Back in the 1990s as you entered Agra from Delhi, you would pass dancing bears on the highway. Their keepers kept them chained and forced them to dance so they could raise money from tourists who took their photos. But in 1999, Wildlife SOS and the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department founded the Agra Bear Rescue Facility. Since then they have rescued more than 250 bears and found alternate jobs for their former trainers. The facility is about a 40-minute drive from Agra and visitors can take a special guided tour to learn about the bears. Note: The facility is within the Sur Sarovar Bird Sanctuary and requires a park entrance fee. Visits by appointment only, contact Indagare's Bookings Team to arrange.

This UNESCO World Heritage Site is considered one of the most spectacular Mughal forts in India. The red sandstone and marble fort located across town from the Taj Mahal covers 94 acres and was built in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. It first served as an army stronghold, then a palace and finally as a prison for Shah Jahan when his son overthrew him (shortly after he finished the Taj Mahal). It is known for its influential architectural styles, despite parts of it being demolished by the British during their occupation. Enter through the Amar Singh Gate, and don’t miss the Jahangir Palace and the Khas Mahal.

Situated seven miles northeast of Jaipur, this was once the royal Rajput capital. Its exterior is stunning, and its ravishing Sheesh Mahal (“Palace of Mirrors”) and marble former audience hall are worth a visit.  Don't miss the views down into the gardens below. At the end of the visit, you can grab a café and pop into outposts of Tulsi and Hot Pink in the rampart rooms. There are often snake charmers by the exits as well. Members can contact our Bookings Team for help organizing custom touring.

Set in a stunning 400-year-old haveli, this pristine museum showcases block printing, in turn working to preserve and raise awareness about the endangered craft. Visitors can watch daily printing and wood carving demonstrations and tour galleries explaining regional prints and the dyeing process. The restoration of the haveli itself won the family owners a UNESCO conservation award and is worth seeing in its own right.

Proof of the city’s maturing art scene, this gallery moved from a humble 200-square-foot space to its current location, a Victorian-era warehouse, in 2007. Owned by husband and wife duo Mortimer Chatterjee and Tara Lal, the gallery works with an impressive roster of emerging talent including performance artist Nikhil Chopra, Berlin-based Sophie Ernst and influential Pakistani artist Rashid Rana.

The history of this family-owned art space goes back to 1940s when the Gandys, who ran a frame manufacturing business, realized there was no real venue for contemporary artists to display their works. Many of these artists, such as S. H. Raza and M.F. Husain, had been coming into the original Chemould Frames store to purchase frames for their canvases. And so, the first Gallery Chemould was established within the Jehangir Art Gallery and then relocated to this present-day expansive space. The Gandys’ daughter, Shireen, joined on in 1988 and began bringing young emerging artists to the gallery, hosting Subodh Gupta’s first solo show. Also among the artist roster: Atul Dodiya, Jitish Kallat, Nilima Sheikh and Vivan Sundaram.

A delightful introduction to Mogul and Rajput architecture and culture, the City Palace, in the center of Jaipur, displays the extravagant handiwork for which the region has long been known. An architectural whimsy of elaborate carvings and columns adorned with floral designs in gold and colored stones, the building houses an excellent museum with extensive collections of historical costumes, armor, carriages, carpets, furniture and paintings. After viewing the gorgeously painted Hall of Private Audience, gaze up at the present maharaja’s palace, known as Chandra Mahal, or Moon Palace. Note: there’s a quiet café tucked away on the palace grounds as well as a nice gift shop. The Jantar Mantar observatory is also worth a visit. Members can contact our Bookings Team for help organizing custom touring.

The City Palace was built concurrently with the establishment of Udaipur city by Maharana Udai Singh in 1559 and his successor Maharanas over a period of 300 years. Forced to flee the Mughal invasion in the Mewar Kingdom of Chittor, Udai Singh established the new capital in Udaipur, which was well-protected by lakes and forests (the city palace sits on Lake Pichola and can be seen from the Taj Lake Palace and Oberoi Udaivilas). Udaipur was one of the few Rajasthani cities that fended off Muslim invaders and thus has a rich Hindu influence and history. The current Maharana and his family still live in a section of the palace, considered the largest royal complex in Rajasthan.

Founded in 1988 after the worldwide success of Mira Neir’s film Salaam Bombay, which featured Indian street children, Salaam Balaak has been named one of the most effective NGOs in India. The daughter of a social worker, Neir began the organization to help some of the millions of runaway children who end up on the streets of cities like Mumbai and Delhi. Salaam means salute and Balaak is the spirit of the child. The organization began with 25 kids and three staffers; today its 145 employees assist 6,000 children. On the City Walk, children who have gone through the program lead visitors through the streets of Delhi and share their personal stories as well as the history of the organization. Proceeds fund Salaam Balaak. Contact the Indagare Bookings Team to arrange.

Adjacent to the City Palace, the Crystal Gallery holds hundreds of crystal pieces – including a crystal canopy bed – imported to India in 1877 from Birmingham, England. The collector, Maharana Saijan Singh, died before viewing many of the pieces, and they have been on display ever since.

Mumbai’s lunch box delivery system has been canonized in the recent hit movie The Lunchbox and reviewed as a Harvard Business School Case study for its incredibly low error rate. Every workday, more than 20,000 hot, homemade lunches are delivered to offices around the vast financial capital by approximately 5,000 dabbawalas (which translates to “those who carry a box”). With a complex coding and sorting system, the error rate is said to be as low as one mistake in 6 million. To see the sorting in action, it is necessary to go to the central pick-up area near the train station (Churchgate or Victoria) between 11:30 and noon. Contact the Indagare Bookings Team to arrange for a city tour, which includes a visit.

