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Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

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Original poster

Holiday India

57 replies

Astressie · 04/02/2020 23:03

My daughter recently rang me and asked me to go to India with her. I am so pleased as have wanted to go for years and DH not interested. He hates flying. She has asked me to do the research search. Don't know where to start as India's such a massive country. I would like to travel a bit when we're there and see cities but also countryside. Has anyone got any tips for travel itineraries and also what time of year to go.

OP posts:

midwestfornow · 06/02/2020 17:31

OP my highlights building wise were the deserted town Fatehpur Sikri and the "baby taj" Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah.

But meeting people was the real highlight. The archaeologist who was a head curator in the museum in Delhi who had studied in the UK and invited us into his office for tea when he met us going round the museum.

The Raj who met us as we strolled round his palace in Jaipur (initially I had wondered if he was who he said he was but he was) who showed as round some closed off areas.

I hadn't particularly wanted to go but a wedding took us there and I absolutely adored it. Although the street children in Mumbai were emotionally challenging for me. ( we went to Mumbai first before flying to Delhi)
I did find that dressing quite conservatively was useful and in fact used a head scarf a lot of the time.

NC4Now · 07/02/2020 08:40

If you’re going to the Golden Triangle and you want markets and temples, Pushkar is a lovely little town around a holy lake. It’s a nice safe place and worth a visit. It’s easy to get to - about half an hour from Ajmer by taxi.

Original poster

Astressie · 07/02/2020 10:16

Thank you the tour above sounds wonderful and we have now decided (almost definitely) to fly to Delhi as flights appear cheaper. Dh will contribute to budget so that will help as DD doesn't have pots of money. May be able to stay in nice hotels.I don't think we'll use a tour company as I would like a bit more time to chill in a couple of place. Will definitely see Taj Mahal probably with guide, do a whistle stop tour of Delhi with guide go to Jaipur try to find a hill town and perhaps see Udiapur- looks beautiful- city of lakes. Pushkar also looks nice. One of the reasons I want to visit India is to see the people and the culture, so I too will look forward to this.

OP posts:

BayHorse · 07/02/2020 10:59

If you go to Delhi, visit the Salaam Baalak Trust and take one of their city tours, guided by an ex street kid. It's heartbreaking but such an important, fantastic foundation that doesn't get much coverage.

www.salaambaalaktrust.com

BayHorse · 07/02/2020 11:01

Also another vote for Jaipur, Jodphur, Agra and if you can, Kerala.

I lived in Delhi for 8 months. The best 8 months of my life.
Have a fantastic time, OP, I'm really jealous.

BayHorse · 07/02/2020 11:02

Again, sorry for the third post but just read that you're looking to stay in nice hotels. Would highly recommend The Lalit in Connaught Square in New Delhi.

Original poster

Astressie · 07/02/2020 14:26

Jealous @BayHorse living in India. It must have been a great opportunity to get to know the country & people. Was thinking old style heritage hotels with lots of character.

OP posts:

BubblesBuddy · 07/02/2020 22:34

heritagehotelsofindia.com will get you started. Check them out on the review web sites though. Also check which, if any, travel companies use them. They do tend to swerve anywhere awful!

MonkeysandParrots · 15/02/2020 16:23

We did a 6 week tour last year (oct/nov) incorporating many of the places mentioned up thread, loved it!

We used Indian Panorama - they are tour operators based in India who will tailor make a tour for you, to your budget, include transport & guides etc. They were very efficient and cost competitive.

Original poster

Astressie · 15/02/2020 21:27

thank you @MonkeysandParrots, I'll have a look at them.

OP posts:

Chista · 15/02/2020 21:46

I spent 2 months of every year for 5 years out there. Always went in March and August. The weather is lovely that time of year. It all depends what you are looking for but yes better to fly into Delhi or Mumbai as Amritsar landing charges are high thanks to the government. Book flight internally with agents such as Yatra, very cheap to fly internal. Trains are also cheap but not always safe. Depends what sort of sight seeing want 2do

HappyHolidays75 · 15/02/2020 21:53

@Chista which areas did you visit in Augusts? I'm restricted to (uk) school summer holidays.

Chista · 16/02/2020 09:06

@HappyHolidays85 we go towards the end of August and beginning of September. We have a house in Panjab and travel around from there. I haven't been to Goa, Maharashtra is quieter but just as nice in terms of beaches.

BubblesBuddy · 16/02/2020 09:30

The temperature in Delhi will be heading towards 40 degrees in August. Most areas of Rajestan are desert. August is very hot. You would be slightly mad to go in August and most people wouldn’t recommend it at all. It’s not beach resorts!

I would look at Easter and Christmas holidays. Much nicer and prices not too bad. India is always inexpensive when you get there. It’s chaotic so getting your transport sorted our with someone reputable and safe is a priority.

indianbackground · 16/02/2020 09:48

The Taj is worth it. Try to go early. I’m a bit biased and think South Goa is wonderful, the beach at sunset - literally a few minutes though. Be prepared to be ripped off in markets, but still value compared to UK prices. Some places like Bangalore and Delhi can be very polluted so avoid if you have serious asthma.

If you like tea then going to a tea plantation is nice.

We found newer hotels better, they are very hard to up keep with monsoon.

