We are thinking of staying here in Jan 05 and I was hoping for the opinion of someone who has stayed here. We are just in the beginning stages of planning our trip to India and it's a bit overwhelming (at least I have a year to plan).

I have not stayed there, but have stayed at several Amans in Asia and would be about 100% sure that the facilities and the service at this hotel would be fantastic. (Watch out Oberois!) I would love to hear your report if you choose this hotel, just looked at the website and it looks great.

The Vanyavila hotel in Sawai Modopur is also supposed to be lovely (it was built after my last trip there so I have not seen it). Run a search here for comments on the Vanyavila. Website for the hotel group is oberoihotels.com. Generally Oberoi run excellent hotels and their "vila" brand are the top of the line of their luxury group. You really could not go wrong with either.

There is also a nice more moderate hotel run by the Taj group in the former hunting lodge of the Maharaja of Jaipur. The hotel is called Sawai Madopur Lodge, run by the Taj Group. The website for Taj hotels is "tajhotels.com". I love their tents, and hear they may have fireplaces now?great for January cold nights.

Would be interested to know if you are considering any of the other Aman properties in India. (I am an Aman junkie so would love to hear!)

What was your itinerary when you went to India? Just looking for suggestions.

I am probably not a good source on sample itineraries because I lived in Asia for 10 years and did a lot of work in India, so was able to tack on personal trips and the beginning or end of business trips there as well as taking vacations there, mostly in Rajasthan and southwest India (Goa and Kerala). If you are interested in north India (i.e., Ranthambore) a fairly typical route is Delhi/Agra/Jaipur/Ranthambore. If you have time you could add Udaipur (or some people substitute it for Jaipur, which would not be my choice as I love Jaipur for culture and really great shopping). If you have additional time, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur are interesting although they are a bit more isolated and harder to get to. I am a big fan of Varanasi. I have been to Khajuraho but really don't think it is worth the time and trouble to get there just to see the erotic carvings on the temples; I think there are a lot of other more interesting places in India.

Southwest India is very interesting; great beaches in Goa and Kerala. The east coast south of Chennai down to Pondicherry is also a good trip and not very much on the tourist path. January is a good month along the east coast as well.

If you are interested in wildlife, you could organize a tour around seeing the various parks in India.

There really are many options, it depends on what your interests are, and when you would be travelling. January is great for north India, perfect weather. It is also excellent for the beach areas of Goa and Kerala (temps in the high 70s to low 80s and virtually no rain), so if you have time, it would be good to combine the two. If you only have 2 weeks, you may want to concentrate on north or south.

Did not stay at the Aman-i-khas but just spent two nights at the Vanyavilas and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a small property with only about 20-25 tents. Each tent has its own garden and sitting area inside and outside the tent. Though I have never been to an African safari, I liked the setting a lot. It also has 24 hours heated swimming pool and lectures on the tiger reserve at night. If you are going, remember to book your safari drive ahead of time (at least 60 days to guarantee your own jeep). We did not manage to see a tiger and were somewhat disappointed. What we heard afterwards was if you do 4 to 5 drives (2/day), you will see a tiger on average.

We went to Jaipur, then Ranthambhore, then Agra and then Delhi. Did the whole trip by train and it was OK. As long as you go by air-conditioned first class, you will be fine. The train journyes are only 2 to 3 hours and make sure to arrange for the hotel to pick you up at the train station.