General thoughts -

Having visited India years ago, it was striking to see how tourist-oriented certain places had become. If you want to see “real people” living “real life” we highly recommend driving rather than flying – the best snapshot of actual life in India is in the towns between the places that tourists go. Our other general recommendation is to do your best not to change the culture or have a negative impact on it. We got great advice from locals and expats that we pass on here: things like passing out candy to kids may seem like kind things to do but really aren’t. Sugar is a problem for kids who don’t have access to proper oral hygiene/dental care, and passing out things conditions kids to always approach tourists for a give-away. This is not good for the culture and frankly not good for tourists either. Bring a child a smile instead – take his or her photo with your digital camera and then show them on the screen. This creates a person-to-person moment instead. If you want to bring pens, stickers or other things for kids, donate them to a local school you are visiting rather than passing them out as you go.

We also highly suggest adopting the rhythm of India – if you can relax and enjoy the different pace of life, you’ll have a better trip. We ended up traveling by road for most of our trip and were not nervous at all – you simply have a better trip if you let yourself trust your driver. While it is true that the nature of road travel in India is totally different (trucks coming straight on at 60km/hr, cows in the road, etc…), after the first 20 minutes you realize that what we may perceive to be “near misses” are not really that alarming at all. The drivers are totally comfortable with the organic nature of driving this way – being white-knuckled and nervous is pointless. Better to just trust (assuming that you have a good driver), sit back and enjoy watching real life in India out the window.

Since most guidebooks do a good job of outlining the sights, we’ll comment mostly on hotels, logistics, and the like – our assumption is that this type of info might help those planning trips.

Delhi –

We stayed at the Imperial in a Heritage Room (2 nights on arrival in India, 1 night before departure). The Imperial is lovely – perfect for those who want to experience the charm of a bygone era with modern conveniences. We ate at the Spice Route (great atmosphere, food good but not as fabulous as hyped and expensive) and Daniel’s Tavern (good for Indian food if you don’t have time to venture out of the hotel). Our rate included airport transfers – definitely worth arranging (the driver met us inside the airport and helped navigate through the throng of touts/porters outside); even better, the Imperial sent a hotel representative along in the car when we departed, who facilitated everything through airline check-in. Great service! We would definitely stay at the Imperial again.

Jaipur –

Stayed at Rajvilas in a tent and loved the experience. The staff at the hotel is extremely well trained. The spa is beautiful with terrific treatments (try the Indian Ayurvedic options – quite unusual and a real treat). Location is not in town, but we liked this – nice to come back to an oasis of calm after a day in hectic Jaipur. We saw more of “real life” on our drives into/out of Jaipur to the hotel every day, which was part of the fun. We found it interesting to see rush hour, people waiting for the bus, camel carts loading up, etc… Had stayed at Rambagh Palace years ago and went for tea while in Jaipur. We were happy we’d chosen Rajvilas instead this time.

Jodhpur –

We stayed at Umaid Bhawan Palace one night and Taj Hari Mahal for one night – for us, we hands-down recommend the Taj Hari. The Umaid Bhawan is an impressive building, but neither rooms nor plumbing was up-to-date – not good value for money. Our suggestion is to visit the Umaid Bhawan to see the building, but stay at the more comfortable Taj Hari. The fort at Jodhpur was the most impressive of all those that we visited in Rajasthan, in our opinion. We also highly recommend a visit to the cenotaphs (royal cremation ground).

Jaisalmer –

The drive from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer was much shorter than we’d expected (less than four hours). Stayed at the Fort Rajwada, which is clean and fine but nothing to write home about. A sense of humor is required when dealing with the staff – service is not up to the standards of top hotels in India. We were not very keen on our experience at the Jaisalmer fort itself – the town inside basically exists solely for tourism now. For those looking for a more authentic experience of life in Jaisalmer now, ask your guide to take you to the newer area outside the fort (still 200-300 years old) where you can see “real” life not focused on tourists. The landscape en route to Jaisalmer is quite striking – the desert seems endless and peaceful.

Udaipur –

The drive from Jodhpur to Udaipur is really wonderful – the terrain starts out as flat and sandy and ends up mountainous and lush. We loved this drive – one of our best days in India (great opportunity to see “real people” living their lives on the farms along the route). The stop at Ranakpur along the way was fantastic – the Jain temple complex was another highlight of our trip (Ranakpur is about 4 hours from Jodhpur and 2 from Udaipur). Once in Udaipur, we stayed at Udaivilas. The property is beautiful and well designed – the room was the best that we had in India, with a phenomenal all-glass bathroom with a view from the shower and tub. Dining under the stars (with heaters) at the Chandi restaurant was magical. We really enjoyed our stay, but have to say that the service was not up to standards of Oberoi. The staff needs more training – definitely not as seamless and polished as at Rajvilas.

