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Hi
Now entering my pre retirement phase and starting to plan travel post retirement from October. Our initial plans are to visit the Indian sub continent with several trips over a period of time. Sadly for various reasons cannot be a big trip.
Using various UK travel agents tours to garner ideas for itineraries but looking to book using local agents and drivers if possible as maybe cheaper and offer more flexibility.
For Sri Lanka I have come across Tangerine Tours and Indian Panorama for India. Looking for recommendations for Nepal and Bhutan plus other suggestions for India and Sri Lanka
Thanks
A local driver is probably the only thing that you need to be careful about. For India, I’ve used a mix of recommendations from work, local travel agents recommended by my hotel or the hotel itself. The cost of a “7 seater” MPV like an Innova which is very comfortable for 2 and adequate for 4 has been pretty much the same through all these routes.
I’ve not used travel agents for anything else as self-booking is easy, including trains.
For trains, I would recommend the 2AC class because you will meet other travellers but it’s reasonably comfortable. A short journey in the cheapest classes is also fun but not overly comfortable and can be very hot. But don’t skip trains as a way of getting about. The toy train journeys are very memorable and you can ask your (likely irritated) driver to meet you at the other end.
If you have not been to places that are chaotic and noisy before, I would recommend places like Goa and Kerala first and leave Varanasi, Kolkata, etc. for later trips.
Getting around by air is often very convenient and prices extremely cheap.
Distances by road can be very, very long and take Google Maps times with a pinch of salt; they can easily be twice as long.
My wife and I are very much indophiles so shoot if you want more about individual places.
Thanks – we have just returned from a couple of weeks in Kerala and have been several times to other parts including Varanasi which I found fascinating. Our aim is to visit some other areas such as Leh / Ladakah and around Kolatta, Assam and Darjeeling. As yob say it’s trying to get a recommended driver for an area hence the thought about using a local travel agent rather than UK
Local agents typically cater to the low cost travellers domestically. Very few can deliver a high quality service.
You are better off booking them through the hotels (luxury hotels preferably) if you don’t want to use UK agents.Interesting re hotels. We’ve generally avoided ‘luxury’ hotels and in some areas they’ve been thin on the ground. I suppose it is what is luxury as the definition an be stretched as standards in India are a little different. I’m assuming you’re meaning Oberoi and Taj in particular? One for us to think about.
Hi
Now entering my pre retirement phase and starting to plan travel post retirement from October. Our initial plans are to visit the Indian sub continent with several trips over a period of time. Sadly for various reasons cannot be a big trip.
Using various UK travel agents tours to garner ideas for itineraries but looking to book using local agents and drivers if possible as maybe cheaper and offer more flexibility.
For Sri Lanka I have come across Tangerine Tours and Indian Panorama for India. Looking for recommendations for Nepal and Bhutan plus other suggestions for India and Sri Lanka
Thanks
I am from Sri Lanka originally, now settled in the UK.
Tangerine is fine. They used to be a big player few decades ago, but have gradually divested their hotel business. They still operate tours and some hotels.
Also, Sri Lanka is safe if you wish to travel on your own and if you are looking for an authentic experience. There are some local sentiments about tourists from Russia/Ukraine (both), Israel, India and China, but nothing significantly bad. On the other hand, Sri Lanka treats British tourists pretty much the same way they were treated during the colonial times 🙂
For Sri Lanka try Nandika as a driver/guide.
WhatsApp +94713861590
His prices have gone up though, a few of us have used him and he’s very reliable.
The car we had for just the two of us was a modern hybrid.
I’ve used Indian Panorama several times; they’re reliable and reasonably priced.
Asian Adventures is another local agent specialising in wildlife – they would certainly be able to put a trip together for Ladakh.
For both companies (particularly the latter) you would need to be specific about the quality of transport and hotels required. Birdwatchers will put up with rubbish accommodation if it’s close to key sites..
Interesting re hotels. We’ve generally avoided ‘luxury’ hotels and in some areas they’ve been thin on the ground. I suppose it is what is luxury as the definition an be stretched as standards in India are a little different. I’m assuming you’re meaning Oberoi and Taj in particular? One for us to think about.
