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Punjab holiday, Mountains & Mystics

COUNTRY:
India
LOCATION:
Indian Himalayas, Punjab
HOLIDAY TYPE:
A small group adventure.
DEPARTURES:
2012: 13 Feb, 12 Mar, 2 Apr, 16 Apr, 30 Apr, 14 May, 28 May, 4 Jun, 3 Sep, 17 Sep, 1 Oct, 15 Oct, 29 Oct, 12 Nov, 26 Nov, 10 Dec, 24 Dec
2013: 7 Jan, 21 Jan, 4 Feb, 18 Feb, 4 Mar, 18 Mar, 1 Apr, 15 Apr, 29 Apr, 13 May, 27 May, 10 Jun
PRICE:
From £655 - £730 (15 days) excluding flights
VOUCHERS:
Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday
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Punjab holiday, Mountains & Mystics

Punjab holiday, Mountains & Mystics

Small group adventure holiday
This is a 'small group adventure' - on our group trips you'll be with a maximum of 11 like minded travellers and you'll have a group leader with you. Whether you are travelling alone or with friends it's good value, and a great way to meet new people! While itineraries are pre-planned there is some flexibility and you'll have plenty of privacy. This trip will appeal to travellers of all ages who enjoy meeting people from other parts of the world as well as seeing new places!

Because of our small group size, we're able to guarantee departures for all of our trips. Once you have booked and paid your deposit, your trip is guaranteed to go!

How this holiday makes a difference

India plays host to a diversity of spiritual centres and places of pilgrimage. On this trip you will visit the Islamic mosques, Sikh gurudwaras, Tibetan settlements and Himalayan Hindu temples that all go towards representing the heart and soul of this incredible country. It is important to have some background knowledge on these places before visiting them so as to treat these holy places with the respect they inspire from the locals. Your leader will help you learn more about the place you visit to enable a deeper understanding and enjoyment from the experience.

Dharamsala is the home in exile of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and if in town, there is the opportunity to meet with His Holiness and offer support to the Tibetan cause. You will visit the fantastic Norbulingka Institute, which was developed to train (and house) Tibetan refugees in the skills needed to preserve the traditional arts and crafts of Tibet, so that the skills will not be lost. There is a shop here where you can buy some of the craftwork and clothing made by the refugees.

In the hills above Chamba you spend three nights as the guests of a local family at a farmstay to experience traditional rural life. Much of the food you enjoy here has been organically grown and cultivated by local workers. By opting to take walks into the hills with a local guide, take part in some traditional farming, or even having your bags carried for you by the villagers, you are supporting some of the families that live in the area.

At the end of our journey travellers may donate any unwanted clothing, medicines and bandages, which are distributed to a group called Goonj. This organisation is a nationwide movement that provides help to remote villages in Assam, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Uttaranchal and wherever the demand arises or disaster forces people to look for support.

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Punjab holiday, Mountains & Mystics

Punjab holiday, Mountains & Mystics

Reviewed 30 Nov 2010 by Jackie Driver4 star rating

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?


The golden temple at Amritsar and the border ceremony at Waga on the Pakistan India Border. Plus Mcleod Ganj and Naddi up from Dharamsala.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?


Be aware that the hike to Chamba from Khajjiar involves a final climb partway up the mountain to get to the accommodation.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?


Only 8 of us and we are all very environment minded. I was more distressed to see the local people throwing paper out of the toy train window and some of the towns littered with trash. If only Responsible Travel could do more to educate the local population to recycle the trash as much as possible. We ate at local small cafes and restaurants and stayed in small local hotels, used cycle rickshaws and tuk tuks. Actually used all forms of transport so I think the local businesses did benefit. Pehaps in Dharamsala since it is all about Tibet it might have been nice to stay at a Tibetan guest house.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?


Fantastic! I love India; the people are so friendly and so colourful, the temples are wonderful. The entire spectrum is there to be enjoyed.

Reviewed 27 Nov 2008 by Bela Gor2 star rating

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?


Visiting the Golden Temple in Amritsar at night when it wasn't busy.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?


Check who your guide will be in advance and whether or not he or she has done the trip before. Our guide had never done this trip or even been to the places we visited before. Also ask if there are local guides available and if you will be able to book them yourself if not. Also if going in autumn or winter from October note that it can get very cold and the hotels have no heating. The guide also has a habit of trying to get us to eat outside in near freezing conditions which should be resisted. There are two one day treks on the trip. The trip notes are a little confusing and suggest that there is only one (although this has been reported to the tour operator so they might change it). On the second day your main luggage goes on ahead to the hotel you will stay in the following day so you need to have a day pack that is big enough for an overnight stop but small enough for you to carry with you on the trek.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?


The use of local transport - trains and buses minimized impact on the environment but this did mean we had several very long days on trains and buses

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?


The holiday was a little disappointing. Despite being called Mountain & Mystics we had the opportunity to learn relatively little about either because the tour leader had little knowledge and we didn't have local guides. This was a shame because the itinerary was interesting.

Read the operator's response here:

Thank you for taking the time to give us your comments on the trip and in particular on your leader. We select a variety of leaders who are both locals and westerners, but most importantly the qualities that we look for in our Leaders are a passion for the country that they are leading and a desire to share this with their travelers. We take great pride in our recruitment and training program that we use to train all of our leaders. Once a leader is recruited they undergo an intensive week of training covering all of the technical aspects of leading and this is followed by a 3 week training trip when they shadow an experienced leader to learn about different styles of leadership, and to meet the local operators and guides along the way. We believe that this combination of formal classroom learning and practical on the road training allows our leaders too observe and understand group dynamics and customer service as well as the administrative aspects of the job. It is always hard when a leader is leading a trip for the first time but I assure you we have very detailed notes for the leader, great local operators along the way, and have other leaders spend time running through the finer details of the trip before they start.

Reviewed 31 Oct 2005 by Rebecca McConnell4 star rating

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?


Staying with a family.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?


Pack light as you do have to carry your bags around and you WILL shop!!

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?


Yes - we travelled on local buses and used local-run hotels and taxis / rickshaws etc.

Reviewed 31 Dec 2005 by Karen Rollins3 star rating

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?


The most memorable part was a hike we took up to a water-based community just outside of Vinales. The hike was lovely, the views were amazing and the watercommunity was unique.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?


Make sure you take plenty of money - and a VISA card.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?


Yes.

4. Any other comments?


Our guide - Natalia - made the holiday. She was fun and bubbly and informative.
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Holiday Reviews

We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!

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Punjab holiday, Mountains & Mystics
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