Getting HERE

Reaching India necessarily involves a long haul flight. We feel that the benefits of good tourism outweigh the environmental negatives, but taking things slower once you reach India can help minimise your carbon footprint during your stay. Trains over planes and longer stays in single destinations.

Our preferred port of entry is Mumbai, a safe and friendly city with a relatively airy feel due to its coastal location. There are direct flights from London that take about nine hours. Husna, one of our most valued colleagues, will be your first contact at the airport. She’s a formidable female driver in a male dominated profession and being met by a woman is a particular joy for our solo female guests. We generally recommend a few nights’s stay in the city of arrival, before continuing on to Gondia Junction by overnight train, where you will be met and transferred (2.5 hrs) to Shergarh. There are flights to Raipur and Jabalpur which make for a swifter journey, and we recommend this if you are not choosing to spend any time in the city. Transfer from Raipur/Jabalpur to Shergarh is a little over four hours. Whether you travel to Bhuj, Bhopal, Raipur or Bangalore, we will have a trusted driver there to meet you at the railway station/airport.

Accommodation in Mumbai and Delhi

MUMBAI

Good, affordable and well-positioned accommodation is hard to find here. Happily, Abode Boutique Hotel is a beautifully designed, centrally located hotel with rooms to suit a range of budgets. It supports a number of ethically-driven businesses: their spa has blind masseurs, the taxi drivers they supply are Muslim women, and the tours they recommend are via a company of whose profits 80% go to charity.

Delhi

There are many options in this vast city. We favour Colonel’s Retreat for those who want to be in the city. It’s a smart guest house in relatively leafy Defence Colony, with a great rooftop restaurant and just a short walk to the metro. For a gloriously soft, very Anglo, landing or a pampered last night, Tikli Bottom is an out of town home stay. A beautiful Lutyens style bungalow set in lush gardens with kind, old-school, English hosts.