3 Days Golden Triangle Tour{Taj Mahal at Sunrise}

We, our friends had a superbly organized holiday trip to Delhi, Wonders of Taj, and Pink City as well this year and the trip surpassed all our expectations! We saw different monuments in each city. Shilpi was connected with us throughout the tour and she answered quickly within a few minutes with prompt replies. We felt safe with our driver Rajinder who has extremely experienced. We used wonderful Holidays to arrange all the things including(a nice and air conditioned car with a licensed chauffeur, good English speaking professional tour guides on each city, Hotels - nice and clean with great hospitality and last but not the least pick- up and drop off at airport) Truly this is our hassle free trip organized by Wonderful Holidays. Namaste! We will meet soon for another trip thank you.

The Golden Triangle tour organized by Shilpi was an excellent introduction to what India has to offer. Shilpi personally welcomed us at the airport with floral garlands and printouts of everything we would need (hotel vouchers, itinerary, etc.) during our stay. Our driver, Gulab, stayed with us for the entire trip, kept us safe, and was funny too. We couldn’t believe how much we saw within three days, but not once did we feel rushed or that we were limited on time. The timing of each day was well planned, with a local tour guide in each city, and very tasty restaurants. We visited local artisans and had time to walk in and out of shops as we desired. The hotels were also comfortable with well-pressured showers and hot breakfast. Shout out to our guides - Vivek (Delhi), Raj (Agra), and Satish (Jaipur). My only regret was that we didn’t have time for a five or seven day tour. 10/10 recommend.

I took the 3 day / 2 night golden triangle tour in late September 2022, and I thought it was a good introduction to India altogether, along with some of the country’s top tourist attractions. While I would still recommend this tour, I would be prepared to encounter or adapt for several things that took away from the experience for me. The good: This trip would have been completely unapproachable as a non-Indian American spending their first few days in India. I highly recommend this format of an experience for somebody new to India. It would have been overwhelming navigating the streets of the country along with the heavily-trafficked attractions like the Taj Mahal without guides. All tour guides (each location had a separate guide) were very knowledgeable about the places we visited. I asked a lot of questions and got satisfactory responses. They helped me arrange currency exchange on my first day in Delhi. They took me to an exchange shop where I got a better rate than the airport with no fees. I had the same driver for all 3 days, so I could build some trust and familiarity with someone. This was important because during the tours I had to leave the majority of my things in the car or lug them with me through heavily trafficked tourist sites. Things to be aware of: I did not have a fully detailed itinerary until several days before the tour. This was stressful as an American coming for a longer trip, thinking through logistics beyond the tour itself. I did ask for details in the booking sites chat (e.g. specifically, which hotels we’d be staying at), but the answers often either were incomplete to my questions or were noncommittal. Each tour took me to a very high-pressure sale situation. None of these stops were on the trip agenda, but I do believe they were dictated by the primary tour director. In Delhi, I thought we were on our way to Qutub Minar, and we suddenly stopped at a shop affiliated with a family making Kashmiri rugs. I learned about how the families made these pieces (it was very cool), but of course after the demonstration was the very heavy sales pitch. In Agra, I had a similar experience at a marble shop. At Fatehpur Sikri, there was a very pushy merchant who followed me for some time, insisting I visit his shop on the way to the site. I just ignored him (pushy salespeople following westerners seems to be common in India). On the way back down from the tour. My tour guide told me we were going to see the merchants shop. I objected, but the tour guide insisted that we do so. At the shop, I didn’t really want anything, but despite my objection and telling the tour guide I was ready to leave, the guide seemingly was trying to help the merchant make a sale on me. I eventually left the shop myself, and the merchant followed me bargaining and the tour guide continued to try to help convince me to buy something. This was extremely uncomfortable to me since, as a foreigner in an unfamiliar place, I didn’t know my way around there, and I didn’t know if there was any potential danger to me turning down purchasing merchandise. The tour guide was not on my side, so I was alone. I eventually bought something small just to make the merchant go away and end the experience. In Jaipur, the guide told me we were going to a textiles shop and that I would be pressured to buy something, but that I didn’t have to. This honest heads-up was refreshing, and allowed me to approach the situation more comfortably. The hotel in Agra was a nightmare. It was dark, dirty, smelly, and some of the room features did not work. If it’s in your budget, I highly recommend upgrading all accommodations to 5 star hotels. I did ask for this, but the tour director insisted they only used highly-rated options, so I decided to give them a shot. 3/4/5 star in India do not compare to 3/4/5 star in the US… The tour director and guides have been extraordinarily pushy about me writing reviews. In Agra, the tour guide insisted that I write him a review at the end of our tour, while he was watching / before the driver took me to our next stop. I declined saying I would do it later, and we got into a small argument before he finally let the immediate review go. However, he then messaged me on WhatsApp several times over the next hour until I finally submitted the review. Before I was dropped off at the Jaipur airport, we pulled off into a nearby parking area and I was asked to give my review before I could go. I declined, and over the next few days I was constantly pestered by the tour director and by the driver to submit my review (I told them both I would do it eventually but that I was very busy throughout the week because I was originally in India for a work trip). English fluency was very inconsistent across the guides/driver. It would have been nice to have a higher level of English proficiency. Overall, I would recommend this tour, but anticipate and adjust accordingly for the things mentioned above.