Hi there. 4 of us are planning 7/8 day trip to India from Dubai at end of january. Our thoughts at moment are to travel dubai/new delhi/ agra for taj mahal/jaipur and possibly udaipur. We will probably travel by road, despite dire warnings on site, but would quite like to put a train journey in somewhere if time permitted.
On the above does anyone have recommendations for hotels or any useful info.
thanks in advance
fiona

We are going to India in February. Undoubtably others that have actually been to India will chime in but here's my 2 cents:

You will not be able to do more than 2-3 places in 7-8 days. Forget about Udaipur for this trip - its too far out of the way.

After much consultation on this board, we are staying 2 nights (approx 1-1/2 days) in Agra, 3 nights in Jaipur (2 full days - stopping at Fatephur Sikri between Agra and Jaipur) and 4 nights in Delhi (approx 3-1/2 days). We are also spending 2 nights in Ranthambore Nat'l Park. We are traveling by car from Delhi to Agra (road is good) and from Agra to Jaipur via Fatephur Sikri (this is a pretty good road too). I'm not sure about traveling from Jaipur to Delhi but I seem to recall several posts saying the road is bad.

For Delhi, the Imperial Hotel is a frequent recommendation. Elsewhere, the Oberoi properties (Amarvilas in Agra and Rajvilas in Jaipur) get high marks.

Hollycat, I skipped your message originally because most people here use "Golden Triangle" when referring to areas of northern Thailand on the border of Cambodia. You might want to post with a new title referring to India to get more opinions. Here is mine:

I agree with Craig that with 7-8 days you are better off limiting yourself to 3 places at the most. January is a good month as it will not be hot, but still trying to see everything there is to see and do and cover the distances required will limit your options. Only you can really decide what places you want to see. If you haven't done so, run a search here for opinions and itineraries. You might consider Ranthambore, as discussed above, or Varanasi instead of Jaipur or Udaipur or even Delhi, although all the places are interesting.

To experience a train, you could go by train from Delhi to Agra (about 3 hours) or from Jaipur to Udaipur (11 hours). You could take a train from Agra to Udaipur, but I believe you have to transit through Jaipur and so would take about 14 hours, which may be longer than you want. I would recommend a car for any journey between Agra and Jaipur rather than the train, as (i) it is a logical and good use of time to stop at Fatephur Sikri for a few hours on the way out to Jaipur and (ii) the road is good, and while busy is does not quite have the level of traffic and chaos that the Delhi-Agra road tends to have.

As for hotels, I am also a big fan of the Imperial in New Delhi. You can view the hotel on their website at http://www.theimperialindia.com

Two other good operators generally in India are the Oberoi group (http://www.oberoihotels.com) and the Taj group (www.tajhotels.com. ). The Aman group also has one property open in India and another opening later this year that would definitely be worth considering if they are in your budget. Take a look at amanresorts.com

For train schedules look at www.indianrail.gov.in., the state railway of India.

You can certainly do Agra, Jaipur and Udaipur in eight days, specially if you fly back from Udaipur to Delhi - this leg is about 700 Kilometre by road and can be very tiring.

For hotels, I think Rajasthan has the best family hotels in the country and you will love sharing time with the owners. Try them!

I agree with Raj - doable at a not too bruising pace. Del-Agra transfer by train, Agra pick up your car, Agra-Jaipur by road then Jaipur-Udaipur by road. Udaipur back to Del - or if you can manage a ticket flying out of Mumbai that is even more convenient to get back to Dxb. In that case your air routing will be Dxb-Del, Mum-Dxb with an internal air ticket Udaipur-Mum. Re hotels - need some sense o your budget.