The Sariska Tiger Reserve and Alwar tour from Delhi begins with hotel pickup at 7.30 am in a private air conditioned vehicle. The drive to Sariska takes approximately four hours via the NH48 through the Aravalli hills, the landscape shifting gradually from the Delhi plains into the rocky Rajasthan terrain. You arrive at the reserve in time to check in, have lunch and prepare for the first safari.

Day 1: Afternoon Safari at Sariska Tiger Reserve

You arrive at the Sariska reserve by midday. After checking in to your overnight accommodation inside the forest, lunch and a briefing from your naturalist guide on the reserve’s fifty-tiger population and what to look for in the afternoon, you board the jeep at 2 pm for the first safari.

The afternoon safari at Sariska runs until 5.30 pm in winter months and covers Zones 1, 2 and 3 through the Sariska Gate, the entry point with the highest tiger sighting probability in the reserve. The dry deciduous Aravalli forest at this hour is alive with activity. Chital deer move toward water sources. Nilgai graze at the forest edges. Langur monkeys call alarm from the canopy above. And the forest roads, covered in dust that records every pawprint, tell your naturalist guide a detailed story of who has been where since the morning.

The reserve’s extraordinary interior also contains Kankwari Fort, a historically significant Mughal-era fortification deep inside the forest that was used by Aurangzeb to imprison his brother Dara Shikoh. Visible from the safari route, this extraordinary combination of living tiger forest and ancient human history makes Sariska unique among India’s tiger reserves.

Beyond tigers, the reserve supports leopards, striped hyena, jungle cat, caracal, golden jackal, sloth bear, chital, sambar, nilgai, chinkara, four-horned antelope and wild boar. The birdlife is equally extraordinary, with the crested serpent eagle, Indian eagle-owl, Indian peafowl, grey partridge, sand grouse and golden-backed woodpecker among the most celebrated species.

Dinner and overnight stay at your accommodation inside Sariska Tiger Reserve.

Day 2: Dawn Safari Then Alwar Highlights

The morning safari at Sariska begins at 7 am in winter, the single most productive wildlife encounter time of the entire visit. Tigers are most active in the early morning hours, moving between territories, visiting water sources and hunting before the day warms. Your naturalist guide has spent the evening tracking the latest movement reports from the forest rangers and enters the reserve on Day 2 with specific knowledge of where the most promising sightings are likely.

The dawn safari runs until 10.30 am. After returning to the property for breakfast, you begin the drive back to Delhi via Alwar, where two of the most extraordinary heritage landmarks in Rajasthan make the journey home a genuine cultural experience rather than simply a transfer.

Siliserh Lake, created in 1845 by Maharaja Vinay Singh, who is said to have fallen in love with a woman from the village below and built a palace on the water’s edge to be near her, is one of the most romantically situated lake palaces in Rajasthan. The views across the water to the Aravalli Hills are at their most beautiful in the late morning light.

The Moosi Maharani Chhatri, built in 1815 in memory of King Bakhtawar Singh and his queen Moosi, is one of the most refined pieces of funerary architecture in Rajasthan, its ground floor in red sandstone and its upper storey in white marble with carved domed arches and intricate floral tracery. It takes approximately forty-five minutes to explore properly and rewards every minute.

Drive onward to Delhi, arriving by approximately 6.30 pm.