BubblesBuddy · 16/02/2020 14:08

I have stated in wonderful new hotels. The Taj group and Leela hotels are good. We have also stayed in old buildings which are now hotels. Look at the list of heritage hotels and then check guest ratings before booking. The age of the hotel doesn’t matter as long as it is modern inside!

I truly would avoid our summer though. It will be cheap but that’s for a reason. It’s largely avoided at that time of year. We took DC, as teens, at Christmas.

ChristopherTracy · 16/02/2020 19:22

India is completely unbearable between about April and October. Dont go in between those months if you dont have to. I would go in the Easter hols or October half term if you have two weeks.

Agree about Taj hotels - they have a few different levels at all price points but whichever one you get you can rely on the service.

If you are doing golden triangle plus tigers then get a private driver and book the hotels yourself so you do something like Delhi, Agra, tiger safari, Jaipur and back to Delhi or you can do tigers at Jim Corbett NP which is only a couple of hours on the train from Delhi and has a lovely Taj hotel.

I have stayed at the Metropolitan at Connaught Place or the Claridges. From a hotel around there you can walk to the Metro easily which is perfectly safe, clean and quick or the shops/restaurants.

Skigal86 · 17/02/2020 08:18

We went to India in the Easter hols a couple of years ago and it was incredible. We started with a few days in Delhi, we had a driver courtesy of a friend of my husband, but would highly recommend finding yourself a private driver for the first few days if possible. We then took the train to Agra and visited the Taj Mahal, in hindsight I wish we’d done this as a day trip from Delhi as I didn’t really like Agra. Train was great though. We then went to Sawai Madhopur and visited Ranthambore National Park to see the tigers, which was absolutely incredible, we stayed in a beautiful heritage hotel there. From there we got the train to Jaipur and spent a few days seeing Amber fort, the Monkey temple and the pink city. We flew home with Oman air via muscat and had a few days on the beach to decompress before going back to normality! It was a wonderful trip and we’ll definitely go back to India at some point in the future but there were challenges. Our train from Agra to Sawai Madhopur was delayed by 13 hours which would have meant we missed our first safari but fortunately we have really good travel insurance which paid for us to have a hotel car take us, which in hindsight was a really good option, the driver was great and told us a lot about the areas we were driving through.

BubblesBuddy · 17/02/2020 10:01

Trains are something else in India. We did a couple of overnights on them when we went with DDs!

Interesting to hear about the train to Corbett NP. We went by car from Delhi in 1987 (pre DC) and it took 6 hours. Some journey though! I lived it there and we stayed in a very rustic lodge in the park with a Nepalese cook. Memorable and fantastic.

For wildlife I would also go to Bandhavgarh NP. Ranthambore is overcrowded and has giant cantors (lorries) full of tourists. They are noisy and polluting. We went there in 1987 and the change we saw 10 years ago was quite upsetting.

goldpendant · 17/02/2020 19:04

Can I ask (and don't mean to hi jack), does anyone think there's any possible way to do the taj mahal and possibly something else of interest in the region as a 3 day trip from the Middle East?

Assume we are Dubai based and can fly over in a short 3 hr flight, what could we feasibly for with 2/3 nights??

Taj Mahal is on my DF's bucket list but I don't want to do a long trip there with him.

Skigal86 · 17/02/2020 20:24

@goldpendant it’s probably do able, but I’m not sure it’d be hugely enjoyable and would probably be knackering.

You’d need to fly into Delhi, probably overnight there and then get the train (train is quicker than car if you get the right one), or you could find a driver who’d pick you up from the airport and drive you straight there and then the same in reverse to go back. Do you live in the Middle East or would it be part of another holiday?

ChristopherTracy · 17/02/2020 21:09

Yes you can do it as a day trip as long as you and your driver set off early and you have prebooked your tickets - you dont want to get in the ticket queue. The security queue is unavoidable however.

Chista · 17/02/2020 21:25

OP it really depends on what you like. I am not really interested in the touristy hotspots but will go if there are temples or architecture wonders to see. My first year I went to to Badrinath, Manicur, Hemkund Sahib, Valley of Flowers, Rishikesh, Amristar and Shri Hamindar Sahib Ji, Sri Hazur Sahib, Kanshi, Varanasi, Taran Tarn, Anandpur Sahib and Chandigarh. Whilst in Shri Hazur Sahib we travelled around Maharashtra. Loved all of them apart from Chandigarh as it was just too commercial for me. The others I adored.
Following years we went to Mumbai, Delhi and Taj Mahal, Kolkatta, Vishwakaptam, Rajasthan, Maheshwar, Osian (in Rajasthan), Champaner Pavagadh is Gujrat - in fact a lot of places in Gujrat. We are heading back next year to do Goa and Andaman Islands. Like I said previously Feb and August have always been amazing for us but I guess it depends where in India you go.
We have never booked tours but understand why people recommend organised tours. We speak Punjabi and Hindi and still get ripped off as they recognise we are foreigners.

goldpendant · 17/02/2020 22:48

@Chista you won't ever regret the Andamans!

@Skigal86 not in the ME just now but could be before we embark on a trip- saving a bit of acclimatisation etc.

Is there anything else of notable interest in the vicinity of Taj Mahal for a second satori two?

Chista · 17/02/2020 22:58

Thanks @goldenpendant. For tourist hotspots www.tajmahal.org.uk/nearby-attractions.html

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