Excellent tour organization

Travel to India and Sri Lanka with "INDIGO TOUR" April 2013

Part 1. Preparing for the trip. As part of our family program "Seven New Wonders of the World" for 2013. a trip to India was planned to finally see the Taj Mahal. In the month of January, after reading all kinds of reviews, I started planning a trip. Standard programs from tour operators didn’t quite suit me, besides, we decided that after a sightseeing holiday at sea in India we don’t want to.

Then we decided to combine 2 countries India + Sri Lanka. The Yaroslavl travel agency, with which the family traveled for 12 years, could not, or maybe did not want to take our tour seriously, and then I decided to travel from Indigo Tour to Moscow.

So. Her name was Inna. For almost 3 months, I called, clarified, wrote, asked ...

All my life, having worked with clients, I was amazed at the kindness, patience, desire to help this sweet young woman.

If you don’t want shopping, please don’t suit Negombo, you will live in Colombo, etc. etc.

It is unlikely that any of the Yaroslavl travel agencies could satisfy such capricious tourists as we are. I don’t know how our trip will turn out, but I would give Inna 10 ++ out of 10 points for preparing the tour.

Bravo Inna!

Today is April 1st. On the night of 19 to 20 we fly out. Documents should be brought tomorrow by express mail.

The documents arrived on time. I had to talk a little more with Inna. in recent days, one of the hotels under the program in India has been replaced. The explanation was the renovation of the hotel.

Meeting parties in India Sita , In Sri Lanka NKAR.

In Delhi, according to the forecast, +41, and in Sri Lanka, showers are promised for May.

Part 2. The flight took place "Emirate" through Dubai. Everything is clear, on time. We were well fed and watered on board. The airbus is huge, there are 10 seats in each row, we had row 77, and behind us there are at least 10 rows.

Prices in Duty Free in Dubai are slightly cheaper than in Moscow. But no more than 2-3 dollars. It is difficult for transit passengers to navigate at the airport. All the time you have to contact the airport staff, so knowledge of English is simply necessary. For example, to find exit C46, ​​we wandered for almost an hour. Because first you need to find the elevators to the ELECTRIC, which takes you to another terminal, where there is this most tricky exit. I lost my watch on the plane. Just in case, I asked the flight attendant. Imagine, found and returned. Thanks!!

Transfer to the hotel in Gurgaon "Lemon Tree Premier" took 30 minutes. There are two hotels in Gurgaon with the same name. We lived at Lemon Tree Premier. I liked the hotel very much with decent service and quality food. Both breakfasts and dinners were top notch. The staff is very friendly and welcoming. Not for a tip, but because you are their guest. Yes, of course, for two, one slippers, one bathrobe, all bath accessories ...

But these are all trifles, compared with the impeccable service and cleanliness. There is a very decent supermarket just 100 meters away. The pool is small but very clean, we even swam in it at night. Do not rush to Delhi, there is complete unsanitary conditions and on excursions you will leave the city along the crap streets for 2-3 hours. Thanks to the hotel management for the well trained staff. The hotel is very decent. Please do not confuse with the Lemon Tree Hotel. There are two hotels in Gurgaon with almost the same name.

Now about the fact that "Indigo Tour" saves on tourists and settles them not in Delhi, but in Gurgaon. This must be seen with your own eyes. Never!!! I would not agree to live in Delhi. You would listen to the tourists who went on a tour for 2 blocks from Delhi for about two hours. Gurgaon, this is the best option. All the other bands were openly jealous of us.

About excursions. Everything was wonderfully organized, according to the schedule and the weather.

No hitches, no shopping sprees. Excellent tour organization. Our guide's name was Ashu.

The next hotel is Paradise. The hotel is frankly weak. Well, not 4 stars. The hotel is frankly unimportant. Netted rooftop pool. Approaches are filthy with pigeons. I had to wash my shoes from bird shit. Nothing meaty for breakfast, not even sausages. There seems to be a lot of dishes, but there is nothing to choose from. No cheese, no cold cuts, nothing. The men were left hungry. In the room, the sink is all cracked, the mirror is broken. If it's 4 stars, then I'm an Eskimo. Treshechka and very weak. But the program in Jaipur was so interesting that problems with the hotel were immediately forgotten.

There was also the Clark Shiraz Hotel in Agra. Chic and pretentious, but, alas, the incident with an attempt to open the suitcases, nullified the impression of the hotel. Upon arrival we were delighted with the hotel. Super beautiful area. Large deep pool open until 10pm.

Birds sing, unusual landscape design. Trained porters. Decent rooms. Acceptable breakfasts and dinners. But what happened on the day of departure left a feeling of disgust and disappointment. When leaving the hotel. On the way to the elevator, hotel employees took our suitcases from us. We were not surprised because even the elevator button is pressed by a special person. And here are the suitcases at the exit!!! they shine through in a special room where tourists are not allowed to enter and are immediately loaded onto buses. What was my surprise. upon arrival at the next hotel, when I found that the suitcase with the combination lock was 222, and the padlock on the second suitcase was mangled. I personally closed my suitcases five minutes before departure. Did you break the padlock with a screwdriver? all the insides, but could not open the suitcase. In the next hotel, I had to call the master to cut down the castle. there was no other choice.

