Mumbai Ajanta Ellora
6 DAYS | EX KOCHI · KOCHI → SHIRDI → AURANGABAD → MUMBAI → KOCHI
EXPERIENCES:
Return Flights Included | 5 Nights in AC Rooms | Veg and Non-Veg Meals | AC Deluxe Coach | 1 Litre Water Daily | Fortune Tour Escort
Carved out of a mountain
Mumbai Ajanta Ellora: Cave Wonders and Darshan
Stand inside caves that artists began cutting two thousand years ago, take darshan at Shirdi, Shani Shingnapur, and the Grishneshwar Jyotirlinga, and end with a full day in Mumbai. Fortune's 6-day tour runs ex Kochi with return flights, hotels, meals, and a tour escort all arranged.
Why this route
Two of the World's Great Cave Wonders, One Easy Week.
Ajanta and Ellora sit close together in Maharashtra, yet most travellers never manage both in one trip. This tour does. Ellora is one of the largest rock-cut monastery-temple cave complexes in the world, a UNESCO World Heritage Site holding Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain monuments from the 600 to 1000 CE period. Ajanta holds about 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments, the earliest begun in the 2nd century BCE, with paintings counted among the finest surviving examples of ancient Indian art. Around them, the tour weaves a quiet pilgrimage thread through Shirdi, Grishneshwar, and Shani Shingnapur, then closes with Elephanta Caves, the Gateway of India, and an evening at Juhu Beach. Flights, coach, hotels, meals, and a Fortune escort come built in, so the week stays simple.
The tour route
Six Days, Five Chapters, One Loop by Air and Road.
The shape of the journey, in the order the road takes it.
Shirdi
Fly in from Kochi via Bengaluru
Head straight for Shirdi Baba darshan, and settle in for the first night.
Ellora and Grishneshwar
Daulatabad Fort, the Ellora caves, and darshan at the Grishneshwar Jyotirlinga
With the night in Aurangabad.
Ajanta
A full-day trip to the painted Buddhist caves
About 110 kilometres each way, and a second night in Aurangabad.
The Road to Mumbai
The drive west
With a darshan stop at the Shani temple of Shani Shingnapur on the way.
Mumbai
Elephanta Caves, Gateway of India, Marine Drive, Nariman Point, and Juhu Beach
Then the flight home to Kochi.
Before you go
This Tour, in brief.
Six days across Maharashtra, pairing two of the world's great cave complexes with three darshans and a full Mumbai day. The plain facts before you pack.
The heart of the journey
Ajanta and Ellora, Up Close.
The twin cave complexes
Two Sites, Sixteen Centuries of Stone Art
At Ellora, generations of craftsmen cut whole monasteries and temples out of the hillside, including the great Kailasa temple, carved top down from a single rock. Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain monuments stand side by side here, made between 600 and 1000 CE. Ajanta came first. Its 30 or so Buddhist caves hold paintings that still show emotion through gesture, pose, and form after so many centuries. You visit each complex on its own day, with time to walk, look, and take it in rather than rush.
Ask When Seats Open
More than the caves
Three Darshans on One Route.
The same road that leads to the caves also leads to prayer. Day one begins with Shirdi Baba darshan, at the shrine of the saint revered by Hindu and Muslim devotees alike. Near Ellora stands Grishneshwar, one of the 12 Jyotirlinga shrines named in the Shiva Purana, and its name is said to mean lord of compassion. On the drive to Mumbai, the coach stops at Shani Shingnapur, the village famed for its temple of Shani, the god associated with the planet Saturn. Many families book this tour as much for these three darshans as for the caves, and the plan gives both their due.
The fine print, made simple.
Small Things Worth Knowing Early.
This is a domestic tour, so a valid government photo ID for every traveller, children included, is all you need. Return flights are booked into the package and are non-refundable once issued, and missing one means the whole ticket goes no-show, so keep to the group timings. Walking is part of the tour, since the cave sites involve steps and coach parking can sit a short way from the entrance. Travel insurance is not included and is worth arranging on your own, and anyone with an existing health condition should check with a doctor before booking.
Twenty Years of Getting Groups There
Trusted by More Than Just Us Saying So
Two decades of escorted trips from Kerala, built into every detail below.
Someone With You Throughout
A Fortune escort travels with the group from Kochi, right through to the flight back home again.
Both Caves, One Trip
Ajanta and Ellora each get their own day, so neither complex is rushed to fit the other.
Three Darshans Built In
Shirdi, Grishneshwar and Shani Shingnapur all sit on the route, arranged as part of the plan.
Offices Across Kerala
Branches in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Kannur, so help is always close by, before and after you travel.
The Fortune departure
The Set Tour, Ready to Book.
The whole circuit in one arranged journey: the flight to Shirdi via Bengaluru and darshan on arrival, Daulatabad Fort, the Ellora caves, and Grishneshwar, the day trip to Ajanta, the Shani Shingnapur stop on the road to Mumbai, a full Mumbai sightseeing day from Elephanta Caves to Juhu Beach, and the flight back to Kochi. Flights, hotels, meals, coach, and escort run inside the package.
FAQ
Questions with useful answers
Six days ex Kochi: Shirdi Baba darshan on arrival, Daulatabad Fort, the Ellora caves and Grishneshwar Jyotirlinga, a full day at the Ajanta caves, the Shani Shingnapur stop on the drive to Mumbai, and a complete Mumbai sightseeing day before the flight home. The full day-wise plan sits on the itinerary page.
Yes. Return economy class flight tickets are part of the tour, out of Kochi and back to Kochi. Once issued, the tickets are non-refundable, and any date change carries airline penalty charges.
A valid government photo ID for every traveller, including children. Since the whole route stays within India, no passport or visa comes into it.
Broadly yes. Travel is by AC coach with an escort, and the days are sightseeing-led rather than physically hard. Do keep in mind that the cave sites involve steps and stretches of walking, and coach parking can be a short walk from the monuments, so travellers should be comfortably fit, and anyone with a health condition should speak to a doctor first.
It can. The published tour is the fixed group version, and the desk can rework the same circuit around your dates, add or drop days, and slow the pace where your group needs it. Share your plans, and they will shape a version that fits.
Meals are served as per the itinerary on group menus, with both veg and non-veg options, from dinner on day one to breakfast on the last morning. A litre of drinking water per person is provided each day. Anything ordered outside the group menu is paid directly.