Embark on a Magical Trip to 3000 Years of Jewish India
Whether we help you plan your own individual trip, a synagogue group, Burkat Global trips are are tailor-made for nearly everyone. If you don’t want to walk, there is a handy tuk-tuk (auto rickshaw) available. Our travelers are always interesting and interested people, or they wouldn’t be traveling with us to India. Group members usually come as friends - and make new ones – and tell us they end up feeling like they are traveling with a family.
We take individuals and small groups to incredible places that reflect the diversity of India: from the Taj Mahal to off-the-beaten-track ancient Jewish sites that are very difficult to visit on your own.
On our 3000 Years of Jewish India tour you’ll stay in iconic luxury hotels. Enjoy the best restaurants in the country (often vegetarian and fish, but we aren’t a Kosher tour). Whenever there is interest and time allows, we get to know the existing local Jewish community and facilitate social action experiences. The thousands of years old communities are quickly disappearing – a key reason to join us NOW.
Stay in Luxury Hotels
Travel with us in 5-star luxury; experience some of India’s best heritage hotels. No cookie-cutter properties. Throughout your tour, we stay in iconic hotels whenever possible that we have loved during our many visits to India. We believe these hotels are part of the India experience. We do our best to stay in hotels that are as “green” as our goal to help the world as we travel.
The Taj Mahal Palace and Tower - Mumbai
The Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai is India’s iconic hotel: winner of certification from EarthCheck, the only worldwide environmental certification program for travel and tourism. Our guests enjoy luxurious harbor-view rooms in the Tower, a huge, beautiful, elegant pool area, a luxurious spa and a fitness center perfect for recovery from overnight travel. Make time for a tour of the historic Palace Wing. The Taj is located at the Gateway of India, in the middle of the best shopping, restaurants, and museums.
Brunton Boatyard Hotel - Cochin
On a historic stretch of Cochin’s famed harbor, near the ferries and the famed Chinese fishing nets, boutique-size Brunton Boatyard offers 21st-century harbor-view luxury in a building modeled after a Victorian shipyard when the pepper of Kerala was as precious as gold. Green is a way of life here and at all the other family-run CGHEarth hotels in South India; even their boats are solar powered.
Taj Jai Mahal Palace Hotel - Jaipur
The 270-year-old palace was home to three prime ministers of Jaipur before being turned into a luxury heritage hotel in the center of Jaipur. It’s a surprisingly cozy place to call our home while exploring the Pink City.
Imperial Hotel - New Delhi
In the center, on Connaught Place along the Janpath, or People’s Path (formerly known as Queen’s Way), this luxury, family-owned hotel is perfectly situated for sightseeing and shopping. The iconic landmark 1931 hotel was named Best Luxury Historic Hotel in India in 2015. Dine at the table where Gandhi negotiated Partition and tour the owner’s private art collection throughout the hotel. Recent tour members named it their favorite of all the fabulous hotels we call home in India.
ITC Mughal - Agra
Formerly called as the ITC Sheraton when we visited 35 years ago, our hotel in Agra is considered the most convenient headquarters for touring the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. This luxurious award-winning Mughal-style hotel has been recently renovated.
The LaLit Temple View - Khajuraho
Khajuraho is a UNESCO world heritage site dating back to 950 AD and is famed for its sculptures. The LaLiT Temple View Khajuraho is located close to the airport and overlooks the western group of temples. It operates 47 rooms and suites as well as recreational facilities. The LaLiT also operates a restaurant, Panna, a pastry shop, The LaLiT Boulangerie and a bar, Mahua.
The LaLiT Temple View Khajuraho was listed among the “10 best luxury hotels in India” in 2015 and among the “29 best hotels of 29 states in India” in 2017, by the Tripoto online portal. In 2017, The LaLiT Temple View Khajuraho received the “certificate of excellence” from Trip Advisor.
Hotel Gateway Ganges - Varanasi
Hotel Gateway Ganges has 130 contemporary rooms and suites on 12 acres of landscaped gardens are designed for discerning business and leisure travelers. Their fine dining restaurants rank amongst the best in the city, serving international cuisines as well as sumptuous thalis that celebrate the region’s soulful food culture, inspired by produce from the hotel’s own organic garden. True to the city’s timeless spirit, the hotel shifts gears from urbane luxury to spiritual epiphanies without missing a beat.
Taste the Food
We eat mostly veg and seafood because these are so good in India. Just wait until you try the luscious, flavorful and varied cuisine of India. Food is flavorful but not spicy hot, although the chef can always heat it up to the level Indians like it. Or cool it down if you insist.
In the south, we’re often along the ocean: fresh, local seafood is plentiful; Kerala’s farms provide a full menu of delicious fresh vegetables and fruits.
Our hotels provide huge Indian and American/European breakfasts daily. At lunch and dinner, you’ll sample a range of Indian food prepared by some of the best restaurants in the country. There are always loads of choices. If you really need a fix of Western food, we can usually arrange something special with the chef or know where you can go on your own.
We are very careful to only select restaurants that we know not only for their food but for their cleanliness. We find we can eat anything in these establishments, no matter what rules we have heard back home. We know people always worry about getting sick. Before we depart for India, we will share more food tips that keep us healthy throughout our visit.
Please note: We do not provide kosher meals. There are many vegetarian and fish options to choose from.
Experience India’s Difference:
Yoga, Ayurveda, Indian Music and Dance, Indian Temples, Indian and Indian Jewish Cooking, Shopping, and so much more
India is more than awesome ancient buildings and incredibly complicated histories. The ancient practices of yoga and Ayurveda were invented there. It’s a land of colorful storytelling about people and their gods – one god and many gods. Stories told through the temple dances of Kathakali...and its young sister, Bollywood. India produces ten times more movies than anywhere else!
India is a country of magnificent and varied arts and personal decoration. People wear their wealth on their bodies. Colorful saris are seen everywhere. Everyone celebrates each other’s holidays – with Christmas lights everywhere, and Chanukah lights, too. The spring festival of Holi is celebrated by nearly everyone by going into the streets and tossing brightly colored powered paints at each other. Hindus bring wreaths of orange marigolds to their temples; at temple festivals elephants are decorated with colorfully strung belts and bells. The bells are only tiny examples of myriad sounds you will hear everywhere.
Whenever possible and as our small group interests dictate, we make time to stop at wonderful spots for some optional activities: gentle yoga and Ayurvedic massage, and of course, shopping. And evening performance of Kathakali or Bollywood. An art biennial. It’s all fascinating and fun.
And we never forget how lucky we are to be in India. We look for opportunities for social action, especially but not only in India’s Jewish communities, wherever we go.
