From Mumbai to Goa, then a 2,500 km road trip through Karnataka , Kerala and Tamil Nadu. From the backwaters of Kerala to the southern most point on mainland India up to pondicherry and Chennai. It was truly a wonderful journey with memorable sites of ancient temples and palaces from Hampi and Mysuru and many more. Thanks to my intrepid driver throughout my journey - Johnson who kept me safe on some very challenging roads. Also to all my guides along the way with their incredible knowledge of the local areas. Also a big thank you to Amit who coordinated my tour which included flights, driver, guides, hotels etc. Not an easy task on a 24 day trip. Highly recommend Holidays At for any tours they have an extensive choice of experiences.

Brief idea regarding Ujjain tour - Plan your hotel near Mahakal temple. Bit costly but are very convenient as yu can visit Mahakal ji anytime and commuting is easy. One of the location is Harifaatak road which is near to it. Please be informed that maximum hotels have very cramped room, so choose wisely. Day 1 - Mahakal temple, Harsiddhi temple and Ganesh temple in near vicinity of 1 kilometer. At Mahakaal you can buy Sheeghra darshan ticket for Rs 250, which saves your time. They will also ask for mobile deposit, but if yu can manage risk, try carrying mobile inside for pics. PS - if there is not much crowd and provided no checking is going on, you may plan taking your camera inside to get few pics of premises as it has lot many small temples in Mahakal ji area. Then comes the Mahakaal lok, a MUST visit, which will take around 1-2 hours. In that area is one DURLABH DARSHAN kendra with VR facility of Bhasm Arti and Shivling information.....A MUST WATCH , you will feel as if you are there in the temple in front of Lord Shivling, awsummm experience. - I am not writing of morning Bhasm Arti as i did not try that, you can have that information on google and temple site for online booking. Day 2 - Plan visit of Kal Bhairav, Gadkalika, Sidhhvat, hrinmukteshwar, Mangalnath ji and Sandipani Ashram. This will take around 3-5 hours subject to crowd at Kal Bhairav and Mangalnath temple (here you can buy sheeghra darshan for Rs 100). -You may take e-rickshaw or Auto which would cost from Rs 400-700. Your Auto person shall plan and get it done as per the route convenience which is not a problem. -At Kal Bhairav you can offer liquor from nearby shop, i would advise you buy the same beforehand as its very costly at that location shops. I bought my brand for Rs 1300, which outside would be around 800-900 per quarter. - if time remains you may plan for Chintamani Ganesh temple which is quite far from there and on negotiations E rickshaw or Auto may further ask from Rs 200-400 extra. In all it will take max 1.5 hrs extra if you visit that place which is normally not that crowded. - At Mangalnath outside vendor shall offer you to take bouqet of offering for Rs 100/ RS 150/ Rs 250, you may plan as per your need if you will be using those yantras and maalas at home else buy wisely, as in my first visit i spent bit more and thats why making a note of it. - You can leave shoes at vendor from where you buy offerings - try buying offerings from mid area shops and ignore most nearby esp at Chintamani temple, as it would not be fresh as most crowd buy either at start or mid area, so freshness due to heavy sale is better there. - While going from Mahakaal temple to Harsidhi temple from gullies do try to have lassi from side shops. - Plan for evening visit to Harsiddhi temple as evening arti with lightening of Diyas is very cool. - Ignore buying paranthas or deep fry things etc from rehdi waala as the oil they use is very bad, better buy from shop good shop. - Poha, Sabudana Khichdi and lassi are good to try, rest all routine food is available. - You can buy Mahakal T Shirts and kurta from there for Rs 100-150 as per size and quality - Do advise the chef/vendor for Mirchi as per your taste as they eat hell lot of lal mirch powder. - Try pedas (sweet) from gullies surrounding Mahakaal temple - very delicious. - There may be other places but i am giving you my account of journey only as guide. - If you go to Indore to catch flight or train, do plan to visit Khajrana temple of Lord Ganesha, which is very beautiful. Hope i am able to give basic insights which are helpful. Mine visit was short for 1.5 days only, but would advise at least 2 nights visit for peaceful tour.

Good hotel Good staff good housekeeping helpful staff member specially front office anju gurung and nabina thank you for your service.

