The Hipster India Tours
Real, raw, contemporary and ethnic India - without performative poverty glorification or exaggerated nationalism
Six nights of North India tourism with the top-rated guide across TripAdvisor, GetYourGuide, Viator & Airbnb
Explore a brand new format of travel tourism, that follows the perfect Goldilocks zone of balancing comfort, luxury and oppulance with authenticity and raw realism.
No glorification of poverty and rural life side, but no shielding you in a sanitized bubble of a curated performative 5-star hotel either. Explore the often forgotten - middle class.
We experience three themes: Chandigarh’s unique French architecture, order & calmness. Amritsar’s Sikh culture of celebration, colors & glory against the sombre of the wars & sacrifices. Shimla’s balance of British colonial history & tussle with gentrification on a canvas of mountainous beauty.
Small limited groups. Safe. Real.
Cities covered
Discover Le Corbusier’s biggest brutalist French modernistic utopian experiment, viz., the city of Chandigarh like never before, with rare, exclusive, insider private access to heritage masterpieces. Curated experience for architects, students & anyone looking to experience a new side of 20th-century modernist India. Guided access inside UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Capitol Complex, with hidden gems - explaining core Brutalist architecture through a hilariously entertaining style.
Via the top-rated expert guide on Viator, TripAdvisor, Airbnb, GetYourGuide, ToursWithLocals & more.
Itinerary:
Insider guided access to Gandhi Bhawan, AC Joshi Library (subject to local conditions), several departments, lecture halls in the Punjab University, with a detailed walk through the campus
Insider guided access to Maison Jeanneret, the first house made in Chandigarh by Pierre Jeanneret, where Corbusier also stayed, now turned into a museum
Detailed guided access of Le Corbusier’s Capitol Complex, including: the Palace of Assembly, Secretariat Building, the High Court (Palace of Justice), the Open Hand Monument, Geometric Hill, Tower of Shadows, and the Martyrs Monument (subject to local political conditions)
Insider guided access to the old architect’s office, now called Le Corbusier Centre, where the magic of Chandigarh started with the introduction of sustainability and green architecture into India
Insider guided access to the architecture museum, with original letters, floor plans, sketches, and rare drawings of Corbusier & Chandigarh’s creation
Includes:
Pickup & drop from a reasonable distance in a comfortable car
Transport to and from different sites across the tour in a clean, AC car
All entry tickets, permissions, parking, and fuel charges included!
Excludes:
Food and beverages, typically a shared local lunch that captures the spirit of the city
Tips/gratuity
Visit the winter capital of the British Raj for over a century, Shimla
An escape from the loud, hot urban city life to the foothills of the Himalayas, see the real Simla, which struggles with its share of burgeoning tourists, a rabid influx of new constructions, traffic and gentrification. While the days of British royalty are long over, we focus on the shadows of the building left behind and the fusion of rich indigenous culture.
We’d explore uncomfortable themes of exclusionism by the British Raj, to the redevelopment and deforestation of the mountains today, the role of the middle class in shaping the city and how the state balances a significant portion of its income via tourism, while also being the capital of the state.
This is an experience of nostalgia, imagined royalty, and a relaxing evening full of old-school charm
Itinerary:
Guided tour of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study / Viceregal Lodge, including gardens. Built in 1888 by British architect Henry Irwin, this Jacobethan stone mansion was designed as a Himalayan Scottish castle—combining imperial power, advanced engineering, and elite British lifestyle in colonial India.
Take the intimidating but efficient Jakhu Ropeway to travel via a cable car through the mountains to catch an aerial view of the whole city
Perched on Shimla’s highest peak, the Jakhu Temple marks the spot where legend says the monkey god paused mid-flight, making the sacred site long before the city even existed
Created by the British as a European-style promenade, The Ridge is now Shimla’s central social heart. We walk through the mountain square built over hidden water reservoirs with colonial urban design, including ancient antiques
Right next follows the old British high street in the 19th century, the Mall Road, featuring people watching and some window shopping, artefacts and jewellery
Himachal State Museum – anthropologically see the discovery of life in the Himalayas and how humans survived in these harsh conditions
An inside, detailed guided tour of the Rashtrapati Niwas Shimla. Built in 1888 as the Viceroy’s summer residence, this Jacobethan mansion later became the President’s retreat to now transforming into one of India’s top research institutes, Indian Institute of Advanced Study Indian Institute of Advanced Study.
