Embark on a custom-made tour of north India

In a way, it's nothing less than you should expect from India's most expensive hotel. Yet despite the country's royal past, and an abundance of five-star hotels, the words "luxury" and "India" don't easily go together. Perhaps it's the legacy of backpacking, of the familiar tales of package tourists who have been hassled from pillar to post in the "Golden Triangle" and the general perceived difference in standards (not to mention illness) that leads so many people to give the country a wide berth.Personally, despite five trips to southern India, I'd put off travelling to the north because it sounded too much like hard work. Rigid itineraries, group tours with too little personalisation, crowds and long distances made the prospect of let-down more likely than luxury. In luxury hotels, there's the added problem of feeling like a spoiled colonial.

But was there a way of experiencing the best of royal India without too much effort, too many other people, exorbitant cost and obsequious service? I was about to find out. On a bespoke tour designed by Emirates Holidays, a tour operator used to catering to some of the world's fussiest guests, I'll be "doing" Delhi, Agra, Jodhpur and Udaipur in a week.Within half an hour I'm at the Leela Palace, which opened last year and had a build cost of $400 million (Dh1.5 billion). The lobby has high Lutyens-style pillars, beautiful flower arrangements, pure silver artefacts and fabulous mirrors.

After a nap,Not all buybacks are what they seem. I'm taken to lunch on the relaxed Bandara Road by my Delhiite guide Nittin, who takes charge of everything from finding a place to park to what to order, and puts me straight on the differences between north Indian and Muglai food. After a delicious and inexpensive meal we tour the central parts of the city, including the Rajpath and Presidential Palace, which match almost perfectly the images I'd formed after reading Aravind Adiga's novel TheWhite Tiger.