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Indian Summer - Delhi, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Shimla
12
days
from
£6,890
Book today with a deposit from
£1,034
9th - 20th March 2027
Tour highlights
- The last decades of the Raj, from New Delhi to Partition, and what India made of its legacy.
- William Dalrymple joins us to lead a private evening at Humayun’s Tomb, with dinner and a talk.
- Shimla, summer capital of British India, reached by the 1903 Kalka–Shimla ‘toy train’.
- Chandigarh, Nehru’s city for a new India, planned by Le Corbusier and Indian architects.
- Led by Raaja Bhasin, Shimla-based historian of the Raj and heritage conservationist.
Every April, the government of British India left the heat of Delhi for Shimla, 2,200 metres up in the cedar forests of the Himalayan foothills, and ran the affairs of a fifth of humanity from there until the autumn. Indian Summer takes its name from that annual migration, and from the other meaning of the phrase: a last spell of warmth before the season turns. Its subject is the Raj in its final decades – the building of New Delhi, the rise of the national movement, Independence and Partition in 1947 – and what India has made since of the places the British left behind.
That story is told here by someone who lives among its buildings. Raaja Bhasin, historian and long-time Shimla resident, has written seven books on the town and on Himachal Pradesh, including Simla: The Summer Capital of British India. As state Co-convenor of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, he also works to protect the buildings he writes about. He treats the Mall, the bungalows and Viceregal Lodge not as relics of someone else’s empire but as part of India’s own history: places lived in, repaired, repurposed and argued over. Viceregal Lodge is a case in point. In 1945 it hosted the Simla Conference, which failed to agree a way forward to self-government; today it houses the Indian Institute of Advanced Study.
The route follows the arc of those years. It begins in Lutyens’ New Delhi, inaugurated in 1931, only 16 years before the British left. It continues to the Punjab, where the massacre at Jallianwala Bagh in 1919 hardened Indian opposition to British rule and where Partition cut the province in two. Then comes Chandigarh, the capital India built for itself after Independence. The tour then climbs to Shimla and ends back in Delhi at the Red Fort, where India’s Prime Minister addresses the nation every Independence Day.
In Delhi, the best-selling historian William Dalrymple joins the group for one evening to lead a private visit to Humayun’s Tomb. Built in the 1560s for the second Mughal emperor, the tomb became the model for the Taj Mahal. In September 1857 the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, took refuge here before surrendering to the British – the closing scene of William’s book The Last Mughal. Dinner follows, then a talk.
Amritsar is home to the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of the Sikh faith. A short walk away is Jallianwala Bagh, where troops fired on an unarmed crowd in 1919. Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood in protest, condemning the massacre as ‘without parallel in the history of civilised governments’. Nearby, at Wagah, the border with Pakistan is closed each sunset with high-kicking drill and national pride on both sides.
With Lahore allocated to Pakistan at Partition in 1947, Indian Punjab needed a new capital. Nehru asked for ‘a new city of free India, totally fresh and wholly responsive to the future generations of this great country.’ Chandigarh was designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew together with a team of young Indian architects and planners. Still debated by architects and urban historians, it is regularly rated among the best places to live in India.
Shimla’s European-style architecture often comes with a local twist, and the intrigue of its social season gave the young Rudyard Kipling his early material. But its history did not stop in 1947. The Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan was signed here in 1972, and the town is now the capital of Himachal Pradesh.
Itinerary
Rooms are available at the hotel from 2.00pm on the 8th March, allowing for an early check-in. Nothing is planned before a pre-lunch talk. In the afternoon, visit the New Delhi created between 1912–31 by Lutyens, Baker and others as a uniquely grand and spacious city. The Secretariat buildings on Raisina Hill are Classical at first glance, but closer inspection reveals Buddhist and Mughal motifs. First of two nights in Delhi.
Spend the morning on the Ridge in north Delhi, the British army’s camp during the four-month siege of the city in 1857. British residents gathered at Flagstaff Tower on the first day of the uprising before fleeing. The nearby Neo-Gothic memorial to the British dead was renamed Ajitgarh in 1972 and rededicated to the Indians who fought. Coronation Park was the site of the 1911 Durbar, where George V announced the move of the capital from Calcutta. After Independence, statues of kings and viceroys were moved here. In the late afternoon, visit Humayun’s Tomb privately with William Dalrymple, followed by dinner and an after-dinner talk.
In the morning, subject to special permission, visit the interior of Rashtrapati Bhavan, the former Viceroy’s House and now the residence of the President of India. The fortress-like garrison church of St Martin (Arthur Shoosmith, 1930) has been called one of the great buildings of the 20th century. Fly to Amritsar in the early evening. First of two nights in Amritsar.
Amritsar was founded by the fourth Sikh Guru, Guru Ram Das, in the late 16th century. It is home to Sikhism’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib). The sacred pool dates from the city’s founding, the present temple from the 18th century, and the gilding from the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the early 19th century. Jallianwala Bagh, the scene of the 1919 massacre of unarmed demonstrators against British rule, is now a moving memorial garden. In the afternoon, drive to Wagah for the sunset ceremony that closes the border with Pakistan.
