We feel that the best way to explore a city is with a local, who knows a place better than someone who was born and raised there? Moving one step on from that, we have narrowed it down to particular specialists in destinations. Would you like to discover the spices and vegetables in the market and then learn how to turn these into a wonderful Indian meal? Would you like to see the city as it is waking up as you cycle by? How about capturing those exclusive images with a photography expert? Below is a selection of the specialist activities we delight in including in an itinerary for you as per your interest.
TITLYY – TOURS WITH LOCALS
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Titlyy – Tours With Locals
Cycling
Cycling is a big part of life in India, but generally speaking it’s out of necessity not or sport or fun! If you look at the roads during most of the day time, then it seems it would be a white-knuckle ride, BUT, an early morning cycle tour of a city, before the traffic builds up is a great way of seeing the city as it is waking up. Milk and papers being delivered, the fragrant flower markets, pujas being performed outside homes and shops and stopping for a morning chai. A great way to explore a city and stretch the legs too!
City Walking Tours
The Old Cities in India are a maze of seemingly impossibly narrow streets crowded with bikes and rickshaws and motor bikes and bazaars. They are fascinating to saunter around, getting a true sense of how India used to be, with the markets and street food and tiny shops selling all sorts from car parts to wedding regalia! The best way to explore is on foot, any other form of transport just doesn’t work and we have found the best guides in each of the cities who can negotiate the streets and truly showcase to you these chaotic and cramped old cities in their finest light.
Culinary Experiences
India is synonymous with its food, everyone appreciates it’s famed curries but have you ever wondered about the different spices and oils that go into making these? Is making a delicious Indian meal as easy or more difficult than you would expect. How do you make chapattis? Each region of India has different food with different stories and reasons behind each recipe. We have a variety of culinary experiences that can help you to decipher all of the above, from visits to spice and vegetable markets to meals at home with a family to learning to cook your own Indian meal.
Photo Tours
India is quite simply a photographer’s paradise, it is impossible to move even 500m without finding something that you will want to photograph, but how to make the best of these opportunities? Whether you are an amateur wanting to get to grips with your new camera or a professional photographer wanting to know where the best shots can be taken from, our professional photography guides will be able to help. Spend time exploring with them and end up with photo’s that will be fit to adorn your walls when you get home!
Jeep Safaris
A jeep safari is a great way to get out of the cities and explore the countryside, even if you don’t have time for a couple of nights in a more rural location. Particularly surrounding Jaipur and Jodhpur there are some wonderful villages and the country around here provides the opportunity to witness rural life as it happens. A morning or afternoon jeep safari out of the city provides you with the opportunity to see a very different side of India.
Yoga
India is the birthplace of Yoga and so where better to sample this than during your visit here? Whether you are a beginner who would like their first experience to be in India or a regular practitioner of yoga, we can include a morning yoga session for you as part of your tour, or curate an entire holiday for you to discover more about this ancient practice.
NGO’s
There are numerous NGO’s in India, all doing valuable work in their particular field, whether feeding the homeless, running orphanages, striving to protect the culture of the traditional camel herders, working for women empowerment, looking to revive old crafts and textiles, the list is endless. If you would like to incorporate a visit to an NGO as part of your tour, let us know and we will do our utmost to find the best ones suited to your interests.
Block printing
The block-printed cottons of Jaipur have been renowned for their exquisite patterns, and natural colouring for at least 250 years. The traditional prints and designs differ from area to area and can determine village, profession or even marital status. Naturally the who’s who of society also had their own designs and the prints favoured greatly by the Mughal Emperors featured delicate floral sprays on a white, pastel blue or yellow ground of fine cotton.
The tradition of hand block printing continues today, seemingly on a parallel universe to modern industry as it is stubbornly resistant to industrialization, and is still practiced without the aid of mechanization or computerization. It is a wonderful craft to witness and we can incorporate this experience for you whilst on a visit to Jaipur.
Fairs and Festivals
The fairs and festivals which take place throughout India are vibrant and colourful affairs which have many different forms and stories behind them. There are the more famous annual ones such as Holi and Diwali and Pushkar which are now virtually globally renowned as well as the rituals which are daily spectacles such as the evening aarti ceremonies which take place in places such as Haridwar and Rishikesh. It is also quite possible to come across a wedding or festival as you are traveling around the country which you would invariably be invited to join. However, nowadays there are many modern festivals also emerging, literature festivals abound throughout India, there are wine festivals and modern music festivals too. Just let us know your preference and we will search it out for you!