My mom and I took a trip to India for a wedding. Prior to the wedding though, we wanted to do a little sightseeing. I did a lot of research and found this tour company through TripAdvisor, with great reviews. I ended up booking the Private Agra Overnight Tour, however, I contacted Agra tours and they customized it to include 5 star accommodations. (We did this mostly because we were two women traveling alone and the price difference was pretty marginal). Even though the reviews were great, I was still a little nervous about how everything would work out. After all, we were in a completely foreign country with 0 ability to speak the language. Plus, because we customized it, we didn’t end up booking through TripAdvisor but through Agra tours themselves and therefore didn’t have the extra layer of TripAdvisor security.
I am very happy to report that my slight apprehension was for nothing! Ravi, our driver picked us up right on time from our hotel and the whole tour was seamless from that moment on. Ravi is a wonderful, kind, thoughtful and experienced driver. Driving in India is definitely a little chaotic but Ravi handled it with true expertise. He made us feel safe and comfortable. And also somehow always managed to pull up right in front of our destination (when there was major traffic, congestion and gridlock), so that we felt like we were some sort of VIPs. For the purposes of information, I will say that his handle on English is decent (but not great). You could communicate with him but there was still a little language barrier. This is not meant to be an insult though, I mean, his English is leaps and bounds better than my Hindi. I just wanted to mention it so that others looking to book know what to expect. Also, it didn’t really matter because our tour guide’s (Nadeem Ahmad) grasp of English was great and he was there the majority of the time to facilitate anyway.
Nadeem may have been the best part of the whole tour experience. He was a truly great, warm and friendly tour guide. He can be quiet and humble at times but don’t let this fool you, he has vast experience and is very knowledgeable. In fact, he’s done private tours for many prominent, impressive and discerning people over the course of his career. He’s also an excellent photographer! He manages to get photos that are expertly framed with great lighting, etc. That was a happy surprise that I was not expecting. If he suggests that you change the time-frame of the planned activities, I would trust him on it. We were supposed to do a sunrise tour of the Taj Mahal but he said that this time of year and for various other reasons, it would be better to go later and he was 100% correct! We were able to see the Taj during low peak hours and it was a wonderful experience. I cannot say enough about how impressed my mom and I were with Nadeem and how lucky we felt to have him as our guide. Over the years, we’ve done a lot of private tours, mostly through a company called Mountain Travel Sobek (MTS), which is well known for their experienced and well-seasoned guides. I would hands-down say that Nadeem is right up there with some of the best tour guides I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. The more time you spend talking to him and engaging with him, the more obvious this becomes. Bottom line is: we were very happy that we ended up booking with Agra tours. Hope this review helps someone else!
We boekten deze tour slechts 2 dagen voor het begin omdat we de Taj Mahal wilden bezoeken in een privé georganiseerde tour voor precies 2 dagen. Dus deze overnachtingstour was perfect voor ons vanuit Mumbai. We kunnen het ophalen van het vliegveld gemakkelijk regelen met Mr Rishi Lawania, onze uitstekende en zorgzame chauffeur. Hij nam ons mee naar Agra vanaf de luchthaven van Delhi en op de route trakteerde hij ons op heerlijke kleipottheeën. We bereikten Agra vroeg in de middag en ontmoetten onze deskundige lokale gids de heer Deense met wie we de Itimad ud daula bezochten en bij zonsondergang het geweldige uitzicht op Taj Mahal ontdekten vanuit de tuin. De volgende dag bezochten we Taj Mahal bij zonsopgang, mooie en perfecte tijd, minder publiek en aangenaam weer. Later op de dag bezochten we het fort van Agra, mooi en groots. We waren ook gemaakt om een 'door de overheid goedgekeurde' kluis te bezoeken om souvenirwinkels, stenen, tapijt en marmer carving familie winkels te kopen. We aten ook in enkele lokale leuke restaurants, 'Kesar' die blijkbaar beroemd is om zijn heerlijke gerechten. Het was een leuke ervaring. Tegen het einde van de middag waren we Delhi ingeschreven voor nog een tour. Kortom een leuke korte rondleiding, professioneel, goed georganiseerd en comfortabel, zoals we hadden verwacht. Met dank aan het team!
Een fantastische tour. Alles was uurwerk. Zuhaib de gids is een echte aanrader. Hij was vriendelijk, deskundig en is een perfecte ambassadeur in zijn land. Rizwan, de bestuurder, was gedurende de twee dagen een discrete en attente metgezel.