We are planning a spur-of-the-moment trip to India, after managing to get FF business class flights to Delhi. Now "all" we have to do is find out where we should go in the 3 weeks we have there.... HELP!! We'll be arriving March 8th (9:30pm) and leaving March 27th late at night. It's our first time to India - although we are quite seasoned travelers - and we are quite overwhelmed at the number of permutations/ combinations there are available. Should we avoid anywhere because of the heat, or will it still be OK in March?? Any help would be most gratefully accepted! We are working with a travel agent, but I am afraid she doesn't seem to know too much about India..... and a trip like this can be great or awful - depending on where you are sent....

You don't need a travel agent, I will give you complete train times and fares and it's easy to find good independent hotel reviews.

Stick with Rajasthan for your trip.

Train information.

http://www.indiamike.com/india/showthread.php?t=1750


Hotel reviews (Rajasthan)

http://www.indiamike.com/reviews/showcat.php/cat/33

Thanks for such a quick response. However, we are not as young as we used to be (!!) and probably not up to doing India by train. I was looking more for advice on where to go in India rather than how to get there (the agent can deal with the how!) my other concern is the quality of the guides...they can make or break a trip. thanks again,

susanlk,

Look up Craig's report posted on this forum some months ago. Also search for posts by Cicerone and hobbes - that should provide material aplenty for planning your trip.

My recommendation: if your budget permits try staying at Oberoi hotels, or places like the Imperial Hotel in Delhi.

many thanks for the quick response... I'm new at chat rooms, but I'll see if I can find the two you sugested.

I suggest that if you have to use a travel agency you check with a couple of them, also check online and directly with the hotel, before you make a decision. I am a frequent traveler to India and have found that to get the best rate/best room for hotel and car transport you need to shop around. Sometimes the travel agency has a better rate, sometimes you are better off contacting the hotel directly or going through their online reservation system. So make a list of the cities you want to visit in India. Decide on the hotels and then send an email to a couple of travel agencies and directly to the hotel and see who offers you a best rate. We are traveling to Mumbai next week and booked our air to/from mumbai and hotel in Mumbai directly with the airline and hotel.I decided to use a travel agency to book our hotel/car transport in Jaipur and Delhi.I contacted a travel agency in india so they could arrange for the hotel and transport.The rate I got for the travel agency for the hotel in Jaipur/delhi and car to take us from Jaipur to Delhi and return the next day was about $200 higher that what it cost me to do each separately. I booked the hotel (Rajvilas) in jaipur through AMEX (cost $50 less than what is published on the Rajvilas web page), I booked the hotel in Delhi (imperial) directly with the hotel, and contacted two car rental agencies in India for the car. It takes time to do this,but if you want to save money you need to check around.

good advice - thanks! I am still back to my original dilemma tho' - it's our first time to India and what is "absolutely don't miss it", and what can "wait for another time"....!!

susanlk-why not buy a good guidebook such as Footprint or Let's Go. Read up on what interests you & start advising the agent where you want to go and what you want to see. March weather will be warm days up to 30 degrees(hopefully perfect) in Rajasthan. We'll be there too! It's really no use using an agent with little knowledge of India.

My list of unmissables for a first timer would be:-

1. The Taj Mahal and the Red Fort in Agra.

2. Fatehpur Sikri between Agra & Jaipur

3. A stay at Deogarh Mahal Palace or any good palace hotel, to soak up the history of Rajasthan.

4. Udaipur for the Lake Palace Hotel & the Monsoon Palace at dusk.

5. Jaipur for its fascinating markets & City palace & Amber Fort.

6. Ranakpur for its marble Jain Temples. Nothing like them anywhere in the world!

BTW steven ber is a fabulous source of knowledge on India. Maybe you can ask him for some help in planning your next visit as he really can help you save a bundle! Maybe money's no object for you! Lucky!

Another must see that's probably not yet listed in the guide books for Delhi is Akshardam, a new Hindu temple just opened in No 05. Tremendous architecture...don't miss it. See other threads on Fodor's about this place.

i too am planning my first india trip...we are in our early 60's and are seasoned travellers as well...it soon became apparent to me after i started that i needed help and fodors has provided tons of that....the first thing you need to do is ditch your at home travel agent and get one in delhi....there are many suggested on this forum....one i am using is compass tours suggested in craig's report and another is bonita who often appears on this forum as well...

if you insert both these names in the box at the top of this screen and click on india they should come up as topics on the left...

these people will create a custom tour for you doing what you want to do...they have some standard tours and can totally spin them to your needs...

you have already seen that your local TA is useless so start fresh and get going as hotels are in short supply..

