Our wonderful trip to India

Mixed India Tour that Show Different Taste, Culture, Food, Heritage and wildlife

From the end of September 2022 to October 23rd, we travelled a beautiful part of India, the Golden Triangle, Rajasthan and part of Himachal/
This trip was organized perfectly by Incredible Tours to India.
We spent a couple of nights in New Delhi at the Maidens Hotel, a beautiful old building, visited the Raj Ghat - the cremation sites of Mahatma Gandhi, Jama Masjid and drove past Red Fort and Chandni Chowk, Qutub Minar, Humayun’s Tomb, and India Gate. Our guide was a nice quite spoken guy, Dharmendra.

On the next day we drove to Agra, checked-in at the Agra Trident hotel. We visited the fort and on the next morning we woke up at 0500 am to watch the sun rise over Taj Mahal. Beautiful….
Azad was our guide, helped me feed the squirrels at the Agra fort.
From there we drove to the Ranthambhore nature reserve praying to see a tiger….

On our third outing on the next day, we did!!!! Followed her for 30 minutes. Our video went viral in the hotel, The Mount Valley Resort, a friendly two- or three-star hotel.
From Ranthambhore we drove to Jaipur, checked into the Jaipur Trident and had a wonderful dinner at Mr. Ganpat Prajapat’s home, cooked by his wife, Munni.

After breakfast, with our guide Vipin, we visited the Amber Fort, the old capital of the rulers of Jaipur. We also visited City Palace, Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal, Birla Mandir and Jai Singh’s Observatory.
On the next day we drove to Pushkar. Checked in to the Ananta Resort and went for a very interesting stroll through the town market, visiting the Holy Ghats and the Brahama Temple. In the evening we went to see the Dusharra (Ravan burning) with our driver. This was one of the highlights of our trip.

Our driver, Dilip, was with us for 18 days, a softspoken very pleasant and easygoing man. Amazing driver too, considering the obstacles on the road: cows, two wheelers, pedestrians, dogs and sometimes sheep, goats and pigs…
After breakfast we drove to Udaipur, checked in to the Udaipur Trident, a most amazing hotel. Udaipur is a very pretty town and we were lucky to see a wedding procession in a neighbouring hotel. We walked by the Pichola lake.
After breakfast we took a boat ride to the Jag Mandir palace and then, with Umesh’s guidance, we visited the City Palace, Jagdish Temple, drove around Fatehsagar Lake, Sahelion ki bari and Bhartiya Lok Kala Mandir.

On the next day we drove to Jodhpur, en route visited the amazing Ranakapur Jain Temple. Stayed at The Balsamand Lake Palace hotel, a beautiful renovated palace with enormous gardens full of peacocks and monkeys.
Our guide in Jodhpur was Suresh Vyas, a very knowledgable person. With Suresh we visited the Mehrangarh Fort, Jaswant Thada, the Umaid Bhawan Palace with festival dancing and turban tying, ending up by a long walk through a wholesale market, till the clock tower.

From here we drove to Jaisalmer. Checked in to the Suryagahr heritage hotel, ten stars!!
With our guide in Jaisalmer, Dharmendra we visited the Jaisalmer fort, Patwon ki haveli, Gadsisar Lake and Wada Bagh and then drove to the desert. Overnight stay at the Royal Peepli desert camp.
As Israelis, it reminded us of army barracks but the tent was comfortable and we suffered through a cold bucket wash. We decided to pass on the camel ride, once again, as experienced Israelis! Had dinner with folk dancing and singing.

After breakfast we drove to Bikaner, checked in to the Narenda Bhawan Hotel. No words to describe the beauty and service here. Wanted to stay on….
With our guide, Zafar, on the next day we visited the Junagarh fort, Lalgarh palace and a very interesting camel breeding research center.

On the next day we drove to Mandawa, checked into Vivanaa Heritage hotel, a renovated Haveli (a Nobleman’s home). Being a merchant town, many rich merchants built their havelis there. (Murmuria Haveli, Harlalka Well Hanuman Prasad Goenka Haveli, Gulab Rai Ladia Haveli, Bansidhar Newatia Haveli and the Chokhani Double Haveli.) Our guide was Krishna Singh, a local.
On the next day we flew to Varanasi. Checked into the Radisson Hotel.

In the early morning we met our guide Brij, also a local. Unfortunately, boat excursions on the Ganges were cancelled due to high waters, so we got immersed in the crowds on the highest steps, doing the puja. Felt the real thing- People bathe early in the morning to offer prayers to the rising sun. Returned to hotel for breakfast and enjoyed an excursion to Sarnath, where Buddha preached his first sermon in the Deer Park. In the evening we walked through the market and at sun down Brij took us to a cremation spot to see the rituals. No words here…
On the next day we flew to Amritsar. Checked in to the Hyatt hotel.

This day was one of our highlights. With Anil Sharma, our guide, we visited the Golden temple, sacred to the Seiks, (Jaliawalan Bagh), that houses an enormous kitchen and dining hall, all workers are volunteers, they feed about a hundred thousand mouths a day, really something to see… and afternoon visit Indo-Pakistan border ceremony. Unreal.
Early morning drive to Chandigarh train station, at Kalka Train station we switched to the “Toy Train”. Amazing views. On arrival in Shimla we checked in to the Oberoi Hotel (ten stars here, again). All this with the help of Manoj, our driver.

The next day Manoj drove us to Kufri, great views, but an attraction park for kids? That was a mistake…
On the next day we had a wonderful full day city tour with Kavi Sharma, a really amazing guide, best English ever, Kavi took us to the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (previously the Viceroys headquarters, a Scottish like castle), to Sankat Mochan Temple and Jakhu temple, ending with a long stroll through the famous Shimla shopping centers, The Ridge and Mall Road.

We also visited the Shimla mosques, Vice regal Lodge, Christ Church, the Gaiety theater, the Grind Lays Bank and the Scandal Point.
On the next day, back to Delhi, overnight at the Florence Inn and back home.