India’s 

Golden 

Triangle 

and 

the 

Sacred 

River 

Ganges 

Fly-Cruise

We depart from Auckland Airport on Air New Zealand in the late morning, arriving in Singapore late afternoon. There will be a private car transfer to hotel on arrival.

Fullerton Hotel Singapore
1 Fullerton Square,
Marina Bay,
Singapore
2 nights incl breakfast

Day at leisure to explore Singapore

This afternoon we will have a private car transfer to the airport. Late afternoon we will depart from Singapore on Singapore Airlines onward to Delhi, arriving in the evening. On arrival we will have a private car transfer from the airport to the hotel.

Arrive at New Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport. You will be greeted by a Uniworld representative and
transferred to the Oberoi New Delhi hotel.

Oberoi New Delhi
Dr Zakir Hussain Marg, Delhi Golf Club
New Delhi
India
Three nights including breakfast

India’s sprawling capital city is colourful, confounding, and captivating. Your expertly led city tour provides an
ideal first foray into this fascinating land. To cap your day taking in the sights of scenic New Delhi, relax this
evening over a delicious dinner at the Oberoi.

Travel down the broad boulevards of New Delhi, laid out early in the 20th century after the British moved the
capital of the Raj from Kolkata to New Delhi and created a new administrative city just south of the old city.

Sir Edwin Lutyens, a noted British architect, was given the task of designing this new city, which is still known as Lutyens' Delhi; though the British are long gone, this area continues to house India’s government. The
British were by no means the only conquerors to make New Delhi their capital. It was also the capital of the
Mughal Empire for centuries, so it hosts spectacular examples of Mughal architecture, including Humayun’s
Tomb, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Humayun’s Tomb, erected in 1570, was the first Mughal Garden tomb
in India (and a model for the Taj Mahal and Birla House). Your panoramic tour includes a look at the enormous fort where the emperors lived. The old phrase says that “Delhi belongs to the large-hearted,” and no one was larger hearted than Mahatma Gandhi, the founder of modern India, whose memorial, Raj Ghat, is also on the itinerary today.

You have some free time after your tour to explore this exciting city on your own—you’ll find goods from all over India in bustling Connaught Place, in case you want to indulge in some shopping, and the National Museum displays 5,000 years of India’s arts and artifacts. You may opt for the optional tour to Qutab Minar and the Jagannath Hindu Temple.

Continue exploring Delhi today.

This morning you will check out of your New Delhi hotel and head south via motorcoach to Agra, the site of Shah Jahan’s best-known building project, the exquisite Taj Mahal. You’ll visit the Taj Mahal this afternoon and stay for sunset, as the monument’s changing colours draw comparisons to the shifting mood of the late Emperor’s wife.

Arrive this afternoon at the luxurious Oberoi Amarvilas. Relax over lunch there and then check into your room, where you will be delighted to discover that your room—indeed, every room—has a view of the Taj Mahal, your next destination for the day.

Oberoi Amarvilas
Taj East Gate Rd, Paktola
Tajganj, Agra
Two nights including breakfast

It’s easily the most famous building in India, and one of the most famous in the world, with its white domes and minarets floating serenely above the reflecting pools—and you will encounter it just as the setting sunbathes the white marble in a panoply of colours. It’s a monument to a love story between a great ruler, Shah Jahan, and a learned and powerful woman, his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

After she died giving birth to their 14th child, he gathered some 20,000 craftsmen to build her mausoleum, who endowed it with dazzling translucent marble carvings inlaid with precious and semiprecious stones. Step through the gate and into the symmetrical gardens and experience one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Is the Taj Mahal best seen at sunset or sunrise? It’s an impossible question to answer, so Uniworld guests have the rare pleasure of experiencing both. Wake up early this morning to see the white marble monument aglow with the rosy tinge of dawn.

Awake early in the morning for a return visit to the Taj Mahal, which will take on the rosy, pink tints of sunrise as you arrive. The gates open as the sun lifts above the horizon, and you enter the exquisite precincts, which you may explore at your leisure. You’ll return to your hotel for lunch before you head by motorcoach to the third city in the Golden Triangle, Jaipur. Capital of the state of Rajasthan, strewn with massive palaces, it was founded and carefully planned in the 18th century by Maharaja Jai Singh II (who gave the new city his name),
so even the old part of the city is laid out on a grid. The Singh family’s influence is still felt in Jaipur, though all hereditary titles in India were discontinued in 1971.

You’ll spend your next two nights at the beautiful Oberoi Rajvilas. The luxury hotel sits on 32 acres of landscaped gardens and is built around an ancient Shiva temple.

Oberoi Rajvilas
Babaji Ka Modh, Prem Nagar
Jaipur, India
Two nights including breakfast

Pink is the colour of hospitality in Rajasthan, which gives you an idea of what to expect in the “Pink City” of Jaipur.

