The Kannauj perfume tour from Agra begins with hotel pickup at 8 am in a private air conditioned vehicle. The drive to Kannauj takes approximately three and a half hours through Uttar Pradesh.

The traditional perfumery is the heart of the experience. This is a family run operation that has been distilling attars using the same technique for generations, its copper degs and bhapkas unchanged in design from those described in Mughal court records. The hydro-distillation process begins with fresh rose petals, herbs, spices or roots being loaded into the copper still with water. The still is sealed and heated over a slow fire. The steam passes through a bamboo pipe into a receiver vessel sitting in a trough of cold water, where it condenses and the attar separates from the water below it. For rose attar this process takes 15 days of continuous distillation to produce a small quantity of oil — which is why genuine Kannauj rose attar commands prices comparable to the finest French perfumes. Your guide explains the chemistry and craft behind each fragrance, the difference between hydro-distillation and steam distillation, and why the particular mineral content of the Kannauj water produces attars that cannot be identically replicated anywhere else in the world.

The fragrance range at Kannauj is extraordinary in its variety. Rose and vetiver are the most famous. Kewra, distilled from the flowers of the screwpine, is intensely floral and used widely in Indian sweets and biryani as well as in perfumery. Hina is a complex blend of herbs and woods. And mitti attar, the most unusual of all, is made by distilling the fragrance of baked clay pots into sandalwood oil — the result is the smell of the first rain on dry earth, captured permanently in a bottle, one of the most evocative and culturally specific fragrances in the world.

The royal palace visit follows, the residence of the family who owns the perfumery and the farm from which many of its raw materials come. The palace gives the Kannauj perfume tour from Agra a dimension that no other perfume experience in India offers — the living context of a family whose history is inseparable from the history of attar making in this city, and whose hospitality takes the form of an elaborate traditional Indian lunch served in the palace rooms.

Hotel drop in Agra by 8 pm.

This private Kannauj perfume tour from Agra is fully inclusive. We take care of hotel pickup and drop in a private air conditioned vehicle, your expert guide throughout the day, all entry fees and a traditional Indian lunch in the royal palace.