India Luxury Tours

We went straight to KimKim to arrange this trip, having had a great experience with them before.

Rajat was our contact in India, which was fantastic because he is so knowledgeable about the India travel scene and was keen to make the tour work well for us. Through excellent online messaging via KimKim we let Rajat know what sort of things we wanted to do / see, and he made all the arrangements including booking train tickets, hotels, flights and most importantly our guides and drivers. I cannot speak highly enough of the guides and drivers we had and I have to especially name Hemant (guide) and Nerinder (driver) who were particularly brilliant. Hemant met us in Delhi to accompany us on our train journey to Agra and spent the next 10 days or so with us, leaving us at Udaipur for our flight to Mumbai / Goa. Hemant was incredibly knowledgeable and shared not only cultural and historic stories which bought India to life for us, but whenever he spotted something of interest - for example a pilgrimage, or a street of drum shops - he explained what it was all about. Hemant did not shy away from explaining the good and not so good, and remained neutral throughout. There wasn't a single question he didn't know the answer to! Other tourists we met had not had that level of interest or detail shared with them, so it was quite fun to tell them what we had learned from Hemant. We continue to tell stories to our friends now! Our driver Nerinder was with us almost the whole trip, meeting us at Delhi airport with Rajat at 3am! Nerinder never ever failed to be there for us - we never had to wait for him - and he made us feel so safe the whole time, despite some of the crazy driving in the cities or cows randomly crossing the motorway! His car was always immaculate and he kept stocks of sweets and plenty of bottled water for us. He was an absolute gentleman and a bit of a hero for all the driving and distance he did with no map or sat nav!

Every part of the trip was seemlessly arranged by Rajat. All the hotels were fabulous and just seemed to get more and more fabulous as we went! Important to add that even while we were in India we decided to change some plans. In particular (with the help of Hemant) we decided not to take a train from Jaipur to Udaipur due to timetable changes making arrival / hotel check-in very late in the evening which we wanted to avoid, and this was fed back to Rajat so he could keep on top of where we were etc.

People have their own preconceived ideas about India, but we went with an open mind and were certainly not disappointed. Thanks to Rajat, our guides and drivers, we experienced what felt like an awful lot of India - culture, history, religion, life - the good bits and the not so good bits - scenery, wildlife, poeple and I almost forgot to mention the food!

Our guides knew exactly the best places to stop for food en route and thanks to them we experienced some of the best food we've ever tasted! They also helped us to buy marble inlay creations from a traditional craft shop in Agra, rugs from a traditional carpet-making factory in Jaipur (which were delivered to us at home just 10 days later!) and ceramics from a famous potter in Jaipur! We had to restrain ourselves from buying a lot more handmade crafts etc which wasn't always easy with the hard-sell in some places, but our decisions were respected and we felt we contributed our bit as tourists.

Our notable highlights of the trip (sometimes not for obvious reasons):

walking tour of Old Delhi
first sight of the Taj Mahal from Agra Fort 1.5km away
observing and travelling alongside pilgrims for 50kms or so from Agra to Fatehpur Sikri
jeeping in and around Ranthambore tiger reserve (even though we didn't see a tiger, but we saw a rare sloth bear)
Nahargarh hotel Ranthambore
food on the road, particularly at Molecule on the outskirts of Jaipur - careful with those Indian chillies!
The Jantar Mantar (observatory) Jaipur
dancing and puppet show in Udaipur
the kindness of people

In short, we cannot recommend a touring trip to India highly enough and would definitely like to explore Mumbai and Kerala some time in the future - Rajat, we'll definitely be coming back to you for help with that! Thank you for everything you did to make our trip so enjoyable and memorable. Best wishes to you and all our guides and drivers.

My trip to northern India was fabulous! Rajat was an excellent facilitator of the planning process, preparing me well for the entire trip. He was also excellent at helping me make adjustments in the trip when needed. And the guides and drivers in all of the cities I visited were excellent, each with their own local knowledge and passion for their work. The hotels were all reasonably priced and well suited for visiting westerners, including delicious food. Overall, the trip far exceeded my expectations. I can’t say enough good things about the wonderful people who guided and supported my visit. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Anand International

Gaya

Hotel and rooms were nicely appointed and food was excellent. The only problem was the room was always full of mosquitoes. Not good.

