India Experience Program

Adventure, Authentic Experiences and Volunteering in India, in 2 weeks or less.

It is our promise that throughout the trip, you will experience:

Program Details

Our services begin here. You will be greeted by Idex representative at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. Upon being picked up, you will be then escorted to your accommodation and shall be assisted with check-in. The representative will explain your next few hours and days on the trip in detail and hand over the essential documents to you.
Important Notes for Travelers:

  • If you arrive early on the program start date, you would find yourself having mostly free time because the formal program starts on Day 2.

  • Please refer to the arrival and departure system to know which flights would be suitable for you to start your program on time.

  • Carefully read the pre-departure information of the program and the Code of Conduct.

  • Keep a copy of emergency contact information sheet (inside the pre-departure) with yourself in case you need to contact our representative before being picked up.

Overnight stay at accommodation, Delhi (No Meals Included).

Morning – After breakfast a sightseeing tour of New Delhi including- visit of some important cultural symbols of India. Drive past through impressive India Gate, Parliament house, Gandhi Museum, Birla Temple and President’s Palace. At greater ease visit of Raj Ghat, the memorial built in honor of Mahatma Gandhi, father of the nation. Learn a bit more about his life and philosophy that helped India get free from the British Empire. During the sightseeing, you will stop at a local restaurant where you can buy your lunch, after which, we will proceed to Agra by our Airconditioned vehicle. After Arrival in Agra, Check-in into hotel. Dinner and overnight stay at Agra Accommodation (Meals- Breakfast & Dinner).

We wake up early in the morning and visit the magnificent Taj Mahal, a pristine white marble mausoleum built by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife – Mumtaz Mahal. One of the Seven Wonders of the World, it took 20,000 workers from neighboring Islamic countries, 22 years of ceaseless toil to create this exquisite white marble monument upon which peopled have waxed eloquent throughout the world. Experience a viewing of the Taj Mahal and the return to your hotel for breakfast.

After breakfast – Check out from your accommodation and visit the Agra Fort. Agra Fort, built by the Mughal dynasty's greatest Emperor, Akbar, in 1565.A number of the fort’s beautiful palaces, mosques and gardens were built by his successors in later years. A few of the priceless examples of artisanship from the Mughal era include the exquisite Moti Masjid or Pearl Mosque, the Diwan-i-Khas, the Diwan-i-Am, the Jahangir Mahal and the Shish Mahal.After visiting the Agra Fort, we set upon our journey to the Pink City of Jaipur. The journey will take around five hours during which, we would stop by at local restaurants for lunch. Late afternoon arrival in Jaipur and check-in into accommodation. After checking in and a bit of rest, you will be given an Orientation on your program in Jaipur and the volunteering activities that you are starting from the next day.

Stay overnight at the accommodation, Jaipur. (Meals included – Breakfast)

About Jaipur: The origins of the beautiful city of Jaipur can be traced back to the eighteenth century, during the reign of Jai Singh II who ascended the Amber throne in 1699. Jaipur today, epitomizes the spirit of Rajputana. In-spite of growing into a bustling metropolis, it still retains its character and history - A beautiful fusion of the yesteryears and modernity. Jaipur is popularly known as the Pink City because of the extensive use of the locally abundant pink plastered stone, painted so in honor of the visit of the royal consort of Queen Victoria. Jaipur thrills the soul with its massive forts, magnificent palaces, exquisite temples and lush gardens.

After starting your day with a Yoga lesson, you will have a hearty breakfast and start on your volunteering project.

Important Notes about volunteering:

  • The volunteering project and activities will be chosen for you and pre- organised because we draw upon years of experience to decide for our travel guests, what kind of volunteering would be most suitable for the local people as well as giving maximum chance of personal contribution and satisfaction to the travelers.

  • A short introduction to the possible type of activities that you may be involved in is further down in this program information.

  • Volunteering work includes approximately 5 hours’ work in morning.

During late afternoon, we return to our accommodation and rest. After a short break, we will enjoy a Bollywood dance lesson from a local instructor where we learn some of the Bollywood dance. In the evening, we reflect on our day to see what have been the most important experiences and learnings of the day have been and prepare for our next day of volunteering.

