bhrubin

Thanks!

emma69

With Ranakpur, be aware that tourists can only visit in the afternoon which can mean adjusting your itinerary (in our case, it meant lounging by our hotel pool for a couple of hours as we were so close it make no sense to do it in any other order!) Kumbulgarh is great, but there are a lot of steps (it was hot when we were there too) but the views are worth it!

bhrubin

Hey all! I reach out to everyone to get advice on the best special dining and any other special excursions that can be arranged at the following luxury hotels for our India trip coming up next month:

Delhi--The Lodhi (3 nights)

Dinners planned for Bukhara and Indian Accent

Jodhpur--Umaid Bhawan Palace (3 nights)

Planning on private dining at RAAS hotel and Sunset Pavilion private dining at Umaid Bhawan Palace. Thoughts?

Udaipur--Oberoi Udaivilas (4 nights)

Planning on Lakeside Pavilion private dining at Oberoi and possible dinner or private dining at Taj Lake Palace (if they permit it). Is it worth to dine at the Taj Lake Palace if you're already staying at the Oberoi?

Varanasi--Taj Nadesar Palace (3 nights)[/u]

Planning on dining at hotel...unless there are options I should consider?

Agra--Oberoi Amarvilas (2 nights)

Dining at Esphehan at Oberoi one night, private dining the next night at Oberoi. But I've also heard Pince of Spice is a great restaurant....any thoughts?

Alwar--Amanbagh (4 nights)

Is the off-site Chattri dinner really worth it? What excursions here are absolute musts--and why?

We are considering a day at the nearby tiger preserve to try and see a tiger. Worth it or waste of time?

What are the must-do excursions (other than the Amarbargh trip, which we definitely plan to do!)?

Thanks for any feedback or suggestions!

cmaesing

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Agra--Oberoi Amarvilas (2 nights)

Dining at Esphehan at Oberoi one night, private dining the next night at Oberoi. But I've also heard Pince of Spice is a great restaurant....any thoughts?

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We visited the Oberoi Amarvilas in Dec 2014. While we didn't stay there, we enjoyed pre dinner cocktails (do that for sunset - preferably a bit earlier, so you can still enjoy the Taj Mahal view) in their bar before heading off to Esphahan for dinner: It was a truly remarkable dining experience - one that shouldn't be missed! Same goes for Amaranta btw (Oberoi in Gurgaon): An absolute feast for the senses.

On a sidenote re hotels: We had a great deal with the Trident during our two week Golden Triangle trip; they are part of the Oberoi Group, but are a notch below the Oberoi's luxury level. Although in Gurgaon I'd always prefer the Trident to the (just next door - you can even walk easily across) Oberoi, simply because of its premises.

Also, as someone else mentioned I think much earlier in this thread: One single night at the Oberoi Amarvilas would be an entire waste - and having seen the hotel myself, I couldn't agree more: Your two nights are imho the minimum you should stay there.

yaychemistry

Does anyone have any experience using Black Tomato to book a trip? They claim to do personalized itineraries, including tours, etc. Some of the example itineraries, especially in the Himalayan foothills, of India look very intriguing, and we're contemplating using them for our honeymoon.

Here's their list of hotels. They appear to use Amans in other locations (such as Amanzoe), but they don't list them for India.
https://www.blacktomato.com/destinations/india/#!hotels

vuittonsofstyle

You would be much better using an operator that specialised in India. The best is Greaves Travel, who have offices in the UK and USA - http://www.greavesindia.com/

yaychemistry

Maybe I looked at the wrong pages, but it looks like Greaves offers mostly group tours. Black Tomato books individual itineraries.

Kagehitokiri

greaves does private including private jet (taj and oberoi also have their own jets)

IIRC black tomato is agency (middleman, marks up) - can often book direct with destination management companies, operators, etc

whoever you use, make sure to choose hotels you want

at some point might make sense to have a thread dedicated to discussing various operators

vuittonsofstyle

No way - Greaves does totally personalised itineraries, too, and will work around your choice of hotels. It is a good idea to determine which hotels you want to stay in first, then ask them to create an itinerary. They know India better than anyone.

