India Festivals and events Trips

As a first time visitor to India I was not disappointed. This is a full on trip with lots of time spent travelling between locations but this means you get the full flavour of both Kerala and Tamil Nadu from the stunning tea plantations in the North to the Southern Tip of India where three oceans meet.

We had the most incredible time on the Highlights of Assam and Nagaland trip. We have travelled a number of times with Explore, and our expectations were blown away at every stage of this incredible trip. Wildlife highlights included the river dolphins on the Brahmaputra and incredible safaris - including the 'Big 5' in Kaziranga National Park - Royal Bengal Tiger, Water Buffalo, Indian One-Horn Rhino, Elephant and the Swamp Deer! The Khasi hills were stunning, with the walk to the living root bridges a real highlight. We were lucky to have a swim in the crystal-clear river to cool off at the bottom of the valley before trekking back up the steps! Longwa Headhunter Village afforded us some fantastic interactions with local people and opportunities to see their local cottage industries. Majuli Island was a beautiful, relaxing and spiritual place, as were the tea plantations in Dibrugarh. Of course, the incredible Hornbill Festival was a sight to behold. We spent two full days wandering around the various tribes longhouses, interacting with the friendly tribes, trying local delicacies and watching their performances. This is truly an experience not to be missed... There were some long drives, as expected, but these seemed to be well-planned and the views were often spectacular - especially in the Naga Hills and plains of Cherrapunjee. Our driver, Moon was fantastic - safe, calm and worked hard to find us the best stops for photos etc. Our guide, Pema Bhutia, is an absolute credit to Explore and his homeland. Passionate, caring, kind and knowledgeable, he went over and above at every opportunity to ensure our experience was first class - we would definitely travel with Pema again in future. Overall, don't hesitate to book this trip - the accommodation was much better than described, the infrastructure in the region is improving slowly, and the food is fantastic. It's still a relatively unexplored part of the world, rich in culture and tradition that surely won't disappoint even the most seasoned traveller!

This was an absolutely brilliant trip with varied itinerary seeing a mixture of busy cities and daily life within, walking barefoot in beautiful temples, watching traditional Kathakali dance show, trekking in stunning mountainous tea plantations and also in jungle in the Periyar National Park, cruising on a houseboat on the beautiful backwaters, staying in an amazing home stay being looked after by the lovely owner Grace and finishing with relaxing time on beautiful beaches. The scenery as you drive around is simply stunning with some incredible views. We had such a really lovely fun group of people and the locals were so warm, gentle and smiley and hotel staff went out of their way to look after us, in particular Ripon at the Peppervine, best kindest service ever! We had the most incredible knowledgeable guide Biju, who gave us so many interesting insights into his wonderful country and was the warmest, kindest most thoughtful person, looking after us all so incredibly well, he helped make this holiday a best ever . Vinod our driver was excellent, so friendly and smiley and he kept the bus immaculate and drove us so safely . A wonderful trip and no wonder it’s known as Gods own country, it’s simply stunning, with an exceptional guide Biju and such lovely locals who really touched me, I left a piece of my heart there!

Great trip. Some long drives as expected, but well worth it. Visits to living bridges, Hornbill festival and headhunter village were excellent. Tour leader Pena was excellent and coped very well in what, at times, were very difficult situations.

There were 6 highlights on the trip. - Guwahati - living tree bridges - Hornbill Festival - Kaziranga NP - Majuli island - Longwa head hunters village. Each were excellent. The accommodation and food were generally much better than I expected. Most meals were included. All were good except for a couple of 'locally' prepared meals. The choice of restaurants and hotels were as good as could be expected considering where we were. Our guide Sanjeev was very professional and organised. If there were any issues they were kept behind the scenes. This is a trip for the experienced traveller. I would suggest that there are other parts of India to visit before putting Assam on the list. The reason I give is because of the distances between each of the highlights. Long days, some of them uncomfortable. Our 2 drivers did an excellent job looking after us given the driving. However the highlights made up for the travelling at least as far as I was concerned. There aren't many trips to this part of India and is very much off the Western tourist trail with no MacDonalds in sight, which, for me, is a huge bonus

I have always wanted to visit India and this trip did not disappoint, its such a vibrant country full of traditions, colour and lots of smiles. The children we met who wanted photos of us along with everyone at India gate who we felt like celebrities posing for them in pictures. The overnight train to Varanasi was an adventure and not to be apprehensive about with some wonderful morning views from the train to take in.