India Tours & Vacations

 My adult son and I just returned from a 12 day trip to India arranged by this travel agent. 

New Delhi - Agra - Fatehpur Sikiri - Chand Baori - Ranthambore National Park - Jaipur - Jodhpur - Jain Temples at Ranakpur - Udaipur - Mumbai

 I requested the step well, Chand Baori.  It should be on all tours driving the road between Agra and Jaipur.  It's not far off the main road and well worth the short detour.

 We were met by tour reps at every stop, every train station, and every airport.  Someone was always there to either meet us upon arrival or to see us off.  The guides were all very good and the drivers were excellent.   

 This agent planned our trip from start to finish and we had a wonderful time.  I'm returning to India next year and she is now making all the necessary arrangements for what will be a  much longer trip.  There's  so more much I want to see.

We just finished a 40 day trip to India (February 2017) visiting Delhi, Bharatpur, Agra, Jaipur, Amritsar, Varanasi and Kolkata along with eight National Parks (Keoladeo, Ranthambore, Pench, Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Panna, Sunderban and Kaziranga) and traveled by either car or rail (we had five separate nights on a train plus one evening train ride). We had spent a couple of months in early 2016 planning this trip with this travel agency and all we can say is that everything worked out perfectly.  There was someone to meet us at the Delhi airport and there was always someone to take us to the train and to meet us when the train arrived.  The drivers and guides always showed up on time as planned/or as agreed.  The drivers were outstanding. They were safe drivers and also polite, courteous and informative. The guides were also outstanding, friendly, polite and very, very knowledgeable.  The hotels chosen for us with the exception of one were excellent although in the National Parks the accommodation may run out of hot water.  We are extremely satisfied with every aspect of this trip and would definitely use this company again.  We were in contact via e-mail as well as phone and I always up to date as to the status of the trip. 

Our trip to India was everything we hoped it would be and more.  Our travel agency did a fantastic job planning the trip with us and making sure everything went smoothly.  First, the owner listened to us.  She has traveled extensively in India and knows a great deal about the country, from hotel options, to restaurants, to sights to see, both well-known and off the beaten track.  She has her own opinions, that she is willing to share to help her clients plan, but most importantly she listened to us, worked to understand the type of travelers we are, and tailored a trip that worked perfectly for us.  She willingly adjusted the itinerary and discussed options with us to be sure we were seeing what we wanted to see.  Her in-country colleagues handled things on the ground seamlessly - from recognizing us at the airport at 2:30 in the morning, to making sure our check-ins and check-outs at each hotel went smoothly, to arranging each pick-up and drop-off at the time we wanted, to making dinner reservations for us.  Our driver was wonderful and felt like part of the family.  We have worked with many agencies, and this company is at the top of the list - for knowledge, for flexibility, for creativity, for responsiveness, and for service.

As for India - it is a place everyone should visit.  Our trip took us to Delhi, Agra, Ranthambore Park, Jaipur, the Thar Desert, Jodhpur and Udaipur.  The sights were beyond incredible (yes the Taj Mahal is the most beautiful building in the world, and yes, there are few things more exhilarating than a wild tiger six feet from your jeep), and the people of India are warm and welcoming and have mastered the art of the service industry.  Because of her connections, our agent added some marvelous things to the trip, like dinner with the proprietors of a small hotel who shared their fascinating opinions after a cooking lesson and a visit to a block printing artist at his home in Udaipur.  We loved our trip!!!

Overall, we were very pleased with our trip.  Our guides were all knowledgeable about history and culture and they ensured we were carefully looked after.  They advocated strongly on our behalf and were flexible with respect to changes in the schedule based on time and activities.  The information we received beforehand adequately prepared us for our activities.  For example, I read some reviews where people were angry they didn’t see tigers or other wildlife at Ranthambhore, but our information made it clear the area is a reserve and not a zoo and had very different topography than in Africa.  We appreciated that being custom travel, we were able to include a stop at Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, which was a wonderful experience to see birds migrating from Russia and China.  The hotels were mostly modern; we loved the historic place of Nahargarh Ranthambhore and the Hotel Fategarh.  We completely adored our driver who was with us from New Delhi until we left Jaipur.  He not only maintained a clean and comfortable vehicle, he made sure we always had sufficient water and he had hand sanitizer, wipes, and candies.  He was very flexible and took us to a Royal Enfield motorcycle showroom at our request.  He worked to help us find a new battery for our camera; he ultimately spoke with a shop owner who arranged to have a battery from another shop delivered to our hotel room.  He also secured an excellent rickshaw driver for us in the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary who used his binoculars and my phone to take excellent pictures of wildlife for me.  We spend many hours with our driver and as we traveled, he educated us about many factors in Indian life.

This travel agent did a great job from the first day we communicated though to the end of our trip.  All was executed as agreed to.  Her recommendations, guides, useful travel notes helped make our trip so memorable.  We traveled to Mumbai, Varanasi, Sarnath, Agra, Jaipur, Chhatra Sagar, Udaipur, and Delhi.  We had the perfect timing to participate in the Diwali Festival in Udaipur which was colorful and wonderful to see the local customs surrounding this event.  We then traveled onto Bhutan.  Sitting on the Northern side of the flight from Delhi to Thimphu gave us a birds eye view of Mount Everest - spectacular!!  The food on the trip was over the top wonderful.  The drivers & tour guides our travel agent arranged were top notch, polite and friendly - all our needs were and more.  We stayed at all 5 star hotels which was the only way to go - we should have scheduled more time to take in this one of a kind worldly hotels.