charming young residents to lunch at a local restaurant.
In the afternoon take a helicopter (wearing oxygen) through the breathtaking Himalayas up near the peak of Kangchenjunga.
In the evening have dinner at the home of a top Sikkim chef where you'll be joined by his interesting local friends. Have an informal private cooking class with him in the kitchen while he prepares the gourmet meal, then sample his recipes during a delicious and entertaining dinner.
Day 8
Depart for home.