Bob, good mid range hotels are nearly always available, except maybe late Nov - early Feb, and even then there are usually alternatives except maybe in Pushkar, at Camel Fair time!

susanlk, don't believe everything an agent tells you! They will usually try to steer you where they get the most commission! Fact of life!

I sometimes think that people with plenty of money think they can't travel independently.

I still get a kick out of planning everything myself. (and planning for others).

I suppose if time is an issue, an agent can be useful.

But, An agent doesn't know you or know what you're interested in, time must be spent with guidebooks, or at least doing a long post about the things you like or dislike and general things you're interested in, but this website isn’t busy enough to get a wide variety of opinions or to find someone who may have very similar interests to yourself.

If I said "I've got 3 weeks and I want to see North America", people would laugh, yet India is much more diverse and complex.

Without thinking much, I can think of 5 different 3 week tours from Delhi, all very different.

If you include plane journeys, the choices are limitless, so it all depends on what you’re interested in.

Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur, Kumbalgarh, Ranakpur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Shekhawati, Delhi - is the most likely tour to be offered, but don’t go for the car & driver option,

A car and driver has it’s uses on short journeys, but on longer journeys it closes you off from India, in the same way expensive air con hotels do.

In case you did not find my report, here's the link:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...aig&fid=27

We were only there for 2 weeks but most of what we did I would catagorize as "must see". With an extra week I would definitely consider going further west in Rajasthan and/or to Varanasi.

thanks to everyone who has been so helpful. following your advice we have indeed 'ditched" the local T-A! We are currently working with a company out of Ann Arbor - Journeys International - who have been very responsive and certainly seem to know their stuff. Most of the time we do travel independently, but since we have no knowledge of India didn't want to make stupid mistakes. Certainly we did not want a group tour. We are looking forward to our adventure and again thank you for your help and suggestions. If it's anything like our trip to Arnhemland and Kakadu in Australia or our safari on a private plane in Botswana (no more expensive than a group tour as we shared with 2 friends) we'll have a blast!!

Check www.indiamike.com

Its the best India forum out there! Lots and lots of info.

Hi Steven_ber..its me docgirl2005! Nice to see you here

Hi SusanLK,

I flew into Delhi and spent three weeks in India in December and January of this year.

Here is a link to my travel diary and photos. I traveled high end (Oberoi and Taj)and mention in my diary where I could have traveled a bit less high end, what cities I could have skipped and which ones I wish I had visited.

(Note: I noticed the forum software is treating URLs a bit funky at times. If two URLs happen to show up below, click or copy and paste the second one)

http://ceourl.com/Patricia_Blog

Hope this diary helps give you a sense of what your first time in India will be like. You will have a grand time.

We really enjoyed spending time in Mysore visiting the Royal Palace and relaxing at a luxury hotel.
We also loved going up to the Nilgiris mountians and Ooty. Lots of tea plantations up there and just gorgeous scenery and wildlife.

Thank God (and mind you in India you have 30 odd million to choose from) for pepin's post. If you have three weeks then a good option would be to take inspiration from Craig's report i.e. two weeks in West and maybe utilize the additional week to do SouthWest or NorthEast or North or South. Its only a 2hr/4hr plane journey to completly different India. I personally have only been to delhi/jaipur and can say its great to visit but being a Mumbaikar i.e. from Bombay all my travels have been along the south western areas. Therefore a week in Kerala/Karnataka would give you the flip side of India. If its a once in a lifetime tour, then I strongly suggest 2 weeks north and one week south mix...places in south - Kerala/Munnar/Mysore/Bangalore/Ooty/Cochin/Hampi/Goa/....Indians mostly go on holiday to visit relatives or visit temples....so like BostonHarbour you might be templed out pretty soon as I presume you dont have relatives there!!!

Hi susanlk
My husband,daughter and I spent a wonderful 24 days holidaying in India - January 2006.
We visited cities in North and South India (I must admit it was a trifle hectic but you could streamline your trip accordingly)
If you prefer the travel agent option -we used Compass India(Delhi)and they were wonderful regarding sightseeing tours,hotels,comfortable aircon vehicles etc.
My personal favourites were Jaipur,Udaipur,Goa,Alleppy and Cochin.

Best of luck