Welcome to the India Beat Travel Blog
This is the place to find out about all the latest travel news around India, including luxury holidays, new hotels around the subcontinent and restaurants that India Beat have been trying out. It’s written by Bertie and Victoria Dyer who won the Condé Naste Top Travel Specialist Award in 2008 and 2009. We have also been recommended by Harper’s Bazaar as “The Experts” when it comes to holidays in India! The blog will also include articles and photoshoots that India Beat have been working on around India. Please feel free to send us your comments and let us know if there is anything you would like to hear about.
Umaid Bhawan Palace: New Rooftop Restaurant
India Beat was in Jodhpur last week to check out Raas, while we were in town we stopped by one of our favorite hotels the Umaid Bhawan Palace. They have opened a delicious new tandori restaurant on the roof and we went at sunset to try it out. Taking the lift to the top leads to a small staircase that twists it’s way on to the roof, it feels like you are going on a behind the scenes before you emerge on to what has to be one of the most stunning settings anywhere. Views over the Blue City of Jodhpur are incredible, small romantic candlelit tables face out towards the setting sun. Cocktails were perfect, followed by tandori lamb, malai chicken and paneer tikka, all cooked to perfection. To book contact India Beat.
India Beat loves Holi!
Happy Holi! This year India Beat played Holi at Diggi Palace, delicious food, plenty of cold beer and crazy colours were the order of the day. To learn more about Holi click here or to book a holiday to join in the fun next year email India Beat.
Mihirgarh, Heaven in the Desert.
Emerging out of the Thar Desert in western Rajasthan Mihirgarh is the first mud fort to be built anywhere for hundreds of years. 9 huge and incredibly luxurious suites, several with private infinity pools are quite simply the best place to stay and experience the beauty of rural Rajasthan. The surrounding Bishnoi tribal villages are absolutely fascinating and India Beat loved the camel ride across the dunes before a picnic under a huge banyan tree. Whilst there is plenty to do and see in the area, few places can match up to the wonderful views from Mihir Garh’s pool. To book contact India Beat.
Raas in Jodhpur
Wow! What a view! As we stepped through the gates of Raas, Jodhpur’s hottest new hotel our breath was taken away by the magnificent Mehrangarh Fort towering above us. Raas has an incredible location right in the heart of the old city, the stunning heritage palace has been transformed in to a slick chic boutique hotel. India Beat spent the night and loved the seriously comfortable beds and luxurious bathrooms, dinner on the terrace was a delicious treat, don’t miss out on the apple jalebis! To book contact India Beat.
Kumbh Mela 2010
India Beat travelled along with 70 million other pilgrims to Haridwar to witness the Kumbh Mela which roughly translates as the Great Fair. Hindus from across the subcontinent gather once every 12 years on the banks of the river Ganges to perform absolutions and wash away the sins of a life time. Sadhus (Hindu holymen) gather in huge camps around the holy town of Haridwar led by their talismanic naga babas, the famous naked priests who forsake all possesions to follow the teachings of the Vedas. The sheer scale of the event is spectacular with literally millions of people everyday bathing on the ghats that lead from this temple rich town down to the Ganges. To learn more about the Kumbh Mela click here or contact India Beat to visit the fair which goes on until April.
Ananda in the Himalayas
Yoga at Ananda Spa in the Himalayas
The Ananda Spa near Rishikesh in the foothills of the Himalayas is India Beat’s favorite spa for so many reasons. India Beat spent 4 nights at the Ananda last week and tried out the wonderful treatments, attended yoga, meditation and vedanta classes, to fully experience India’s rich holistic heritage. We loved the incredible views, fantastic service and delicious food. The Ananda is healthy living at it’s most enjoyable. To book a trip to Ananda including a spa package contact India Beat.
