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

Original poster

India with teens

86 replies

Snoopsnoggysnog · 02/01/2023 12:39

Has anyone done this and could recommend an itinerary? Looking at late March / early April for about 12 days.

OP posts:
Carpediem15 · 05/01/2023 13:11

Cassimin · 03/01/2023 12:28

We went to Goa, loved it.
it was a good few years ago,
we met a taxi driver who gave us his number and he took us everywhere.
It was before our children’s prom so we had outfits made for them by a tailor there.
We did boat trips, visits to beautiful markets, so colourful. He took us to a waterfall where we swam and saw monkeys. we went to a reserve and saw old elephants. We stayed by titos lane and spent time on the beach.
An amazing holiday.

Think you would find it a lot different if you went back now - changed beyond all recognition especially in the area of Titos Lane.

Anyone thinking of going to India please check the visa situation, friends had to travel miles from home to visit the Visa Centre in person when they had made their application on line.

TheOrigRights · 05/01/2023 13:13

Anyone thinking of going to India please check the visa situation, friends had to travel miles from home to visit the Visa Centre in person when they had made their application on line.

A pp says E-visa have been reinstated. We postponed our trip planned for last month due to the visa problems Sad

RunAwayNow · 05/01/2023 15:08

That's so annoying @TheOrigRights The whole visa situation has been a debacle. The evisas were reinstated the day after I'd stood for 6 hours in a boiling hot visa centre in Manchester to get mine the old fashioned way! Not only that, but our original visas from a couple of years back (for original trip, cancelled by covid) would have been reinstated as valid evisas, had they not been superceded by my new applications the previous day🙄Just hoping a worldwide pandemic doesn't scupper our trip this time.

TheOrigRights · 05/01/2023 15:22

RunAwayNow · 05/01/2023 15:08

That's so annoying @TheOrigRights The whole visa situation has been a debacle. The evisas were reinstated the day after I'd stood for 6 hours in a boiling hot visa centre in Manchester to get mine the old fashioned way! Not only that, but our original visas from a couple of years back (for original trip, cancelled by covid) would have been reinstated as valid evisas, had they not been superceded by my new applications the previous day🙄Just hoping a worldwide pandemic doesn't scupper our trip this time.

Indeed.
I haven't been there since e-Visas were introduced, but at that time it was a case of filling in the paper form and sending off our passports. I've never been to an embassy to get a visa (not for India, I have for the US, and that was hideous). I only learnt the whole thing was a mess after I'd got the time off work and DS some extra time off school. I waited a while with my application 'being processed' and then decided to call it off and wait until we are more welcome to visit.

I've often thought the visa application process was a first test to see if you were up to the challenges of travelling around India!

When are you going RunAway?

RunAwayNow · 05/01/2023 17:04

We're going in March. I was super early getting the visas due to all the horror stories about getting appointments and then being refused due to paperwork issues. More fool me!

Agree with you, my brother lives in Delhi and reckons the visa process is designed to give you a perfect intro to the joys of Indian bureaucracy!

Hope you can rearrange your trip?

TizerorFizz · 05/01/2023 18:32

There always seems to be an assumption that travellers cannot stay in better standard hotels or pay for decent food. Some of us can snd do. Op is travelling with dh on business. Not backpacking. I’ve stayed in havelis, palaces and very beautiful hotels. Plus stunning accommodation near tiger reserves. Others from the uk and the world were with us! We were not ill. We tried very hard to eat sensibly.

Back in 1987 we stayed at a tourist bungalow. Don’t. We also stayed at a little camp in Corbett NP. Best food ever from a Napalese chef!

tzarine · 06/01/2023 07:17

Did a Kerala homestay. Our hosts were wonderful. Highly recommended.
Took the trains all over
Had a blast in Mumbai, from Chowpatty to the Museums & places in between.

TheOrigRights · 06/01/2023 08:18

TizerorFizz · 05/01/2023 18:32

There always seems to be an assumption that travellers cannot stay in better standard hotels or pay for decent food. Some of us can snd do. Op is travelling with dh on business. Not backpacking. I’ve stayed in havelis, palaces and very beautiful hotels. Plus stunning accommodation near tiger reserves. Others from the uk and the world were with us! We were not ill. We tried very hard to eat sensibly.

Back in 1987 we stayed at a tourist bungalow. Don’t. We also stayed at a little camp in Corbett NP. Best food ever from a Napalese chef!

Granted I did miss that the OP is travelling on business, but I don't think that staying in Raj hotels is the standard level of accommodation people with families consider - like £300/night - when visiting India for a few weeks.

