JPE99

For our first visit to india next month, my husband and I are planning a 12 day trip to Rajasthan.

If we had to choose between Jodhpur, Jaipur or Jaisalmer, which is the best one to visit?

Also, any advice on working with a travel agent? We have gotten several quotes at $1200 pp for car, driver and guides for the 12 days. Does this seem high???

lcuy

$1200 per person??? Thats too high! It should be more like $1200 total!

As far as the three cities, I've only been to jaipur, which was a very interesting. city.

Ease of getting there might be the dealmaker. Will you be driving the whole way? I'd do Jaipur. If flying, then I'm not sure.

JPE99

I felt it may be too high...

They started at $2500 pp with hotels and then I decided to book hotels alone.

We are driving quite a bit so not sure if that would drive up the price at all...

I have seen cars with drivers for about $600, but wasn't sure how much the guides would add on...

Have you worked with any more reasonable companies

thursdaysd

I loved Jaisalmer, but it is the furthest way, and therefore the easiest to cut. The stone carving there is just beautiful, but unless you're planning to do a camel safari it might be hard to justify the extra travel after seeing Jodhpur and Jaipur. If you have a car and driver you could also visit the Shekhawati region, known for its painted havelis. It's north of Jaipur, and much less visited than the rest of Rajasthan.

agtoau

Drop Jaipur. Go to Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. They are on the same circuit, separated 6 hours by car. Not only are these fantastic sights, it is also the heart of Rajasthan. See my Rajasthan photo gallery -

http://www.parrikar.org/images/Rajasthan/index.html

Robbietravels

We're going to be in Rajasthan in December. I too have done my own hotel bookings. We're using Compass, based on consistently good report from this forum.
Just to give you price comparisons our services include: Day 1 airport pick up in Delhi and 3 hours guided touring; Day 2 pick up at Imperial, 2 hours touring, deliver to domestic airport, later pick up in Udaipur/deliver to hotel. Day 3: 4 hours guided touring in Udaipur; Day 5: 3-4 hrs guided touring; Day 6: 6-7 hours guided touring, start in Udaipur end at Deogarh Mahal; Day 7: 6-7 hours guided touring of villages, Ranakpur and to Jodhpur; Day 8: 2-3 hours guided touring; Day 9: airport transfers Jodhpur to Delhi; Day 10: airport transfers Delhi to Varanasi, 3 hours guided touring in Varanasi.
Car and driver at our disposal throughout. Car is new Toyota Innova, includes all fuel, taxes. Cost is $880. I got quotes as low as $450 but followed the adage that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Parul was another reliable company I considered. Good luck.

Travel_Holic2006

Nice pics agtao! My first pick would be Jaisalmer and since Jodhpur is on the way, you'll probably be making a stop there anyways. We had our best shopping experience in Jodhpur and I hate shopping!!

You may also want to consider Udaipur!!

You can check out my photo album at:
http://colinspics.phanfare.com/show/...24987/file.jpg

JPE99

Thanks for all the feedback

I really don't get how these other agencies can be charging so much more!

I have reached out to Compass and will hope for better results!

Travel_Holic2006

If compass doesn't work out you may want to give vp_singh ([email protected])a try.

jgr22

Agtoau: I checked out your wonderful photos of Rajasthan---very impressive. Thanks for posting them. Seems you know the country fairly well. How hard is it to travel with all the photo gear? ( and tripod)---do your travel companions forgive your detours to set up a shot? or do you travel alone?

agtoau

jgr22, since I am Indian I am conversant with the common cultural themes that unite all Indians. It is not easy to travel in India with expensive camera gear unless you spend money to ensure your private space and the securement for your equipment. With the dSLR body, I carry an assortment of lenses + accessories + tripod + my laptop. I fly between major cities and then hire private cars. I have gone to Hampi from Bangalore via train in First Class A/C (I wouldn't recommend a lower class of travel if you have expensive gear on you). On my photography jaunts I usually travel alone, but am occasionally accompanied by my wife.

