Top Ten TouT Towns

bijapuri

We revile 'em, we avoid 'em we can't get rid of em, but we're in THEIR house, Homie!

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radz

Ah i bet Agra is going to be number one in this poll

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guerik

I voted for Jaipur, which had the best/worst touts of any I encountered in those towns.

However, Fatehpur Sikri had the most, and most persistent touts I saw -anywhere-. Outside the mosque especially, about 10 groups of touts followed us from the moment we set foot on the stairs until we were well out of the mosque complex.

Gotta hand it to them though! They put much more effort into their jobs than I'm ever likely to in mine

turlapati

Kochi had the most aggressive touts I have ever encountered. They had us swarmed and wouldn't let us get into our auto.

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bijapuri

I voted for Agra, but any of those towns have their share. Agra was the scene of our rehearsed evasive manoever. Leaving the Itimad-ud-daula (Baby Taj) there was a picket line several rows deep of touts. the three of us formed a wedge and started dancing and singing the "Dola Re Dola" dance from Devdas, and made it to our car!!!
a definite highlight of our trip . .

Arun

Very cool Bij...

In Pushkar we perfected a maneuver for especially persistent junior touts, whereby one of us would walk forward a few steps and then position himself right in the tout's path, leaving him behind...

Had to stop after once or twice due to their deflated expressions!

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Merchant

I think Agra will emerge the clear favorite, if only because few people visit anything there beyond the Taj (and must run its equally famous tout gantlet). In Madurai and Mumbai, touting is limited to a few places. One is not likely to ever spend more than 20 minutes at the Gateway to India in Mumbai, and once you are inside the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, you won't be touted. I've never had to suffer the touts in those towns anywhere but at those sites.

-m2-

I've been to all of the towns mentioned except Khajuraho at one time or another but haven't been north of Mumbai in 10 years and don't really remember being hassled all that much in any of those places. The rickshaw drivers in Agra had their own little thing with the 'free ride' if you agreed to stop in a few marble shops on the way to where you were going but nothing too heavy. The most persistant touts I ran into in Rajasthan were the camel 'safari' guys in Jaisalmer -- I usually got a laugh out of them when I told them my arse was sufficiently battered and bruised from several weeks riding a Bullet and I really couldn't handle a camel at the time.

I don't recall any touts in Mahabs, and I think it is 30 years since I've been to Madurai and vaguely recall having difficulty finding a place to eat, so maybe I could have used a tout. I've willingly used the services of touts in Mumbai for finding a place to stay after a late arrival -- once from the airport, and a couple of times in Colaba with no problem.

Maybe things have gotten worse lately, but anyway I tend to be oblivious in crowds, just ploughing my way through with eyes straight ahead and a constant refrain of 'no thank you' to no one in particular.

LuAnnandJawahar

Jaipur is worse than Agra for most people. Delhi has the most sophisticated touts. Udaipur has the most attractive. Agra has the youngest (average age). Puskar has the most despicable (sp?)

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SitaParityaga

Merchant....I was touted INSIDE the Meenakshi Temple! They got me good too! Said they were official temple guides, and were going to show me how to get inside the north tower...grabbed my hand and whisked me across the street to (I'm so embarassed...) one of those knick knack places...up the stairs to the top floor (they said the view was free!!)
In any case, I still found Madurai was not as touty as I thought it would be. Kochi was also only about a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10. Mumbai only had touts in Colaba....irksome but manageable. I haven't been to Varanasi in 10 years or so, but no one bugged me there back then. I haven't been to Agra, but I've heard the most touty complaints about the Taj from others.

Merchant

Ah, yes, the stores across from the Meenakshi temple. Actually, they're not so bad. The view is decent, the stores are air conditioned, and they have modern bathrooms. If you haggle with them for any length of time, you'll likely be given a cold Coke. All in all, this counts as a positive in my book.

abracax

The worst for me were the "Brahmins" who swarm about the temples in Bhuvanesvar twapping their sacred threads, brandishing "guest books" and demanding ludicrous amounts of baksheesh in exchange for SFA. I almost threw one off the viewing platform at the big temple, which is any easy spot to trap gringos because it's the only place that non-Hindus can get a look in.

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bijapuri

one error in this pool is tha lack of a Goa vote. So . . . since I haven't been there in 2 decades, how's the toutage there?

LuAnnandJawahar

Goa is so laid back. And so small. They aren't so much touts there as efficiency experts. People will approach you about boat rides etc even while you are eating dinner, but it is for things you are probably going to want to do. So it makes it easy to do arrangements. The only we don't like is being approached by the ladies to do henna while we are sunbathing. We really don't want to be disturbed. But again, they are pretty laid back about it.

bijapuri

surprised Pushkar has received only one vote . . .