Showing posts with label private day tours in india. Show all posts
Showing posts with label private day tours in india. Show all posts

Monday 9 July 2012

Stopover Day Tours in Delhi


If you have a few hours to spare between flights at Delhi and you already have an Indian visa, you can make a quick sortie to enjoy your own Delhi city tour instead of hanging around the airport. And the shopping is better too!

Private day trips in India, ReadyClickAndGo, day tours in India, stopover day tours in India It costs around 300 rupees to leave your suitcase for 24 hours at the Left Luggage Office at Indira Gandhi Airport. Take the Metro Airport Express Link, the orange line, to New Delhi Station, it costs around 80 rupees and takes around 20 minutes to cover the 12 miles. There are both machines and counters to buy tickets. When you get out of New Delhi station you can either turn north into Old Delhi or south into New Delhi, either way you will embark on a tour that takes in some of the city’s finest monuments and fascinating markets. If you have lots of time, a full day, you can combine the north and south tours. Take motor-rickshaws (tuk-tuks) often instead of walking as the heat and crowds will sap your strength. For fares, have a look at this website which will give you an idea of how cheap they are;http://delhigovt.nic.in/autofares/Transport.asp

Half – Day Tour: North into Old Delhi, 3-4 hours

From New Delhi metro station head north through one of the ancient city gates, Ajmere Gate, and onto the street called Chawri Bazar, lined with small shops specialising in brass, copper and paper souvenirs (you would bargain hard here). Navigate to the Jama Masjidmosque by looking up for its minarets which you can see from everywhere. Jama Masjid is one of largest mosques in Asia and you can climb one of the minaret towers for great views of Old Delhi (note that women have to put on one of the long garments handed out at the entrance).

From here head north east past the Lahore Gate to Red Fort – a huge, sprawling red fortress, once the residence and headquarters of the Mughal Emperors, now home to a bazaar and the Indian War Memorial with exhibitions of guns, swords and armour. The rest of the complex is a military barracks now, and much of it is off-limits – Agra Fort is much more interesting to visit if you are heading to the Taj Mahal.
Leading west from Red Fort is Chandni Chowk street, lined with small shops and crisscrossed by lanes that specialise in particular goods such as silver jewellery such as along Dariba Kalan, paper and books at Nai Sarak and so on. As you walk along Chandni Chowk there isDigambar Jain temple with its bird hospital, the Sikh Shauri Gankarand Sisganj temples, and at the end is Fatehpur Mosque. Beyond here you arrive at Khari Baoli spice market which is the largest wholesale spice market in Asia. If you’re tired by now, hop in a tuk-tuk and head to the historic Oberoi Maidens Hotel for refreshment in stylish surroundings. The concierge there will help you hire a taxi or a tuk-tuk to return to New Delhi metro station to get back to the airport.

Half Day: South into New Delhi, 3-4 hours

Day tours in India with ReadyClickAndGo, private day trips in India From New Delhi metro station head south into New Delhi, first toConnaught Place which was built by the British as the central business district of Delhi in the 1920s and is still one of the city’s major hubs. Built as a huge circle divided by 8 radial roads and 3 ring roads into blocks numbered A-N, it’s filled with shops, restaurants and offices, and there are several great shops for fixed price goods. 

FabIndia andAnokhi both sell stylish, good quality and very affordable east-meets-west clothes and homewares, whilst Central Cottage Industries Emporium in block N has 6 floors of all sorts of goods that make excellent presents and souvenirs.

If you go round Connaught Place and exit to the south you will come toJantar Mantar, the first open-air observatory built in 1724 by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur who later built the much better one in Jaipur, and you can admire the large stone instruments placed to observe the heavens and make astronomical calculations. Call at the legendaryImperial Hotel for refreshments if you have time on the way down to Rajpath, the road running east to west that connects India Gate, the symbol of New Delhi, with Rashtrapati Bhavan, once home of the Viceroy, now the largest Presidential Palace in the world. India Gate is a 42m high stone arch inspired by the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It bears the name of the 85,000 Indian Army soldiers who died in the campaigns of WW1, the North-West Frontiers operations and the 1919 Afghan war, and below the arch is the memorial to the unknown soldier. You may prefer just to pass by the palace and India Gate, or get your taxi or tuk-tuk to do a circle so you can take pictures.

