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 Traveller's Tales: Getting around in India
Know the most popular landmarks in India. You may read about best transportation, recommended travel itinerary, suggested routes and directions. Also, you might want to read our
Delhi city guide,
and Mumbai/Bombay city guide.
Pages (1 of 6):
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| M Labertew |
05 June 2005 |
Stayed at Ivory Tower - Bengaluru (Bangalore), India.
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Rickshaws and taxis in front of hotel can take you to more distant locations, otherwise shopping and dining is literally steps away. A fun upscale bowling alley and arcade immediately behind hotel, as well as movie theater 1.5 blocks away, make up somewhat for lacking pool, if looking for entertainment options.
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| P Barratt |
09 May 2005 |
Stayed at Ritz Plaza Hotel - Amritsar, India.
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Went to the Wagah border post betwean India and Pakistan. Great fun !! Its about 30 Kms. Booked through the reception at the hotel. ost about 1000 rupees each.They run the tour every evening at dusk. Hundreds of people there. Singing, chanting etc.
The golden temple is the main reason for visiting Amtitsar. We went on a Sunday and as you would expect it was packed. Got a TukTuk which was fun.We were the only westerners that we saw. Worth visiting the Food Hall where upto 30,000 people are fed every day for free.Just to see the process.
Where they prepare the food and clean up all the plates is amazing. Worth going just to see that. The temple is quite small but beautiful surrounded by a moat within white ornate buildings. Just down the road within walking distance is the place where the British massacre took place.( Jallianwala Bagh) Being British I felt very uneasy here. Don't think I would go again. As the only westerners we got a lot of hostile looks. As you would expect. I thought it was just a memorial garden but it turned out to be much more than that. In fact we got quite a lot of hostile looks at the Golden Temple as well as if we weren't welcome there. It was the only place in India that I felt this and I was pleased to leave Amritsar. There were very few westerners that we saw and I'm not sure if they get too many tourists other than Indians. There aren't any 5 star hotels there so that may say something. Eating out was difficult. We ate in the hotel for two of the nights and it was very good. The other place that we found was a Pizza Hut in Lawrence St (a 10 minute walk away)which was very good and the staff were so pleased to see us. As were the customers. We were quite a novelty. After 3 weeks in India a Pizza was great.
There are a lot of internet places which are very cheap (25 rupees per hour) about 30 pence. You can also phone from these places and to the UK it was only 4 rupees per minute. At the time we were there we got 89 rupees to the pound.
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| J Singh |
31 March 2005 |
Stayed at Clarks Shiraz, Hotel - Agra, India.
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First time visit to Taj for my kids; 2nd time for me & my wife. Took early (06.00h / 08.10h) Shabtabdi Express from New Delhi station to Agra Cantonment, which was an on-time, excellent, fast (2+ hour) including breakfast & newspaper service in Executive Class (2X2 airplane style seating). The usual mob scene on arrival in Agra, with everyone offering guide and car services. We got lucky with Kumar, who spoke excellent English, was very knowledgeable, and low-key on sales pressure. He offered Rs150 to "any hotel" and on the way offered to do a full day tour for Rs650 including the current station pick up. We accepted, and enjoyed the tour.
The highlight was the Taj itself, and the place was mobbed with tourists in the late afternoon/early evening. All the gardeners/groundskeepers were trying to be very helpful by showing off good photo sites and angles (and of course soliciting tips). You must pay Rs 25 video camera fee, and you are only allowed to take video from the gate area itself, approximately 500m away. Mobile phones and tripods strictly not allowed (check in facility available.) No photography allowed inside Taj Mahal itself.
The next day Kumar took us to the abandoned city of Fatepur Sikri, which was beautiful. The major difference from my last visit (20 years ago) is the commercialization of the mosque and shrine there. There are so many, highly-aggressive hawkers, con artists, guides, etc. following your every footstep inside and outside the shrine as to make the visit distinctly unenjoyable. Save your shopping for New Delhi (either Janpath or Central Cottage Emporium). Prices in Agra a severely over-inflated relative to Delhi.
