Can you help us planning a short trip to India (7 or 8 days), arriving in Delhi next fall. It is our first visit and India is my dream country. We don't want to go around too much but rather feel the country. Any ideas for itinerary, guides, car renting services? Many thanks

7 or 8 days is not much time for India but if you did Delhi, Agra and Jaipur by car and/or train, you would get a taste. We used Compass Tours (e-mail Durjay Sengupta at [email protected]) to arrange guides, car and driver, train and hotels. You can also arrange transfers/car and driver/guide though your hotel. Do not attempt to drive in India yourself. You can read our trip report at
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34578710
for some ideas.

Agra and Rajistan with a bit of a rush. India is very easy to get around on your own. Just book your first hotel from home and take it from there.
Rich,
Photos and videos of our travels in India
www.franceinfocuc.net/vlc48.html

Hi there-we found India pretty easy to negotiate around by ourselves. Buy a good guidebook like Footprint India. It is full of great info & sights to see, things to do and food and accom ideas.

You could book a hotel through www.asiahotels.com, arrange a hotel car to pick you up at Delhi airport (approx 450 r's)and then ask your hotel to arrange a car/driver for you to sightsee for a day or two. (approx 700 r's per day). Check out www.indianrail.gov.in ( a little complicated at first but you'll get the hang of it) register on-line and then book a Shatabdi train from Delhi at 6am to Agra. Book a Agra hotel & station pick up via www.asiahotels.com and see the Agra Fort, Taj (& Fatehpur Sikri by hotel car) then hop a auto rickshaw to Agra Idgah bus terminal and
hop a RSRTC bus in Agra for Jaipur (200 r's). Check out www.jasvilas.com for wonderful hosts & accom in Jaipur. They can help you book a car/driver via Deogarh Mahal Palace to Udaipur (check out www.deogarhmahal.com). Have a couple of days in Udaipur & fly www.jetairways.com back to Delhi. We did a similar trip in Dec 2004 and had a blast & spent very little for what we enjoyed. Good luck.

thank you for your great advices.
Craig I saw your pictures and they are amazing!

I did a similar trip last year. Arrival Delhi (1 night), flew at the crack of dawn to Jaipur (2 nights), flew early to Udaipur (1 night), back to Delhi 1 night, to Varanasi (1 night), back to Delhi (2 nights), home. Sounds hectic but we enjoyed every minute.
We used Jet Airways 7 day pass and due to connections between Udaipur and Varanasi we had to spend a night in Delhi, which was fine.

Rather than spend hours and hours driving in a car on the Golden Triangle tour and seeing Rajistan only, we opted to fly and were really impressed with Jet Airways and got to see Udaipur and Veranasi too in a short time by flying. I know you said you didn't want to travel around too much, but by doing both Rajistan and Varanasi you do get a better feel of the country because it is so huge. So, for my 2 cents I can offer this as a do-able suggestion for your short trip.

Varanasi is so much different than Rajistan and I am glad we got there. It's indescribable--and the most memorable, perhaps, of all of India for us.

For our last two days we rented a car in Delhi for sightseeing, and then a day-trip to Agra and back. http://www.indiarentalcars.com/
I was very happy with the service while in Delhi with this company, but also what impressed me was the extremely fast and friendly responses and replies to accommodate my requests before I got there.

For hotels I spent months comparing websites and the hotels' own sites. In Delhi, the Imperial's own site had the best rates. For Jaipur (Rambagh Palace Hotel) and Udaipur (Lake Palace Hotel) I found at that time www.precisionreservations.com had the best rates for those 2 hotels. It's always worthwhile I find to compare many sites for the dates you are traveling.

May I ask where yo will be leaving from?

Boron - we read with interest your comments on Jet Airways. We are going to India at the end of the year and have been thinking that flying where possible may be a good idea (to give us the opportunity to visit more places). How did you book the 7-day pass on Jet Airways? Did you find that flights were mostly on time?

We have been focusing our trip in Rajasthan (starting and finishing in Delhi), but had wondered about trying to get to Varanasi somehow. Your experience would be helpful to hear about in greater detail. How much time did you spend in Varanasi versus the time you had to spend getting there? Can you give us a sense of the contrast with your time in Rajasthan? Thanks so much for your help!

WInterTravel, Jet has a good punctuality record, great service, good planes - all in all a well deservedly high ranked airline. Both Jet and Indian Airlines have discover India passes - go to their sites and take a look. http://www.jetairways.com and http://indian-airlines.nic.in. Sahara also has a pass but cannot find their site right now.

check out www.4lowfare.com - they have excellent fares from US to India as well as all the Discover India/Visit India passes on Jet Airways and Air Sahara. Also, email to [email protected] for your land arrangements. They have an office in Delhi that can make excellent arrangements.

Hi| I am from India and on reading the replies I was surprised that people simply visit North India and go back. In fact South India is also very pretty with places like Coconut Lagoon.. where a lot of tourists from around the world come. Yes but it is more of a relaxing place and you will not see any of the palaces. Then there is also Rishikesh which is up in the Himalayas and then you have Leh and Ladakh which are breath taking places. See if you can club any of these places. It will be a nice break from the palaces you will see in Udaipur and Jaipur and Agra.

Minita, most of us westerners have limited time to travel. We realize India is a big country so we try to do a little at a time. We spent 12 days in northern India which was not nearly enough time to cover all of the things to do there. I am sure we will do southern India and other areas on future trips.

In 7-8 days I would suggest u do Delhi, Agra, Jaipur. Land in Delhi, spend 2 days there, take the train Delhi-Agra, spend a night in Agra with a car and driver and guide to see the Taj, Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri, drive Agra-Jaipur, continue with the same driver but different guide, see Amber Fort, the Hawa Mahal, etc then fly back jaipur Delhi with maybe 1 more day in Delhi before you fly out. I would actually work with an agent - they are not expensive and they will take care of all surface arrangements for you. What kind of budget were you thinking? Agents in India much like Latin America and other places can also sometimes get you better hotel room rates than you would get otherwise.

Craig,
I agree..Maybe on your next trip you should cover Mumbai and South India and the other various places. Staying in India for so many years, even I have not managed to see the entire country. Happy Holidaying..