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Hotel Kanha Shyam Prayagraj

Alllahabad

Excellent hotel with great food and beautiful rooms with very nice views

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Pristine Hotel

Varanasi

Very nice rooms, great food, and helpful staff

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Hotel The Great Ganga

Rishikesh

Nicely appointed hotel in great location overlooking the city and the river

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NUO By juSTa

New Delhi

Very nice hotel in interesting location

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Activity Reviews

Triveni Sangam Visit and Spiritual Sites in Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad)

Allahabad

The boat ride to the confluence of the rivers was an excellent way to start the day. I chose not to do the holy dip myself given the state of the water, but it was meaningful to be part of such a large group of pilgrims. The temples after the boat ride were even more interesting. Ending with a visit to the shivalaya park was very interesting and gave a broader sense for India as a whole.

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Meditation and Reflection at Maharishi Samarak

Allahabad

This was a highlight of the trip for me. The samarak was away from the city and so was quiet and less crowded. It was an excellent place to meditate.

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Visiting Ghats and attend Ganga Aarti

Varanasi

This was a great way to end the day, especially with a boat ride to return to the first ghat. The ceremony was crowded so seating was limited so it was good the guide got me there plenty early.

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Spiritual Exploration of Temples and Ghats in Varanasi

Varanasi

This day included a lot of walking through very narrow and crowded walkways between densely packed buildings. A fantastic experience. And the temple visit was handled very smoothly. All great.

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Sunrise Boat Ride on the River Ganges

Varanasi

This boat ride was an excellent way to start the day, particularly since it started near the place where the sunrise chanting was happening. Amazing. And the boat ride made it much easier to see the full range of ghats along the Ganges.

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Full Day Rishikesh Spiritual Walking Tour with Ganga Aarti

Rishikesh

An excellent day. The guide was especially flexible and also worked very hard to ensure I had the best possible opportunities given his status as an official guide with Incredible India.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The guides were very good, our guide in Jodhpur was amazing. All of them made us feel safe and comfortable, and we're very knowledgeable on their cities and Indian history. Our driver was as professional as it gets, always focused on our trip, bringing us to some great restaurants. We felt the order of our visits were perfect - starting in Delhi gave us a good introduction and not knowing anything about the other cities, each one brought a new experience and made us say wow each and ever time. We truely enjoyed every visit.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Suba Palace,

Mumbai

Hotel was under some renovations so may be better soon. Close to India Gate and nice restaurants but gets lost on a side street

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Karohi Haveli

Very neat old hotel with lots of character. It could use a little more attention, especially the pool area.

Authenticity & Character

Great roof top views

Location

Great location for walking around the old town.

Staff

Small but dedicated staff

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Devi Bhawan

Jodhpur, Rajasthan

Beautiful grounds, peaceful location. The only thing keeping this from a higher rating would be some room updates.

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Dera Rawatsar

Small boutique hotel that the staff are very proud of and attentive.

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Grand Mercure Agra

Agra, UP

Decent location, very professional staff, hotel is impressive.

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You can see the Taj Mahal. From the roof top pool and bar. Not a lot of walking options nearby.

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Deventure Sarovar Portico

Decent hotel, location is lacking, restaurant was good.

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Activity Reviews

Mumbai - Elephanta Caves

Mumbai

We had extra time so this was a good filler tour but not a mustbif you are in Mumbai for a short period.

Guided Half Day Tour of Mumbai

Mumbai

To be honest, we weren't expecting much of Mumbai and this was very good. Wish we had more time to go in buildings rather than in and out of the car to look at them from outside.

Udaipur Sightseeing

Udaipur

Udaipur is such an incredible change of pace from the others. This is the one city where more free time to explore is needed since the old town is so walkable.

Jodhpur Sightseeing

Jodhpur

Probably our favorite stop of the trip.

Jaipur Sightseeing Tour

Jaipur

Loves the tour, could have spent more time at the sights. The afternoon time to relax was good because of the heat.

Spiritual Walk in Jaipur

Jaipur

A good late afternoon and evening introction to Jaipur.

Explore Agra Fort in the afternoon and see sunset at the Taj Mahal.

Agra

The Agra Fort was a great startband build up to seeing the Taj Mahal which speaks for itself, amazing. We spent quite a bit of time here and should have spent more.

New Delhi Sightseeing

India

Mostly done from the car, a little more time seeing sites by foot would be nice.

Old Delhi Sightseeing

Delhi

Free Time in Delhi

India

Our free time was only at the hotel. But we arrived late the first day. The second day we would have walked around if we could but the location wasn't good for that.