Advice arranging Holiday in India (Kerala, Mumbai, Other)

BigBirdy on 15/01/2018 - 11:05

I’m after advice from other travellers and Indian ex-pats.

My wife & I are planning to holiday in India (late Feb or March), probably Kerala and possibly Mumbai surrounds. We went to Kerala 2.5 years ago. Then, I booked hotels and car with driver through a Cochin based travel agent I found on TripAdvisor. We had a fantastic time, and now want to return. Management at that agency has changed; they are much more expensive, stuff us around, and can only book the Kerala part of the trip.

In Kerala we are thinking a backwaters cruise, Western Ghats (Thekkady & Munnar), Nilgiri Mountain Railway (Mettupalayam to Ooty). Our interest in Mumbai are the Ellora & Ajanta Caves.

I’m looking for recommendations, including travel agents, ways to book hotels (on the usual online sites, hotels.com, booking.com, Agoda, Expedia, etc the hotels we stayed at last time clearly cost way more than travel agents can book them for), arranging a car and driver, and unique places to visit (we are in our late 50s, interested in history, culture and environment, not the theme parks and shopping malls the travel agent pushed at us). We are not yet committed to Mumbai, and worried about air quality in Delhi, but all options are possible. Advice/assistance much appreciated.

Thank you.

Travel

Comments

  • altomic on 15/01/2018 - 11:40

    airbnb and uber

  • jedimaster on 15/01/2018 - 11:54
    +3

    for hotels use goibibo.com,yatra.com , makemytrip.com (in same order)

    for traveling around you can use uber,ola (apps available) if you dont want to rent a car.

    if you want to rent a car, you can try zoomcar, myles,carzonrent.

    some of these sites may require you to have an Indian mobile number for booking. see if u can arrange one through someone for booking purpose.

    • BigBirdy on 15/01/2018 - 12:12
      +1

      Thank you, I’ll check them out. We prefer the convenience of our own (rental) car with driver

      • CheapSticks on 15/01/2018 - 13:02
        +1

        i dont think you need to rent a car for travelling within city and surrounds. I was there in october 2017 - it was so easy and cheap to go with uber / ola. For 10km, i paid like $3-4. Much better as dont need to worry about parking and any crashes/traffic incident.

        For intercity travel, can book tourist bus/train/flights.

        • BigBirdy on 15/01/2018 - 14:18

          We are travelling through the countryside, like the Western Ghats. Not commuting around a city or between cities. It's far easier to have a car and driver on standby, taking us 100kms here, 100kms there, dinner, hotel, etc than constantly dealing with different taxi/ubers.

        • CheapSticks on 15/01/2018 - 22:54

          @BigBirdy:

          Ok. In that case, better to book car with driver.

  • Kangal on 15/01/2018 - 12:14
    +1

    No relatives to crash in their cave, and borrow their car?

  • BigBirdy on 15/01/2018 - 12:49

    ‘fraid not

  • Quantumcat on 15/01/2018 - 13:30
    +1

    Wouldn't you rather go to a place you haven't been before? For example what about the city of Petra in Jordan (as you like history and culture)?

    • BigBirdy on 15/01/2018 - 14:13

      Good point, but … we usually combine a revisit to a place we liked with visiting somewhere new. Last trip to India was an add-on to a revisit to (eastern) Sri Lanka, which came after a previous trip to (western) Sri Lanka as an add-on to a revisit to Myanmar, etc. Slowly we are heading west, so Jordan may well come up later. It's a bit easier stepping off a plane in a slightly familiar location, then moving into unfamiliar territory … works for us.

      • Quantumcat on 15/01/2018 - 15:06
        +1

        That's fair enough, especially if you get to travel a lot.

  • 0FoxGiven on 15/01/2018 - 15:14
    +1

    I used a smaller but good travel agency for trips in the same places in Kerala. They communicate well and I think they can arrange something in Mumbai as well. I'll check and PM if you are still interested

    • BigBirdy on 15/01/2018 - 15:27

      Yes please. I used Iris Holidays last time

      • 0FoxGiven on 16/01/2018 - 08:47
        +1

        Can't PM you directly. I think your privacy settings do not permit private messaging. Check out http://keralavoyages.travel/

        They have even done the Ajanta & Ellora caves tour for people before. I think they would be a good fit for you.

        If you PM me, I can give you an email for the director of operations with whom I dealt with previously. Smart chap.

  • EyyBanane on 15/01/2018 - 16:20
    +1

    I'd say skip Thekkady & Munnar which are heavily commercialized and head out to Wayanad instead.

    Google for some of the attractions below.

    • Chembra peak & Heart lake
    • Kuruva Island
    • Iruppu falls
    • Thirunelly
    • Pakshipathalam trek (require prior approvals and is seasonal)
    • Soochipara & Meenmutty falls
    • Edakkal caves

    Also you could club it with nearby places (70-140 kms from Wayanad) such as Gopalswamy Betta, Kushal Nagar monastery, Mysore etc.

    • BigBirdy on 15/01/2018 - 18:36

      Thank you, I'll check these out.
      Have you any experience with Ooty and the Nilgiri Mountain Railway?

      • 0FoxGiven on 16/01/2018 - 08:38
        +1

        Ooty is even more commercialized than Munnar and Thekkady but it still has some of its old charm. Just FYI, Ooty is in another state next to Kerala.

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