Travel Review: Luxury Vacation to India - Delhi, Jaipur, Udaipur, Agra, Varanasi, Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikiri, etc.

This was a 25 day journey of a lifetime, full of memorable moments including gorgeous palace hotels with superb service courtesy of Taj; the countryside of Rajasthan; the caves of Ellora; the backwaters of Kerala and Kochin; the beaches of Goa; the beauty of Lake Pichola in Udaipur; the rural temples we visited and services we attended; the exotic, strange and overwhelming city of Varanasi; the Jain Temple in Ranakpur on the road from Jodhpur to Udaipur; the flying monkeys of the Agra Fort; walking around the old city of Jodhpur shopping for glass bangles and our stay at the Raas boutique hotel at the foot of Mehrangarth Fort; riding elephants to the Amber Fort and getting a behind the scene tour of the amazing Gem Palace jewelry gallery; the colorful weddings we observed throughout our trip; the incredible colors and textures of Indian dress and textiles; and most of all, the warm friendliness and hospitality of the Indian people everywhere we visited. (Please note that we enjoyed traveling in mid-April to early May which despite the higher temperatures, allowed for less crowded visits to monuments and historic sites with far fewer tourists.)