Place Visit On This Trip
North India
Overall Feedback On The Trips And The Servies of India's Invitation
We are a retired couple from the USA in our late 60s. We recently returned from a fantastic five-week tour of India and Bhutan (four weeks in India followed by a week in Bhutan) arranged through this agency, a truly first-rate company. Our travel planner had assured us that our tour would be the “trip of a lifetime,” and we were not disappointed. We are veteran travelers and usually tour on our own (renting a car) in Europe–and even in Japan. Our instinct was that we should not attempt this in India–and we were certainly right.
We began our search for a tour company by looking at small-group tours, but these did not offer the length of stay we had in mind. Figuring this would likely be our one trip to India, we wanted to spend at least four weeks and to include as many destinations as possible. We also had the idea of extending the trip by an additional week in Bhutan, since relatives had been there and loved it.
We soon discovered that there are a number of companies offering personalized tours for individuals or small family groups, and that such individual tours are the preferred way to tour India. Having surveyed a number of such luxury tour providers online, we selected three of the top companies and solicited proposals for a three- to four-week tour of India hitting as many of the must-see destinations as possible. We then studied the proposals and followed up with lengthy phone conversations with representatives of the three companies, including our travel planner.
What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?
A particularly invaluable aspect of the the travel company's tour is that a company representative is at the airport or station to meet clients upon arrival at each destination to assist with luggage and transportation to the hotel. Similarly, at departure the company representative is there to assist at the station with boarding trains, or at the airport with passing through security and checking in for flights–often a complicated process. This service worked nearly flawlessly. Just once there was a glitch when we had trouble finding the travel company representative upon arrival. I simply called our planner (who picked up instantly), and he put us together with the representative within a matter of minutes.
Services of Hotels
Just a word on the hotels: For budgetary reasons, we had selected a mix of four-and five-star hotels. All were truly fine, and some were spectacular. This travel company has great knowledge of hotels across India, and those they offer their clients are integral to the experience. In certain instances, our travel planner steered us to a particular hotel that he thought was special and worth the extra money–and he was right in every case.
Services of Guides
The excellent guides and drivers are essential to this experience. All the guides were fluent in English and very knowledgeable about history, culture, and current events (both in India and the USA). We felt we were able to get to know them personally, and we were particularly fascinated by the variety of people who served as our guides.
Services of Driver
A particularly invaluable aspect of the the travel company's tour is that a company representative is at the airport or station to meet clients upon arrival at each destination to assist with luggage and transportation to the hotel. Similarly, at departure the company representative is there to assist at the station with boarding trains, or at the airport with passing through security and checking in for flights–often a complicated process. This service worked nearly flawlessly. Just once there was a glitch when we had trouble finding the travel company representative upon arrival. I simply called our planner (who picked up instantly), and he put us together with the representative within a matter of minutes.