What a pity that thieves work in such a seemingly decent hotel. And then decide for yourself what rating the hotel deserves.

Conclusion. The host of "Sita" in India is worthy of a very high rating for the clear organization of the tour. Excellent drivers, comfortable, clean buses.

Guide ASHU is sociable, gets along well with the group. A wonderful storyteller and, in addition, protected us from beggars and merchants of all stripes, so as not to spoil the impression of amazing excursions.

The host rating is EXCELLENT.

About the weather in India. It's hot, but tolerable in the morning 27-28, in the afternoon the heat is up to 33. It started to rain only after the end of all the excursion programs. India said goodbye to us.

Personal impressions. Do I want to return to India? Definitely not. This is a land of paradoxes.

A chic and very interesting excursion, which is a must-see - and a dirty, impoverished, filthy Indian capital.

Shine and poverty? May be. But I don't want to see men defecating in the middle of cities in front of everyone. Pulling from all sides the hands of the beggars. Beggars of women. And walk around the city, like a solid toilet. No it is not for me!

Tips for tourists. 1. The end of April is not the best time to travel to India due to weather conditions.

2. You can not take three-star hotels. The quality of food in them is terrible, one woman from our group was poisoned and did not get off the bus all day. The location of these hotels in areas where you can’t go outside at all. There are no pools in the "treshkas".

3. Breakfast-dinner along the route is the best option. Tea and coffee are always included in dinners. Tips for self-catering will ruin you, and you won’t win anything at the same time, it’s better to save your nerves and stomachs.

Well, that's all for India. We are already at the airport in Delhi. We fly by the Lankan lines Delhi-Colombo.

Part 3. Sri Lanka with NKAR (host of Indigo Tour).

The flight went according to schedule. We did not pass any extra stringent checks. Everything is as usual, maybe because we have visited so many countries and for us this is in the order of things. They fed normally. Alcohol and drinks were provided on board. The girls were greeted in beautiful saris. Arrived closer to night. At the airport, we were met by a representative of the company with a sign. Absolutely black young man. His name was Madura.

We arrived at the hotel around 12 noon. I was shocked. Reception under the stairs. No air conditioners. Heat and humidity. We go into the room. Stuffy, noisy from the road. In a thermos, water and 2 glasses. There is no bottled water. Good thing you had water with you. I did not dare to drink from a thermos. The hotel was called the proud name "Concord Grand".

Night, even after the transfer and flight slept badly. Creaky, one-for-two bed. One turned, the other woke up. Noise from the road, screeching cars, headlights. The air conditioner worked properly. It became cold. Adjustment at night did not begin. No blankets or blankets are provided. I went to get towels from the bathroom. Under them, somehow, they dozed until the morning.

The morning was a pleasant surprise. Well air conditioned, nice and cozy restaurant. Surprisingly delicious breakfast. Friendly staff. I went to the pool, it is behind the wall of the restaurant. The pool is not bad, but behind it is a construction site, which is hidden by a fence. Everything is not so terrible as it seemed at night. If we were settled in a room away from the road, and there are many such rooms deep into the corridor, perhaps we would have slept and felt more comfortable. And yet the hand does not rise to give the hotel a bad rating. Left in the room a new shirt bought in India.

She was snow white and that's why I didn't notice her on the sheets. So the linen on the beds was clean, which is also good. In the morning I took photos of the hotel, the manager ran up and handed me a booklet. It even became funny how the depicted there does not correspond to reality. Still, a hotel for one night is not bad, just do not settle night tourists close to the road, and put blankets in every room. Also provide bottled water.

So our journey through Shiri Lanka began. Good, air-conditioned car, with a friendly, helpful, very careful driver. A little about our guide. Madura turned out to be a very educated, intelligent, sociable and erudite young man. He lived in Russia for 10 years. Graduated from the institute. Patrice Lumumba, a doctor by training. He is very pleasant to talk to. He knows the history of not only his country, but also Russia. It was very pleasant and interesting to communicate with him.

We also fell in love with a country where such nice and educated people live. I couldn't wish for a better guide. I express my gratitude to "Indigo Tour" Moscow and NKAR in Sri Lanka for the selection of a guide-interpreter for our tour. The evaluation of his work is excellent.

Our program was individual. I chose exactly what I wanted to see. An overview of Colombo, where to be honest and see nothing special. But to visit Sri Lanka and not see the capital, in our opinion, was wrong. We learned a lot about the state and the capital. We did not want to visit the temples, because. have been to Thailand many times. I would call our tour "Modern Colombo". I liked the city. Clean, comfortable, with a developing infrastructure. Madura showed us the city with his own eyes and we saw it. Then we went to Dambula. We liked the cave temple. He appeared before us in all his splendor. Entrance tickets cost 1500 rupees per person, i.e. around $13.

