You never forget the first time you see the Taj Mahal in person, but India also rewards those who escape the orbits of major attractions. Some of my favorite travel memories come from unexpected moments off the beaten path. But getting out of the tourist circuit doesn’t require striking off on your own, without a guide. Indeed, particularly in India, it’s extremely helpful to have one.

The guides our Travel Office arranged for me and my companion all proved not only well-informed but intuitive and flexible, understanding my wish to experience something that not every visitor does. In the places below, we saw no other tourists. And in one of them, we saw no one else at all.

Mehrauli Archaeological Park, Delhi

The 13th-century Qutb Minar, a roughly 240-foot-tall sandstone minaret, and the adjacent ruins of a nearby mosque that’s made partially with stones taken from demolished Hindu temples, rightly rank among Delhi’s top attractions. They predate the Old Delhi quarter by about 400 years.