Travelling is soaking up the atmosphere. Exploring is finding your sense of adventure, having no limits to your expectations. India offers both the traveller and the explorer a vast amount of opportunity over one or several visits - the possibilities are endless. However, with India being so vast and varied and with so many topographic and climatic zones, along with so many hotels of differing standards and prices, it can be a bit of a minefield when it comes to planning your perfect visit there. With people of different height, colour, religion, culture and language spread all around the different states, even combining more than one state can be like trying to combine a 2-week holiday in Iceland and Sicily. You end up rushing, and seeing / learning little about either culture / country.

Planning a trip to India can be confusing and time consuming. It is wise to stick to a smaller area and really get to know it and to work out in advance exactly what you want out of the holiday. MAhout’s long association with India, and deep knowledge of its ways and practices, can be of invaluable assistance in advising you on the perfect route and holiday – ensuring each personalised journey is absolutely right for you and your budget. We have worked with our brilliant team of people on the ground in India for 30 years and they are unsurpassed in terms of service, reliability, knowledge, efficiency and professionalism. This is essential when travelling in a country the size of India and we have our friendly staff in every state you will visit – the people looking after you on the ground can make or break a trip and we place the utmost importance on this. They have never once let me or a client down and will always go out on a limb to ensure you are happy and safe.

India is an intimate, personal country and holidays can now be tailored to suit all. With the MAhout gems, you may go off the beaten track in style and comfort or relish the highlights in authentic grandeur or historic simplicity – bespoke sojourns at their best! We can be trusted to give you totally truthful advice on all aspects of travelling within this magical land as we know our subject inside out. There is no reason only to visit the hotels we represent as there are many other parts of India that are aching to be explored, with good infrastructure, and we can work with any hotel in any part of the country – we know them all well. Some states have less in terms of hotel infrastructure but the sights you will see in these lesser visited areas will more than make up for the possibly average accommodation. At the other end of the spectrum, there are also fabulous palace hotels and exquisite spas and wellness centres that are perfect for those wanting a ‘little bit more’! Wherever you go you will still have the best of times, enjoying a perfectly planned journey!

MAhout Hotels each have their own style and identity and offer a remarkable example of sustainable tourism, each in their own way. They cannot be given star ratings and, with India being so vast and with so much to offer, sometimes it can be difficult to work out what you want to do, where you want to go and then how best to link the hotels together. MAhout Routes reveal just how many ways in which it can be done, using MAhout Hotels and often combining other cities of interest where we do not represent a hotel, thus creating the perfect itinerary of varying lengths. Many tend to rush around the country or state, trying to see and do too much, thus turning their holiday into an endurance test! This is unwise and unnecessary and here we list a few ideas which, we hope, helps you to come up with your perfect plan!

Please contact us for ideas, advice or with any queries you may have.

In Rajasthan we have a collection of hotels both in the major cities and spread around the countryside, all over the state. All can be linked into one lovely itinerary, but they also form their own ‘satellite’ itineraries around the major hubs. We believe that one can turn a visit to Rajasthan into a very leisurely, but no less exciting nor culturally less interesting journey, by visiting a small area fanning out around a major city. This allows longer, more relaxing stays, diverse hotels and cuts road travel down to a minimum – ‘slow travel’ is what it’s all about.

Our South Indian hotels link well across the area, combining Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Much of watery south Kerala is buzzy and fun, whilst north Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu remain wonderfully untouched and unexploited and our hotels can be linked together to form a fabulous itinerary.

With India boasting some stunning game parks, MAhout is proud to represent the very best properties in a wide variety of them and they all combine well in different itineraries. The main wildlife ‘hub’ is Madhya Pradesh which is hugely pretty but involves quite a bit of travel and early starts, so it’s important to end somewhere relaxing and comfortable.

The Himalayas, both in the east and the west of India, have to be amongst the most compellingly beautiful and awe-inspiring places on earth and our mountain journeys offer you a chance to explore some of these exquisite, remote wilderness areas either on foot or in exceptional, understated luxury in mountain-top lodges or exquisite tea estates.