My husband and I are going to India and Nepal at the end of January for just over 3 weeks. I am working with an India specialist for the itinerary and driver, internal flights and some guiding, but he quoted a price of well over $11,000 for hotels. That seems quite excessive and I know that I can do better so we agreed that I would find the hotels I want and book them myself. This will also save me the 3% credit card fee on hotels that the agent will charge since my credit card has no foreign transaction fee. Also, my credit card comes with trip cancellation and interruption insurance so I won't have to spend extra money for that. I am using my credit card for the agent's fee since the built in insurance will make up the 3% fee for everything else. Anyhow, we are flying from JFK to Mumbai and will arrive on January 28. I have already booked the Taj Mahal Tower for our time in Mumbai, with an upgraded room with a sea view, and breakfast, for a little over $400/night. Still less than the $500+ per night that the agent would charge.

I'm now looking at Jodhpur and Agra. Any recommendations of hotels in those two places, that are maybe in the $300 per night range? Willing to go a little higher but really want to keep it less than $500 per night (much less if possible), inclusive of breakfast and taxes. I realize that hotels near the Taj Mahal in Agra are quite pricey, and we may be willing to spend more there if we can cut down on the price in other places.

We also plan on going to Varanasi. Hotel recs for there would also be much appreciated.

We are going to spend a few days at a tiger reserve in Ranthambore. Any thoughts on that? And as far as Nepal is concerned, we will only be able to spend about 5 days there, just enough to get a taste. Recs on where to go in this extremely limited time?

I realize that I an asking a lot, but the Fodor's community is wonderful and there is so much knowledge here. I appreciate any guidance you can give. Thanks!

https://legendsandpalacesindiatours.com/about-us/

Try contacting Mr. VP Singh who owns this business. He is also a member of Fodor’s.

We’ve used his services twice and he has a wealth of information about Indian travel.

Good luck!

Larry

We stayed at the BrijRama Palace in Varanasi last year. The rooms are nice even though it were on the smaller side, but it is right on the Ganges River, just down the block from where the evening aarti ceremony is held. We enjoyed the location but we also enjoy walking everywhere. Cars and vans cannot get to the riverfront so you would rely on your feet or boats to get to and from.

Not sure if you're going to Delhi. We liked the The Imperial. It's one of the grand dame hotels a block away from a Metro station, which can get you anywhere in the city.

Hopefully you have a better time in Mumbai. It was our least favorite place in India.

My info is extremely dated, but regarding Nepal: are you hoping to get a good view of the Himalayas? While it's possible to see them from Kathmandu, it's very unlikely. Consider spending a night or two in Nagarkot (easy to get to), or Pokhara (harder to get to, would require a flight, but the mountains are closer).

If it's really a clear day in the KTM valley you can get a decent view of the Langtang and Ganesh Himal on the walk to the Changu Narayan temple, which is a pleasant stroll in any case.

An early morning flight seeing tour comes as close as it gets to guaranteeing a view.

Of course, plenty of sites in KTM to keep you busy. Good luck.

P.S. I've never stayed here, just a few meals and drinks, but the Yak and Yeti is classic.
https://www.yakandyeti.com/

We stayed at the Ratan Vilas in Jodhpur (2013) and liked it very much. Great service and excellent breakfast. I think we ended up having dinner there one night which wasn’t as good but we’re talking about almost 13 years ago! It’s not in the downtown area proper so you’d need a ride wherever you’re going, but we found it to be a lovely respite to return to.

Price is, I think, less than what you’ve stated as your preferred rate.

As I stated in my OP, we are already using someone to help put the trip together.

