Tours of India

[david63]

Not cruise related but we are contemplating doing a "grand" tour of India next year (I know it's early but there will need to be a lot of planning and research done)

Has anyone any experience of tours of India - either custom or "off the shelf"?

(Having read all the stories about those on cruises visiting India I fully up to speed on the visa situation - I hope)

[Manoverboard]

Are you planning a DIY or a Coach Tour ?

[david63]

Are you planning a DIY or a Coach Tour ?

All options are on the table at the moment

[Manoverboard]

Good luck with the Visas ... and the jabs of course

[Patience32]

Hello David

My first post and nothing to do with cruising !

I have just returned from a fabulous DIY tour of India. I booked my flights with Air India and researched the hotels on line. I flew into Delhi - Caught a train to Agra - Then I hired a driver to Jaipur and finally Haridwar [ religious site for Hindu's on the Ganges].

The biggest expense was obviously the flight, the mid range hotels were fairly reasonable [£20 -£40 per night] and the driver worked out around £40 per day but was on call 24/7 and included all taxes- his fuel and his accommodation. [Some less reputable drivers will sleep in the car over night]. He drove us around and pointed out places of interest and we spent 10 days with him and I think he was worth every penny as we saw India through his eyes and stopped at some of the more 'authentic' eating establishments. He would also take us to restaurants in the evening and miraculously appear when we were ready to leave.

I never fancied an organised coach tour as such and the above option worked very well for me.

India itself was truly amazing, the people, the food the sites and the sounds. I never once felt under threat and the only real hassle from sellers was at the real tourist areas such as the Taj Mahal etc. If you go to some of the less tourist spots expect to have the odd baby/child thrust in your arms for a picture as a white Westerner can be very rare Hard to say which was my favourite area as I loved them all for different reasons. But if I ever return I would spend longer in Delhi as I just scratched the surface in three days.

I landed in India expecting all sorts and wondered if the people were happy with their life that was so different to ours - But I left thinking yes they were !

[Kendhni]

David, we would love to go to India some time so can you maybe keep this thread going and updated as you learn things ... as a helper to others?

[Manoverboard]

Coaching tours and reviews have been shipped by PM.

Our only first hand experience of India was just the one day in Mumbai via Aurora so very limited, however.

Driving yourself is not a good plan imo but I did like the idea, from Patience32 ...

Hello and welcome

... of having a driver, a tad scarey no doubt but so authentic.

* Tis not the cleanest of places so top end Hotels would be my own choice.

* Our tour guide mentioned that she likes to travel by train now and again to see her family but needs to book three weeks in advance in order to guarantee a ticket. The sights we saw relating to getting on and off these trains was frankly unbelievable so my advice would be to book an advance seat in a First Class carriage, ideally with aircon ... assuming railways are an option you wish to consider.

[david63]

Thanks for that Patience, and MoB.

One question, at the moment, for Patience is how did you go about getting the car and driver? Did you pre book it or did you wait until you arrived?

The way things are looking at the moment, because of what we want to do, we are tending to lean towards the car/driver option rather than the "organised" coach route as none of the organised tours that we have found can give us 100% of what we are looking for - although we have found one that will give us 90%.

We are still at the information gathering stage but currently are two main options seem to be arranging a private tour via a UK tour company (could be expensive) or arranging the tour via an Indian tour company and then adding out own flights on (no idea of the cost of doing that)

Will try and remember to keep it updated for you Ken

[Patience32]

I was actually recommended the driver from someone I had been chatting to on Trip advisor - when I was in the planning stages.

He was excellant at returning emails and between us we agreed a price and plan of our tour. He also threw in a few suggestions of places we might like to visit enroute. I have to say his English was fantastic and the car had full A/C and was large and comfortable.

I am more than happy to pass on his details if you wish.

I am not sure of the area's you wish to visit but I did find the trains in Delhi to be very easy to use albeit a little snug at times !

[JoanneB]

We did a tour with Riviera Travel on the Maharajah Express this was a very safe & easy way to see the country as you were guided at all times and had meals either in a Taj hotel at lunchtime or on the train which was catered from teh Taj hotel. so no tummy upsets and a wonderful experience. Riviera tend to be quite intensive so you see a lot but are shattered! We worked on teh basis that it was the only time we would do it so see as much as you could.

We are much too timid to DIY! Riviera are mid range mid price, medium size groups.

Photos of the train here http://flic.kr/s/aHsjpWbjdC

and the holiday here http://flic.kr/s/aHsjpK6rkp

[david63]

Just thought that I would add an update as to where we are a week down the road.

We knew right from the start that this was never going to be easy as even then we were not going to be doing a "normal" trip, but what we were wanting to do was not that impossible to accommodate.

It seems that there are basically three options:

1. A fully organised and escorted tour either by road/air/rail or by train.

2. A private tour - which is basically the same as doing the escorted tour but you have your own car/driver.

3. A custom tailored tour where you have full control over everything dates/itinerary/hotels etc.

So the first step is to decide on what itinerary we want to do. This started off as being quite easy as we wanted to do the "Golden Triangle" - until we started to read the brochures or read something on the Internet or spoke to a travel expert and then something else would be added to the itinerary. We have now reached the stage where we have the basis of our itinerary and it is clear that we will have to go with option three.

We now have three options for option three:

1. Go with a UK travel company that specialises in this type of tour and having spoken to a couple of these companies I am impressed (and you all know that takes some doing ) with their depth of knowledge.

2. Go with an Indian tour operator - and this is the next thing to be investigated.

3. Complete DIY - an option that due to the complexity of what we are doing and not being familiar with the country is probably not a viable option.

[Manoverboard]

I would go for option 1 within Option Three ... if only because you will have greater protection with a UK based ABTA / IATA regulated company.

They will no doubt sub contract the tour to an Indian Operator but at least it will be one with a proven track record and most likely be the best available.

[david63]

That is probably the way we will end up going MoB but we do have, albeit somewhat tenuous, contacts with India and are waiting to see what comes of that.

[JoanneB]

Just a thought, when we did our trip acquaintances of ours also did a similar trip but with private cars in a small group tour for 6. They said afterwards they regretted it as they missed the camaraderie of meeting up with different people at the end of each day and swapping tales with them. Also it was twice the price!

[david63]

Just a thought, when we did our trip acquaintances of ours also did a similar trip but with private cars in a small group tour for 6. They said afterwards they regretted it as they missed the camaraderie of meeting up with different people at the end of each day and swapping tales with them. Also it was twice the price!

That thought had not totally escaped us - the meeting up with others that is. However like most things in life a compromise will have to be made as this will probably be the one and only time that we will visit India so we want to do as much as possible and "tailor made" tours just don't offer that (well not that I have found so far - but am still looking)