Rajasthan: Roads Less Travelled and Ahmedabad - Post JLF Tour

Jaipur is the heartland for may of India's finest crafts - textiles, block printing, ceramics, jewellery and is becoming more cosmopolitan by the year with new funky bars, innovative restaurants and charming boutique hotels.
Marieke will escort you to meet some of the leading artisans in their inspiring ateliers. Overnight at a chic and artistic small hotel.

This morning travel to Nawalgarh – one of the key villages in the renowned Shekhawati region, boasting a couple of the best preserved frescoed havelis. These havelis, many now neglected, were built by wealthy merchants in the 18th and 19th C who engaged artists from Jaipur to decorate the interior and exterior walks with wonderful frescoes depicting, spiritual and religious themes, daily and courtly life and the influence of European settlement. Overnight: Sikar.

A rural halt of two nights- the inspiration of the gracious Maria Grazia Baldan who spent five years restoring this fort haveli into a luxurious 10-key property where Italian flair meets classical Rajasthani architecture. Tranquil gardens, home grown fruit and vegetables, a stunning pool, fountain filled courtyards create a divine environment away from the usual hustle and bustle of Indian cities.

Today visit and stay inside the renovated original Queen's quarters of the Fort of Ahhichatragarh, built in the early 12th century and repeatedly altered over subsequent centuries. Since 1985 the fort was placed in the care of the Mehrangarh Museum Trust and has gradually been restored to its former glory with the support of grants from the Getty Foundation, the UK-based Helen Hamlyn Trust and Aga Khan Foundation. The Palaces and historic spaces display period furniture, objects and an amazing group of wall paintings, and the many fountains are flowing again in the gardens.

Three nights are spent in Jodhpur - the Blue City -staying in an intimate restored haveli created by Cathy Blundell, a collector and designer who has lived in the city over twenty years designing furniture and interiors.
Her enviable collection of antiques, objet d'art and vintage pieces decorate the suites and public spaces. Streets lined with antiques, bustling bazaars, the majestic Mehrangarh Fort and Royal Cenotaphs are some of the highlights of this endearing city.

Today's focus is on local textiles with a hands-on experience. Jodhpur is best known for Bandhani - a tie and dye technique that is deeply rooted in the cultural fabric of Rajasthan and utilises a resist-dyeing technique where fabric is tied and dyed, creating a huge variety patterns when the ties are removed. Time permitting, you'll also explore the laborious, ingenious tradition of block printing.

Today head out to the Thar Desert on a day’s safari to understand the sustainable lifestyle practiced for centuries by the Bishnoi tribes – forever conservationists living peaceably with nature, animals and wildlife and the seasons to see their weaving, carpet making (dhurries), pottery, textiles and jewellery.

Head south to the Jawai region in the Aravalli Hills. Here you’ll discover a destination that blends natural beauty in a dramatic boulder strewn landscape, wildlife encounters with the elusive leopards who call this region home, a unique human-wildlife interaction witnessed in the fast disappearing lifestyle of the red turbaned Rabaris, and sunsets over the vast Jawai Dam.

Morning and evening jeep safaris with famous naturalist and wildlife photographer, Shatrunjay Pratap Singh who spent two years successfully fighting for a victory and revolution for conserving Bera’s leopards.
Also visit a rabari village.

This morning drive 2 hours to Mt Abu, Rajasthan’s only hill station where several royal families built their holiday houses.
The remarkable Jain temples are Mt Abu’s most significant attraction and feature some of India’s finest temple decoration.
Stay overnight in a newly redesigned heritage boutique hotel in Rajasthan’s hill station, with a winning location perched on a high rocky plateau in the Aravalli Range,

A rising centre of education, information technology and scientific industries, Ahmedabad remains the cultural and commercial heart of Gujarat and much of western India and is now undergoing considerable expansion and modernization, yet still boasts over fifty mosques and tombs, as well as Hindu and Jain temples and grand step-wells as well as modernist le Corbusier buildings.
Your residence the last three nights is at the city's most salubrious heritage hotel.

Today, visit the 1026 A.D. Sun Temple of Modhera that is designed so that at the solar Equinoxes the first ray of the rising sun let up the images of the Sun god. You also visit one of the most astounding stepwells in India that was discovered in almost pristine condition in the 1980’s and boasts very beautiful classical sculpture.
Stopping at Patan, a beautiful old town with Jain Temples and carved wooden houses you visit the famous Home of Patola silk saris, one of the last homes for double ikat.

Today’ highlight is a visit to the exceptional Calico Museum of Textiles.
India's long textile tradition is highlighted with its collection of five centuries of the finest textiles that were spun, woven, printed, and painted in different parts of India. Gandhi's ashram is also included as well as one of India's finest Art Bookshops. A farewell banquet this evening at the hotel terrace.

This morning is curated according to guest's interests: Le Corbusier buildings, bazaars, wonderful museums, historical walk, textile shopping....
SQ flights leave in the late evening, so a late checkout and lunch are included.
transfer to the airport for your international departure.