And then we were waiting for the hotel, which I really wanted to see "Sigiriya Village". I like eco hotels. With animals, untouched nature, they are charming and unique. This hotel did not disappoint me. We seemed to be happy with each other. Spacious cottages. Very nice room design. The monkeys are naughty on the territory. Birds, trees, interesting ponds cannot be counted. it wasn't a problem.

The pool is small, but what a view of Mount Sigiriya, it’s already breathtaking! The only negative was that there were a lot of children, it looked like Indians, they didn’t let them swim peacefully, apparently we were a curiosity and they climbed to us all the time. At the same time, they were very noisy.

Dinner is very tasty, with a large selection of dishes for every taste. Tea - as much as you like. A pianist plays unobtrusively in the lobby. Candles on the tables. Everything is nice and cozy.

In the morning, before breakfast, we went on a jeep safari to the Mineriya Reserve.

There is no one to blame, she herself chose this excursion and was completely at a loss from what she saw. We saw two pheasants and four birds. For what money was given is not clear. There is nothing to do there. It would be better to walk around the hotel, much more interesting and meaningful. The breakfast was top notch. After breakfast, we rested and moved on. Our path lay in Kandy. Ah, what wonderful views along the way. The higher the mountains, the more interesting the views and nature.

And here is our Hill Top Hotel. It stands high on a mountain, with a beautiful view of the city. The girl, the representative of the hotel kindly agreed to conduct a tour of the hotel. A decent pool, a lobby, as there is no such thing, the territory too. The room was quite comfortable. I didn't like that there were no accessories in the bathroom. There are also no closed drawers and cabinets, which is very inconvenient. But the biggest disappointment was the dinner. We arrived at the start of dinner. The hall is almost empty. Served tables for 10-15 people.

And only in the farthest corner of the restaurant, in the backyard, we were offered a table. I got angry and left the restaurant. Usually, tables for groups are served at the end of the hall. they are served by waiters, and large companies feel comfortable. As a result, we were seated at a table almost at the entrance to the pool area. Workers crowded around the table. The musicians, as if in mockery, always stood with their backs to us.

The mood was spoiled. Didn't like dinner. The waiter tried hard to force us to pay drinks without offering tea, which was included in our dinner.

The night passed comfortably and calmly. And for breakfast, the picture was repeated in an even worse version. Our favorite guide Madura had breakfast with us, but even he could not disagree that the situation was like at the station.

We practically did not hear each other. groups that looked like tourists from India tried to shout each other down. Didn't like the breakfast at all.

I concluded that it was not only in the mood, but also in the frankly weak cuisine.

The tour ended and we went on vacation to the Mermaid @ Club hotel. It is a pity that the time has come to part with our good companions - Madura and the driver. Great guys.

The first days, and we stopped on April 29, the weather pleased. And they jumped in the ocean, and walked up and swam in the pool. Our room was good. On the 3rd floor. Clean, comfortable. In the shower there are two buns with gel and shampoo, from which it was problematic to get anything. The bed is big and comfortable. The territory is tiny. Chipmunks are really cute and funny. They fed deliciously. The variety of dishes for lunch and dinner was pleasing. The chef came up to the guests every day and asked what they liked and what they didn't. Of the waiters, a girl was pleased, her name was Dylan and a young man named Yaranga.

But the waiter, lazy and clumsy, in years, with a bald head, did not want to introduce himself, but brought him to white heat.

Let's be honest, there is no service at the hotel. Arriving at 8 am on the beach, you will see cigarette butts and garbage. You poke the janitor with your nose. And so sit in the mud, until 10 o'clock. You can't wait for towels and mattresses on sunbeds. The bar by the sea does not actually work. All the time you have to look for someone, then to pour beer, then to provide towels. I have never seen such a miracle in any country.

Conclusion. There is no service in the hotel. Of course, this is not 4 stars, as stated in our tour. The food is very good. Posting service no comments. Room cleaning is not bad, but the bed linen was changed once a week. On my husband's birthday - May 1, they cleaned the room beautifully and decorated the table at dinner, and served very well. Starting from May 3, heavy rains and thunderstorms began. The sun practically did not show up.

It was pouring like a bucket, and such peals of thunder, from which the building shuddered and terrible lightning, many of you probably did not see at all. It is impossible to swim in the ocean at this time, it's not the waves, but the fact that there is a lot of garbage in the water. Logs, branches, coconuts, bottles, etc.

Advice to vacationers; in April-May, you should not go to Kalautara.

Well, this is the end of our journey. Goodbye India, goodbye hospitable Ceylon.

Rest was a success. Thanks to the Indigo Tour company, as well as to the hosts Sita in India and NKAR in Sri Lanka for the excellent organization of the tour.

The rating for the tour is EXCELLENT.

We're flying home. I recommend tourists from the city of Yaroslavl, travel agencies, use the services

"Indigo Tour". We took a risk and did not make a mistake. It's good that there were no disappointments.

May 2013 Yaroslavl

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