That hotel looks very nice and it is a fraction of the price of the hotels that Tim is steering me to. That is my only complaint about him, trying to steer me to spend way more than I want to on hotels. I don't mind spending $500 per night on hotels, but not for 21 nights! I really want to reserve a room there but I can't pin down what days we will be where. He sent me an itinerary but it is fairly loose and I need to know where we will be before booking. I have a general idea, but I'm not positive. Since I can cancel, I may just book it for the two nights I think we will be there. Tim has definite ideas of locations we should stay, and I don't think this hotel is quite there, but we are paying for a private driver who will basically be at our disposal so it should not be a problem.

Let me make myself a little bit clearer as I can understand why you would say that. I’m not recommending him as a tour guide. However, he can very happily give you recommendations for hotels and do so without any sense of obligation.

Ah, that’s much different. Thanks.

You bet!

>> hotels that Tim is steering me to
>> trying to steer me to spend way more than I want to
>> can't pin down what days we will be where
>> Tim has definite ideas of locations we should stay

I have questions for Tim.

Tim doesn't sound so great to me . . .

Actually, he is very attentive and emails back to me very quickly, sometimes within a few minutes. He admitted to having very strong opinions regarding hotels, but I informed him that I will want to choose hotels and book them myself when possible. I probably should have been more forthright at the start and perhaps given him a budget. I have done so since. He is putting together a pretty comprehensive plan. I normally don’t use agents, other than for safaris which are above my pay grade. But DH wanted the same driver to be with us for as much as the trip as possible, like we’ve had in our two trips to Africa. Unfortunately, due to the places I want to go to, we will have to fly from Mumbai to Jodhpur because it’s too long to drive from Mumbai to anywhere else we want to go, and we will probably take a train from Varanasi to Agra as it is the most efficient way to get there. And of course during the tiger safari segment and in Nepal we will have different drivers.

Varanasi to Agra is very long and may require an overnight if traveling by train. We considered it but didn't want an overnight on a train so we flew from Varanasi to Delhi and had our driver meet us in Delhi for the drive to Agra. It's another option in case you prefer to sleep in a hotel bed.

Did Tim pin down "what days we will be where"? Why not? He would need to know the where/whens in order to book the hotels he chose.

Did Tim identify the hotels you would use? And the cost for each? Do those hotels have less expensive room types? Did he not recommend alternative hotels?

You mentioned that he has definite ideas of locations you should stay. His hotel choices would tell you where his preferred locations are at each destination.

I just emailed him and told him that I need a day to day itinerary of where we will be as I cannot really look at hotels since a lot depends on availability. Some of his suggestions did not even show availability for dates that I guesstimated we would be in the particular place. One hotel he mentioned for Jodhpur showed no availability, and the other was over $500/night and did not look like it was worth it. I booked the hotel that progol recommended. The hotel got back to me and said that they did have a pool facing room available, for $140/night, including breakfast and all taxes. The hotel looks lovely and it gets good reviews.https://www.ratanvilas.com/accommodation/#Pool

We need some nights like this if we are going to have to spend $500+ in some other places, such as Varanasi. I'm also considering possibly eliminating Varanasi but I need the day by day itinerary to know what, if anything, should be eliminated. I wish I would have told him from the start that I wanted him to put together an itinerary, to book drivers and transportation, the tiger safari, and that I would do hotels unless I could not find something suitable. I'm not used to working with an agent, except for safaris, and then they do send the day by day, although prices are not broken down so you really do not know how much each individual component costs. But safaris are difficult to book because of the distances, permits for entering the reserves and a host of other things that just make it too time consuming for me to bother with. But there is a lot of back and forth and tweaking. I am expecting to be able to tweak this India trip as well and stay where I want and spend what I want. It is after all my vacation and my money.

Tim did send a day by day itinerary. It was a word doc at the very end of a long email chain so I never saw it. It never occurred to me that an attachment would not show up at the end of the current email it was sent in, but at the bottom of the oldest email.

That room looks amazing, especially for the price.

I happy you are able to research this on your own and get what you want. .

>> I am expecting to be able to tweak this India trip as well and stay where I want and spend what I want. It is after all my vacation and my money.
Indeed. Keep twerking