Today we fly to Kolkatta and transfer to the riverport to join your cruise.

Settle into your beautifully appointed suite aboard the Ganges Voyager II to begin your India river cruise.

Kalna, once an important trade port on the river, is best known today for the magnificent Hindu temples built by the maharajas of Bardhaman— which you’ll experience today. After marvelling at the astonishing Rajbari temple complex, you may opt to walk with your guide through the colourful local market. Featured excursions included in your journey.

Stroll along the streets of Kalna as you head to the Rajbari temple complex. The Pratapeshwar Temple, built in 1849, is embellished with exceptional terra-cotta carvings depicting myths and rituals, as well as scenes of everyday life (see if you can spot the girl in typical Victorian dress with a violin among the hundreds of figures). Lalji, the oldest temple in the complex, dates to 1739; the three-storied structure is topped with 25 distinctive pinnacles. Next to it is Krishna Chandra, built in a similar style.

Across the street you’ll find the amazing Naba Kailash, two concentric circles of intricately carved temples dedicated to Shiva. The inner circle
is made up of 34 white temples symbolising pure thought; the outer circle contains 74 temples symbolising
the everyday world. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience supports Global Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Your ship serves as a time machine today, transporting you hundreds of years into the past, as we travel to the authentic artisan village of Matiari. - Featured excursions included in your journey

Artisans have been making ornamental brass objects— vases, lamps, figurines, platters—in Matiari for more than a century, so it’s no wonder that production is so well-organised and the craftsmen so skilful. Scrap metal is melted in the village foundry and pressed into new sheets of brass, which are then turned into various objects. Each craftsman specialises in a different step of the process, so one artisan might cut the metal, while another shapes it into a wide tray, and yet another etches an intricate pattern onto the surface.

The sound of hammer on brass will fill the air as you stroll from workshop to workshop to see each step of the fascinating process. Back onboard, watch as a skilled practitioner of mehndi demonstrates how the intricate henna patterns are created, and discover the meanings of the traditional motifs. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience supports Global Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Today’s adventures take you to a duo of Bengali towns—Murshidabad and Baranagar—each one boasting surprising and beautiful architectural monuments closely linked to the ruling families of the area. - Featured excursions included in your journey.

Climb aboard a horse-drawn buggy for a ride to Katra Mosque, built in 1723 by the first nawab, Murshid Quli Khan, who gave his name to the town. The huge mosque was damaged by an earthquake in 1897, losing two of its four great towers, but it is still a remarkable sight. Your visit continues in Murshidabad long ago the capital of Bengal and an important administrative centre during the Raj—a fact that comes clear as the ship rounds a bend in the river and you behold Hazarduari Palace. This massive neoclassical building was erected in the mid-19th century for British officials, who lived and had their offices in its 114 rooms. One might wonder why the architect, Colonel Duncan Macleod of the Bengal Corps, thought the building needed a thousand doors, but that’s how many it has—900 of them are real doors, and the remaining 100 are false.

It is now a museum, which you will visit. Return to the ship for lunch and cruise to the town of Baranagar, where Rani Bhabani built beautiful brick temples in the 18th century. Goats frolic among them now and vines attempt to take them over, but the terra-cotta carvings are considered among the best in Bengal, and the temples are well-tended.

After your tour, if time and weather allow, you can learn a bit about one of the Raj’s enduring legacies in India: a passion for that most British of all games, cricket. It remains India’s favourite sport, and the national team, nicknamed the “Men in Blue,” has won the Cricket World Cup more than once.
The game is played in schools, in fields, even on village streets; watch it in action and discover the meaning of terms like “long leg,” “fast bowler” and “run out.”

One of the world’s most sacred bodies of water, the Ganges River flows through a myriad of small villages and highly populated cities throughout India and Bangladesh. Take in the remarkable scenery as you sail and be on the lookout for a rare sighting of the endangered Ganges River dolphin. Also today, watch as a skilled practitioner of mehndi demonstrates how the intricate henna patterns are created, and discover the meanings of the traditional motifs. - Featured excursions included in your journey.

Khusbagh, which literally translates to “Garden of Happiness,” is the garden-graveyard of the Nawabs of Bengal. Several historic rulers of this region, including Siraj ud-Daulah and Alivardi Khan, were laid to rest here. Take a walk through the village here, with a visit to see the mausoleum and the arcade verandah that
surrounds it.

Few places of worship exist on such a head-spinning scale as what you will witness today in Mayapur, the
centre of the international Hare Krishna movement and home to the new Temple of the Vedic Planetarium, still under construction. Most students of history know a thing or two about the British colonial powers in India, but few are aware that the French had colonies here as well. You’ll visit this former French outpost
today.

As the ship comes into sight of Mayapur, look for the new Vedic temple currently under construction.

