Hi All,
This is my first review on the trip we went. This year we went to Jaipur & Agra on last week of the year. It was a four days tour. We reached Jaipur on the previous day of the trip on 27th Dec & started our sightseeing on 28 to 31st Dec’2018.
Day 1: We started sightseeing on Jaipur, Amer Fort, Nahargrah fort, Jaigrah fort & Wax museum and night to Chokki Dhani. ( Suggest guide for Amer fort and they charged 300/- for 2 hours) and in forts no guides required, the guards will help you and you can pay as you wish. The range of tickets for Chokki Dhani starts from 900/- to 1800/- person, they charge for few activities inside chokki Dhani and the price boards are available)
Day 2: Ajmer & Pushkar tour(In both the places, Please be careful with the guide and the pooja / Sangalpam/ Prayer/ procedure they do), bcoz they do not inform us up front and they claim 6000/- to 15000/- for the pooja/prayer. ( The guide took as to the pooja items shop and the person explained about Pushkar and told us to buy the pooja item and do pooja and the item was just 10/- we paid and we did the pooja in the Pushkar lake and at the end the person who did pooja claimed min 6000/- as we did sangalpam to pay for the food for the poor in the village, we shouted without informing us he can’t do sangalpam to pay money, but it seems they don’t mind anything bcoz they didn’t let us go and the guide was mum we end up paying 2100/-) If you hire guide, charges:100/-. after this worst experience we strictly avoided guide for Ajmer, in spite of that a person came with us and took as inside and helped us, we paid him 100/-( but we strictly said NO for any procedure). Camel ride to the desert in Pushkar: Bargain or advisable to book online. Remember it’s not to a proper desert they take you, but you will enjoy the camel ride for 1.30mins.
Day 3: Agra trip, started at 6 am from Jaipur and reached back at 11 pm. Visited Fatehpur Sikri & Tajmahal. Fatehpur Sikri is one place but the guide may claim as 2 places and charge you high. Govt charge for 1 to 5 person for 2 hours is 450/- only( Charges notification is kept near and inside the monument). All cabs stop 5km before the spot and the tour bus takes you to the monument and charge 5 or 10/- person) my guide charge 750/- since we were not aware of the charges. Agra: The cabs are stopped in parking and we need to reach the spot by tourism cab(10/- person). Please be careful with the guides. Guide charge 500/- min for 2 hours( no noticeboard available on the guide charge) My guide claimed 1600/- since we were aware of the charge, we paid only 500/-+ 200/- extra as a token of appreciation.( Remember: The cab drives or the guides will take you to the shops, where they get their commission, please verify and think twice before you buy anything. there are very nice and good products available for us to buy and the other way around). If you would like to buy the famous angoori petha form Agra there are shops near the entrance of Taj Mahal(please unwrap the box and taste the sweet before you get out of the shop) bcoz I had worst experience, the sweet they gave us for sample was awesome and what we bought home was not tasty & no flavor. Remember to carry your ID proof, even soft copy accepted.
Day 4: Sightseeing in Jaipur & Shopping. Jal Mahal( only outside view, entry restricted) Sanjay museum, Jantar Mantar( suggest to hire a guide), City Palace( many ranges for tickets, starts from 130/- person), Hawa Mahal(City Palace, Jantar Mantar & Hawa Mahal are nearby each other)Albert hall was closed when we reached, waited for the night view, that was awesome. our trip ended after visiting Birla Temple.
Overall we had great time, Just that we need to be very careful with the travel agent( Drivers) and the guides, as they bully you and make money. My travel agent did not stick to the itinerary and skipped few, though we had time. He took us to the shopping bazar only after insisting to go. without our knowledge the travel agent will hire the guide and have them ready at the spot and claims the fees(in-spite of we saying no to the guide). The worst part is when we complained about the guide to the travel agent or the driver they pretended as if they were not aware of it.
My overall review: Places were awesome and enjoyed our trip with many learning, hope my experience will help people going there.