Pls critique India's Golden Triangle Itinerary
 

Hi,

Please critique my tentative Golden Triangle itinerary. Please let me know if anything shouldn't be missed. We try to see the major sights in each city.

* Nov 24. (Thurs) Fly from Hyderabad to Jaipur on KingFisher. Arrive at 12:25 p.m. Check in to hotel. Short sightseeing in the afternoon. (What?) What to do in the evening in Jaipur?

* Nov 25. Car rental begins. Sightsee Jaipur. Drive to Galta to see Monkey Temple.

* Nov 26. Amber Fort. Shop. What else?

* Nov 27. Drive from Jaipur to Agra. Stopover in Fatehpur Sikri (how long?).

* Nov 28. Sightsee Agra.

* Nov 29. Sightsee Agra in morning. Drive from Agra to Delhi. Possible stopover in Mathura (worth it?).

* Nov 30. Sightsee Delhi.

* Dec 1. Sightsee Delhi.

* Dec 2. Sightsee Delhi. Shop. Leave for airport at 10 p.m. for 2 a.m. flight on Dec 3.

So far, we're thinking of renting a car/driver. But get the tour guide as we go along. If you could suggest some convenient routing of the sights within an area, that would be great too.

Thanks!

Don't know where you decided to stay in Jaipur but presumably it is some place in town within walking distance of some of the major sites - you could certainly check those out the afternoon of your arrival, although you have 2 more full days for sightseeing - more than you need, perhaps. There are really 2 major sightseeing areas in Jaipur. There's Amber Fort, which will take the better part of the morning or afternoon to tour. I suggest you drive up to the fort and if you want to do the elephant ride (and if it is available) take it down from the Fort to avoid waiting. The other sightseeing area is around City Palace which includes the museum in the palace, Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds) and Jantar Mantar, the ancient observatory - touring this area also takes a half day. From your other post, I see that the Monkey Temple is fairly close by and you will certainly have time for that. Ditch your guide if you plan to go shopping.

We drove from Agra to Jaipur via Fatephur Sikri. The trip with the stop at FS and a lunch break takes 6-7 hours. I think we left Agra at 8 or 9 and arrived in Jaipur at 3. You will spend a couple of hours at FS.

You'll have plenty of time in Agra as well. See the Taj at sunrise and sunset, also see Agra Fort and It-Ma-Udallah Tomb ("Baby Taj"). The drive to Delhi takes 3-4 hours.

In Delhi, there's Old Delhi where the largest mosque in Asia, Jami Masjid is located. There is also the Chandni Chowk market and Raj Ghat, the Mahatma Ghandi memorial. From Jami Masjid you get a great view of the Red Fort. Since you have seen Agra Fort, there is no need to tour the Red Fort as it is pretty much the same deal. In New Delhi there is India Gate and Raj Path, Bangla Sahib Qurudwara - the Sikh Temple, Gandhi Smriti - Mahatma Gandhi’s home, the Crafts Museum and shopping at the Cottage Industries Emporium. In South Delhi is the Bahai "Lotus" Temple, Humayan’s Tomb and Qutab Minar - the 12th century tower. Keep in mind that some monuments are closed on certain days so that you may have to adjust your schedule a bit.

I think you will have a great time - post back with questions.

Make sure that the driver, (and car), and guide are Government approved, otherwise you could be buying trouble.

Where do you plan to hire a car with driver? I am also thinking of going to Rajhastan next year and wanted to book my hotels, draw my itinerary and hire safe and reliablecar/driver but don't know where to do it. Any sugestions?

There are at least two ways to hire a reliable car/driver:

1. Use a local agency such as Compass or Castle and King. They can also make hotel reservations, often at substantial savings.

2. Make your own hotel reservations and book your car/driver through your hotel.

The itinerary seems reasonably fine.
On the first night you ould go for Dinner to Chokhi Dhani Resort ( with Dances) . I am not sure about Mathur though - never been there .
I suggest try www.travelvirus.com for your travel needs . We went through them earlier and everything was well organised
Enjoy yur trip

Thanks all for your helpful responses.

Well, I was working with an agent at Compass Tours but on a complete itinerary including other destinations not listed here--they've put together a package with airfares, cars, tour guides, etc. But later, we thought we could do some cities on our own as we know people in those areas, and asked them to revise the itinerary and just quote us the price for the Golden Triangle tour. But they responded that they can only do a whole package and not part of the journey. Why should they care where I start and end my journey??

