Amazing India Trip!
India
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Dec 24 - Jan 7, 2026
We had a fantastic trip organized by Ravi and Idityah Tikoo with Active India Holidays. This was our second Kim Kim trip, and we are heading on a third next month. We so appreciate the Kim Kim platform for ease of communication in planning and for their excellent vetting of tour providers. The trip Ravi planned was excellent. The coordination and local knowledge at every stop was really impressive. I remember at one point, stepping out into the wonderful chaos on the street outside of the Taj Mahal and our driver, Mr. Singh, zooming in to pick us up without missing a beat. The traffic is absolutely insane in India and our group marveled at how all our guides coordinated with Mr. Singh for inexplicably perfect transfers. Mr. Singh was a hero -- an impressive, friendly and safe driver (not to be underestimated with the traffic. I might also add that he was brave!). Other guides and helpers that we appreciated were Adarsh in Delhi (who in our last hours in India, late at night, made sure we caught showers and dinner as we were heading to the airport for our long flights home), Dharmendra (we loved Delhi with the Sikh Temple as one of the highlights), Gaj in Udaipur (a master of tricky Udaipur traffic along with Mr. Singh), Sanjay (for a wonderful time in Jaipur, including a wander through the flower market), Ronit (so knowledgable about Agra and the Taj -- not to be missed!) and finally, Mohan in Varanasi (what a great tour of a mind-blowing city). We really wouldn't have changed anything in our itinerary. We really enjoyed all the historic hotels. Restaurant choices were really good and we all stayed healthy. Thank you so much, Ravi & Co! All your choices were spot on. Five stars!
Hotel Reviews
We arrived late at night and stayed out near the airport for convenience on the first night. This hotel worked well for that purpose. After breakfast, we headed to our historic Delhi hotel.
LOVED this hotel. Building is absolutely gorgeous. Head to the rooftop for kite flying and monkey watching -- magical. Restaurant was excellent and the staff could not have been more helpful or kind.
Beautiful hotel, worth taking the time to wander around. Sunrise over the lake from our room was really special. I feel like we had particularly good rooms for that (thanks, Ravi!). The restaurant patio is lakeside and stunning. We enjoyed watching the early morning bathers and swimmers while eating breakfast. Good breakfast buffet with made-to-order dosa. We had the craziest, most memorable tuk tuk ride through the narrow streets to get back to the hotel one evening. Loved it!
We ended up at a different hotel (Shahpura House) for some reason. We had no issue with the change. Shahpura House was a lovely heritage hotel in a great location.
This hotel was excellent for us and a departure from the heritage hotels to which we usually gravitate. Air quality in December was challenging, and we welcomed a very up-to-date hotel for its modern HVAC system. We didn't have a problem with air quality in the other hotels over the course of our trip, but it was nice to have a bit of a modern reset at this hotel. It's big, it's shiny, it has a huge breakfast buffet. Good choice.
Absolutely stunning. Loved everything about this hotel. Amazing location in a gorgeous old palace. We couldn't get enough of watching monkeys scale the building across from our room window. This was our last hotel of the trip and we highly recommend it. Great restaurant. Varanasi was perfect as the last stop -- top India!
Activity Reviews
Our group of 5 stayed healthy on this trip, and we attribute that to being directed to reputable restaurants and sticking to the advice on how to eat safely as a tourist. It was really nice to be able to try some street food that we would have avoided without a guide.
This was fun. We got up and danced.
We were not able to do this activity due to crowds. It was busy! Our guide Gaj suggested an alternative and we were happy with the change.
Chittorgarh was very interesting but also very crowded. Traffic was tough. We had fun and even enjoyed the traffic jam from our tuk tuk.
Flower market was awesome! Great city tour.
Quality time with elephants. Our group loved this. The elephants are well cared for and loved.
Beautiful! Loved all of it, especially the Mirror Palace. It must be incredible to see at night.
What a lovely, kind family. This was a really interesting evening that we all enjoyed.
So impressive. Our guide was very knowledgeable.
The Taj Mahal was jaw-dropping. We weren't prepared for how impressive it actually is in person. You really have to see it to believe it and appreciate it.
Our guide Mohan took us to a great viewing location. Afterwards we laughed at where we would have ended up without him. The crowd at the nightly ceremony is huge. We had a perfect, comfortable bird's-eye view.
A must. Defies explanation. This was one of the highlights of a trip filled with great moments.
This was our last walkabout before catching our flight back to Delhi. It was relaxing and interesting.