In the morning, visit the poignant Partition Museum. Its personal objects, oral histories and artworks record the experiences of the millions displaced in 1947. Drive to Chandigarh via Kapurthala, arriving in time for dinner. First of two nights in Chandigarh.
The city is now the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana. It is laid out on a grid of self-contained sectors according to the principles of International Modernism. The Capitol Complex, the ‘head’ of the city and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, contains Le Corbusier’s most ambitious buildings: the High Court, Secretariat and Legislative Assembly.
Transfer to Kalka in the Himalayan foothills to board the ‘toy train’. The narrow-gauge Kalka–Shimla Railway has run daily since 1903 and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After a 3-hour ride climbing through tunnels and over viaducts, through stunning scenery, transfer to the hotel. First of three nights in Shimla.
The former summer capital of British India, Shimla is set in the lush pine and cedar forests of the Himalayan foothills. Its impressive colonial architecture is best viewed through walks along the Mall. Viceregal Lodge, the summer residence of the British viceroy is probably Shimla’s best-known building. Built in 1888, the grey sandstone structure retains the British royal coat of arms on its façade. After lunch at Wildflower Hall, once the site of Lord Kitchener’s suburban retreat, visit Bishop Cotton School, Asia’s oldest boys’ boarding school.
Walk east along the Mall to the Gaiety Theatre (1887), built as part of the Town Hall and the centre of Shimla’s social life for over a century. The tower of Christ Church (1857) rises above the town from the Ridge. Free afternoon.
Kasauli, Delhi. Drive to the hill station of Kasauli, which has 19th-century buildings including Christ Church. Continue to Kalka for the train to Delhi, arriving late in the evening. First of two nights in Delhi.
Visit the Red Fort, founded in 1639 under Shah Jahan, where pietra dura inlay survives in the throne pavilion. The fort was the setting for the trial of Bahadur Shah Zafar in 1858 and for the trials of officers of the Indian National Army in 1945–46. Nearby, the Jama Masjid, one of India’s largest mosques, dominates Old Delhi.
Car transfers to Delhi airport can be arranged for your onward journey.
Expert speakers
Raaja Bhasin
Award winning author, historian and journalist. He has published 15 books of history, travel, fiction and poetry and is a recognised authority on the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh and its capital, Shimla. He has handled assignments for television, including for the BBC, and for the Indian Institute of Advanced Study and various departments of the Indian Government. He writes regularly for magazines and papers in India and elsewhere. He is the state Co-convenor of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.
William Dalrymple
(Joins day 2 of Indian Summer only). Award-winning historian and writer who has lived in and written about Delhi for most of his career. His books include City of Djinns, White Mughals, The Last Mughal, Return of a King, The Anarchy and The Golden Road. He is co-founder and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival and co-presents the podcast Empire with Anita Anand.
Practicalities
Two sharing: £6,890. Single occupancy: £8,040.
Domestic flight with IndiGo Airlines: Delhi to Amritsar; travel by private air-conditioned coach, people carriers and first-class train travel between Kalka and Kandaghat (near Shimla) and between Kalka and Delhi; accommodation as described below; breakfasts, 10 lunches (including 1 packed lunch) and 8 dinners (including 1 packed dinner) with wine or beer (except with packed meals), water, coffee, tea; all admissions; all tips; the services of the lecturer, tour manager and local guides.
Flights: international flights are not included in the price of the tour. We send a recommended flight option from London when it comes into range (by April 2026) and ask that you make your own flight reservation.
The Claridges, New Delhi: a 5-star landmark hotel located in the heart of Lutyens’ Delhi. Taj Swarna, Amritsar: a 5-star contemporary hotel opened in January 2017 in the centre of Amritsar. Taj Chandigarh, Chandigarh: a modern 5-star hotel with elegantly furnished and well-appointed rooms. The Oberoi Cecil, Shimla: a landmark 19th-century 5-star heritage hotel converted into a luxury hotel in the 1930s. Single occupancy rooms are doubles for sole use.
Required for most foreign nationals, and not included in the price of the tour. We will advise all participants of the process.
A good level of fitness is essential. Unless you can cope with everyday walking and stair-climbing without difficulty and are reliably sure-footed, this tour is not for you.
A rough indication of the minimum level of fitness required is that you ought to be able to walk briskly at about three miles per hour for at least half an hour, and undertake a walk at a more leisurely pace for an hour or two unaided. Uneven ground and irregular paving are standard. There are some steep walks. Unruly traffic and the busy streets of larger cities require some vigilance.
There are two lengthy train journeys during which facilities are limited and may be of poor quality. Most sites have some shade but the Indian sun is strong, even in the cooler seasons. Average distance by coach per day: 33 miles.
Between 10 and 23 participants.
Before booking, please refer to the FCDO website and Travel Health Pro to ensure you are happy with the travel advice for the destination(s) you are visiting.
Dates & prices
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2027
Date
Speaker
Price
Date:
9th - 20th March 2027
Speaker:
Raaja Bhasin & William Dalrymple
Price:
from £6,890
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