Tour Company to India to Recommend?

I used a great company called Yatrik www.yatrik.com located in Delhi. I could not have been more pleased. There have been a number of Fordor's folks that have used Yatrik. Some have done Oberoi level tours, others far less extravagant. All have been very happy from reports they have given. I have also had friends outside of Fordors use this company with tours at both ends of the spectrum with great results and feedback. The person to contact there is Ajay Sharma ajay@yatrik.co.in As two women traveling alone through the country, I felt very safe and supported by them. Ajay would call me every couple of days just to check in. We were in India for three weeks.

However, there are many good companies to choose from. I have no doubt you will get plenty of good recommendations from other Fordorites. Check prices and support from a few of them and enjoy India.

I have used the same tour company 4 times now. It's a small operation, just 2 cars but very personalized service. Shagun Tour is the name. No website but I do have an email and phone contact:

shaguntoursindia@yahoo.in

91 97 1840 7602

Ask for Rakesh. I just finished a 3 week tour with him Oct 21.

Three weeks, North AND South. That's a lot. What cities are on your must-see list?

The reality here is that, if you choose a little company, like Chris above, they will have experience and specialize in their area - but if you book any other areas they will probably have to sell you on to someone else.

Shaguntours, for example, might be great in Rajasthan, but hopeless in Tamil Nadi - so you could do 10 days with one in the North and ten days with another: South. Yatrik probably has a bigger web. They also have web-SITE - which would make me feel more comfortable. Three weeks with a total stranger recommended by a total stranger may be stretching your risk.
{I'm talking in the abstract here, Chris, not undermining your suggestion].

Are you after a guide or a driver? They aren't the same thing.

Or are you really after a driver/cool guy/instant friend/fixer/minder/protector/advisor kinda fellow?

Do you want someone to take control of your three weeks and just DO it for you? Or are you into mucho research and planning?

All of the above are perfectly fine by me - it's good to be a little bit more specific, that's all. Also useful to think about just what kind of $$ are O.K. by you. I'd love to know what Chris paid, for example.

Dogster's bumbling around India, medium to low but not grubby, seems to average around 4,000 rupees hotels per night, about 3,000 car [overnight, all costs incl] and driver plus 1000 meals. Base level. Do NOT go lower.

That's with some careful sleuthing. Of course, once you head into the Oberoi's etc - those figures are meaningless. Of course, Dogster abandons any budget when in trouble - or when I want a bitta Taj love. So, when thinking of a company, you have to think about $$. YGWYPF.

There are a whole lotta posts on this. Millions. Go look. Search. It's easy.

A final thought: V.P. Singh, a regular poster in here, constantly impresses me with his wit, wisdom, maturity and amazing knowledge. He would never use this forum to promote his tour company - nor have I used them, but they might be a damn fine place to start.

http://www.legendsandpalaces.com/

we had great luck with castle and king in delhi...google them

Cox and Kings. Old company. We used them . Good

I forgot to say that we are 2 middle age women looking to join a SMALL GROUP TOUR to India in Feb! (15-20 people max)-not just have a car, driver and guide. I am really busy starting my own business right now and don't have the time to do the research and bookings on my own. For sure, I want to see Rajasthan and then spend some time in Kerala. Want to see some forts, the Taj Mahal of course, temples, do a desert camel safari, get out to some wildlife areas, see some of the rural areas,etc. After that, I need someone else to plan the itinerary for me! Probably want 3-4 star hotels since I don't want to worry about the food and water. Thanks for any and all suggestions.
Citygirl9

Sigh.

Well, that's ten minutes of my life I won't get back. If you won't do anything for yourself, then why expect us to? Get a travel agent wherever you are to deal with this. Anybody will do. You don't know what you want, so you won't know when you don't get it.

Sorry, if you want to see india, you Have to spend some time researching it! Otherwise, you will be spending too much and going where it is easiest for the tour companies to make money.3-4 star hotels in India do NOT guarantee good water and food, either.

Boston harbour had a good experience with Yatrik. Contact them and ask them to recreate her trip for the two of you. Much better than a group trip!

Do I need to stay at 5-star hotels to get good water and food then???

Use Cox and Kings as I advised and they will plan the whole thing .They have itineraries.Tell them what you want .Not sure if they have group tours or not .

I second Dogster.(She must have hit a really raw nerve with you D )

Whilst we are all happy to help we are not travel agents . That is not the point of this site.

I always say that you are your own best travel agent as few or none have the time , nor inclination to know all about these places and nor do they make enough from bookings to spend hours on them .

Surely you can take 30 minutes one night to use your search engine ?

"I am really busy starting my own business right now and don't have the time to do the research and bookings on my own"

So you expect total strangers to do all your legwork for free because you're too busy with your own crap? Get real, lady.

BOY OH BOY, did many of you misread me and what I was asking!! ! I have spent hours on the internet already and looked at a few guide books and feel overwhelmed by the amount of information that I have obtained. India is a huge country and I know I can't see all of it in 2-3 weeks. All I was asking for was the names of some tour companies that you have used, and SOME of you were kind enough to pass along that info to me. I was NOT asking you to be my travel agent or plan my itinerary for me-see my original post. Don't know why some of you thought that. I do appreciate the suggestions from the folks that really heard what I was asking.