I think it's your "you must do this" attitude which I am responding to:
"We had a private car and driver. Otherwise travel is difficult."
"definitely use air conditioned hotels"
"Kerala is not the real India and neither is Goa."
"Always eat in restaurants recommended by guide books or in hotels. Always be safe, not sorry."

Having a private car and driver is of course easier than using the trains or buses, but it is perfectly possible, and I would argue that taking an overnight train trip is a brilliant experience.
You don't have to stay in air conditioned hotels.
Not the real India - that doesn't even make sense.
If you limit yourself to only doing things or eating in places recommended by the guide books I think you could miss out on some amazing food and experiences.

FourFourthsDontCare · 06/01/2023 08:41

For anyone who wants the best chance of seeing tigers, I can’t recommend the reserves in Madhya Pradesh enough. From Delhi, you can fly to Nagpur and then it’s several hours by road to Kanha (Kipling’s inspiration for the Jungle Book) and another few hours from there on to Bandhavgarh. Granted, it’s been a few years since I’ve been but both reserves are much less crowded than those in Rajasthan and you have a much better chance of seeing tiger than in, say, Corbett. No guarantees of course but I’ve only ever seen multiple tigers, including, on one occasion, cubs, over 3-4 days in each park. Also bears and jungle cats.

BarrelOfOtters · 06/01/2023 08:52

We were in Rajasthan and I think we would have been insanely lucky to see any wildlife in the park.

we stayed in all sorts from v lovely hotels, to very run gown castles, overnight train, home stay. Loved it all and the variety.

TizerorFizz · 06/01/2023 09:46

@FourFourthsDontCare
I do agree seeing tigers in Ranthambore NP is unlikely. Other reserves are better. I also stated when we went to Ranthambore and Corbett. You had to be lucky at Corbett in 1987! We were.

I love that I’m accused of a “you must do this” attitude when many posters have said exactly the same from their point of view. Street food, vegetarian, etc. Travellers should do what they want and I’m happy to provide a different perspective. In 1987 we stayed in “odd” hotels. Some of which, such as the Marharaja’s shooting lodge at Ranthambore, have kept me in holiday stories for decades. I make no apology for staying in lovely hotels. Why wouldn’t you if you can? I enjoyed every moment.

Goodgrief82 · 06/01/2023 09:47

What kind of previous holidays have you and your teens taken and enjoyed Op?

Goodgrief82 · 06/01/2023 09:53

TizerorFizz · 05/01/2023 08:51

Always eat in restaurants recommended by guide books or in hotels. Always be safe, not sorry.

What an odd stance from someone who goes to great lengths on this thread to convey themselves as something of an adventurer!

and @TizerorFizz this statement is.. well, bizarre! Kerala is not the real India and neither is Goa

Goodgrief82 · 06/01/2023 09:54

TheOrigRights · 05/01/2023 10:53

Is it just me, or do other find the term "done" instead of "we visited" or "went to" rather grating? It makes it sound like a tick box exercise.
Maybe I am showing my age.

I've been to Goa, I haven't "done Goa".

Bloody good point

TizerorFizz · 06/01/2023 10:14

If you travel widely in India, beach resorts and house boats are a world away from temples, terming streets, wildlife, art, buildings and life in general. Including poverty. Mostly people are in Goa and Kerala for relaxation reasons. Most people choose what they want to see and do but I’ve met many people who won’t leave the beach/house boat areas as they don’t want to see beggars or poverty. Most of India has dollops of poverty.

Goodgrief82 · 06/01/2023 10:18

TizerorFizz · 06/01/2023 10:14

If you travel widely in India, beach resorts and house boats are a world away from temples, terming streets, wildlife, art, buildings and life in general. Including poverty. Mostly people are in Goa and Kerala for relaxation reasons. Most people choose what they want to see and do but I’ve met many people who won’t leave the beach/house boat areas as they don’t want to see beggars or poverty. Most of India has dollops of poverty.

So they’re different
but they are both in India
and to say cities in a country aren’t the “real India” is something I’d expect to hear from a gap year student!

TheOrigRights · 06/01/2023 10:26

TizerorFizz · 06/01/2023 10:14

If you travel widely in India, beach resorts and house boats are a world away from temples, terming streets, wildlife, art, buildings and life in general. Including poverty. Mostly people are in Goa and Kerala for relaxation reasons. Most people choose what they want to see and do but I’ve met many people who won’t leave the beach/house boat areas as they don’t want to see beggars or poverty. Most of India has dollops of poverty.

I do understand your point. You can go on a package trip to Goa, stay in an all inclusive resort with a private beach etc and not venture beyond the bounds of your hotel. You could essentially not know which country you are in.
I think it would be disingenuous to tell people you know what it's like to visit India.