Compass –

Overall we were happy with our experience using Compass Travel. We like to travel very independently, so we only asked Compass to book car/driver and guides (we did all the rest ourselves directly). They did a good job at this – Compass works with freelance guides and drivers in each place. Our driver stayed with us from Jaipur through Udaipur and was truly fantastic – extremely safe and alert. Some guides were better than others, but none were awful. We adjusted our trip midstream and Compass could accommodate (charged extra, but that was fair). Their representative in Jodhpur (Ajay) is especially good. While there were minor snafus here and there, Compass was always responsive in trying to rectify them.

Transportation –

We had planned to fly most of the legs of our trip. This was good in theory, but in practice did not work out. Indian Airlines has one plane that goes from Delhi-Jaipur-Jodhpur-Udaipur. Given the fog in Dec/Jan, the flight often leaves late (we left Delhi four hours late) and gets progressively late each destination. More importantly, this flight is operated by Alliance Air (a subsidiary of Indian Airlines) and the plane was in incredibly poor condition (Alliance apparently does not have a great maintenance record). We are not at all nervous fliers, but the flight on Alliance had us anxious. The crew was indifferent at best and ill-trained at worst, the plane falling apart, and the take-off/landing rougher than we’ve had in small planes on grass landing strips in Africa. We simply would not fly Alliance Air again (important to note, by the way, that we had no indication that it would be Alliance until we checked in).

For reasons of safety and potential fog delays, we elected to drive the rest of our journey rather than fly. This turned out to be a great decision – though the drives were long, they gave us a great chance to see the “real” Rajasthan off the beaten track. We were not at all nervous on the road. Our driver was great, so we just put ourselves completely in his hands and did not get concerned by the crowded roads/organic flow/close-call passing. Everyone seems to know what they are doing – we did not see one single accident in all of our hours and hours on the road. The drives were among the highlights of our trip – it was great to be out of the tourist areas.

We chose a Toyota Innova as our vehicle, which was terrific. More space than we needed for two people, but great to have room to spread out on long drives. Innovas are a new model in India– we had largely new vehicles in great shape. While the Innova costs a bit more, it is well worth it for the comfort and the time saved (the Innova could go faster than other cars, so we saved time on every drive – we routinely passed other travelers in smaller cars).

Shopping –

Much has been written about what a great shopping destination Rajasthan is – there certainly is a lot to buy, but we found it more tourist-oriented than we would have liked. One sees the same things in most shops in Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur, and in each place gets the same speech from shopkeepers about how their wares are designed for big international brands like Hermes, Kenzo, etc… According to in-the-know locals and expats, these claims are false (apparently most of the brands mentioned by shopkeepers don’t even have any operations in India). It seems that many shopkeepers have also clued into the fact that Westerners like the idea of buying goods made by local villagers trying to support themselves, so many now claim to represent “women’s cooperatives” or the like – these claims are merely marketing in many cases. If you care about this, best to email an NGO that works locally before you go to ask them for shops that truly do participate in the economic development of local people (one such shop we found is Anokhi in Jaipur). Most true cooperatives do not pay commissions to guides (as many shops do – baking it into the inflated price you pay), so you’ll almost never be taken to them without specifically asking.

If you don’t mind browsing only with other tourists and playing the haggling game all day, shopping in Rajasthan is fine. We preferred shopping in Delhi at the end of our trip instead – in Delhi we shopped with all locals, found the same things available in Rajasthan at lower prices as well as things from the rest of India.

Overall -

We loved our trip and can’t wait to return to India again. It is still possible to get off the beaten track if you want this kind of experience (which we do), but one has to seek it out. Many millions of Indians still live without access to clean water, basic health care, etc... and it is important to see what “real” life is like, in our opinion, and not just to see the beautiful forts and monuments. India is an amazing place – so pack lightly, check your cultural filter at the door, bring patience, flexibility and a sense of humor and you’ll have a wonderful trip!

Great report, WT. Although we covered less of Rajasthan than you did, I agree wholeheartedly about driving in order to see the "real life" in the rural towns along the way - that is where we got our best photos as well. Your perspective on accepting the Indian way of driving is a good one. I also agree with you about the shopping - we learned the hard way, spending a lot of time looking but not buying - we found most of our treasures in Delhi.

thanks for this wonderful and candid report....this with other reports and in person reports from craig and boston harbor have raised our awareness for our trip next fall...

i think we fall into the same mould as you are in so your report is significant to us....thanks

WinterTravel, I love your great attitude towards travel in India. You seemed to appreciate it for what it was (amazing!), rather than lament what it is not (clean, efficient, Western enough, Indian enough, etc.)

So glad you had a good trip!