A total disappointment. The trees have vanished and houses have come up on either side of the river banks. There is no charm left in Alleppy backwaters and staying in the boat for the night is a bad option.

It was an great experience from the day one our tour manger provide every details and available to answer our question about the trip. Over all it was a great trip.

This is amazing and it helps you to explore all the places in a short duration. All the places are also not too far from the city.

It was an amazing trip for me. Great place to visit. Perfect tour for family. All guides are good driver also very caring.

This was an amazing "starter" trip for anyone wanting to begin to experience India. Packed with highlights, everything ran like clockwork and there were no disappointments - friendly people, incredible sights, amazing experiences and incredible food. Highly recommended!

I will like to give a summarised account of my recent visit to Ujjain: 1- Our stay in Ujjain was for two days in which we covered every thing, My advice is that you should stay for two nights in Ujjain. 2- We wanted to stay near Mahakal temple. In our online search we found Hotel Shipra Avenue. The biggest advantage of this hotel is that temple gates are only about 100 meters away. You can visit the temple any time. Rooms are small but clean. Manager VK Bhatnagar is a nice man and he is very helpful. They charged Rs 2500 per day. However durning my stay I came to know that the prices can be negotiated. There in no window in the room but since it is air condition room so you don't require. After darshan of Mahakal you will be so tired that you will start loving this place. 3- For fooding near Mahakal I went to two restaurant- Apna Sweets and Damruwala. Both are good places. At Apna sweets you will get good thali and south Indian. At Damruwala you can enjoy dal bafla thali. Try dal bafla at least once when you are in Ujjain, it is a Madhya Pradesh version of dal bati. There is a much hype for Sai Palace Dal Bafla, but I will suggest Shree Guru Dandipani Restaurant for dal bafla, the price for the thali is Rs 190/-. They also give chapati with bafla. My advice is you should not eat roti first, as bafla is unlimited you should only have bafla. In Ujjain the price of thali at all places are on higher side. But I think you don't have any option. 4- Now the most important thing is Darshan at Mahakal. It is a matter of your own wish and desire how you want to worship your God. I am giving you an account of my darshan on various timings. 4.1- We reached our hotel at 12 pm after settling down in the hotel we took a bath and immediately went for general darshan. I take with me only a water bottle to drink. It took only 45 minutes for darshan. It was a casual darshan after that we took our lunch at apna sweets. 4.2- We had our booking for Bhasma Aarti. The booking is done online just one month before the date of darshan. The charges are Rs 200 per person. The slot for booking opens at 8 am and within 5 mintutes whole slot for 400 peoples is booked. If you are visiting for two days than I will suggest you to go for bhasma aarti or otherwise you can have virtual darshan of aarti by booking it from the temple counters. We went to gate no 1 for Bhasma Aarti at 12 am, at that time the queue was only for 50 people. I was in pant and Tshirt and my wife was in kurta salwar. Don't forget to bring your ID in original and print out of your booking otherwise the security people will not allow you. At 4 am they will allow you to enter the hall/ mandapm from where you will see the aarti. The whole process from reaching to this hall is very tedious. When we entered the hall we found that the whole hall was full, I don’t know from where these people came while in the queue for aarti only about 50 people were ahead of us. The hall was packed and in total there will be around thousand people while the aarti slot is only for 400 people. I can not comment on that. But to be in the darbar of Mahakal itself gives a high level of positive energy. You can only see the aarti from long distance and will many times switch to LED TV showing live telecast of aarti. In my opinion you go to gate at 3 am for aarti, there is no need to go early. Jap Om Namah Shivay. Concentrate fully on God. Get a place in the darbar anywhere, it is immaterial where you sit. Last but not least don’t forget to take a water bottle with you. 4.3 Now the very important aspect of darshan- Garbh Grah Darshan. This is a must in my opinion. The slot for online booking opens at 4 pm just one day before. Charges are Rs 750 per person. Keep ready soft copy of your ID and photo. Get a print out of your booking and original ID. Gents make sure that they are in unstitched dhoti and nothing on the body except angocha. Ladies even girls of small age should be in saree. The security will not allow you if you are in any other dress. It takes around 2 hours for this Garbh Ghar Darshan. You reach directly near the jyotirlinga and do Jal abhishekh and take the blessings. Don’t forget to bring parshad from Parshad counter, it is paid and you can select the size of parshad box. Nothing is allowed inside garb grah except flowers in your hand not even in any basket. 5- In our first day we visited the darbar of Mahakal in general queue. At sharp 4 pm we booked our garb grah darshan for next day. In the evening we went to Bada Ganesh temple, Harshidhi temple, Vikramaditya Singhasan, Ramghat and Mahakal corridor. All these things are within 500 mt from my hotel so I was great walking. We had dinner of dal bafla at Damruwala. 6- Next day in the early morning or rather mid night we went for Bhasma Aarti. We came back to our hotel at 6.30 am we slept till 10 am. We took bath and went for Garb Grah Darshan as our booking was for 11.30 am. Again we had our lunch at Apna Sweets and slept till 4 pm. At 5 we went to other darshans. Our hotel Manager Mr Bhatnagar called an auto rickshaw. We went to Sandipani Ashram, Mangalnath Temple, Sidhbat, Gadkalika. I think those visiting Ujjain should not miss Kalvairabh and Gadkalika temple. It is said that Mahakal darshan is incomplete without the darshan of Kalbhairav. Liquor is offered to the temple deity as one of the five tantric ritual offerings known as panchamakara. Gadkalika Temple, popularly called as Ujjain Mahakali, is dedicated to Goddess Kali. We reached Gadkalika temple at the time of aarti. The aarti is done with heavy musical instruments. Reach there at aarti time in the evening. We had our dinner at Shree Guru Dandipani Restaurant of dal bafla thali. You must try it. We finished our day with kesar pista kulfi at ‘famous kulfi’, this is worth enjoying.