Returned from Agra Cantonment on Taj Express (18.55h / 22.00h). Train was 10 mins late arriving (originates in Gwalior) and it was not obvious to tourists where to find the A/C chair cars on our reservations. Seating was 2X3 airplane style; meals & water available for purchase from the steward on board. Arrived approx 15 mins late at New Delhi Nizzamudin station to the usual crowd of taxi hawkers.
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| H Butcher |
09 March 2005 |
Stayed at Ritz Plaza Hotel - Amritsar, India.
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Visited Golden Temple. Terrific. And the border crossing, great fun. Very good 1 1/2 hours entertainment. Arrived and left on Shatabdi Express. No problems. Used taxi's and autorickshaws to get around.
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| D Sagar |
09 March 2005 |
Stayed at Ambassador Ajanta - Aurangabad, India.
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We had a car and driver from the Aurangabad Travel Syndicate for which we negotiated a price of 1600 rupees for Ajanta and a City Tour. The driver was excellent and the car of good quality. The driver knew where to take us and we had a trouble-free (and memorable) visit.
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| E Fortier |
28 January 2005 |
Stayed at Crest Inn, Hotel - New Delhi, India.
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I highly recommend the N block Cybercafe at Connaught Place and warn all to make sure that any ride, be it in taxis, cars or risckshaws is "direct and without shopping or emporiums".
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| D Konwar |
27 January 2005 |
Stayed at Highway Residency, Hotel - Mumbai (Bombay), India.
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I went to attend a conference, though it was my third visit to Mumbai. It's a very nice place with good and friendly people. Best thing of this place is that you will never get lost, cause you ask any person, anywhere in Mumbai, about anything you will get the instant positive reply to that with a smile. Many places to visit, Essel world, Water kingdom, Elephanta caves, beaches, big malls with the theatres, planetarium etc and but for me the one day city tour was the best.
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| K Nillofur beach |
30 December 2004 |
Stayed at Bissau Palace - Jaipur, India.
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Since we like to walk it was nice to find that the hotel was close to the Pink City, City Palace, Hawa Mahal, many bazaars and other attractions. We also visited Rambaugh Palace, Statute Center, the Historical Museum and played golf at the Rambaugh Golf Club. Neros Restaurant in downtown Jaipur is highly recommended. The food and service were both very good. We visited Agra Fort as the sun was setting so we had a great view as the city lights came on. When not walking we used person rickshaws, auto rickshaws and taxis. Auto rickshaws seemed to be the best value as long as you negotiated the price before you took off. The hotel or other locals were willing to give us a ball park idea of how much it should cost to get from one location to another.
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| I Patel |
21 December 2004 |
Stayed at Trident Jaipur, The - Jaipur, India.
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Very noisy busy town. Lot to see. You need a minimum of one full day if not two to take in the main sites. I would recommend arranging prior to arriving in Jaipur some kind of organised tour of the city. If arriving by train or bus have transportaion arranged prior to arrival otherwise you will have hords of rickshaw drivers offering hotels, city tours etc.
Beware of rickshaw/taxi drivers taking you on a tour of the city, as they will tend to take you to shops and stalls where they receive large commision. If buying goods from Jaipur such as jewellry try to always buy from goverment approved shops where prices are fixed and quality is good.
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| R Lowton |
18 December 2004 |
Stayed at Supreme, The Hotel - Mumbai (Bombay), India.
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I did a prilgrimage tour, first shopping in Mumbai, train journey to Varanasi, then by road to Chanderwar, Gorakpur, Lucknow, Kaunpur, Agra, Jaipur, Brindavin, Rishikesh & Delhi. Some hotels were good with catering with hotwater and heating in the room, most were not. Nearly all hotels only providing minimum bedding even the temperature was below 4 degrees at night.
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