Abercrombie & Kent has a 2 week tour of India, Nepal and Kathmandu. Has anyone had any experience with them or this trip? It is quite pricy. Thanks

We used A&K for a tour of China last year. I can't vouch for the specific trip you mention, but I highly recommend the company. I agree it's pricey - we've never spent that much on a trip and probably won't again - BUT, it was amazing. Our hotels were first class (Ritz-Carlton, Oriental, Peninsula Group, etc.). Our guide was great and took care of everything. Our luggage was picked up at our room when we left a city and showed up in our room in the next city. We never had to stand in line at airports. A&K would sent someone ahead to check out baggage in and get our boarding passes. We were brought to the airport an hour or so before our flight and told to be at gate x in 30 minutes. We had never taken a tour before and were very anxious about who we'd end up with, but we are still in touch with people from our group. There were only 7 couples, so it was a great size. I highly recommend them. If money were no object, I would certainly use them for places such as China, India, Russia - anything difficult or remote, but I'd never spend that kind of money for Europe or a cruise. Please let me know if you need more info.

Meg hit the nail on the head. Their definitely high-end, but you get what you pay for. I went to India last year with them--best hotels, guides, meals, small group--everything taken care of. <BR>India was one of the best trips ever!

Hi! <BR> <BR>Cheaper option is using a local agent in India. A & K is good at what they do but still check the prices from some local Indian tour companies. I have been there in May and toured North India for twenty days. It was cheap and services were excellent. The company was small but the owner gave good service. Name of the guy handling our tour is Durjaa (I dont remember the spelling) I dont remember his company web sites either but if you need details will check and get back...hope this helps. <BR> <BR>Thanks <BR> <BR>Laila <BR> <BR>

We travelled to India/Nepal in 1999 with Smartours. Staying in many of the varied hotels with us were the people travelling with A&K. Of course we spoke with them wondering how much they had paid for the tour knowing their usually steep cost. They had paid nearly twice the cost we had going with Smartours. We also met up with them on the same flights. We also had our luggage handled in the same way. After speaking with them we found that they received an A&K small travel bag and had free bottles of water. We did not receive a travel bag and had to pay for our bottled water. Our tour included the tour guide, the bus driver and an assistant to the driver who handled the luggage and had cold bottled water for sale on the bus at all times. Each liter bottle cost 50cents. Certainly a travel bag and free water aren't worth double the price. We were very happy with Smartours and would not hesitate to travel with them again. You can reach them at smartours.net Kathy