Hello all,

Inspired by the lovely Mr Rick Stein's new programme, I would love to travel to India for my 10 year anniversary next year.

However I'm bewildered by the choices on offer, I would love to do Bombay (Mumbai), Kerala and Rajasthan.

However I wondered if any you had used good travel agents in the past to plan these trips or have any good sites I can have a look at.

Any suggestions gratefully received....

What about North / Northeast India. Darjeeling, Leh, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh. Once in a life time experience.

Depends upon how long you want to go for Em. All this may be too much for one trip. Mumbai is not my personal favourite, so if I was going, I will choose Kerala and/or Rajasthan. I am not a great fan of big cities as a holiday destination.

If you have not been to India before, a short stay in Delhi is worth it, just to see some old Mughal, British and Newer Indian architecture. Old Delhi is special, but one has to be very careful about pickpockets and touts that offer you many things, all a scam!

India is beautiful, but safer to travel if you go with someone or with a group. At least that is my opinion.

Thanks, as it's our anniversary then I reckon I can go for a long time.

I'm aware that you can't see it all but I hadn't even thought of Dehli!!! I'm need a printed map and a guide to India to plan where I want to go before I even get there.

Voyages Jules Verne, Cox & Kings, Abercrombie & Kent are all good travel agents and do tailor made tours of India. You can ask them to give you some ideas. Delhi, Agra (Taj-Mahal), Rajasthan (Jaipur) and Kerala may be doable in 2 weeks.

If you are a birder, then you could stop at Bharatpur, one of the best and most densely populated bird sanctuary that I have been to, between Jaipur (Rajasthan) and Agra (Taj-Mahal). If you want to add Tiger viewing, then you have to visit one of the wild life National parks.

First, you decide the number of days you can go for, your budget and where you want to go, what sort of things you want to see. India is a big country, it is impossible to see all in one trip. Good luck!

By the way Em, just one reminder, as we have family there, we haven't used any agencies/ operators to plan trips there really...

All these big companies mum mentioned tend to use local operators on the ground in each country, so the quality of their offerings can vary from one country to another depending on how good their chosen operator is.

So please don't take any suggestions here as ANY form of endorsement of those companies.

x