In summary, our experience with the Majestic Agra has been great. Sagar, the founder, is a great human being and deeply cares about the safety and wishes of his guests. If I ever go to India again, I will definitely reach out to The Majestic Agra for another adventure (most probably towards the Himalayas). If you are curious about the details of my experience, keep reading for a more in depth review.
When I was planning my trip to India with my wife, I was very concerned with online scams. The majority of my Indian friends warned me about it, so I was very careful to look deeply into the background of any tour agency offering services directly from India. When I found The Majestic Agra, I felt very confident after reviewing many verified reviews on TripAdvisor, and verifying that Sagar, the founder and director of the business, was really legitimate.
My wife did the bulk of organising everything by reaching out to Sagar via phone and later on via WhatsApp and email. Sagar was amazingly responsive and kind, he tailored the trip to all the needs my wife requested, down to every single detail. So kudos to the level of flexibility The Majestic Agra team can give you when you are planning such a trip.
We started our trip in Delhi, where we landed after spending one week in Goa where I've been for a conference. Once we arrived, Mr. Ravi, our driver, was already waiting for us at the airport exit gate with a sign with our names written in. It's important to mention that before we landed, we could contact our driver at all times via WhatsApp, so we felt very comfortable and assured that there would be somebody there to pick us up.
From Delhi, we drove straight to Agra, a 4-hour drive. The car allocated for us was very comfortable, with a strong AC and plenty of space for two (Toyota Etios). We arrived at our hotel in Agra as planned. Our stay was at the Courtyard by Marriott Agra which was a very pleasant stay. We arrived very late at night, but the staff went above and beyond to speed-up our check-in so we could get some sleep.
The next day, we had a tour at the Taj Mahal scheduled at 5:30 AM so we could see the sunrise and the palace would not be very crowded. At the scheduled time, once we went down to the hotel lobby, our tour guide, Khalid Ali (Mr. Ali) was already waiting for us. Luckily, our hotel was just 5 minutes away from the Taj Mahal. Our tour started in the special area where the Taj Mahal is located. It's strongly secured, but be aware that there will be a ton of people trying to sell you stuff and they are very pushy. Learn to ignore them, but be aware about pickpockets. Mr. Ali was very friendly to warn us about all of that in the surroundings.
Once we got access to the Taj Mahal, Mr. Ali gave us a fantastic introduction about its history, how it was made and the interesting architecture decisions taken to build the 3 burial sites for the 3 king's wives. We took many pictures and our tour guide was very kind in offering help to take pictures whenever we requested. Our tour ended at around 8AM where we returned to the hotel to have breakfast and rest for a bit.
Once we checked out from the hotel, we headed to the Agra Fort where once again, our tour guide gave us a splendid explanation about the history of the fort and all the references that went into its construction. Once our tour ended, we went to Sagar's office so we could meet him personally and pay the amount due to our travel package. It was very positive to meet Sagar in person and get to know him a little bit. He was very prompt to ask feedback and if there was anything we would wish to be better so he could arrange that for us. I'm glad we stopped there to meet him personally.
The next part of our tour was in Jaipur, so from The Majestic Agra office, we departed with our driver for a 5-hour journey straight to the Pink City (As it's known for its buildings' colour). We arrived late at night and we stayed at the Radisson Jaipur City Center hotel which was very comfortable. The next day was a bit more relaxed, so we woke-up a little later for breakfast and started our city tour at around 9:30. We went to meet our tour guide, Manoj Gupta (Mr. Gupta) in front of the Hawa Mahal where he gave us a very interesting introduction about the architecture of the city and why the Hawa Mahal was just a mock palace.
We then headed to the Amber Fort where we had a wonderful tour around the entire place. Mr. Gupta is extremely kind and knowledgeable about his city. We got to learn a ton of interesting information about the fort and how it was used back then.
From there we headed to the elephant sanctuary where we had the opportunity to feed the elephants and hear all the stories about how they rescued them from harmful situations. Our next stop was at the the observatory where Mr. Gupta once again showed great knowledge about his city. We got a great tour around all the instruments that the king constructed so they were able to measure time, seasons and zodiac signs. After the observatory, we joined the king's courtyard where we could see his palace and a beautiful museum with all the dressings and carpets used by the royals during the old times. This is where our tour ended and we headed back to the hotel. This was the last day of our tour and the next day, our great driver, Mr. Ravi, drove us back to Delhi so we could start our journey home.
If there was one thing that bothered me and could be improved was that during our tours, our guides offered us to stop in several places where we could see the craftsmanship of the locals like the inlay marble work in Agra and the precious gem handling in Jaipur. While I could see the legitimate desire to share the craft, everything revolves around the sales of these objects which can be a bit pushy sometimes. I'm not a collector of things, I collect memories, so I prefer to learn about the city and the craft, but buying physical things have very little importance to me. I would rather prefer to be upfront about it and I would have preferred to be offered to pay so I could learn about the craft and the craft only. I would happily pay for the demonstrations we were given when we entered these shops. With that being said, I know that this isn't the norm, so people might prefer to get to know the shop and buy things built by these amazing artists, although, making it clear would help both kinds of customers. Would be great if that level of detail could be included in the travel package so the customer could choose whether they want to buy souvenirs or are more interested in the history of the local craft.
Sagar has made such arrangement where all our needs and wants were covered.
We travelled to a india with much anticipation, and did not get disappointed at all!
Very Instagram worthy trip!
Our driver, BK is especially accommodating. (Highly recommended, ask for Bk’s availability!)