Upcoming drives

While the world celebrates Christmas indoors, RTC celebrates it outdoors - with ten thousand flamingos for company.

Wings of the Wetlands takes us to Bhigwan, Maharashtra's own flamingo paradise, and deeper into Mayani Bird Sanctuary and the Jayakwadi backwaters. December is peak season for migratory birds - they've flown thousands of kilometres to be here. The least we can do is drive a few hundred to witness them.

Binoculars are essential. Telephoto lenses are welcome. Loud music is not.

Near the bird zones: engines low, voices lower, patience highest. We are guests in their home.

Three days. Christmas weekend. No leaves needed. Just a love for creatures who travel further than any of us ever will.

On the 26th of January, most Indians watch the parade. RTC drives one.

The Republic Safari Run takes us to Gujarat's Velavdar Black Buck National Sanctuary - home to the fastest antelope on Indian soil. Thousands of black bucks sprinting across golden grasslands. It's a sight that changes how you see this country.

Then we push to Gopnath Beach - raw, uncrowded, and so beautiful it feels like it's been kept a secret on purpose.

Four days. Take one leave on the 25th - the Republic rewards those who plan. Flag ceremony on the 26th, because RTC never forgets why we have the freedom to drive these roads.

Wildlife. Coastline. Heritage. Camaraderie. This drive has all four.

Forget the overpriced dinners and the cliché roses.

The best Valentine's gift is four hours of open road, your better half in the passenger seat, wind in the hair, and a sunrise that no restaurant can compete with.

The RTC Better Half Rally is our annual couples drive. Bring the person who puts up with your "just one more road trip" promises all year. The person who packs your bag when you forget. The one who hands you chai at exactly the right moment on a highway.

Destination stays intimate - revealed closer to the date. What we promise is this: scenic roads, a convoy that respects your space, and a drive that reminds both of you why the journey matters more than the destination.

Co-pilots deserve the spotlight. This weekend, they get it.

On this road, women are not passengers, pillions, or co-pilots. They take the wheel, plan the route, lead the convoy, and bring their own machines.

Before you throw colours at each other, come see the colours that have lasted two thousand years.

The RTC Color Cruise takes you to Ajanta and Ellora - caves carved by human hands over centuries, painted with pigments that still glow after millennia. Then onwards to Ghrishneshwar, one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, where devotion meets stone in the most humbling way.

Holi falls on the 22nd, and we celebrate it - but first, we earn it. We earn it by standing in front of art that makes you silent. By driving through the Deccan plateau with the windows down and the horizon wide open. By remembering that India's greatest masterpieces aren't in museums - they're carved into mountains.

Three days. History. Spirituality. And then - colours.

No littering at UNESCO sites. Carry your waste home. Leave only tyre marks on the road and nothing at the caves.