we looked at these tours and found them to be very pricey. You are probably better getting yourself across and booking a local tour. For instance we got BA flights from Aberdeen through to Delhi and back through Mumbai for just over £800 for the two of us. A 5 day tour of Delhi, Jaipur and Agra came to about £300 for the two of us- car, guide, accomodation. We are going on to Mumbai and then Goa. Internal flights are cheap enough.

Hi

We have just done a 7 day golden triangle tour with Kuoni and they were very good and quite a bit cheaper than Hayes and Jarvis. I would definetely travel with them again and another agent we used and found excellent was Tradewinds.

I'd love to hear about what you thought of your tour- the highs? any lows? Which hotels did you use and were they good?

Flew Delhi with Virgin - Flight very good. Arrived mid morning.
Our tour guide - Rasnah, organised us promptly at airport (there are 2 tours - One for lst class hotels and our one which was medium class hotels)

Day 1: After pick up at airport our firststop was the Ashkok country hotel in Delhi. Marble hall, magnificent staircase, small lounge with leather couches, rooms clean and tidy. Perfectly good quality hotel with lovely grounds.

The evening meal was set out in a magnificent dining room but the food was average, bufftet style with only a few choices and if you don't want to eat Indian you may be a bit stuck. Breakfast was varied and adequate. Overall place was very clean and this is a transit hotel with many tour companies using it as an overnight stop off for the airport. I would go back here, the grounds were beautiful and peacocks wander around the outer buildings roofs.

Day 2: Delhi - tour included largest mosque in Delhi and a very interesting trip down some back streets to see the real Delhi and could you smell it. Also took in Ghandi's shrine, which was very interesting, peaceful and well worth the visit. Our guide was a very strong, determinded lady who had a great sense of humour, full of interesting knowledge, not someone you feel asleep on and who got us on the cool of the bus, before handing round goods from the street sellers for us to look at in peace. She got the best prices for us as well. We all paid the equivalent of about £5 each at the onset of the tour which she used for all our tips and extras for the whole week which saved us all the hassle and probably worked out cheaper for us as well.

Drove from Delhi to Jaipur afternoon late evening. Was about 7.00 pm when we arrived at Raj Mahal in Jaipur (very tired). This was for me the best hotel we stayed at out the tour. Few rooms, beautiful grounds and where Jackie O, Queen Elizabeth and Diana stayed. This was once a palace but now converted. We all picked a key out of the pot for our rooms (Diana's suite unfortunately wasn't in there). This hotel reminded me of how I perceive the old colonial days were. The staff were mainly old retainers who had been there many years and took us into the royal suites, which were wonderful.

Our bedroom was really odd. The bathroom was bigger than the main sleeping area and there were no windows. This was very disconcerting at first but we got used to it. The food here was again buffet style but of a much better quality than the previous hotel.

Day 3: Early start to the Amber palace. Interesting seeing the culture difference and the journey had some breathtaking scenery. We approached the palace at the top of the mountain by a rickety old and I swear brake less truck. Some tourists still use elephants but as some tourists fell off one and got killed a few years back, Queenie take the safer (!) option of motor transport.

I loved the Amber palace. I won't bore you with details, research on the net, but I do implore you to visit this. It was a real high light.

After lunch back in Jaipur and a visit to the Turban museum (worth a visit for a quick half hour) we visited a jewellry shop (be careful here as my friend got ripped off) and then another mosque and the very very best thing, our guide organised us all a cycled rickshaw ride. Do try this, it is very very scary, but absolutely fantastic. Traffic in India is mad, everyone goes anywhere in some sort of chaotic order and the noise of tooting horns is a constant. In this small rickshaw being manouvered between buses, cars, motorbikes etc you feel privileged just to survive a few minutes, let alone the 20 or so we had. And the smell.

After our ride, a quick scout round the street markets and then return to our hotel for a lovely meal back at the hotel.

Day 4: Another early start, stopped off at the palace of the winds in Jaipur and trip round some other palaces. By this time I felt a bit cultured out which is when we made our escape. We really enjoyed doing nothing for the rest of the day, but got taken out for a lovely meal at a local restuarant in the evening, where it was cheaper a la carte than having the tourist buffet. We watched dancing during the evening. Ironically the 1st class tour joined us here and they were a bit annoyed as the dancers preferred us as we joined in so we ended up getting better service.

Day 5: Early start to Agra. Another long journey with a few stops. By the time we reached the ghost city and the traffic jam there we were really tired. However, we summoned our energy and weren't disappointed. The city was beautiful, and the sun going down behind the hills made it seem really atmospheric. Our guide told us en route that our itinery hotel the Mansingh had problems and so Rashnah being a high caste indian with many connections had told Kuoni that she had got us a deal at the Agra Hilton and that if they didn't allow this, she along with us would go straight back to Delhi. It worked and we all booked into the Hilton which is very near the Taj.

The Hilton was lovely, but could have been anywhere in the world. Little atmosphere but silk sheets to die for. The service was average and the food although good was unspectacular, although breakfasts were great.

Day 6: Left early for the Taj. Hi light here. I am a bit of a cynic and don't wow lightly. This changed when I stepped through those arches and saw this. It is really really the most beautiful building in the world and the story which goes with it makes it even more spectacular. Please please you must visit here, I defy anyone to be disappointed.

We visited the Red Fort after this and again this was a beautiful place, very interesting with some great distance views of the Taj, but again we were tired so in the afternoon, instead of going out on an optional trip we curled up in hammocks in the lovely Hilton gardens with a book and a beer and watched the chipmunks in the trees. Bliss.

Day 7: Left Agra for trip back to Delhi and another night in the Ashkok, before we left for our internal flight to Goa and the Majorda hotel.

This tour was exhausting, and we felt it was worth taking the time out. We were happy however with Queenie, our guide was terrific and we did know in advance it would be on the go all the time, hence our 7 day extension in Goa. Our tour was 27 strong with 1 lady in her 70's and absolutely loving it, although she did take breaks on the coach.

All internal flights were part of our whole holiday and at every step of the way we were met by the "Queenie" rep and shown the way and a taxi was also organised in Mumbai to take us from the internal to international airports there. We flew back BA, another good flight.

In our early 50's we were probably towards the young end of the tour age group but there were a few couples in there 20's and 30's so we felt we were in a very balanced tour. Do more tours? Yes, China next I think but meantime, I think a more relaxed holiday next. Our whole package (Tour and 7 nights in Goa and all flights cost us per person £1428 and our spending money went a long way as everything is so cheap). Could we have got it for less? Well maybe but we felt this was a reasonable priced holiday, we were looked after but allowed to do our own thing if we wanted and had a great time.

Would we recommend this, you bet.

thanks Suey- that was really interesting. We are doing an almost identical tour in October. I'm looking forward to it- but not to the travel time inbetween places!

Suey - that's both interesting and helpful - thanks very much. Printed for future reference.

We are actually booked on the Kuoni Gorges of the Yangtse trip to China in June this year! Perhaps we are following each other around!