India Beat is recommended by Love Jaipur Travel Guide
Love Jaipur
India Beat
Bertie and Victoria Dyer run a boutique travel company specialising in India. This dynamic young British couple fell in love with India and their ongoing passion for the country is evidenced in fresh itineraries and innovative travel recommendations. Jaipur became home for them five years ago and they know that city and it’s residents well. I get the feeling that absolutely anything is possible when working with this energetic duo. The business and their reputation grow steadily and in 2008 and 2009 they were awarded the Conde Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist Award.
Victoria takes India Beat clients on customised shopping tours in the city, ranging from the bustling street bazaars to elite jewellers and designers. She makes navigating Jaipur’s somewhat overwhelming labyrinth of shopping options look effortless and takes clients to shop for priceless jewels or for tea towels with equal enthusiasm! Victoria will create and lead tailored shopping adventures for visitors at a cost of $150 per half day. Reserve ahead as advanced planning is required for focused shoppers!
To buy your copy go to lovetravelguides.com
India Beat Trekking in the Himalayas
Everyone thought we were mad going trekking in the Himalayas for Christmas but fortunately you don’t have to camp out anymore. Village treks are the new buzz words in Himalayan adventure, the idea is to bring extra income to the most remote villages by staying in village houses rather than drafty tents. In the Binsar National Park, famous for it’s abundant birdlife, 5 houses in the villages across the valley have been built using traditional techniques. Each is run by a village committee who take care of the guests, providing them with creature comforts in this wild and stunningly beautiful landscape. Our guide Raju walked with us for 3 days explaining the local village culture and pointing out the Himalayan birdlife. Along the way we met families who explained that this project has literally saved their village. Before the project all the young people were migrating to the cities, now however there is sustainable employment and the villages are managing to maintain the family bonds that are so important to remote communities. India Beat organise walking holidays from 3 days to 10 days in the Himalayas, contact the India Beat office for itineraries and costs.
The Right Way to Give
Klara Glowczewska, Editor in Chief of Conde Nast Traveler, and her family traveled with India Beat to Rajasthan last summer. In this months edition of the magazine she writes about the tragic contrasts of India and what you can do to help.
In India last summer the contrast could not have been more shockingly stark. First, clawing at the window of our car, a teenage girl begging and brandishing a prop – a toddler whose face, neck and shoulder were one bloody sore. Then that night, a posh dinner at Jaipur’s Rambagh Palace hotel (music, marble, wafting rose petals). I’d been told repeatedly not to give money to the beggars in India, but this was too much. “They will not get to keep anything you give them,” our tour operator and Jaipur resident, Victoria Dyer (of India Beat), in the car with us admonished. “They will be forced to hand over the money to whoever runs them – parents, organized gangs.” The gangs – remember Slumdog Millionaire? – probably rub the wounds every night to make them worse, she explained. “Giving handouts,” she added, “only strenghens the system that keeps these kids on the streets.” But how can one not do something? “Donating to an established and well organized charity is the only way,” Victoria continued. She recommended Jaipur’s branch of SOS Children’s Village (an international nonprofit with operations all over the world), which looks after hundreds of abandoned street children, educating them and giving them a chance at a better life. Read more…
India Beat & Kerala on Parade
This article featuring Malabar House one of India Beat’s favorite hotels in Fort Cochin was published in the December 2009 issue of the British edition of Conde Nast Traveller.
Kerala on Parade
Historic Fort Cochin in South India is a charming town, never more so than at Christmas when the houses are strung with star – shaped lanterns, and life – sized Papa Noel figures filled with fireworks are set alight to mark the passing of the Old Year. Stay at The Malabar House, where seven Courtyard Wing rooms have just emerged from a revamp, with new colours, art, furniture and textures. This follows last year’s refurbishment of the hotel’s restaurant, Malabar Junction, and the addition of a wine – and – tapas bar, Divine; next year it’s the turn of the remaining 10 rooms. A five – room extension to sister property Trinity, the three – suite micro – hotel across the parade ground, is also imminent. The architect is Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai, who did the wonderful 360 Leti hotel in the Himalayas. The Malabar House (www.malabarhouse.com; doubles from Euro 173). Book through India Beat (www.indiabeat.co.uk)
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