Overnight stay at accommodation, Jaipur (Meals- Breakfast and packed Lunch)

After starting your day with a Yoga lesson early in the morning, you will have a hearty breakfast and start on your volunteering project. During the late afternoon, you would complete your project work for the day and visit the Wind Palace – a famous historical monument and one of the famous symbol’s of the cultural heritage of India. You will also ride a rickshaw through the buzzing Bazaars of Jaipur and have time for some inexpensive shopping. No tourist traps, but only those places where local people shop, everyday. During Early evening, you will return to your accommodation for a short break. After the break, you would have an Indian traditional dressing and photo sessions. Dress up like the locals and add to your experience of being part of the daily culture. Daily reflection session at the end of the day with your tour guide.

Dinner and overnight at Jaipur accommodation

Overnight stay at accommodation, Jaipur (Meals- Breakfast and packed Lunch)

If you are still up for early morning health boost, join the Yoga class for the day. After the class, have your breakfast and move for your volunteering project for the day. Later in the afternoon, we learn about the famous “Henna” painting art of India, keeping the day an easy one over all. After the daily reflection time with your tour guide, get ready for another experience of the real culture of India by visiting a local family home for dinner. Visiting a local (urban, middle income level) family and seeing their life is one of the best ways to get an up-close-and- personal view of how regular Indian people live.

Note about the family meal –

  • Visiting a family is a partly observation and partly experience. While we choose our host families based on their English conversation level, not all members of the family may interact with you equally. Go with an open mind, see what a local home looks like and enjoy a “home like” (mostly vegetarian) meal.

Overnight stay at accommodation, Jaipur (Meals- Breakfast, packed Lunch and Dinner with family)

You will not do any Yoga on this day because you need to leave for an early morning visit to the famous Amber fort. We keep you away from boring museums on this trip but you don’t want to miss out on visiting at least one of the historical Forts of the region of Rajasthan (where Jaipur is located). Note about Amber fort – You will see many “tourists” being hauled up and down the fort on Elephants. Now having elephants carry people is nothing new, but in this case, it has become an outright industry where the welfare of the animal is highly doubtful. For this reason, in line with the global call for more humane treatment of animals, we do not include any elephant riding on this trip. After we return from the Amber fort, we head out to our project, where we continue our volunteering activities. Late afternoon you return to your accommodation where we have the daily debrief with you. Rest of the day is for you to relax and enjoy some free time and activities on your own, because by now, you are a little bit familiar with the area.

Overnight stay at accommodation, Jaipur (Meals- Breakfast and packed Lunch).

We start a bit more leisurely on this day and head out for the last day of our volunteering project after breakfast. After the volunteering project, we bid farewell to the project and head out for a special experience of observing daily life in rural India. We visit a rural family farm where we get a guided tour of their home, their farm, interact with them through your tour guide and conclude the day with a simple local meal that is cooked by the family. Depending on the season, the meal is likely to contain lentils, cooked vegetables and millet bread. A staple diet for rural people in this part of India. What you also get to observe and notice is the difference in the attires, the living standards and daily routines of a rural family. Late evening return to accommodation and overnight.

Overnight stay at accommodation, Jaipur (Meals- Breakfast, packed Lunch Dinner)

After breakfast – check out of the accommodation and drive to Pushkar, which is about a three hours journey. Arrive at Pushkar, you can put your luggage in a hotel and pack a smaller bag for your camel safari. During the few hours before the camel Safari starts, you can take a leisurely walk around the Pushkar town and its charming market street. Later in the afternoon, we take you on another form of travel, more suited to the desert, Camels! We take a camel safari atop the “ship of the desert” going through sandy ravines, local villages where we can absorb the harsh yet colorful landscape of the Thar Desert. Our safari concludes in a tent camp. After sunset, we can enjoy a view of the star-lit night sky Barbecued Dinner & overnight at tent-camp in Pushkar.

Note : In the (rather) unlikely event of rain during your camel safari or stay at the tent camp, we may need to cancel the safari and accommodate you in a hotel for the night for your safety.

