One-Week History and Food Tour of India

We were very happy with them. Please let themknow.

They were courteous and gracious and very professional. And very generous, gave us beautiful gifts including for me a grey tunic which fit me perfectly which is no small feat ( I am 5ft 2 and very rotund) this was very impressive... such good quality!Transitions were very smooth. Everyone very friendly.Not sure who exactly organized it but we were serenaded by wonderful musicians on the boat early morning in Varanasi. This will remain a highlight of our tripto India. Should we ever be able to return to India we works use them again, hands down. After Varanasi we met up with our synagogue group ( tour agency) for two weeks and one could not compare, their guides were not good. We loved Varanasi!  Our guide was excellent. Very intelligent,if we were to do it over, I would have insisted that my husband agree to unwind in the original place this travel company suggested which was near the tiger preserve. My husband did not want to take yet another plane nor long car journey so we stayed at a resort outside of Delhi.  It was very luxurious and I loved the suite but I didn’t feel I was in India, but rather a beautiful facsimile of India. My husband liked it much more than I did and did not agree. This was no fault of the agency. What he wanted. Perhaps if we had to do it all again I would have preferred landing inn Mumbai and going to Goa. 

I would use this travel company again to see more of India ( I.e. to go near Himalayas, see Hempe, go to Nature Preserve etc.) hopefully one day that can still happen.

We had the most amazing trip to Mumbai, Aurangabad for the Ellora and Ajanta caves, Tadoba and Kabini for wildlife, Mysore, Kochi, Munnar, and, finally, Kumarakom. Everything went according to plan and our agency checked in with us via WhatsApp most days. Our guides and drivers were all excellent and looked after us so well.

I would thoroughly recommend Zicasso’s travel agency and will certainly use them when we return to India.

The initial planning via WhatsApp phone calls and emails was on point, and we were able to create the itinerary we wanted.

The hotels were excellent and although we had many very early starts, there was always some downtime during the day to chill.

My trip was not organized very well, and although I had paid to be in 4 or 5 stars accommodations at times they felt more like 1 star accommodations. In Varanasi, the hotel room had mold on the walls, no hot water, and the room was dirty and infested with bugs.   Although,  my travel company knew that there was curfew in Varanasi, the day I had arrived there, they neglected to inform me about it, and to arrange for another hotel to stay in.  Because of the curfew, no car was allowed to drive in the center of the city. In Judhpur, the hotel provided his guests ear plugs.  Even with the ear plugs I could not sleep there because it was so noisy.   All night i could hear dogs barks, goats and the hum and drum of the old city.  Who wants to be stuck in the noisy old city when there are plenty of others hotels with beautiful gardens and quit rooms like  the hotels by by Taj.   In Bhuj the room in my hotel was unacceptable. All the rooms on the entire floor, except mine where being remodeled and in a process of being painted.  There was a strong smelly paint smell all over the floor that felt like poison, and I had to asked the staff at the reception to tell  the construction workers to stop to work at 22:30 because they kept working and knocking on the walls at all hours. In Mumbai, my travel company booked me a small noisy room at the tower of the Taj Mahl hotel. needless to say, that the receptionist at Taj hotel upgraded my room and changed my room to the Palace side of the hotel, where the rooms, are larger and much quieter. When I stayed at Aurangabad for two nights, although my flight to Mumbai was schedules only to 21:00 at night, no late check out was arranged for me.  I arranged it myself and paid extra myself.

When I was traveling in Rajasthan,   During my stay in  Ranthambore,  I found out that my driver was drunk and could not drive me back to my hotel.   The drunk driver demanded a cut in one of the textile stores I had placed an order.   Since the driver was drunk, he could not drive my husband and me to Jaipur.  Another Driver had to be found and our trip got delayed.   The drunk driver was dismissed later from the travel company. 

The inner flights in India were also organized very badly.  Instead of booking all our flights with Air India which would have allowed us to have 25KG for person, since we have Star alliance membership, most of our flights were booked with chipper airlines that only allow each person 15 KG.  The 15 kg is not just for the checked in luggage, it is a combination of the checked luggage plus all the hand bags.  We ended paying thousands of Rupees extra for our luggage.

   Although I was billed and paid to a luxurious trip, my travel company cut in every corner and booked us  a trip in a one to two  stars  many nights of the trip.

My husband and I had a fantastic month long adventure in India, celebrating my husbands 80th Birthday. We were very well taken care of every step of the way, from the moment we were met at the airport to the last day when we were put on the airplane to come back to New York. All greeters and drivers were courteous and punctual, and all guides were very pleasant and knowledgeable. We only had a couple of misunderstandings where our itinerary did not match up with the one the company had, but it was all taken care of by the guides. We also didn't get our "local phone" at arrival as promised. It was given to us a little later, but it didn't really matter because we were so well cared for at all times that we never needed the phone anyway. One small thing we appreciated very much was that there was always water and hand sanitizer and wipes for us in the cars. Only one car did not have it. Also the cars very nice and clean. Most hotels were wonderful, with excellent service, nice clean rooms and good breakfast with lots of choices. There was only one hotel we would not recommend, the hotel in Goa. The place is beautiful, surrounded by water, but there are a few problems. First of all it is far down south from all the action. The first room we were given was facing north on a lagoon and smelled of mold and the floor boards were warped by moisture. We complained so they gave us another room facing east on the lagoon. It was also smelly and floor boards were slightly warped but a little bit better than the first room. It was the only other choice they had for us, so we had to take it. Another problem was that the beach, the white sun umbrellas and the palm trees were all covered with black soot, and when we came back from the beach, our toes were black. We were not able to find out what it was or where it came from, but the locals must know, because many of them walking on the beach had their mouth and nose covered by hankies and scarves. We also felt uncomfortable with the guards standing  around the pool, and breakfast patio, with guns shooting blanks to chase away the birds. There were lots of birds trying to sneak some food from peoples tables. Every time the guards shot we would jump. It was especially annoying when we were lying by the pool trying to relax. At the other hotel in Goa were we stayed previously they had a man walking around with a long stick with a flag on top to keep the birds away, which was much more pleasant. We highly recommend the Taj Exotica. It was one of our most favorite hotels in India, along with the hotel in Varanasi and the hotel in Mumbai. Unfortunately I have to mention a small nuisance. The tipping of airport greeters, drivers, guides, hotel check in agents, bell hops, became a headache after a while (since we were there a whole month), to have to figure out all the time how much to give, and to make sure we always had some small change at hand. But overall, we had a wonderful time. A big "Thank You"! to all the people involved in making our trip pleasant and safe in every way! I highly recommend this travel company for anyone who is interested in visiting India. It's a lovely country with an amazing history, beautiful sights, (only sad part it the garbage everywhere), and last but not least the Indian people are very friendly and helpful!  Pia S G 3/10/2018.

Zicasso/our travel company did a fantastic job of organizing our 2 week vacation in India. We traveled to Delhi, Agra, Varanasi, Jaipur, Udaipur, Aurangabad, and Mumbai.  We never would have been able to organize this trip without their help. Their process of working with us to build an itinerary prior to our trip was efficient and straightforward, and they were very flexible as far as adapting our itinerary as our planning evolved.  All of our drivers and guides were professional and prompt.  We did not have one logistical problem on our entire trip, which is amazing since we had 5 flights within India to reach various destinations and had new guides and drivers in each city. The drivers were invaluable, and our guides helped us safely navigate through crowded city streets and cultural attractions.  Our guides also shared expert information about Indian culture, history, and religion specific to their regional areas. We strongly recommend Zicasso/this travel company to anyone planning a trip.