Best Temple and Bhasm Aarti of Mahakal is one of the main attractions at Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain. This unique ritual begins every day at 4 am. People from all walks of life visit Ujjain with a desire of beholding this lifetime experience.

India an amazing destination and our holiday in India its a lifetime moment for us specially visit to taj mahal. Holidaysat provide really good services during our trip.

Excellent tour!! Enjoyed every minute of the tour. Saw many beautiful places. Guides and our driver were excellent.

Visited Mahakal Temple and nearby Corridor which is best place to explore, Many sculpture of Hindu God and Sages in Corridor, Very Neat and Clean Places.Corridor Timing is till 9:30 PM ..After 9:30 PM corridor get closed. Best time to Visit Corridor is at Evening from 6 PM. Also Visit Char Dham Temple and Sandipni Ashram an Awesome Place to explore this places .CharDham Temple have all Char Dham Mandir and also 12 Jyotirlinga.Sandipni Ashram give a glimpse of Ramayan with Painting Ujjain comes in my Fav. Place . There is one more Temple Ram CharitManas Temple where each and every Shlokas of Ramcharitmanas written all over wall of Temple.It was just an awesome experience.

Nice trip and had a fun filled day- Good experience- recommended for more people to enjoy day outing - cheers 🍻

I recommend booking a tour to do the Golden Triangle sights in India. The company I chose was perfect in every way. You are assigned a Tour Manager (ours was Amit Tomar who has 15 years experience in coordinating all the people and drivers and details so much so that you don't have to do anything except show up in the hotel lobby at the time they say) who customizes your choices for either 3,4,or 5 star hotels. You have one driver for your group (2-10 people) and a very comfortable car. You are basically chauffered around to the various cities to which you meet your guide (different in each city as they are locals that have been trained for a minimum of 1 month ea year to get their liscense to be a professional tour guide representing the country. The driver and tour guide was always on time and their one goal was to answer a zillion questions from us about Indian customs and culture, history, and today while presenting the current site/city in great depth and with enthusiasm. No worries throughout and tour was actually better than we anticipated. How often does that happen! The company (Holidays At aka Yatra Exotic) is experienced (in biz since 2009), has a great website with every kind of tour in India you can imagine for almost any number of days and combinations. The price was reasonable and worth 10x more. They are very interested in detailed feedback about each guide and hotel in each city and the driver, vehicle, services to make sure their folks are performing as requested. I would take another tour with this company in a second. They seem to do India only-but I wish they did tours in other places.