I did all of my own planning and booking for India, but as you're looking for a 15-20 (or fewer) group tour I can cautiously recommend OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel.) I've traveled with them twice, although not to India, and both were lovely trips; their "Heart of India" trip has a lot of variety. www.oattravel.com

You do get much more freedom, of course, if you go the private itinerary route, but you might want to check this out.

Hi Citygirl, I can only recommend the car/driver company my family used just the first 9 days of our trip in India. Try rameshindia@live.com. 00 91 9829807074. Mr Meena is a safe driver who speaks excellent English and has experience of driving in north and south India.

How's the gin holding out, MrsMarge?

Hello, I just spent 17 days in India last month with most of that time in Jaipur and used V Care Tours and Travels. A great experience! You cannot go wrong with Deepak and his crew. Reasonable and dependable. The website is www.carhireinrajasthan.com. They are the best!

We are leaving tomorrow for a 3 week trip to Rajasthan with Legends and Palaces (just my husband and I). So far, Mr. VP Singh has been extremely helpful and responsive (and flexible - as we have tweaked our itinerary a lot) and I will post our experiences when we return.

Thanks to all the helpful posters here on the India board - your shared experience and advice has been invaluable.

Hi Citygirl.

We also normally prefer tours, where there is a minimal amount of planning on our part.

I can also highly recommend OAT for a wonderful tour experience. They have two different tours to India. Heart of India is 17 days and sounds wonderful. (It's on our list of future tours to take.) They also have another tour, Soul of India: The Colorful South, which is 18 days. Both tours have optional add-ons if you want to travel for a full 3 weeks.

http://www.oattravel.com/gcc/general/default.aspx?oid=264752&linklocation=trip_leftnav

We love traveling with Overseas Adventure Travel. We are leaving on our next tour with them to South Africa in less than a month. This will be our 5th trip with OAT. We have always had fantastic tour directors. OAT also emphasizes the cultural aspects of the places visited, with home and school visits. The maximum number of tour participants is 16.

If you have any questions about traveling with OAT, feel free to contact me at: shelsandy@hotmail.com

I just spent 3 weeks in Northern/Central India and used Compass Tours. They were extremely professional, always prompt would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone

I also used Compass, and so did Craig. They were very good, although sometimes getting return emails is slow.

HI Citygirl, sorry for the late reply.

Last yr for travel in South Indiawe used Indianpanorama. I can't say the numerous good things about this company, andstill manage to keep this brief--an adequate description would take paragraphs!
Faith and Pandian, the owners/directors, are terrific and very easy to communicate with. The prices are ezcellent--better than I was finding over the internet for sure. The driver was wonderful. Most important, the itinerary Faith planned based on what i wanted to see and do, and how to travel, made for a great trip for me and my daughter--far better than we ever imagined.

Here's what I mean: while planning the current trip, I enquired (emailed)lat night asking about a particular hotel in Amritsar. Less than 24 hours later, received a "from the scene" detailed report from one of their local people!

We used Castle and King in Dec. 2007 and the ititnerary was fantastic. We were in India for 16 days and went to Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Ranthambore, Khajurahu? and Kathmandu. It was a perfect pace for us and Castle and King went above and beyond for us. I highly recommend them.

I started reading this board last spring and thought we'd have to use a travel agent or a canned tour. After good advice from many Fodorites, we planned our own trip with Ramesh Meena as our driver and I'm so happy we did. No being herded like sheep, following a guide who's holding a flag, eating when and where we wish. And Ram is a perfect traveling companion ---intelligent, generous, kind, funny, and a very safe driver!

We're in Agra now and have been staying in three-four star hotels. We always drink bottled water and refrain from eating raw unpeeled fruits and veggies. We have a full round of inoculations under our belt. And we're having a great time!

Another vote for VP Singh. He helps to bring India alive and is a true gentleman and scholar.

I Recommend you one of the best travel agent in India
his name is Rajendar singh and his site call www.rajuindia.com

citygirl9 has long left the building - in a huff. Which is not to say that there aren't a lot of really great suggestions in the rest of this post.

Unfortunately, the last missive from danish_ali probably isn't one of them. Mr. Danish joined just today, specially to answer this post... isn't that sweet?

Hi Raju. Good to see you again. What an amazing internet history you have - how on earth do you find the time?

I think the post is worth keeping - just to remind ourselves that rust never sleeps.

boy Dogster, you don't have much of a good word to say about anyone do you? I have been following all these posts, have NOT long left the building in a huff. Why are you so negative?
THANK YOU to all those who gave great suggestions. I really appreciate the good information from all concerned (NOT dogster). Trip is planned and we will be on our way in January.
Citygirl9

Citygirl9...I gather you found a tour company that satisfied your requirements. Can you say which one? Thanks.

We decided to go with an Indian tour company recommended to us-Gurudongma http://gurudongma.com. They customized an itinerary for us and we are very pleased. Will let you know how it was when we return.