ferlui

We are going to India next december and we bought a luxury package staying only at 5 star hotels and thats the question. We are not rich and we almost spend out total money on that package cause everybody told us to stay at 5 stars hotels cause 3 stars is not good. Im a litle worried if we have to dinner at the hotels, maybe it will cost a lot, cause we will be in India during 20 days.We dont like alcool, we drink just soda and juices.Whats the avarage rate for a couple dinning at hotels restaurants?
Do good and clean outside restaurants has the same rates that the inside restaurans ?
Another question; when we were in Bali and Tailand we eat a lot at streets specialy fruits that we love.Do you think its possible to try it at streets in India ?
Thanks in advance for your attention.
Fernando - Brazil

rhkkmk

i would not consider eating anything on the street in india...

and yes hotel foods are expensive but not outrageous...not like paris, nyc or london...

some quality local restaurants do exist in cities....guidebooks and forums like this make it easy to find them....you always have to be careful at what you order....it should be cooked freshly and you should follow all the general rules...only bottled water of course...
i would not eat fruit from the street until i could wash it with clean water...

here are some meal costs from 2 years ago:

lunch at pindi restaurant in delhi--many foreigners there $16 for 2

dinner at Bukhara rest. in the sheraton in delhi: 4526 rs--expensive and only so so

lunch at basil and thyme in delhi at Santushi shopping center: 970 rp

dinner at spice route rest. imperial hotel delhi: 3866 rs

lunch at pind balluchi on road to agra: 457 rs

dinner at mugal sheraton agra: 2403 rs

lunch at riao rest. agra: 990 rs

dinner at amarvilas at esphahan rest. in agra: 2 thali, one veg. and one meat: 3000 rs

dinner at parampara rest. in jaipur: 1120
lunch at same rest. for 2: 930 rs

dinner at rambagh palace in at suvarna mahal rest: 4050 rs

lunch at samode palace: 1421 rs

dinner a jai mahal palace jaipur in cinnamon rest: 3898 rs

dinner at spice court rest. jaipur: 1918 rs--3 people

dinner at sheraton delhi in dum pukht rest.: 3980 rs--not good

so this is a sample of the costs...we ate on the upscale side to be safe...most hotels come with very nice breakfasts

we stayed in 2nd tier hotels for the same reasons you are staying in 5*....much cheaper: nikko in delhi, sheraton in agra and jaipur

ferlui

Thanks rhkkmk, it seems good but for me it would be better around U$50/U$80.
Do you think the prices is higher now ?
I dont know about inflation in India.

lcuy

What cities will you be visiting? and which hotels? Maybe we can help with some specific places to eat.

Eating outside your hotels will be cheaper in most cases, but as bob said, the hotel prices will not be horrendous, especially if you order carefully.

Alcohol is expensive, so you will save a bit by not drinking. I often buy fresh fruit from local vendors and then peel and eat it for breakfast or lunch. For various reasons, I find we only eat two real meals a day in India, and just snack a lot around them.

Craig

You can also save money by eating vegetarian and splitting portions. We found Indian vegetarian food to be delicious and filling.

ferlui

Thanks for your tips.
Here are the list of hotels I will stay in ;
Delhi 29/30 dec Taj Palace
Udaipur 31/01 Trident Hilton
Jodhpur 02/03 Taj Hari Mahal
Nimaj 04/05 Nimaj Palace
Jaipur 06/07/08 Taj Jai Mahal Palace
Agra 09/10 Taj View
Kajuraho 11 Taj Chandela
Varanasi 12/13 Taj Ganges
Delhi 14/15 Taj Palace

Im reading old posts trying to find restaurants near the hotels.
Thanks again,
Fernando

ferlui

I forgot to say that we will have a driver with us during all trip.

Cicerone

Get the Lonely Plant book for India and use their “top end” reccos for dining (with some caution, they have gone a bit upscale and their top end can be pricey). Generally these reccos are good restaurants and good value for money. You do not need to eat only in hotels, there are restaurants in all the cities you mentioned; I think the area around the Nimaj and Varanasi may be one of the harder ones. I would agree that by going veg, you can save a lot of money. Delhi has tons of restaurants outside hotels which are good. Udaipur has many small family restaurants in the town area that IMO would be fine. In Agra, the restaurants in the Taj View are not expensive, and are certainly cheaper than someplace like the Amarvilas (although you might go there for a juice, as their bar has a great Taj view). The restaurant on top of the Clark’s hotel has a nice view and is not expensive either.

IMO your schedule is very rushed, it looks like 8 places in 2 weeks. If you are flying between places, in Delhi you will probably have fog which will delay you, and you can get it in Varanasi too. If you are driving in Rajasthan between those places, you will be spending a lot of time in the car and on roads, rather than in places seeing something. I personally would cut out some places, or this will become a blur. Khajuraho would be the first I would cut. I also don’t know that you need to include Udaipur, Jaipur <u>and Jodhpur</u>, not to mention a stopover at Nimraj (which I don’t think you will find is really a 5 star or “luxury” hotel). I think one, or at most two, I these would be fine. To travel all the way for one night in Jodphur seems like a lot, same with Nimraj. It’s also a long way for Khajuraho for 1 night. With the Nimraj or Jodphur//Udaipur, you could spend 2 nights and really see the countryside and villages. With this itin, I think you will have to hit the road before you can see anything. (I am not a traveler who likes to just go to places to check off on a list, I like to actually spend time and get the feel of a place, which, IMO, you cannot do with your itin.

The Taj Ganges is not a 5 star either, it’s about the best of the chains in Varanasi, but I think others on this board have had good luck at places like the Guest House or similar name. You might check this board. None of the hotels on your list really qualify as 5 star or luxury, they are really 4 stars, but are perfectly fine. I like the Taj View a lot and the Trident Udaipur gets good reviews. However, if you really want to re-consider hotels, you might try Alistair Sawday's book called Special Places to Stay India. This has literally hundreds of very interesting places to stay, many in the range of less than US$60 a night and several in the range of less than US$30 a night. They also have a website at http://sawdays.co.uk/, click on the book for India. The vast majority of these hotels are not in the luxury range and some are in the very low budget range, but all look interesting.

I generally say with India that you just can’t trust the hotel’s own rating, you have to go by what other traveller’s say. See sites like tripadvisor.com. I don’t necessarily think you have to stay in a 5 star in India, with looking and reading reviews, IMO, you can pick B&amp;B type places and other cheaper places and have a good experience. (Some of my worst hotel experiences have been in self-proclaimed Indian “luxury” hotels, so there you are!)

Finally, you don’t need a car and driver for the entire trip. You can take trains to many of the places, which are quite cheap, even in first class. You can train from Delhi to Agra faster than you can drive, and much cheaper. You can then hire drivers as you need them. You can hire drivers for the day in Delhi very inexpensively, try Kumar Tourist Taxi Service,
e-mail: [email protected]. They charge about US$10 for a day of touring.