Going on tours?

Justincs

Hi there,

Me and my girlfriend are heading off to India for our first time from mid-Jan through to March. Were arriving in Mumbai and intend to travel to Delhi up the west coast through Rajasthan (seeing Udiapur, Jodhpur,Jaisalmer, Jaipur, Agra etc).

I was wondering if anyone believes going on a tour for a week or so would be worthwhile, or a waste of time/money. Weve both heard mixed stories as to if it would be a good idea to go on a tour.

Thanks for your help.

TimMakins

Its understandable to be a bit apprehensive on a first trip to India, and want to have someone else to do the organising for you, but generally speaking I would recommend that you just go by yourselves - you will soon get the hang of it, and enjoy the things you find for yourself so much more. Get a good guidebook of course: Footprint is best, followed by Rough Guide and Lonely Planet.

There are some tours that are worth considering, though: these are the inexpensive city-tours run by most local tourist authorities. They generally take a day, and will cram a lot in. I would recommend these in places where some of the sites are out of town and hard to get to. However, the time they spend at each site will be minimal, so regard them as an introduction, and if you like a place a lot, go again the next day under your own power.

Note that often these city-tours will not be available with an English-speaking guide, but you will get the jist of what is going on, and generally there will be someone else on the tour who will be happy to translate.

Tim in Ireland

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Baba

If you have some or even just a little travel experience under your belt I would say do it by yourselves. You have enough time to go at a leisurely pace and arrange many things on the road. Also mid January is when most of the Christmas crowd leave, so things are more quiet.

If this is your first trip I would try to arrange something for the first week - more for peace of mind than anything else.

In any case do arrange for someone to pick you up from the airport and the first one or two nights. I always find this is worth almost any price.

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aadil

Welcome to Indiamike (IM)!!! I am sure you will be able to do it all by yourselves, with a little help from IM of course!!! Just shoot your questions and I am sure someone or the other will be soon here with some good advice, hopefully. The guide books suggested by Tim are worth having along with you to give you the basic help you require though they may not always be right or give the latest or correct information.

Cheers,
Aadil.

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Nick-H

On my first few trips to India I found it very comforting to have my entire trip organised in advance for me, or at least part of it.

I found that things developed as plans went along in conversation with the agents, and I used agents that always had time to talk, to advise and suggest. I don't think I would have liked to have bought a "package" as much.

But, I wanted a gentle introduction to India, then I got into a relationship with the agents and was always happy to go back to them.

But whichever way you do it, I'm sure you'll love it!

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