You haven’t seen luxury until you’ve seen India’s lavish forts and palaces. These are where the world’s most pampered royals lived extraordinary lives defined by ambition and indulgence. Kick off a two-week journey with three atmospheric days wandering Delhi’s tangled bazaars and Mughal forts, mosques and tombs. A five-hour train ride will deliver you to salmon-pink Jaipur – take two days absorbing the majesty of the City Palace, the Hawa Mahal, Amber Palace and Jai Singh II’s extraordinary royal observatory. Four hours south by bus, Bundi’s painted palace and bottomless stepwells are worth a day of investigation, as are the victory towers of mighty Chittorgarh. It’s two hours by train to Udaipur; allow two days to explore its many palaces and to enjoy dinners overlooking Lake Pichola. An overnight bus ride is an efficient way to reach Jodhpur, where you can get pleasurably lost in the maze-like, Brahminblue lanes surrounding Mehrangarh Fort For the full Arabian Nights experience, ride the rails to golden Jaisalmer (five to seven hours), adding on two more days for a camel safari into the dunes. It takes a day to reach tigerstalked Ranthambhore National Park by bus and train, and another six hours to reach Agra Fort train station and the wistful wonder that is the Taj Mahal