appalaw

Hi Folks,

We will in the Golden Triangle for about 10 days in August. We are hiring a car to take us from Delhi to Agra, Agra to Jaipur, and Jaipur to Delhi. Many of suggested, however that we hire the car and driver for the entire trip. I would love to hear from people about their experience, if they would be so kind.

Does it make sense to pre pay for a car and driver 24/7? Or does it make sense to traverse within the cities on our own and let the cars go once we arrive at each city. It really isn't so much about the cost but other pros and cons.

Many thanks in advance for your learned opinions.

lcuy

When you are quoted a price for the Delhi-Agra-Jaipur-Delhi trip the trip usually assumes sightseeing in each city.

I doubt it will be much cheaper to get new drivers for just the long distance legs, as the various drivers will each have to go back home and you'll be charged a round trip price for each leg.

You'll also have to factor in the price of cars/taxis or autorickshaws to get around the cities. I'd much rather us the same driver the whole time.

Elainee

Just how are you going from city to city on your own? Public bus? train? fly? Not so easy which is why people hire a car and driver. India is not Europe!

dgunbug

We used castle & king and were very pleased with their services. Arvind, the owner is a real gentleman and very honorable. If you use his services, ask for an English speaking driver. While we used his driver for 8 days out of our 28 day trip, we used planes and trains for the rest of the time. That worked for us as we traveled greater distances. Even when we had a driver, when we arrived at our destination, we often told the driver to relax and we used tuk tuks to get around locally. With all the recent articles regarding gang rapes, I think I might be more comfortable knowing I had a driver the entire time. As icuy pointed out, the price will probably be the same have one driver. You don't need to worry about accommodations for the driver as the price will be in included.. Drivers get a small stipend for sleeping, but sadly they usually keep the money and sleep in their cars. There must be facilities for washing and showering as our driver was always clean!

appalaw

Thanks guys. We have hired a car to take us from Delhi to Agra and again from Agra to Jaipur. From Jaipur, we are still debating whether to take the early flight or to drive. I guess I'm wondering mostly whether to keep the car in Jaipur and Delhi or figure out the transportation on a day to day basis on our own.

dgunbug

The sites in Delhi are very spread apart. We did not plan to hire a car while there but were grateful when Arvind of castle and king gave us the use if his driver complimentary for a day. We would never have been able to see all that we did on our own. We did wander one day on our own through the old city, using taxi, tuk tuk and metro rail, which was fine, but we did find a driver, especially in Delhi, to be most helpful.

rhkkmk

I like the car and same driver for the entire time

appalaw

Thank you. Any idea on what one should deem reasonable for cost for a nine day swing through the golden triangle including keeping the car for travel within the city?

rhkkmk

I think for 11 days I paid about $500-600.

cwn

Read my trip report on India "India What Can I Say". We hired a car and driver for a six day trip covering the same area this April. We had his services both day and evening the whole time. The charge was ~$60 a day for everything- driver and his expenses, car, gas, tolls, parking, use of a phone, water/cooler and a guide when I wanted one. We did tip our driver at the end.

appalaw

Thank you CWN. Yours looks like a fun trip. We have been quoted about 100 per day for car with unlimited use and travel between the cities. Might contact India by Car as well to check on price. Thanks again.

cwn

appalaw,

Ramesh, the owner, was very easy to work with. Our diver was great..did exactly what we had asked for, made sure we saw all we wanted to and made a suggestion here and there if my requested order might be better done. Main thing was neither he nor the two guides we had tried to take us to shopping...my main gripe about drivers and guides. I had requested stops at several shopping venues which we did visit.

It might be worth it to send him your itinerary....he was easy to work with and very prompt.

It is definitely worth having the same car and driver for the whole trip. It would have been hard to have had to get taxis etc for each trip out from the hotel and deal with a new driver for each leg of the trip.

appalaw

I did send him an inquiry. Many thanks for sharing...

naziyaahmed1

Hello appalaw,
It is better to have one car/driver for an entire Golden Triangle trip.
Approximately it is suppose to cost you $450-550

kmkrnn

The roads are not great in some places. You shour plan to spend the extra money for a larger and more comfortable car..Bouncing around and cramed into a small TAT would not be great , and take some of the pleasure out of the trip. We had an ACed 4x4 type van both times and been very comfortable.