The largest open-air laundry in the world, Mumbai’s Dhobi Ghat Laundry lies in the Mahalaxmi area, and it is estimated that roughly half a million pieces are cleaned a day by close to 500 dhobis, or washermen. Garments and linens arrive from hotels, individuals and retail operations that have their fashions pre-washed here. Then, they are sorted, dried and ironed by different workers in a highly efficient system that thrives because the human labor remains cheaper than using a washing machine would be. The best views are from a highway overpass that allows you to look into the acres of concrete washing tubs lined with shanties where dhobis and their families live, but if you want to descend for an up-close tour you can. Contact the Indagare Bookings Team to arrange for a city tour, which includes a visit.

Reopened in 2008 after a painstaking restoration (that earned it a UNESCO award), this 134-year-old city museum showcases Indian objects of art and 19th-century photographs of the city. Even if you’re not as interested in the collection, the building itself, with its ornate ceilings, cast ironwork and tiled staircase is worth a visit.

An interaction with an elephant is an unforgettable experience by itself, but getting the chance to paint it (a traditional practice in Jaipur) is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Members can contact our Bookings Team for help.

This UNESCO World Heritage site is a boat ride away from the city but well worth the trip. Once you arrive at the small island, you have a walk of about a half mile that includes 120 steps (most of which are lined with souvenir sellers) before you reach the magnificent temple to Shiva that is carved out of the rocks. The fabulous structure, with Hindu and Buddhist figures that date between the 5th and 8th centuries, is a reminder of an ancient and lost civilization. The highlight is the central three-headed Shiva with aspects of the creator, preserver and destroyer. The ferries that leave from the  Gateway to India take about an hour each way, but our Bookings Team can arrange for a private motor boat to cut the travel time to around 20 minutes. The ideal way to visit is to leave the Gateway to India by private boat at 8:15 am and arrive before anyone else so you can explore the temple with only the resident monkeys.

This small museum celebrates Mahatma Gandhi's life and teachings. Exhibitions are multimedia and can take all forms, including works playing with shadows and symbolic artifacts. Gandhi himself lived in this house for the final days of his life.

Located 40 kilometers west of Agra, the ancient city of Fatehpur Sikri is considered by many to be the most beautiful ancient structure in India. The UNESCO World Heritage Site served as the pleasure palace of Emperor Akbar from 1571 to 1585. The structure was constructed after a Sufi holy man there prophesied that the emperor would have three sons and his three wives subsequently became pregnant with boys. Akbar moved his wives to Fatehpur Sikri and embarked on a major building program, turning what is believed to have been a small Hindu city into a Mughal capital. At its height, Fatehpur Sikri was purportedly larger than London at the same time. The city’s exquisite red-sandstones palaces, stables, pavilions, courtyards and mosques—including Jama Masjid, one of India’s biggest mosques—were abandoned after Akbar’s death, but their intricate carvings remain. One could easily spend a day exploring the vast grounds and various buildings, but set aside at least a few hours with an historic guide.

Ranjana Steinruecke ran a contemporary Indian art gallery in Berlin before returning to Mumbai to start this space, right behind the Taj hotel, with her mother in 2006. The gallery works with several emerging to mid-career artists from India and beyond.

During the days of the British Raj, dignitaries including King George V and Queen Mary, arrived and were met at this 33-foot-tall basalt arch. After India got its independence in 1947, the last British troops also departed through here.

Situated 1,500 feet off of Mumbai’s shores, in the middle of the Arabian Sea, this early 20th-century mosque is dedicated to Iranian saint Haji Ali Shah Bukhari, who is celebrated for spreading knowledge about Islam and rests in a white marble tomb within. The pathway leading to the mosque can only be used in low tide, as high tides and heavy monsoon rain often submerge it in water. The exterior of the mosque, along with its miniarets and domes, is lit nightly.

Adjacent to the City Palace, the so-called Palace of the Winds is a five-tiered, pink confection built in 1799 for the ladies of the royal household. Peering through the lacy sandstone carving the women could view daily life on the streets without being seen. The apparently vast building is really a trompe l’oeil, since the top three stories are each just one-room deep. Members can contact our Bookings Team for help organizing custom touring.

This incredible tomb was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal, yet it has a more intimate feel thanks to its location in a leafy park. The architectural feat is constructed out of red sandstone and marble and decorated in ornate patterns. The top level affords views of the Tomb, Delhi and the surrounding gardens, which are a peaceful spot to escape to from the busy city.

For a very special visit, Indagare members can contact our Bookings Team and ask them to arrange an after-hours visit with a curator tour, Champagne on the ramparts at sunset and dinner in the gardens. Having Jodhpur’s most treasured site all to yourself is already an incredible experience, but going with a local expert who can put it all into perspective makes it truly unforgettable.

Jodhpur is a magnet for interior decorators and designers who come to buy antique and reproduction furniture. There are warehouses of antiques and curios and for those on a real mission, we recommend working with a trusted local expert who knows the best sources and can help with negotiating and shipping. Indagare members can contact our Bookings Team to be connected with a trusted personal shopper.

Touring the main sights with a guide who can give you background on the local history and Maharana’s family ins and outs will make for a much more interesting visit than exploring on your own. Indagare can arrange for a native of the region and a relative of the royal family to escort you and give you the colorful background or set up a cooking class and meal with a noble family so you can meet and get to know first hand some of the local customs.

A bike ride is a unique way to explore Udaipur’s beautiful countryside and spectacular lakes. Indagare members can contact our Bookings Team to arrange bike tours suited for riders of all skill levels.

Preparing northern Indian specialties with a local family is a unique experience that shows what domestic life is like in India. Indagare members can contact our Bookings Team to arrange.