Luxury India Travel Review: Golden Triangle (New Delhi, Agra/Taj Mahal, Jaipur), Udaipur, Rajasthan, Indian Cooking Class

Visit to Taj Majal. This was a lifelong dream for me, starting at age 10...56 years later the dream came true. We traveled to India in January, 2013 with the assistance of our travel agent, who is truly an expert on India and a wonderful representative for us in our travel planning and arrangements. It was good to have an agent in the U.S. who could take into account our interests, physical abilities, and budget. Our tour covered the Golden Triangle cities of New Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur and then extended down to Udaipur in the southern part of Rajasthan. These areas provide much in the way of both historical sites and modern culture, and we would encourage other travelers to use this itinerary. Highlights included a very interesting three hour rickshaw tour of the Chandi Chowk market area of Old Delhi and of course the must-see Agra Fort and Taj Mahal in Agra. In Jaipur we stayed in a guest house where our host related the long history of her family and demonstrated the preparation of several traditional dishes (which we enjoyed for our lunch that day, yum). In this city the highlights were the City Palace and the Amber Fort. In Udaipur we especially enjoyed an evening with a well-known sculptor. This experience included a tour of a gallery where his works were on display (along with pieces by other artists), and he joined us for a nice dinner at a local restaurant where we were able to carry on the discussion about his work. In Udaipur we also enjoyed the City Palace and a short cruise on the beautiful lake. Along the route we had the pleasure of touring several temples, both active and inactive. Our local guides were quite knowledgeable in matters of religion, history, and both ancient and modern culture. Our India tour company did the overall planning and then was the agent for on-site travel providers. Throughout our journey she kept in touch with us to ensure that we were well cared for (which, we hasten to add, we were). The local providers that our agent arranged were outstanding. One of us was ill for part of the trip, and the extra care given by the local providers was excellent. The driver that our agent arranged for us was a young man with excellent skills, quite necessary as India seemed to be one large game of dodgem cars. He dodged quite well, we are glad to report, and our road travels were safe and happily uneventful. We would highly encourage other travelers to use this travel company’s services to plan and secure travel arrangements for this part of the world. We have traveled extensively (65 countries, both in groups and independently) and we can’t recall a travel experience that was as well executed as this one. Judy and Richard Chapman Little Rock, Arkansas