We really feel that "attitude is everything" when it comes to travel. We are often boggled when we observe others abroad (or even read some of the posts on the Fodors boards) -- one wonders why certain people travel if what they really want is for everything to be just the same as they have back home.

While in India we were mortified several times to watch other Westerners getting angry at front-desk staff in hotels (for things completely out of their control -- like extended power outages that are a fact of life in India). Tolerance and flexibility seem so essential to a good trip, but many people seem to prefer to gripe and complain.

It's all a matter of personal preference, of course, but in our opinion the point of travel is to see how other people live and to experience their point of view. It is always striking to see the postings about how someone "hates" someplace for being too dirty, too crowded, having bad shopping, etc... It might not be comfortable to experience certain places, but one certainly gains insight by seeing how other people live.

I got to see the real India in so much of my driving around. Going from Agra to Ranthambhore we drove through small villages.

But one of my best experiences was getting biked around Varanasi, not the spot right on the Ganges but a little further away where more people live.

waynehazle - being on a bike definitely gives a great perspective on the local scene. The one "touristy" thing that we did and loved was a bicycle rickshaw ride through Old Delhi. It was quite something to ride along with all of the traffic (human, vehicle, animal and other) and to feel the pulse of the area. We agree that the bike's-eye view is a great one!

One thing that we did not mention was our experience booking Indian Airlines tickets -- thought it might help others. We booked one set of internal Indian flights on Indian Airlines via the toll-free phone number (we faxed credit card authorization and they Fedexed us paper tickets). We booked another two sets via the Indian Airlines website and had e-tickets. The booking all went very smoothly and we were happy with that process.

In each case, our tickets were supposed to be refundable if we cancelled ahead of our flights. We did take one flight (using our e-tickets -- no problem), and then decided to cancel our other two flights on Indian Airlines (see TRIP REPORT text for reasons). We had to have the paper tickets formally cancelled in person at an Indian Airlines office (which we did in India), but refund could not be processed there (we were told that would have to happen via the IA toll-free number via which we'd booked the tickets).

The e-tickets were supposed to be cancelled online, but the website did not work and all of our emails to the Help Desk at IA went unanswered (though they had always replied promptly when we were booking tickets curiously). Since our return, we have had no luck obtaining refunds of either the paper tickets or the e-tickets, despite the fact that both are refundable. We'll keep trying, but just thought that folks buying tickets on the theory that they are "refundable" might want to be aware that this may be more in theory than in practice.

my only comment to westerners getting angry at hotel staff for things out of their control is that prices set expectation. If i 'm paying $50/night, i expect many things to possibly go wrong and won't be upset if my stay is imperfect. However, if i'm paying $600/night, such as at the Oberois, then for that money (and especially considering it's india and many costs are only a fraction of what they are in Europe and US), i expect perfection. If the power is known to go out, then a hotel of that caliber can afford to have generators to kick in. if the water is cut, then i would expect them to have their own reserves. For a place that' $50 i would expect none of these things. if the hotels are going to charge those sums, they have to deliver.

Thanks for intersting reading!

We are planning on doing a similar route in Dec. I am very concerned about fog and wondered if you experienced any? If so where were you and did it put a damper on things?

Many Thanks!

Fog is an issue in Delhi, Jaipur, Varanasi and other parts of Rajasthan and northern India in the winter months. It forms in the early morning and evening hours around sunrise and sunset, and does lead to flight delays at airports. This is greatly exacerbated at Delhi airport by the fact that both the domestic and international airports are too small for the traffic they handle, so flights can easily get delayed even without the fog issue. If you can, try to avoid early morning or early evening flights; but as noted above, once flights start to get delayed, all subsequent flights get backed up as well. (This is not such a problem in Udaipur, Varanasi and Jaipur as these are not the main business airport like Delhi, it is more often fog that is just the issue at those airports; there are also fewer flights in and out of these airports.)

One way to avoid this is to avoid flying domestically when possible, esp out of Delhi. Take trains when you can, i.e. you can take a train from Delhi to Jaipur rather than flying. The train takes about 5 hours. Use a car where possible as well, for example, you can drive from Agra to Jaipur in about 3 hours, with a stop at Fatephur Sikri on the way.

Sorry for the delayed response to the fog question. Fog was definitely an issue in Delhi (we had the first flight of the day and waited many hours in the airport for fog to lift). It can also be an issue in the Rajasthan airports, however, depending on which airline you fly. Our Indian Airlines flights started in Delhi and then went on to Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur -- it is the same plane for the whole route. If fog delays the flight in Delhi at the start, the delay ripples to each of the other airports. Jet Airways was a different story, however, as at least our Udaipur to Delhi flight originated at Mumbai (not affected by fog).

If you go in the foggy season, it is often more convenient to travel by car or train since you spend your time seeing the countryside and not inside an aiport. We really loved our experience seeing Rajasthan by car.