beamarriott

Has anyone booked the Oberoi Exotic Vacation Package in India during the off season? They offer several of their hotels at a good rate plus a couple of other goodies thrown inn. It would be great to hear from someone who has taken this option. Thanks!

Cicerone

I travel to India about once a month for business (I leave tomorrow for a week in Delhi and Mumbai). I think Oberoi hotels are really excellent, truly some of the very best anywhere, and I don't think you would see any difference from high to low season (I certainly don't). But remember that "off" season in India generally means beastly hot. I have been in north India in the pre-monsoon months of April and May when it is over 110 F. It is quite hard to bear. I can barely make it from air conditioned hotel to air con car to air con conference room. I don't know how a tourist would do it out in the sun all day touring sites that have little or no shade or driving long distances even in a car with air conditioning with that hot sun beating down all day. There is a reason that they offer these deals, because no one really wants to be out and about during that heat, or in some cases during the heavy rains of monsoon. Just keep that all in mind when planning a trip during the "off" season in India. While it is possible to do the trip, you would have to take a much slower itineary, IMO. Also, consider time in the hill country, esp Wildflower Hall which is in the cooler hill area (but heavy rain in July and Aug with monsoon). India is a tough country to travel in, and in the hot weather or heavy rain can be that much tougher. Conversely, from about now through mid-March is just delightful in most parts of India.

lcuy

I just got back from India. We had originally planned to do the package wiht the river rafting, massage, etc (is that the exotic?) at Wildflower Hall. Instead did the Unforgetable package. Found it was cheaper to just do all the activities 'ala carte'.

beamarriott

Thank you so much for your feedback. I am actually considering beginning of October 2008. I understand it will be hot, but I live in Florida all year around and I suppose we could manage. The "off season" deal offers a lot more flexibility in terms of cancelling last minute - an important consideration in our case.

lcuy: did you enjoy the unforgettable package?

dutyfree

Cicerone-if you think of any hotels that might be available while in Delhi-will you post here?Do you always stay at the Oberoi properties?
We are leaving next week and STILL cannot find any vacancies at hotels and B and B's. My son says "not to worry" but this is not the way I travel. Thanks!

lcuy

The unforgetable includes daily breakfast and airport (or train) transfers.

October was a perfect time for us! Absolutely gorgeous; clear weather in Shimla. Hot, but not at all unpleasant in Agra and Delhi. More tourists than in August, but way less than in late November or December.
I would definitely choose October again.

Cicerone

dutyfree, Delhi in November is really part of the peak tourist season, and it is almost always busy here with business people, so I would agree with you that “winging it” in Delhi is really not a great idea, you may wind up with something really substandard.

I don’t always stay at Oberois in Delhi or elsewhere. Currently I am at Uppal’s Orchid in a suburb of southwest New Delhi and have to say I am quite pleasantly surprised, it is very nice. I have not stayed here before. It is a member of Small Luxury Hotels, and rooms and service are very nice. IMO it’s probably not a great location for sightseeing in Delhi, as you are probably an hour from downtown Delhi sights, and it’s not cheap, but take a look at lhw.com or uppalsorchid.com. Other hotels in the area of southwest Delhi (the area including Gurgaon or Noida, both suburbs of Delhi near the airport) are the Radisson and the Trident Hilton; again not a great choice if you want to go into Delhi every day as a tourist, but any port in a storm and if you want southwest Delhi than these are in that area. The Trident is a particularly lovely hotel, one of my very favorites. Both are very good for access to the airport if you have domestic flights out.

Have you tried Allistar Sawday book (Special Places to Stay India) or website (http://www.sawdays.co.uk/accommodation/india/)? There may be some B&Bs in there. He always has some interesting-looking ones. If you want to be a bit further out, try the Neemrana hotel in --, or there is one in the Sawday book called Tikli Bottom which I believe is pretty far at the edge of Gurgaon that looks very interesting to me and I have wanted to try myself some weekend (http://www.tiklibottom.com/) (again, not great for sightseeing in Delhi, you’d be 2 hours or so from downtown, not sure what your plans are).

For Agra, I would try the Taj View, it is my second choice after the Oberoi there. Their Taj view rooms have lovely views (albeit further away than the Oberoi) and they have pretty grounds and a small pool area. It’s in an interesting part of town, and would be walkable to parts of the old town which are very interesting. They are operated by Taj hotels, a good Indian operator. Take a look at http://www.tajhotels.com/. The Sheraton is also perfectly good, but probably booked. Finally, while I am not a big fan of the Jaypee Palace, if it has rooms for your dates, it would be fine. It is just a large convention type hotel and not a great location as it is rather far from everything, but otherwise fine. The room quality varies, however, some are redone and quite nice, some are older, so if you stay there, ask to see a number of rooms if you don’t like the first one you see, or ask about the most recently redone rooms. Go to http://www.jaypeehotels.com/ or http://www.jaypeehotels.com/agra/5-s...agra-india.asp

Cicerone

Sorry, the Neemrana hotel I was referring to above is the Neemrana Fort Palace it's about an hour and a half outside Delhi, go to neemranahotels.com