Taj Mahal & Rajasthan with Royal Stay at Castles

Customer Reviews

• DM

  David

  · January 25th, 2025
  It was a wonderful experience with Swastik India. The itinerary was very well planned. All hotels were excellent and guides were super knowledgeable. We had the best time.
  Trip date: January 2025
• J

  Jay

  · January 21st, 2025
  Our experience with this tour was amazing. The highlight was the personalized touches,making us feel truly valued throughout the journey. This was more than a trip-it was lifetime memory. Highly recommended.
  Trip date: January 2025
• BL

  BARBARA

  · January 9th, 2025
  The tour was good thanks to our driver Yogi that was excellent and we felt safe in his hands. We had 5 local tour guides 3 of them were knowledgeable and very good : Krisham in Jaipur, Lal in Pushkar and JP in Agra. The 2 other guides in New Delhi and in Jodhpur we hard to understand. The downsize was few of the hotels. Some of them did not have hot water. I would add another day in New Delhi so we can tour the places more leisurely. And divide the visit in Agra to afternoon and next morning tours before heading to New Delhi. Not in one morning. I definitely recommend this tour with upgrade to some of the hotels. Barbara
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  Trip date: December 2024
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  Steven

  · January 7th, 2025
  My wife and I (we are both retired) just got back from this 14 day trip of Rajasthan and the Taj Mahal. Our driver, Yogi, was fantastic and he really made the trip for us. The local guides varied in quality - the 2 standouts being Krishin (Jaipur) and Lal (Pushkar). Overall Impression: This trip will leave a lasting impression on us. A once in a lifetime experience. We've never seen anything like what we saw here (our first time to India). Everything you read about only more so. Friendly people, but lots of economic challenges. Things to be aware of: 1.The hotel stays were mediocre, with some of them having no hot water. Food was okay though. As other review say the hotels are generally not located in walkable areas. Castle stays ( 3 nights) were a bit better. 2.There is a lot of road travel involved- be aware that some days include 4-5 hours of travel by car between cities as long distances are involved and road are not always good. Also, traffic and driving in India is crazy compared to the US (fortunately we had a very good driver).
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  Trip date: December 2024
• TB

  Tanya

  · January 1st, 2025
  Good itinerary, excellent support by the local company, average standard hotels.
  Trip date: December 2024
• MK

  Megan

  · December 31st, 2024
  It was such a wonderful experience. Whole team of Swastik India including guides, driver etc. were amazing. I highly recommend this trip.
  Trip date: December 2024
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  Michael

  · December 27th, 2024
  What a great tour to see all the highlights and it was a private tour around all the highlights. The trip could not have been better organized and a great driver to make sure we hit all the spots on time and organized us well. Some times it felt rushed but that was only because we did so much and the first fort stay was a beautiful hotel with all the touches for a maharaja.
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  Trip date: December 2024
• E

  Ella

  · December 25th, 2024
  Very well organized tour. Guides were super knowledgeable. Driver was extraordinary. All hotels were excellent. Staying at castle was a unique experience.
  Trip date: December 2024
• AS

  Alice

  · December 9th, 2024
  Overall we had an incredible trip, and were only able to see so much through this tour, it did mean some long drives on several days but this was expected. We loved being able to see both the city and the country side and managed to fit so many activities in. Was also great value for money overall. The pick ups and drops off were on time and the car was always clean and tidy and our driver very friendly. Some hotels in the big cities were a bit far out of the main city/town and we were told not to leave the hotel when we arrived at lunchtime with not much to do so this was a bit frustrating. The itinerary wasn’t always clear and was often moved around which lead to some frustration when we weren’t aware what the plan for the day was. Most hotels we went to also weren’t aware of how many of us there were or what excursions we were booked on, so had to move rooms around which took some time and was frustrating and also having a reduced version of excursions as the guides weren't in that day as there was no booking etc. It felt like this could have been resolved with a few phone calls. The local tour guides were nice but we often felt rushed around the monuments when we would have liked to have spent longer taking in the sights, other than at the Taj Mahal where we had a fantastic guide who was patient and knowledgeable. The visits were often cut short so as we could be taken to what we were told were factories or demonstrations but were in fact just shops and this was an attempt to get us to spend money due to the driver or guide getting a cut of our expenditure. This resulted in a lot of pressure selling and us parting with money when we didn’t really want to buy as we didn’t always have the capacity to spend the money being asked of us and this was not a comfortable experience. We were also not always allowed to choose our own restaurants and were taken to western or tourist spots by the local guides where food was more expensive. When we requested to eat elsewhere the guides would become visibly frustrated with us which was uncomfortable. Whilst we appreciated the care and consideration taken for our safety we often felt infantilised and parented and were asked to not leave our hotel for long periods at a time, and when we did it was reported back to our driver, which meant we felt like we missed out on being able to explore and were stuck with nothing to do for hours on end. Lastly, Our driver was lovely and friendly and as helpful as he could be, but communicating any real issues was challenging due to language constraints so we often felt out of the loop because the trip deviated from the terminator we had been provided and this became really stressful, we acknowledge that this wasn’t within his control and despite this he always did his up most to help us. Overall the trip really was wonderful and we saw and did such incredible things and we would still definitely recommend it but just tweaking this few things really would make it a 5* experience.
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  Trip date: November 2024
• MC

  Mark

  · November 27th, 2024
  We had a fantastic trip with Swastik tours - we upgraded several of the hotels and had a private driver - Ranveer who was absolutely fantastic - kept us safe and great company. Everything worked perfectly from Ranveer being there to pick us up to all the hotels expecting us. We saw some amazing sights and our guides were fantastic. We also managed to see 6 tigers in Ranthambore!
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  Trip date: October 2024