Guided inside tour of the towering heart of British presence in the Himalayas, the Christ Church made in 1857 in stone masonry, in classic Victorian Gothic style
An inside guided tour and an art performance at the Bantony Castle, made in the 1880s by the Raja of Sirmaur. It is a rare example of Indian royalty adopting European castle architecture to fit into the elite colonial world of Shimla
Guided detailed inside tour of the Gaiety Theatre, designed by Henry Irwin in 1887 to bring London-style theatrical performances and social life to Shimla
Guided tour of the Raj Bhavan, originally built as Barnes Court for the British Commander-in-Chief, this colonial bungalow is now the Governor’s residence, representing continuity from empire to modern Indian administration
Includes:
All entry tickets
Train tickets included!
All photography tickets
All local taxis to and from destinations
All mandatory government chaperones where compulsorily applicable
Excludes:
Tips / Gratuity
Food, snacks, and beverages
Hotel stays
Experience Punjab’s holiest and biggest city, Amritsar, the birthplace of the Sikh empire
Enjoy traditional arts, crafts, the culture of abundance, and the celebration of life with its loud, colorful portrayal. Delicately balancing the painful history of the partition, the spirit of sacrifice, and the feeling of celebrating life with generosity, this tour is curated to offer a bespoke insider experience into exploring Sikhism’s rich history. Shared by me, the tour weaves objective facts and history in a real, authentic, raw tour with no extra fluff, no exaggerated patriotism, & no religious indoctrination. We enjoy religious, cultural, and historic heritage while conversing in hard-hitting discussions about gentrification, social classes, religion, colonialisation, and heritage arts, viz., a secular objective lens. Marinated by delicious traditional food flavors and Punjabi humor, this is an experience like no other.
Itinerary:
Insider-guided pre-sunrise tour of the Golden Temple, the holiest place for Sikhs. Learn about Sikh cultural history and the spirit of oneness, bravery, sacrifice and equality with a walk around the holy lake
Get a break from the smothering heat with a gut-cooling sweet Lassi (buttermilk yogurt drink) at an almost-century-old iconic shop that claims to keep you full for 6 hours!
Insider-guided access to Jallianwala Bagh, a memorial park dedicated to a massacre against unarmed citizens by the British Raj, commemorating the Indian struggle for independence
Insider access to the flag-unfolding event at the India-Pakistan Wagah border ceremony. Witness the fervour of nationalism with a spectacular display of army marches, sloganeering, stomps, kicks, and screaming from front row seats!
Town Hall heritage walk featuring the lights, scents, colors from Victorian Gothic architecture to modern contemporary Sikh heritage
Lunch at a family-run legacy eatery featuring butter-soaked tandoori Indian flat bread with seasoned chickpeas. The century-old restaurant has a proposed Geographical Indication (GI) Tag for this iconic dish!
An insider-guided tour to the Freedom Fighters Museum, a modern museum featuring donated exhibits of the partition of the state of Punjab in 1947
Dinner at a family-run, nearly century-old freshwater fried local fish with butter-marinated chicken. Special localized arrangements for Vegans/vegetarians are also available
Insider access to the Golden Temple again at midnight for the sacred night Palki ceremony. This sacred observance follows a walking ceremony composed of singing hymns and devotional traditional music under the night sky. Live translation of each prayer in English so you can immerse yourself in the calm of the holy space
Includes:
All local travel in an electric Tuk-Tuk
Taxi to and from the Wagha Border
All waiting charges, parking, and driving fees
All entry tickets to every museum
Local daytime iconic snacks included, to your heart’s content!
Excluded:
Gratutity / tips (optional)
Main meals
Donations to the Gurudwara / Sikh temple (optional)
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