Agreed, Taj and Oberoi are the traditional luxury hotels. But in recent years we have seen JW Marriotts and St Regis come up in many cities. Still rare to find good luxury hotels outside cities, except Rajasthan and Kerala.
But even a regular Marriott or Hyatt regency can book good drivers for you. They are usually a bit more fluent in English than other local drivers and have a reputation to protect.
@MGOR Can wholeheartedly endorse @strickers recommendation of Nandika. There were 4 of us so he rented a van and driver for our tour.
If in the vicinity of Varanasi, we used Jitendra Pandey whose WhatsApp is +9838570869 . He is a calm, lovely guy who also runs an ashram. We found him by accident as a taxi driver and as he seemed so nice we used him for 3 days as a driver/guide; he didn’t negotiate directly with the Ganges boat guys etc but made it clear if he thought we were being ripped off. And when we were ‘templed out’ and said we liked the people side of travel he took us to his village, showed us around there and his family cooked us lunch.
Bhutan: first went to see a friend who was doing voluntary service and locals recommended Tshering Dorji who runs Bhutan Scenic Tours. We’ve been back to Bhutan twice subsequently and used them, really good. Our favourite destination along with Myanmar which is sadly off the agenda atm.
We’re recently back from Nepal where we hopped around on a DIY itinerary. In Bhaktapur we stayed at The Nanee (boutiquey hotel) which was good and the Namobuddha Resort in the foothills was fun for a few days but mostly memorable for people we met there.
It may just be me, but I found the ‘assault on the senses’ India (e.g. on exiting the arrivals hall at an airport) to be way, way less than 10-20 years ago. A bit like China, India seems to have progressed in leaps and bounds with technology and some infrastructure….arrival into Delhi is little different to here, partly because Uber has taken over and removed many of the taxi touts and the metro is modern. Even Kolkata which used to be madness as an arrival experience is pretty calm. Yes you can find chaos, but I don’t think it should put you off.
Metty thanks for the info re Bhutan. We were due to visit in October 2020 but that sadly was cancelled. Agree how much India has changed. We first visited some 30 odd years ago and then had a gap of around 15 years when we returned in early 2020 and the whole process and experience seemed somewhat calmer than before.
When we were in Sri Lanka we decided not to book a guide/driver for the entire trip as we wanted to stay put for a few days in each location.
We booked drivers between locations through our hotels and that worked really well – traffic was also quite calm compared to what I had expected and it felt safe to drive around. More expensive than booking local drivers ourselves, but not significantly and it took out all the hassle of organising things.
We also took the train on one segment of our trip and a flight with Cinnamon Air in a Cessna Grand Caravan, which was a really cool experience too!
Hi, defintely worth recommend 2AC sleeper trains, 3AC also ok but get just that bit more space as less beds in 2AC, I have never travelled 1AC however once you pay these fares you find it is the same or more as a cheap air ticket within india, Indigo has really expanded and boomed the last few years with so many new routes doestically across India.
And whilst you can go to the trouble of getting your own train tickets etc, it is not worth the hassle, you are much better paying abit extra to a local travel agent, or connection from hotel, who always has an uncle or friend that works at Indian Railways and they magically acquire tickets for their comission, again saving you alot of hassle.For our Amritsar to Shimla trip we picked up a driver from the Hyatt in Amritsar and the price per day was pretty competitive.
I think getting one of the best hotels you can in big cities helps take the edge off the chaos. A lassi or a beer by the pool after a day of hot and bother is a good way to round off the afternoon for me.
Thanks everyone for their comments. All food for thought. Masaccio couldn’t agree more about a cold beer after a days sightseeing. We stayed in a couple of dry hotels on our recent trip to Kerela (rookie error!) and had our driver take us to a local alcohol store so we could stock up and drink in our room which was OK by the hotel. It felt a little bit naughty and sleezy as they were always tucked away in a side street and pokey!
We used Chandima as our driver in Sri Lanka for the last week or so. An excellent guide, comfortable carcwuth wifi. His number is +94 76 699 5060 on WhatsApp. He operates independently or through BH Lanka tours.
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