I'm quite disappointed with that kind of response though. I'm not going with them and trying to do it on my own. But at the same time, a bit nervous about the prospect of it as well.

Best to communicate with several agencies rather than just one. Its a sellers market right now in India.

Thanks Craig for your help!

Hi, I am sorry to hear about your Compass tours problem. I have created many tours for Non-resident Indians, who wanted a tour built around their wish to go to a pecial temple or family area. We just let them 'off' the tour for that period and they then re-joined our arrangements afterwards. It should be simple. Spell out your on--off tour plans and send them to [email protected] who have done some of these for me.

Hi all and JC98
I would like to suggest you that when you go to a perticular state like Rajasthan than better to see Rajasthan's other good and historic places like Jodhpur, Udaipur and Kuchaman city.[ Kuchaman city is a area which is not frequanted by lot of tourist but it is another world to feel]
When you some one go in anycountry I will suggest you that it is not a wise decision to see two good cities or places which are far located from each other. As you must know Hyderabad is south part of India and Jaipur is purely lies in North. So you must have arrived to Delhi and than can arrange a car and nice driver [ it is very important ] and than enter Rajasthan and come to Jaipur.[ Jaipur is not far from Delhi] , after it can be Jodhpur another beautifu town of Rajasthan and than udaipur and from there you can go to Agra to see Taj and from there better return to Delhi and spend some time as it is also very interesting to see.
Being a local Indian I will suggest you that Mathura like Uttar pradesh towns are just waste of time.
Now some important suggestion for all people are coming to India.
1] WHen you wish to see any city , ok hire any guide but when you go for shopping please dont even mention to your guides that you wish to buy something. Literally in all the famous cities in India commission culture is a big epidemic. Perticularly in Delhi, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur and Agra.
Most handicrafts shops, textiles shops, spices shop [in jodhpur guide will take you in spice shops in clock tower and there they will hypnotise you and you will buys 10Rs items in 1000 Rs. in the name of hand made or sex tonics spices]
In few shops they will claim that they make products for large brands like DKNY, Hermes, ETRO, DOLCE & GABBANA, PAUL SMITH, even ARMANI. THey all have nexux with guides and drivers , they reall charge very very high.
So better when you do shoppping free your guide and driver. They must now know that in which shop you are going other wise mostly they know all shops because they come often there and they make phones calls and tell them about clients and than they keep their shares.
And when shop in india bargain hard.
IN ALL CITIES YOU WILL SEE PEOPLE ALWAYS TRY TO OVERCHARGE YOU. They presume that all the foreigners are rich.
I hop my words up there will help lot of people who plan to visit india.
please feel free to write me at [email protected] for any query.
thanks.

JC, you can sightsee Jaipur, Agra and Delhi without a car and driver - plenty of rickshaw drivers around, or you can arrange a car for just one day through your hotel. You can travel between these cities by train. However, I did arrange a few days by car, including Agra-Bharatpur-Fatehpur Sikri-Agra through www.rajasthantravelservice.com/ at very reasonable rates.

We did a Golden Triangle trip last November --- it was my husband's first time to India, and my dad's and my first time to Jaipur. We didn't go to the Choki Dhani village but it is quite far from the city so if you are feeling tired then you may want to eat in the city. We loved Indiana Restaurant in the downtown area and hated Niros (although Niros is what all the guidebooks recommend). We found the Jaipur Palace to be a rip-off (personally) --- but if you are interested in military history they have a good museum there.

We stopped by Mathura on our way from Delhi to Agra. Mathura is very important for Hindus because it is the location where Krishna was born. The temple is actually built above the prison cell where Krishna was born and you can walk into the prison cell below. The temple is also very beautiful in the North Indian style --- so if you haven't seen any true North Indian temples, this is a good example. I definitely think it is something you can skip if you don't have the time, but if you have the time, it is a nice stop.

One more thing --- if you go to Mathura, you can't take in a camera so leave it in the car with you. You also will have to go through security to enter the temple (the only temple I have ever been in where we had to go through security). Mathura has been the scene of some violent riots because there is a huge mosque built by Aurangazeeb (the son of Shah Jahan who built the Taj) built right next to the Mathura temple and it sometimes leads to Hindu/Muslim conflicts.

Otherwise, you sound like you have a very leisurely trip planned in a beautiful area of India!