After breakfast in your tent camp, we bring you back into Pushkar town, where you can do some washing and freshening up. After this, you can join a leisurely guided tour of the Pushkar town with its small lanes, colorful markets, but most importantly, the steps to the Holy Lake and about 500 temples around it. Our tour would bring you to visit the Lord Brahma’ temple, the only temple of the “Creator God” of the Hindus. Later in the afternoon, we bring you to the nearest train station for a journey back to New Delhi. After arrival in New Delhi, we bring you to the accommodation for overnight stay.

Meals included (Breakfast and Packed Dinner)

After Breakfast, we have a short debrief of the last few days and the trip in general. After our debrief, you can have time off in Delhi for some last minute shopping or lazing around. After this, we bring you back to the airport based on your flight time. Due to traffic congestions in Delhi, its safe to leave for the airport about 4 hours before your scheduled flight time. Our trip concludes here and we look forward to staying in touch with you as you share your pictures and memories with us when you get back home.

Meals included (Breakfast)

Volunteer program activities

Renovation and beautification projects:

School and Day care centers are not attractive for children. It is said that children place and their educational centers should look like a garden of learning. We are working to make these centers attractive to create colorful stories, pictures and different other educational paintings. These activities are appreciated widely in the society.

Fun fair for children

Little citizen of our society, the children are not given much chance to have fun activities especially in the villages. Fun Fair for children will give smile on their faces. The fun fair projects for children would be an idea activity fora cultural experience. This will help in strengthening the community feeling amongst community members and will bring attention to the needs of children in the form of creative fun activities amongst all other members of the community. It is an ideal way for volunteers to create a high impact on the lives of the children that they interact with.

Creative art workshops with children

Indian schools and societies are not giving children the space to develop her creativity. It is a common feeling that school is meant for education not for any other activities and making passive and monotonous teaching norm. Volunteer groups can do a number of creative exercises like drawing, painting, music and dance. These activities area very important way of enhancing the mind and body coordination amongst children and creating their interest in the school as a center of education. This activity can make a long lasting impact on continuing education and reducing dropout rate amongst schools in rural areas.

Services Included

  • Learn the famous Indian art of “Henna making” by local experts.

  • Learn the interesting forms of “Bollywood” dance by the professional instructors.

  • Learn the typical and traditional dress styles of India by the instructors.

  • One dinner with local Urban Indian family.

  • One visit and meal with local rural family.

Services not Included

Arrival and Departure Procedure

Arrival Procedure

All arrivals Idex offers the pick-up in a window from 10 AM on the start date of the program until 2 AM on the following day (Day 2) of the program.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The trip starts around 8 AM on Day 2 – so arrive with a flight on Day 1 (mentioned as “Start Date” on the above chart) so you can get some rest before starting the journey).

If your flight arrives outside these hours (because you have got a cheaper flight or no other connection is available) then it will cost, you extra Euro 20 to be picked up from the airport.
Check in at accommodation is available from 12 noon on Day 1 of the program.

NOTE: We will attempt to get you checked into your room as soon as possible but it cannot be guaranteed before 12 noon due to accommodation occupancy situation)

Delhi is a big airport and there are many exit gates. We prefer to pick up travelers at Gate # 6 at the international airport for this trip. If you don’t find an Idex representative, then just relax. We take airport pickups very seriously and its very likely that your pick up representative is just around, looking for you. If you still cannot find your pickup up person after some time, then contact us on the given contact details.
Please be advised that you will see a board with the Idex logo instead of your personal name when searching for our airport pickup representative.
Please advise all your customers to look for the Idex logo (as below), instead of their Personal name, unless specified.

Departure procedure

Airport transfer on departure is available from 10 AM on the last day of the program (mentioned as Trip Ending Date) until 10 AM on the following day of the program (this would be the next day after the “Trip Ending Date”).
We will transfer you based on certain scheduled times at gaps of 2 hours and you can choose the most convenient time. Available Departure times will be: 8 PM, 10 PM, Midnight, 2 AM, 4 AM, 6 AM, 8 AM and finally at 10 AM.
IMPORTANT : Remember to leave at least 4 hours before your scheduled departure times.
Departure transfers outside these times or schedules will cost extra because it will be done exclusively for you.

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