Likewise, I went to a conference in Cancun. We did have an afternoon tour of Chichen Itza but apart from that we were in the resort. I don't feel I can really say I've travelled to Mexico. I've been to Mexico, but I'm not really in a position to give travel opinions or advise.

When I cancelled our trip this year a friend suggested we get a package to Goa, where everything would be arranged for us. While that would have been nice, it was entirely the opposite of what we want to do.

Goodgrief82 · 06/01/2023 10:27

If you visit London and stayed in mandarin oriental and shopped at Harrods only

midsomermurderess · 06/01/2023 10:28

Some people will be just as likely only to leave their hotel in Udaipur or Jaipur or Varanasi to do a tour with their driver, then be taken to designated shops and on to guide-book or hotel recommended meals. That's about as sheltered and curated an experience you could have. And Kerala has much to offer above Kovalam and Varkla, both quite grotty, and the rice boats.

Goodgrief82 · 06/01/2023 10:29

Would you say you hadn’t seen the real London?

Conversely if you stayed in the east end and never ventured out, would you say you hadn’t seen the real London.

When in actual fact, you have experienced a slice of London. The staff, the restaurants, the taxi drivers etc and the side to London that you saw

TizerorFizz · 06/01/2023 10:37

@TheOrigRights
That was the point I was trying to make. If you travel by car you do get out of it to explore! We don’t all want to see poverty and seek it out. However I do want to see all the things I listed above in as much comfort as possible. I am not apologizing for that. I have been in sleeper carriages on Indian trains. For 14 and 16 hours! I will be honest and say the loos were disgusting. Travelling with teens (as we were) was a challenge! Also what you do with teens and as a backpacker, are not the same. Travelling with someone on business isn’t the same as roughing it. The golden triangle is nothing like Tamil Nadu, for example. Go to the great living temples there and it matters not one jot how you arrive!

Goodgrief82 · 06/01/2023 10:40

I find something so patronising about you saying how you make no bones about the very very high end luxurious hotels you are suggesting the Op consider, basically the best in India, and then talking about experiencing the “real India” and seeing the poverty.

Presumably as a… dip in, feel sorry for them, hand out stationary and then return to the hotel in time for drinks and dinner (god forbid you eat out of the hotel)

Goodgrief82 · 06/01/2023 10:41

However I do want to see all the things I listed above in as much comfort as possible.

so you want to “see” the poverty and the real India but…. From a high end chauffeur driven air conditioned car. Correct?

TheOrigRights · 06/01/2023 10:47

Goodgrief82 · 06/01/2023 10:29

Would you say you hadn’t seen the real London?

Conversely if you stayed in the east end and never ventured out, would you say you hadn’t seen the real London.

When in actual fact, you have experienced a slice of London. The staff, the restaurants, the taxi drivers etc and the side to London that you saw

Of course it's real, what I was trying to say that you would need to be clear about that if someone asked you advice on visiting London.
So, "Yes, I've been to London, but only to nnnn area and I didn't go anywhere on foot" or "Yes, but only for 2 days where I stayed with family in zone 5".

Likewise I think it would be useful and relevant to tell people e.g. I've been to Goa on a package tour, or I was able to book a fancy tour of the Golden Triangle and stay in luxury hotels.

Ihavekids · 06/01/2023 11:02

TizerorFizz · 06/01/2023 09:46

@FourFourthsDontCare
I do agree seeing tigers in Ranthambore NP is unlikely. Other reserves are better. I also stated when we went to Ranthambore and Corbett. You had to be lucky at Corbett in 1987! We were.

I love that I’m accused of a “you must do this” attitude when many posters have said exactly the same from their point of view. Street food, vegetarian, etc. Travellers should do what they want and I’m happy to provide a different perspective. In 1987 we stayed in “odd” hotels. Some of which, such as the Marharaja’s shooting lodge at Ranthambore, have kept me in holiday stories for decades. I make no apology for staying in lovely hotels. Why wouldn’t you if you can? I enjoyed every moment.

I presume you stayed at the Oberoi Vanyavillas, Ranthambore. Beautiful place! We had lunch there. It's usually over £800 a night to stay. Probably out of reach of most holiday makers. I find it amusing that you're insisting you're not going to see the real India in Goa or Kerala but also insisting its best to only eat at these amazingly upmarket places. What is it, look but don't touch?
One of my favorite things about India is the way you can experience all sides, roadside cafe and thali for lunch, maharaja palace for dinner. Don't write off or avoid either end of the scale, both are part of it.
Hope you have a fun trip OP, I'm truly jealous.