India
COMPILED BY KENDALL FLETCHER
Unite and unwind in India
can marry in an actual Bollywood film studio with complete
theme setup and colorful costumes.
“We also specialize in royal Maharaja-style weddings in
Rajasthan and beach weddings in Goa, (and we) offer complete
wedding solutions,” Marwah says.
This year, he’s also focused on offering more reasons for
leisure travelers to stay in India for a minimum of two weeks
and travel across the country.
“For North Americans, traveling to India is a minimum
14-hour flight,” he says. “When they stay for two-plus weeks,
we try and help them experience culture, religion, nature,
food, customs we follow, traditions and wildlife in India. Our
India has become a popular setting for lavish destination
weddings, and Uday Marwah, owner of Uday Tours and Travel
Pvt. Ltd., has added a division to his company that manages
wedding events in India and Sri Lanka.
“[The] Indian landscape is an excellent backdrop to the spe-
cial occasion of a wedding. It is one of the leading countries
for destination nuptials,” he says. “In India, we have breath-
taking palaces and forts, backwaters or beaches bathed in the
orange glow of sunsets. India makes for the perfect setting.”
Uday Tours and Travel offers a full list of accommodations
for couples and their guests, as well as hospitality manage-
ment, celebrity invites and bands for events. One unique
option offered is Bollywood-style weddings, in which couples
new tour of Rajasthan and Central India now includes meet-
ing, staying and interacting with locals during the journey.
India offers lots of things to see and explore.”
The compan y’s other tours include cultural, adventure,
beach, golf, agriculture and incentive packages.
For more information on Indian destination weddings and
leisure tours, contact Marwah at [email protected] or visit
udaytour.com.
Food for the soul: culinary tours of India
Specialized culinary tours in India are becoming more popular, including the offerings from the following two NTA members:
Delectable Destinations offers customized small group tours to
India, each with itineraries planned by Carol Ketelson, European
culture and culinary arts specialist. Ketelson teaches travelers the
art of preparing food for the soul and body, and the history and
passion behind many of India’s well-known dishes.
Upcoming tours feature 14 days in India with interactive cook-
ing classes, chef-guided market tours, culinary walks, fine dining
and exploring the inner regions of Rajasthan and Delhi. A cooking
Street food in Delhi
session and lunch will be held at Sujan in Jaipur, where partici-
pants will receive customized chef caps and Sujan aprons.
They will visit Glenburn plantation and experience a guided
tour and tastings of Darjeeling tea, and they will walk through
the tea fields and interact with the Glenburn tea pickers. The tour
also will include five-star accommodations and cultural excursions
to palaces, villages and marketplaces.
For more information, visit delectabledestinations.com.
“Journey of the Senses” is a 10-day cultural and culinary delights
tour of India’s finest cuisines offered by Pacific Delights Tours .
While group members are immersed in India’s distinctive culinary
scene, they’re also taking in the land’s rich history, architecture
and countryside.
In Delhi, travelers take a cooking class and have dinner with
culinary expert and author Komal Taneja. They visit the markets
of New Delhi, where they can sample spices, nuts, locally made
pickles and edible sheets of silver. In Agra, they gather for dinner
at Peshawari Restaurant: ITC Mughal. A local family will host the
group and offer a hands-on demonstration of making chapatti, an
Indian bread. Travelers can enjoy king crab and tandoori dishes at
Trishna Restaurant in Mumbai.
For more information, visit pacificdelighttours.com.
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