Which travel agent to choose?

Hi
Planning for 5 day trip from chennai to manali.
want to select a good travel agent cheap and best .
Please suggest some .
I came across panikar,makemytrip,coxandkings ,travelguru..
many like this on net i want to know reliable source .
I would like to travel via agent
Thanks
saravanakumar

This depends on what do you want to do: just staying in a hotel and driving around or trekking.

What for!?
Why?? Why don't you plan yourself!

Agree with Prakant. All the info you need to plan is on IndiaMike, with experienced travelers ready to answer additional questions. Travel agents fleece people, who needs them? You can do all your bookings online, if you are worried about last minute hustle.

Step1: Book your Train (IRCTC website) or Flight (Airlines/MakeMytrip websites) tickets to Delhi online.
Step2: Book your Bus ticket from Delhi to Manali online (HRTC website).
Step3: Research for a good hotel that fits your budget (Tripadvisor or IndiaMike) and book it online (Cleartrip/MakeMyTrip or Hotel's website) or call the Hotel's number and ask about availability and reservation procedure.
Step4: Anything else you need that can be booked online (Cars, etc.).
Step5: Once you are there, check with your hotel's desk or local tour operators for any tours/treks/activities that you might be interested in.
Step6: Research (tripadvisor or IndiaMike) in advance for best places to eat in Manali. Once there, ask the locals or other travelers for recommendations.

Can it get simpler than this? Can an agent do better?

Hi Vko
I also was looking for a travel agent to plan our itinerary till i saw your post. you made it sound very easy. I will plan it on my own. Pls answer few of my queries. 1. we plan to travel for say 12-15 days in HP. which places are must see? we are nature lover, but don't mind few popular places as well.2. Location with beautiful view is important for the hotels.3. we will prefer to hire a cab through out the journey. My husband and i plan to travel in mid october. pls help me with suggestion. Thanks.

Bad experience with Indian Travel Consultant: be careful!!!

We found the agency in the middle of the city, a very small office with an appearance not to trust it.... But we booked unfortunately a travel with them.
Well, they recommend us to take a train from Calcuta to Varanasi to enjoy India.... Nothing to do with enjoy. We spent all the night trying to get out of us a million of cockroaches, the most horrible time for me and my girlfriend and all because of their recommendation.
When we arrive to Varanassi, a coopse was there, all people running around in the train station not looking at him, unbelieveble. They pick up us and then other time to the agency to try to sell us anything: tours, hotels.... all at a ver very higher price than that we had bokked oruself by internet. They treated us as we were 1000 dolars walking, very grievous.
We spent there some days and when they had to pick us for the train, they come 2 hours (yes, 2 hours!!!!) later, the train depart only 1o min later and we had lost sure. But because a severe illnes we were taken to the airport and then we come back to our country...
We contact them after that, and they warranted the refund on 50% of the amount paid. More than one year later, they have not paid us!!!!
We were not lucky in health aspect, but the agency does not help to!!!

Be careful with them, there are a lot of agencies better than they sure!!!!