Funded in part by Alfred Ford, great-grandson of Henry Ford, the temple is designed to be larger than St. Paul’s Cathedral in London once completed. The new temple construction coincides with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Hare Krishna movement, whose founder was born in Mayapur.

Millions of Hare Krishna devotees come from all over the world to this pilgrimage site; as you walk through Mayapur’s
bazaar to the temple complex, you may well spot expatriates from America, Canada, and Europe. Colourful parades of followers often weave through the streets, adding to the hustle and bustle of the lively, vivid scene. You’ll tour the existing temple complex, get a look at the new Vedic Planetarium, and learn something about the beliefs of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness.

“Liberté, Egalité et Fraternité.” These words, the famous slogan of the French Revolution, are inscribed on the gateposts of Chandannagar, a mark of the centuries the town was a French outpost in West Bengal.

In fact, Chandannagar did not officially become part of India until 1952, so when you step ashore here you will find a mixture of French Colonial and Indian architecture. A broad, tree-lined riverfront promenade known as the Strand shows off the handsomest remaining French buildings, and a river winds its way through the town. Chandannagar actually earned its name from the crescent shape of the river, as the Hindi word “chand”
translates to “moon.”

Our visit to Chandannagar today includes a stop at the 19th-century Church of the
Sacred Heart, as well as the Chandernagore College Museum. The building that houses the museum—which
retains an earlier name for the city, from before the mass renaming of Indian city names to better reflect native pronunciation that took place after India gained independence in 1947—was a centre for revolution during India's fight for freedom. Now, the heritage wing of the building is a museum dedicated to the revolution and Chandannagar’s history and culture. Local NGOs partner with this museum, and you’ll have
the opportunity to browse handmade wares whose proceeds go towards supporting the local orphanages
and other groups in need.

The city of Kolkata is synonymous with the enduring legacies of Mother Teresa and the colonial-era British Raj, both of which you will get better acquainted with today. - Featured excursions included in your journey.

Continue this morning with a panoramic tour of Kolkata’s city centre. The first stop? A visit to the captivatingly
colourful Flower Market. Located adjacent to the Howrah Bridge, this vibrant and bustling market is filled
with vendors and buyers exchanging money for flowers to be used in festivals, rituals, weddings, and more.
Next, you can choose to visit the NGO Calcutta Rescue, or you can see Mother Teresa's home and tomb.

After lunch, you’ll venture to Kumartuli, a traditional potters’ neighbourhood that specialises in making intricate clay idols, for a look at this complex and fascinating time-honoured tradition. Next, on your way back to the ship, you'll see the many remnants of Kolkata's colonial past. Though teeming Kolkata is home to palaces and tenements, new developments and modern office buildings, grand hotels and parks, its historic architecture reflects its status as the longtime administrative heart of the British Raj. The colonial buildings
still standing—and still in use—offer a blend of baroque and neoclassical styles that say much about British colonial taste. Perhaps the most surprising is the red and-white façade of the Calcutta High Court building— a replica of the city hall in Ypres, Belgium. You’ll see it as well as the stately Palladian dome of Government House, the classical white columns of Town Hall, the red-brick Writers’ Building, and the enormous General Post Office.

Then stop for a photo op outside the Victoria Memorial Museum—which was partly inspired by the Taj Mahal. Built as a tribute to Queen Victoria after her death, this huge white-marble structure houses an illuminating exhibition on the colonial era.

Select your choice of these carefully curated excursions, which
operate at the same time.

She came to India in 1929, after growing up in Macedonia and joining a Loreto nunnery in Ireland, and two decades later she founded her own order, the Missionaries of Charity, devoted to the “salvation and sanctification of the poorest of the poor.” Visit the Mother House, where she lived and worked for decades; see her simply furnished room and the tiny museum devoted to her—her Nobel Peace Prize medal is on display, along with informative newspaper clippings and photos—and her tomb. It’s a modest and serene
spot devoted to one of the most influential women ever to live in the city. - This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience supports Global Goal 1: No Poverty; and Global Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities.

This morning, you’ll visit the local NGO Calcutta Rescue, which serves the area’s underprivileged children.

They provide much-needed services at no cost to the neediest people of Kolkata and West Bengal — regardless of gender, age, caste, or religion—through health clinics, schools, vocational training, and preventative health programs.

You’ll hear about the impact Calcutta Rescue has made over the last 30 years and get some insight on some of their current projects. - This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience supports
Global Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities.

Your incredible Indian adventure ends early this morning, as you disembark the ship. You will be transferred by Uniworld to the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport for your flight home. Or, extend your journey with an optional extension to Varanasi.

We depart on Singapore Airlines bound for Singapore just before midnight. Flying overnight, we arrive into Singapore early morning. With a connecting flight on Singapore Airlines to Auckland, we depart bound for Auckland just before 9am, arriving into Auckland just before midnight.