Aurangabad & Mumbai Trip

Aurangabad * Mumbai - 04Nights/05Days

Day 01: Arrive Aurangabad By: 9w-2511 At: 2010 Hrs

Upon arrival at Aurangabad Airport assisted transfer to your hotel.

Aurangabad is tinged with a distinctive Arabian aura. The city was named after Aurangazeb but earlier it was known as Khadke. The importance of Aurangabad is great, owing to its proximity with world heritage sites of Ajanta and Ellora. These sites have Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu temples.

Overnight in Aurangabad

Day 02: Aurangabad

Today proceed for full-day guided tour of Ajata Caves (remain closed on Mondays).

Ajanta Caves: Listed amongst World Heritage sites, these caves are a fine example of Buddhist architecture. These are rock-cut caves which were actually carved out of a gorge by Buddhist monks. These caves used to serve as retreats for monks who taught and practiced Buddhism.

Come back to your hotel after the tour.

Overnight in Aurangabad

Day 03: Aurangabad– Mumbai By: 9w-2512 At: 2040/2130 Hrs

Morning guided tour of Ellora caves (remain closed on Tuesdays) followed by city tour.

Ellora Caves: Another major attraction around Aurangabad, the caves have been carved out of the Charanandri Hills. There are 34 caves which contain Chaityas, monasteries and Hindu and Jain temples. The most imposing amongst these is the Kailasha Temple, which is also counted among the largest single monolithic structures in the world.

Bibi-ka-Maqbara: Known as the Poor Man’s Taj Mahal, the Bibi-ka-Maqbara standing pretty amidst ponds, streams and fountains, is almost a replica of the magnificent Taj Mahal. The monument was a tribute to Aurangzeb’s wife, by her son, Prince Azam Shah and offers a picturesque view of the region.

Later in the evening, assisted transfer to airport to board your flight to Mumbai

On arrival at Mumbai airport, you will be met by our representative who will transfer you to your hotel.

Rudyard Kipling extolled Mumbai as the ‘Mother of cities’. The history of Mumbai or Mumbai as it is now known, is the story of an incredible transformation from its foundation to its present day. The British built it expressly for trade and over the years it changed hands from the fishing village of the Kolis, through the Portuguese conquest, to Catharine of Aragon who took the seven islands of Mumbai as her dowry to Charles II of England. Mumbai was and still is the Gateway to India, commemorated by a monument of that name built to mark the visit of King George and his consort, Mary.

Today, Mumbai is India’s premiere commercial and financial city and is ever on the move.

Overnight in Mumbai

Day 04: Mumbai

After breakfast at the hotel, you will take a half day sightseeing tour of Mumbai.

The tour starts from the Gateway of India where the motor launch drops you back after the excursion to Elephanta caves. Gateway of India is the landmark of Bombay, which, was before the advent of air travel, the only gateway to India. It was built to commemorate the visit of King George and Queen Mary to India in 1911. You will be then driven along Marine Drive, the sea - Front Boulevard. It is also known as the Queen’s Necklace as in the evening, the breeze from the Arabian Sea comes over Marine Drive and as the streetlights on this U-shaped road light up, the view from south Bombay’s skyscrapers or from the exclusive residential area, is that of a Queen’s Necklace. Your first stop will be the Jain Temples, built of marble and dedicated to the first Jain Tirthankara. From the temples you will be driven along Malabar Hill via the Tower of Silence - a round stone construction on which Parsis place their dead to be eaten by the vultures and Hanging Gardens which is built over Bombay’s reservoir. From here one can get a panoramic view of picturesque Marine Drive.

From Malabar Hill you will be driven to the Dhobi Ghats a huge open-air laundry, which makes an interesting viewing. Continue to Mani Bhawan (Gandhi Memorial), the house where the Father of the Nation stayed on his early visits to the city. The room, in which Gandhi stayed, preserved as it was, and the scenes of Gandhi’s life in photographs and models are of special interest.

The last stop before proceeding to the hotel is the Prince of Wales Museum (closed on Mondays) – gothic and Moorish architecture in the striking confluence of styles that came to be known as Indo Saracenic. It boasts of a significant collection of Indus valley artefacts some of them dating back to more than 5000 years. Most impressive are the miniature paintings – nearly 2000 of them – from various stylistic schools of India.

Overnight in Mumbai

Day 05: Departure Mumbai

Morning assisted transfer to Airport to board your flight for onward journey. (Normal check-out around 1200 hrs)

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