Speaking of Christmas in India...
 

I've read so many posts at this website in preparation for our (short-planned) and upcoming trip to India Dec 14-Jan 2. Many decisions about hotels have now been made and bookings confirmed. We feel somewhat lucky that we were able to get any decent lodging during high season on such short notice.

Is it safe to assume the Taj Mahal will be open on Christmas day? We have that day only for visiting Agra and understand the Indian people are not of the Christian faith, but a surprise like that would be a put a serious dent in our plans.

Any thoughts on our itinerary below is also much appreciated.

Delhi - 3 nights (Intercontinental)
Varanasi - 1 night (Hotel Ganges)
Udaipur - 2 nights (hotel needed)
Jodhpur - 3 nights (hotel needed)
Jaipur - 2 nights (hotel needed)
Agra - 1 night (Taj View Hotel)
Goa - 3 nights (hotel needed)
Mumbai - 4 nights (Empire Royale)

Lodging that is still open is due in part to timing/high season. Goa is our biggest obstacle as many hotels are requiring 7-day bookings and/or are way over our mid range budget.

Comments on itinerary or hotels are welcome.

take a look at the sheraton in jaipur....

taj will be closed on dec 26, its usual closing day--fridays...

i think i would cut goa to free up time...

personally i would slow down a bit as travel is not easy...

flying is fraught with problems at that time of year....fog

There is a small Christian population in India.
But Christmas is not a holiday for businesses. So, all sight-seeing spots should be operating their regular hours. Basically it will be a normal day on the calendar. Although school and colleges all will be closed for winter vacation.
In New Delhi where there are many foreign residents as well as the embassies and their workers from all over the world in addition to the younger people who have adopted western way of living, there will be a variety of hotels and clubs offering some sort of Christmas celebration. Bakeries will have some festive cakes and pastries. Small Christmas trees and ornaments will be on sale.
Also keep your eyes open as you may come across some really nice Chrismas ornaments, hand crafterd by artisans. Beautiful patterns and colors and the cost unbeatable!.
Enjoy Christmas in India.

Great trip planned.
My personal preference is to start vacation in Goa...great beaches,etc. to unwind after a long flight before delving into major sensory overload.
Also, christmas is celebrated, sort of, more so in Goa than the rest of India. Although you might be surprised in a nice way in major cities and hotels.
Enjoy your trip. Do report back about the hotels, and the various places as well.

I personally think you have waaaay too much time in Mumbai. Is there a particular reason you are spending more time there than anywhere else on the trip? If there is family there or a wedding or something, then it makes sense; otherwise I would reduce it significantly or really cut it out completely; just arrive in time for your flight home (although that may require an overnight of course). You are going to some really lovely countryside areas of India in the best weather they have all year, and I would strongly suggest you take advantage of that. For example, you could go down to Ranthambore for 2 nights from Jaipur, and also add another night to Varanasi, which would give you more time to see things like Sarnath. To skip Sarnath or seeing wildlife in Ranthambore in favour of the traffic of Mumbai (and the relative dearth of tourist sites there) does not make a lot of sense to me.

You also have 19 nights and 8 places, that is a lot of moving around; even for Europe that would be a lot of moving, and India ain’t Europe. Another reason to cut out Mumbai and spend more time in fewer places.

While I like Jodhpur, Jaipur and Udaipur, going to all 3 may mean that they all start to blur into one another. It is possible to do them all and you have time, but you again you may want to spend more time in one and then another night in say Goa or Agra in favour of trying to include all 3 places.

For hotels you should of course book ASAP as you are going at high season; esp for Goa where you are competing with lots of Indians who will be on holiday. While I generally like to go to the beach at the end of my holiday, in this case you may find that if you go <i>before</i> Christmas, you will not have the 7-day minimum that hotels have been requiring of you. It is being in Goa during Christmas week that is your problem I believe. While I don’t think you would have much more like in Kerala, you might try that, and you could do the houseboat for the 3 days instead. Otherwise, if you have not seen it, consider getting Alistair Sawday's book called <i>Special Places to Stay India</i>. This has literally hundreds of very interesting places to stay, many in the range of less than US$60 a night and several in the range of less than US$30 a night. They also have a website at http://sawdays.co.uk/, click on the book for India. The vast majority of these hotels are not in the luxury range and some are in the very low budget range, but all look interesting.

I have know noting about the Empire Royale hotel in Mumbai. However, the location is good and it gets some decent reviews on tripadvisor. However, if you end up with only an overnight there, I would avoid downtown hotels, as you have about 2 hours each way to the airport. Stay at an airport hotel. What you may spend more in for a hotel will be saved in taxi fare both ways (most of the airport hotels have shuttles or it is a very cheap taxi fare).

For the Taj Mahal, as noted above, it is closed on Friday, which this year is December 26. If you plan to go on Christmas, you may find it quite crowded, as that is a public holiday (as is the 26th) and lots of Indians will make the trek down as well as foreign tourists.

As noted above, there is a Christian community in India, and you will see large evidence of that in Goa.

Udaipur - 2 nights (hotel needed)
Jodhpur - 3 nights (hotel needed)
Jaipur - 2 nights (hotel needed)
Agra - 1 night (Taj View Hotel)
Goa - 3 nights (hotel needed)

HOTELS ARE NOT DOING SO GOOD .THEY JUST DON'T WANTED TO BOW DOWN SO EASILY .THEY KNOW THE MOMENT WE KNOW THEY HAVE ROOMS , CUSTOMER WILL COMMAND PRICE &amp; THE LUXURY HOTELS OF INDIA WITHOUT DOING MUCH CHANGES IN FACILITIES {UPGRADE} HAS BECOME USED TO ASKING USD 500 PER NT. Which hotel you want to stay .

Christmas Day is, indeed a holiday in India, but all the tourist attractions will be open. Unlike ileen, I didn't find it &quot;business as usual&quot; at all. I was in Jaipur on Christmas Day and was disappointed that most of the good jewelry stores were closed. I still dropped a bundle in India, but I could have done so much more. :-)

You should be fine in Agra, but, as Cicerone stated, it is a national holiday and the entire domestic tourist population might be there with you since most have the day off. I encountered that entire domestic population at the Elephanta Caves on New Years day.

I also agree with Cicerone that you are spending way too much time in Mumbai. Take one of those days and fly over to Arangubad and see the astounding caves (45 min flight) and skip the far less impressive Elephant caves.

Enjoy.