DSI

They are comparable to greaves and we used them. The hotels are all the same but the have local guides in each area, some interesting excursions (like we did a private tour of the royal section of the Jaipur palace) and one driver rather than piecemeal ing things. Pierce met us at the hotel and was keeping an eye on everything, constantly checking with hotels and the driver. This works for India.

We also used red dot tours for Sri Lanka and they were great too. You really get to know your drivers on these things!

trying to save a few bucks by just having each hotel arrange a ride to the next hotel detracts from the overall expierence in my opinion. I think it would be better to save money on the hotel--the horror--even.

quitecontrary

We've just finished dinner at the Neel Kamal - really good food and excellent food. I would say the restaurant was only half full so you should have no problem getting a table. If you do come here for dinner I suggest you come over early - there's a dance performance at 6.15 and you can have a wander around.

in4tar

For my trip to India in November 2017 I got all the hotels I wanted except one - Nadesar Palace in Varanasi is completely booked for my dates (that far in advance! who would have thought! it's only January!).
Since Varanasi is a "must see" for me, what other hotel (similar category) would be recommended? Brijrama Palace? Gateway? Anything else?

bhrubin

Just returned from our nearly 3 weeks in India. Will eventually get to the expert reviews/TRs...but here is quick summary:

(1) Varanasi turned out to be our favorite and biggest highlight...to our shock. We loved it. You can't take a bad photo down by the Ghats. Felt like we saw all of real India in a single day...as if Varanasi were a microcosm of the whole of India. Wish we could have stayed an extra day. Loved the Nadesar Palace, too. And Sarnath outside Varanasi was worth the drive, too.

(2) India's 5 star luxury hotels all are amazing...but not perfect.

The Lodhi was perfect for us in Delhi. But air con went out our second night. Got half night refund. Handled well. Would return in a second. Very glad we didn't choose the Imperial, though we can see how many might prefer that.

Taj Umaid Bhawan Palace was perhaps the best hotel highlight--a destination in and of itself. Liked the hotel far more than Jodhpur! Air con worked beautifully (they actually set up our suite specifically to be the only one with air con!).

Oberoi Udaivilas was great but with some consistent service flubs, but gave us major suite upgrade to recover. Tried very hard. Air con worked beautifully.

Taj Nadesar Palace was great. Royal Suite a bit underwhelming...but most boutique experience in all of India for us. Air con worked beautifully.

Oberoi Amarvilas was amazing service with some flubs...but the service was what we remember most. Air con was just OK and went out our 2nd night. Refunded the second night as compensation. Handled well. But annoying.

Amanbagh was very nice...but not nearly as tremendous to us as some here suggest. Service was very good, Karin is amazing, new Pratapgarh excursion is incredible, but food and beverage were VERY weak for me (not enough diversity/options). Air con worked beautifully.

(3) While service isn't quite as amazing, and steps can be issue for some, the Raas Devigarh outside Udaipur is utterly amazing...and we'd stay there the next time in a heartbeat. Better food/beverage than Udaivilas IMO...and
definitely better wine selection!

(4) Volunteering at Animal Aid Unlimited outside Udaipur was incredible. We will try to mimic that whenever possible on future trips. We highly recommend this to anyone going to Udaipur!

(5) Though I did get a little sick (probably from weather not food), food/beverage turns out to be much safer than rumored, especially at the 5 star hotels.

(6) Traffic and driving in general while in India are simply insane...and an adventure not to be missed. But we won't miss it!

(7) The poverty--though prevalent--wasn't nearly as awful to see as people made us expect. People, though very poor, looked generally well fed and pretty happy, actually. But boy could it be dirty!

(8) The Taj Mahal wasn't even close to our most memorable visit--which surprised us. Varanasi, Pratapgarh Fort (23 km from Amanbagh), the Ranakpur Jain Temple (between Jodhpur and Udaipur), the Sas Bahu and Eklingji temples and nearby villages (20 km outside Udaipur), and Animal Aid Unlimited just outside Udaipur were our favorite experiences. Jodhpur largely was a miss for us...except that the Umaid Bhawan Palace hotel is so amazing.

Londonjetsetter

Thank you for this! We actually decided to stay at the Devigahr is a couple of weeks instead of at the Oberoi. Can't wait.

blueline7

Many thanks for your summary.

Do you happen to recall the chef? Wondering as when we were there the food was stupendous.