north indian highlights info

Re: north indian highlights info

Hi Alison

I'm glad that you are interested in the North Indian Highlights tour. This trip is perfect for the first time visitor. It includes some great activities such as a desert camel trek, a safari in the impressive Ranthambore Tiger Sanctuary, a boat trip on the River Ganges and a visit to the fascinating old city of Varanasi.

Although this tour has a fairly packed itinerary, the amount of time spent travelling is not extensive and there is plenty of leisure time included.

As this is a 'traveller style' tour, accommodation will be very comfortable and includes 3 nights in heritage hotels and one night in a luxury 'mud hut'.

This tour is an excellent choice if you wish to visit the most impressive sites in North India but appreciate travelling and sleeping in comfort.

Please let me know if you have any specific questions regarding this tour and please feel free to give me a call on 01473 667337.

Kind regards
Catherine

Re: north indian highlights info

Hi Alison. You will love the North Indian highlights tour. I did it in January of 2007 and it was fantastic. The highlight for me was staying at the Maharaja's palace in Kerali. It was wonderful to see a normal Indian city and the people were fantastic. Especially the children! I am a dog lover so all the skinny stray dogs upset me but us dog lovers got to have our doggie fix a t the palace as the Maharaja has two dogs - Simon & Simone - and they had puppies! (I'd love to hear from someone who has been there since to tell me how they are!!!) We didn't see any tigers in Ranthambore but it was still so beautiful. It was all great - I guess the one part I didn't like were the two night train rides - everything else was so much fun and I can't wait to go again.
Our guide was Karun - he was fantastic - I understand he was going to be doing the South Indian Highlights though so I guess you won't get him.
Email me if you want any more information. I miss India and can't wait to go back but other places are calling me.

Laurie

Re: north indian highlights info

Oh I got so excited telling you about the trip I forgot to mention the hotels - the luxury mud hut is awesome. All the hotels were fine - some better than others but they were all clean and in a good location.
And I didn't find the travel too much - like I mentioned in my earlier post I didn't care for the train but others loved it. The most interesting part of taking the train was watching the monkeys running all over the station and onto the tracks and jumping up when the trains were coming in.

Laurie

YES

It is such an advenure~we really packed so much into 14 days! My 19 yr old daughter loved it so much and did well!

The puppies-by the way-are all grown up and one is still lving at the hotel/lodge~the dogs are all well and darling!

Seeing the major sights along with getting off the beaten track is so fab! I did not like being taken to places like the textile market or art gallery in hopes we would buy~I wish we had been asked first but otherwise-A+

great people-very helpful
wonderful road tripping
food had variety and was really good

pack light (personal hygene products-bring extra)
comfy and sturdy walking shoes-no socks!
have an open mind
and sense of humour
try not to be annoyed with the street vendors-our guide-Manu (the best) helped us with that

and Varanasi-while really dirty-was amazing!
one of the best experiences as were the villages and the Havalis! Great architecture, too!

Go Go Go!

This is a fabulous trip. This is the first holiday for years where I was not ready to come home by the end. Our Tour Leader was Manu who really put himself out and was also very informative. If you get him then you will have a great leader with a great sense of humour. The hotels were all spotless and well located. There is a lot of travelling but that's the point isn't it? The more you travel the more you see. There is also plenty of free time to explore. My favourite place was Jaipur. So much to see. You will experience begging - mainly in Delhi and you will see lots of squalor everywhere BUT you really do experience North India. Smile and wave at people they will love it if you do. Be prepared for a couple of very early risings - to see the Taj Mahal before it gets busy and the boat trip on the Ganges. I could go on for longer but I think you will get the idea that I loved this trip - my fourth with Imaginative. In conclusion my daughter asked me to take plenty of pictures. I'm not a mad keen photographer but still managed to take nearly 400! I'd be happy to send you a dvd with a lot of them on if you get in touch - ian.fairnie@sky.com. IanF

North India Highlights

My husband and I just finished this trip on 26/10/2008 and it was spectacular and completely exceeded our expectations(first trip with Imaginative)! The mix of cities and rural areas was perfect and our group of 10 bonded beautifully.

Our guide, Kuldeep, was incredible with his love and sharing of his country, specifically Rajasthan and particularly his love of people. He taught my husband to ask at least once a day if "I was happy". We didn't see a tiger that was high on my list, so Kuldeep brought me a stuffed one to the lunch table! He was especially helpful in telling us how much certain souvenirs should cost. He never forgot if anyone was looking for something specific and he is just extraordinary.

The Maharajah and Maharani in Karauli were delightful as was their hotel. The haveli in Mandawa was beautiful. Everyone should experience the Taj Mahal at least once in their life. The carpet we purchased in Jaipur arrived 1 day after we got home to Colorado, exactly 2 weeks from the purchase date.

We will definitely book a Southern India tour based on this experience along with numerous others on our "bucket list".
Peg