we are going to India in January for two weeks, any suggestions on some great places to stay in Northern India..We are looking for interesting hotels with more atmosphere thank enormous conference hotels ... this is a trip of a lifetime, so budget not an issue

The Imperial in Delhi.

If money is no object, any Oberoi hotel (Amarvilas in Agra, Rajvilas in Jaipur, Udaivilas in Udaipur, etc.)

What's your itinerary?

In Jaipur look into the Rambagh Palace. It actually was once a palace and has been converted into a hotel. It sort of takes one back to the regal days of India when Raja's ruled the territories. I think you will find the atmosphere you are seeking there. It would be helpful to know your itinerary. Cheers, Larry

Other than the Vilas properties which you can see on the Oberoi Hotels website go to the www.heritagehotels.com website and look at some of their properties. They have listings for some gorgeous old properties, very atmospheric. Also look at www.neemranahotels.com, again some very interesting properties, all renovated old homes/forts/palaces. Curious - do you mean Rajasthan by north or are you actually thinking about the hills? Have you already been anywhere in which case we can help you plan a itinerary?

Hi, As a Indian I wish you a pleasant time in India (I now live in the UK). Craig here has some earlier threads with good advise along with few others. Scroll through the listing on the left after you have searched postings for 'India'. Looking forward to reading the itenary plans that will unfold here.

thank you for all your suggestions....so far am working on an itinerary .. all the places look so interesting that its hard to work out how much you can do in two weeks and how long you need to stay in each place...we dont want to be changing hotels every night...so anyone can help with an itinerary I would really appreciate it..

The first thing you have to look at is do you really have 2 weeks or are you using a couple of days for travel. Overseas flights get into India at odd hours so you must take this into account. Our hours were more "normal" as we flew in from Bangkok.

With 12 days in India (give or take), we had the following itinerary:

Day 1 arrive Delhi 5:30 AM - drive to Agra - we rested and had a leisurely dinner
Day 2 Agra
Day 3 drive to Jaipur via Fatephur Sikri
Day 4 Jaipur
Day 5 Jaipur
Day 6 drive to Ranthambore National Park (tiger safaris)
Day 7 Ranthambore
Day 8 train to Delhi
Day 9 Delhi
Day 10 Delhi
Day 11 Delhi
Day 12 Delhi - 6:30 PM departure

For the details, see our trip report at:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34578710

For inspiration, see our photos at:
http://craigandjeane.photosite.com/India/

If we had to do it again and wanted to eliminate Ranthambore (we would not) or add more time, we would have flown to Varanasi. Udaipur is another option.

thank you, I will read all your suggestions this weekend.....have a good one!

Our visit in India (2001) was like this:
- arriving Mombay - city tour - flight to Udaipur
- Udaipur - Lake Palace Hotel (Heritage hotel, on the lake, very romantic)
- flight to Jaipur - Raj Palace Hotel (heritage hotel, we had here a full floor)
- trip to Agra, via Fathehpur Sikri
At Agra - Taj Mahal View hotel (with room with view to Taj Mahal)
- flight to Kajuharo - hotel Jass Trident
- flight to Varanasi - hotel Taj Ganges
- flight to Delhi - Le Meridian Hotel

All the hotels were 5 or 4+ starts, very good, very good service and restaurants.

The hotels in Udaipur and Jaipur made us to feel like a Maharajah!