India Beat worked with Town and Country to create a “Honeymoon of  a Lifetime.”

The magazine chose India as the perfect choice for “Culture Vultures”.

Northern India

Romantic and definitely opulent, northern India contains the sort of rich, brilliant culture that sates architecture feinds, history enthusiasts and shoppers alike. Begin in New Delhi at the Imperial, a grand old hotel where mohogany furniture sits under lofty beamed ceilings. After a night’s rest, you’re off to take a bicycle-rickshaw tour of Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi’s intensely bustling market. Lunch is at Karim’s, famous for authentic Muglai food for almost a century. Make some more buys (everything from eyeglasses to saris) at the slightly westernised Santushti Market, and enjoy dinner at the moodily lit Aman resort. The next day you will drive to Agra and arrive in time to see the sun setting behind the Taj Mahal. Gaze out at it, too, from your room at Oberoi Amarvilas, where Moorish domes and Venitian chandeliers combine to make Agra’s most beautiful hotel. Then head to Jaipur to have artisans custom pieces in as little as a few hours from massive rubies and emeralds (for a fraction of the cost you would pay back home). Continue to the eastern countryside to wander the village and farmlands that surround Chhatra Sagar resort; fill up on delicious khada masala and local maans, and nod off each evening in your ornately outfitted tent. Next stop is the city of Jodhpur, where you can pick up quilts, copper and bangles at a quiet bazaar, then explore Mehrangarh Fort, which holds treasures from the Moghul period and still feels alive with colonial troops. Next spend 2 nights on the outskirts of town at Mihir Garh, a castle-like retreat (moat, turrets, and all) in the desert sand and brush. Take a picnic lunch on a camel safari, then cool off with a dip in your plunge pool. The trip ends in Udaipur with strolls through hibiscus-fringed gardens, meals on lakefront palace verandas, tours of ancient temples and cooking lessons from the lovely Jyoti Jasol. While there, you’ll live like royalty at the Taj Lake Palace, a white-marble 18th Century edifice afloat on the lake.

Best time to go: October to March. Trip Length: Fifteen days. Priced from $6,000 per person. Book through Victoria Dyer of India Beat; 00 91 141 651 9797 or victoria@indiabeat.co.uk