From here you can continue further south by tuk-tuk to upmarket Khan Market where you can find bookshops, tailors, good food, silver jewellery, shops such as FabIndia and Anokhi as well as the big western brands, or to Lodhi Gardens. These shady gardens surround the crumbling tombs of the 15th century rulers of India and make for a pleasant respite from the city.  From Lodhi or Khan market you can then continue to Humayun’s Tomb built in the mid 16th century of red sandstone in the traditional Mughal architectural style, set amidst peaceful gardens.

From here, you really should be heading back to the airport unless you have loads more time for shopping and sightseeing and a car to travel in, in which case, there are a couple more great markets stretching south from Lodhi gardens, the first being Lodhi colony main marketlocated in a former war infirmary in an upmarket suburb, where Indian designers offer luxury fashion in distinctive surroundings. Further south again is Dilli Haat, an open air arts and crafts market where you can buy direct from the artisans who rent one of the stalls for a fortnight at a time. And further again is Haus Khaz Village, an arty, upmarket suburb with boutiques, galleries and restaurants, very pleasant to explore on foot and with some old monuments scattered around. Continuing south you will arrive at Qutab Minar, the Afgan victory tower, the highest stone tower in India at 238ft high dating from the 12th century. From here, your car can take you back to Indira Gandhi Airport.

The best way to enjoy a carefree sightseeing or day tour of Delhi is to hire a private guide, car and driver to meet you at the airport, take you and your luggage and shopping around and return you safely and on time for your onward flight. ReadyClickAndGo can arrange city or shopping tours in Delhi to suit your interests, budget and timetable.

Saturday 12 May 2012

Hot Air Balloon Ride at Jaipur, Rajasthan


I’d booked a sightseeing tour with a difference – a hot air balloon ride at Jaipur and at 5am at my hotel I got in the car Sky Waltz had sent for me and set off in the clear lilac dawn through streets mercifully free of traffic. The actual departure point for these rides is only decided on the morning according to weather, especially wind, conditions, but I was lucky and we headed to the magnificent Amber Fort, a few miles from Jaipur city centre and simply the most wonderful backdrop for a balloon ride. When we arrived, right below the fort on a wide field were three vans in a row each attached to a basket lying on its side and, spread on the ground, the huge, unwieldy balloon skins. The passengers were divided up into the baskets after a swift cup of chai, clambered in, safety briefing, the gas was switched on, the balloons inflated, and we gently rose as dogs barked furiously at the sight.

The massive walls of the 16th century fort, home to the Rajput Maharajahs, shimmered in a biscuit colour in the pale morning light,day tours in india, day trips in india, readyclickandgo, row upon row of walls and battlements and ramparts, all protecting the inner core of the palace. Surrounding the fort are the Aravalli Hills with ancient walls snaking along the tops, and the typical bare and brown summer landscape of Rajasthan. We sailed on what seemed to be hardly a breath of air over the vast courtyard to admire the intricately carved gateway, over the formal mughal garden where we had watched a fed-up dancer performing after the sound and light show a few evenings before, over Maota Lake and admiring a view that was never intended by the builders to be seen by humans. The ride was silent, punctuated only by the sudden short roars of gas the pilot switched on to lift the balloon up to another air stream, and the murmurs and camera clicks of the four other passengers.  The other two balloons had drifted away in other directions and we were alone in the sky but we felt totally safe in the hands of the professional English pilot. It was exciting and tranquil at the same time which sounds contradictory!

day trips in India, day tours in india, ReadyClickAndGo, private day trips, We silently crossed above the fort and over Amber village where more dogs barked and we saw the rooftops of the ramshakle houses not far below, the carved spire of a temple, bright patches of well-watered gardens, and occasional flashes of vivid colour and sparkle as a woman walked along. In the distance smoke floated horizontally from the chimneys of the brick kilns on the plains, and ridges like rocky pastry crusts were scattered ahead as far as we could see. A pair of peacocks on the side of one of these hills cawed despairingly at the tops of their voices. In a semi-circle below us were the tops of the compounds of the tiger and lion rescue centre where circus tigers rest out their days in privacy and quiet. Blocks of new luxury hotel huddled in a little formal group to one side of the main road along which we watched the Sky Waltz car follow to see where we ended up, and we cruised over brown fields and patches of scratchy trees, eventually decorously sinking onto the gound as gently as we had taken off an hour earlier.  I don’t think any of us wanted to get out but we regretfully climbed out of the baskets as the crew held them down, then watched the balloons deflate and be folded carefully away in vast tarpaulins. We each took away a certificate and utterly unforgettable memories of a day trip of Jaipur that was definitely out of the ordinary!

For more information about day trips in India please email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com