If you have only one camera body and a couple of light lenses, you may have more flexibility. But I like to travel fully armed

Mitch04

My wife and I used Rajasthan 4-Wheel drive and found them to be highly reputable and reliable. The website is: http://www.fourwheeldriveindia.com

We dealt with a bloke called Anil, who is the owner. His email is [email protected]

We used him for transport between Agra and Jaipur ($90US compared to the quoted Oberoi price of $350US) and the car and driver were so good we used a veihle and driver daily for a 4-day stay in Jaipur. Cost was $30US per day.

The website gives details and costings. His cars are immaculate and his drivers very well trained. The cars even have seat belts and first aid kits! A rarity in India!

In Jaipur we stayed at Jas Vilas, a wonderful little oasis with spotlessly clean rooms, pool and outstanding food.

welltraveledbrit

JPE99,

The price you were quoted sounds unreasonable.

I can recommend Parul Tours mentioned above. We used them a couple of years ago and will be using them again for our upcoming trip.

The driver was very respectful and soft spoken, he NEVER suggested shopping at his friend's place which can happen. He was there everyday, always early and with the car spic-and-span no matter how dirty it had been the day before. We were very impressed. We didn't provide any deposit and were a bit dubious but there the driver was, as requested at Udaipur airport.

At the end of the trip we used another of Parul's drivers who was also very soft spoken and friendly When we met Ramesh Dashora the owner of Parul Travel he was very nice, intelligent, engaging and very professional. We used another company that we were less enthusiastic about but I highly recommend Parul Tours.

http://www.rajasthantravelbycab.com/

We enjoyed Jodhpur and Jaislemer on our trip. I wasn't keen on Jaipur which I found very tourist, we just didn't like it.I felt we couldn't walk around without being mobbed by people. I highly recommend staying in some of the heritage hotels in the more rural areas of Rajasthan. You can find our trip report on Fodors as well as picture of our trip at

www.eyebright.com/travels

welltraveledbrit

PS on our website you have to click on the country and then click on the inset map to see images of the different towns. There are pictures of Jaiselmer, Johdpur and Jaipur as well as lots of picture of smaller places like Deogarh, Bassi,Bundi etc

Zambezi

I have been to all three of these cities, although some time in the past, which means that my remarks may be so outdated as to be unhelpful. Jaipur, admittedly, has become a large city and a popular tourist destination (have you been to other premier sites lately---Paris, Angkor Wat, Taj Mahal---all of which are bulging with visitors and commercial frenzy?), but has historical importance. Jodhpur was only mildly interesting to me. The best part was the Rajasthani musicians whom my modest hotel featured as entertainment in the evenings. I felt as though I was sitting around a camp fire. I took the local bus from Jodhpur the eight hours each way to Jaisalmer, so I saw Ragasthan up close: sand, scrub brush, and camel caravans. The city is unique and fairly interesting, but I thought something that would be fun to add to just sightseeing would be camping a night or two in the desert. You might consider that.

I cannot contribute anything to the discussion about quotations you have gotten, except that the expense of travel is going up like nearly everything else in this world. ZZ

johnkuder

If you want a really great driver in Rajasthan give Asif Muhamed a call. His web address is aisfdriver.aol.com.

He actually drove for us for in Delhi but is based in Jaipur. I can,t say enough good things about him. He Speaks English and French. He was much more than a guide/driver for us, he also interpreted, negotiated and in one instance got us out of a pretty "tight situation" when a local guide tried charge more than we had agreed to. By the end of the trip he was also our friend. I'm going to Jaipur in November and already have him booked. He is a great (safe) driver and has several new cars to choose from.

He came highly recommended by another Fordor member. That's how we made contact.
If you would like to have additional information you may contact me at kuderjbellsouth.net. Have a great trip
John Kuder