India Questions
 

Is late December a good time to visit India? I will have two weeks during my holiday break (I am a teacher)to travel to India. Where would you suggest I travel during that limited period of time? I will be going solo, so I'd like to take an organized tour. I am an experience traveller, and have traveled many places independently, but don't think that I want to tackle India on my own.

I would love tour company recommendations. I am 45 and have a limited budget, especially since I have to add the dreaded single supplement. I don't need luxury, but I do like decent, clean accommodations, and good food, along with enjoying the amazing sights and wonderful people.

Decemer is a great time, weather wise. It is high season though, so a bit more expensive. Intrepid seems to get goo reviews for their tours.

Here's a report of one of their trips. (MassageDive, are you out there??)

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34834312

Intrepid is good, so is Imaginative Traveller & G.A.P. Adventures...There are ton's of other ones as well..I have travelled with both GAP & Imaginative Traveller, they are both very good.

Hi-Tonight I am packing to leave Monday for a month in SEA-another Intrepid trip.I made such good friends(Aussies) on the India trip,that we decided to take another trip together.Now I'm feeling guilty about my unfinished report(not to mention the Australia trip I took six months ago)but I'll see what I can do in the next day or so before I go.

You Fodorites have really helped to psych me up for this trip,it should be great!

How many times can I use the word "trip" in a paragraph?Next time I'll edit.

We've just returned from India and did part of our trip as a tour. We used onthegotours.com. Would thoroughly recommend them.

Most 1st timers go to the north to see the "Golden Triangle" of Delhi, Jaipur and Agra. For the time you have that should be fine. There is alot to see and I would think getting reasonable accomodations should not be a problem. Just be very careful what you eat to avoid "Delhi belly." :-) Also let me suggest what I usually do to 1st timers. If you are male take advantage of great rates to get tailor made clothes. You can get a very nice suit made or just pants and shirts for a song there. I just like the exoerience to being measured by the tailor, having him shout out the numbers and seeing another fellow record them. Its pretty neat and this timeof yr. you should have not problem getting them done B4 you leave. If you start in Delhi get measured early on and you should have them in plenty of time. A place we have gone to since our first visit in 1978 is Vedi Tailors, New Delhi in CP or Connaught Place. Its across the street from narulas which is a moderately priced hotel with two pretty nice restaurants and an Indian version of a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop. Cheers, Larry :-)

Wow! Thanks for the great suggestions. I'm hoping to go to India next December. The problem is fitting into my Holday break. Going on a tour doesn't allow for tour date flexibility.And, as a teacher, I have no other time to go because our summer is not a good time to visit India. I hope I get there before I retire!

Yes, happy2travel, December is not such a bad time to visit India. But the most ideal time is October - November and February - March as the climate would be of medium type. In december the winter peaks considerably. If ur familiar with these conditions then its Ok. If you want tour company reccomendations, I would prefer u http://www.shubhyatra.com , as i Have also seeked the help of this travel agent whenever I planned for India tour.

Definitely highly recommend www.rajuindiatravel.com

Our route was Agra, Jaipur, Ranthambore, Bundi, Chittorgahr, Rawla Khempur, Udaipur, Kumbalgahr, Ranakpur, Jodhpur, Pushkar. Rajasthan is a wonderful place with so many amazing forts and palaces. We stayed at some fantastic places and managed to attend two weddings!! We were also some of the lucky ones who saw two tigers in Ranthambore!! Having a car and a driver meant we were able to visit places that are not easily accessible by other means. Our driver was fantastic and in India, the quality of the driving is essential. Nothing was too much trouble for him. We met with Raju (the boss) twice during the trip, once at the beginning to finalise the itinerary and also on our return to Delhi. He is very helpful with planning the of a trip and is prompt with replies to queries. He is an extremely honest and genuine person whose priority is giving a first class service to his customers. We cannot praise the services of the company highly enough.