Best of Rajasthan Tour - 10 Days

India | Jan 6 - Jan 26, 2019

All our guides were informative, polite and eager to make our experience memorable. However, each guide was also eager to take us to a particular shop, each saying there was no pressure to buy.
Both our drivers, Vinod and Thaslim were most accommodating, and Thaslim often suggested places we could look at, or that we might find interesting. This added to our experience. We appreciated Vinod's driving skills, which were exceptional but unfortunately we also found it a little difficult to communicate with him to his lack of English and our lack of Hindi. The guide which met us at Cochin airport was very informative and spent the time talking through the itinerary - we really appreciated this and would have like this to happen in Delhi.
Transitions from place to place and guide to guide was flawless and very well managed.
It would be hard to write about the most memorable place as every place we went was fantastic. Each of our family members liked something different. My husband particularly enjoyed the Ranthambore National Park, spotting 2 tigers and 2 leopards, as well as the boat ride on the Ganges. I loved the Mehrangarh Fort.
We were a little bit sad that our organiser had written on our form that we were to visit places that weren't actually open on the days we were there. Such as Cochin - Mattancherry Palace and the Jewish Synagogue. Also in Jaipur the bazaars weren't open as it was a festival. The tea museum was also closed. Checking the timetables against opening times and special days etc is not difficult. Unfortunately when you arrive somewhere and are told that it is closed can be disappointing especially if you have been looking forward to it for a very long time.
All hotels were good, whilst some were fabulous. Unfortunately our first impression of India was not good with our stay at the Taj Princess - we arrived late evening and was put into a room which was not nice - it was dirty and the bed was very soft and uncomfortable. We asked to be moved and the staff were happy to do this. Unfortunately this room, whilst looking better, had electrical sockets hanging off the walls and the toilet seat was not attached. At this point both my husband and I were very apprehensive about our choice to go to India for our holiday of a liftetime - this was not a good first impression and we would recommend that you do not use this hotel anymore (I also feared for our safety). However, the food and people were wonderful. We had an issue with some chocolate that we had bought for our grandchildren was stolen at Clouds Valley Hotel - we reported this and the chocolate was replaced but we weren't really happy with how it was handled.
Whilst a lot of this sounds negative. I have written about the hotels as feedback so that you can do something to improve this and perhaps consider their selection in the future.
I would thoroughly recommend Active India to everybody and have already done so to a family member. We loved our time in India and will start saving to come back in the next couple of years. Thank you.