Yaar

We are planning a 3-4 weeks trip to India. This will be our first visit and we would like an overview of North and South. Can anyone recommend a good, reliable tour company that offers small group tours.

Thanks,
Yaar

Kathie

There are many excellent agents in India (and you do want a company based in India). Most people here do not take group tours, but instead, have an agency set up an individualized trip for them. The ones most often recommended here are Legends and Palaces, Castle and Kings, Indian Panorama. But here are many others.

Sorry, I don't have any recommendations for group tours.

CaliNurse

Greetings, Yaar.
I've used the services of Indianpanorama for numerous trips, in assorted parts of the country. The most recent was in Feb-March this year. Another Fodorite, Sartoiric, ,returned recently from a trip planned and carried out by the company, and yet another Fodorite named California Ldy,is using their services for planning.
The tour planner I use--who is assisted by al the excellent ground staff from Indianpanorama's offices all over the country--is Tim. His email is:
[email protected]
As far as I know, they don't do many, if any, small group tours. Tim can plan a private tour for you.
Meanwhile, check out their website at Indianpanorama.in for its excellent gallery of photos, and sample-only itineraries, which include some to that are, as per your interest, an overview of both north and south India. They will be customized to your requirements.

jacketwatch

We have used www.legendsandpalaces.com. Mr. VP Singh was excellent. I highly recommend him. When we finished and were taking his ride to the airport he called to be sure all went well.

Yaar

Thanks to the people that responded, very useful information and we will follow up on it.

CampingCaryn

Wow it is nice to see others recommending Legends and Palaces. We used them (Mr. VP Singh) and had the most amazing trip of our lives. I highly recommend working with Mr. Singh. Every suggestion he made was spot on.

rhkkmk

I have been more than pleased with castle and king on 2 trips

upgraded

Last November we traveled to Delhi, Rishikesh and Ananda Spa and used Castle and King based on recommendations here. I was very satisfied with Arvind's responses before the trip. However, there were 2 issues with the execution. First, they were 50 minutes late meeting us at the airport in Delhi. It was annoying after traveling for 30 hours to be frantically waiting. The excuse when he did show up was "traffic". Second, our written itinerary which we were handed in Delhi said that we would be picked up at our hotel in Rishikesh on the first afternoon for a tour. We waited for an hour and then called Arvind. He told us that the tour had been changed to the next day and was sorry that they didn't tell us.

I was disappointed because all I really needed from Castle and King was the driver and guides. I picked the hotels and they booked 2 of the 3 hotels.

On a positive note the 2 guides and all the drivers we had were outstanding. They are freelancers used by Castle and King.

Ananda Spa was perfect. We spent 7 days there and there wasn't a single thing that didn't exceed my expectations. Worth the money. More than half the guests there were Indian nationals.

In Rishikesh we stayed at Aloha on the Ganges which was perfect for us. The food was outstanding.

In Delhi we stayed at Haveli Dharampura which we enjoyed. I was able to book it myself for less than Castle and King quoted me.

We are planning another trip to India this October and I wish I could say that I want to give Castle and King another try. Arvind seemed like a very nice, hardworking, pleasant person but I don't want to risk it.

indianapearl

I highly recommend India by Car and Driver based in Jaipur:

http://www.indiabycaranddriver.com/

I've traveled with them twice with an itinerary that I planned - for the most part - myself. However, as you can see from their website, other options are available.

Enjoy India!

sardarsamand

I have travelled to India independently over 20 times and have covered a large part of the country. I now know and am happy to recommend 3/4 excellent English speaking drivers for independent travellers who are happy to book their own hotels and just require transport/sightseeing - the drivers are all very experienced and can help with itineraries etc - or you can keep things flexible and not book ahead if you prefer. Let me know if you want any help - the drivers all have excellent references you can check yourself.

donnahelene

We were more than pleased with Castle and Kings - Avrind helped with all the details. I wouldn't hesitate to work with them again. See my trip report with specific comments about their help.