Portrait of India & Kingdoms & Dragons

Hi! I know this is a subjective question and likely hard to compare, but…. for anyone who has been on both the Portrait of India and the Kingdoms & Dragons (Singapore/Indonesia/Bali) Tauck Tours, is there one that you preferred or would recommend over the other and if so, why? If you’ve been on one or both, could you share what you liked most and least about one or both tours? We are considering them both for our next trip and just looking for any feedback as we decide. Many thanks in advance!

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  • edited May 2023

    We are actually on board Singapore Air (SFO) for the Kingdom and Dragons tour…so excited. Did India about 8 years ago,,,will be glad to compare in about a month. But they are truly different experiences. Tauck is amazing..,so you will really want to go on both eventually. You will find some on this forum who have been on both.

  • I took the Singapore tour and the shorter Spotlight on India. They are so different, it is impossible to compare them.

  • Hi, British - Would you (and anyone else who has been on one of these tours) mind just sharing your favorite and least favorite aspects of both tours? I realize it’s a bit “apples and oranges” to compare the two to each other, but “highlights and lowlights” of each would be helpful! Also, if you could use one overarching word or sentence to describe your experience of each tour, what would it be? Nancy - yes, please do share about your tour when you return! I’d love to hear! Have a wonderful trip!!!

  • Nancy,

    Have a most marvelous time. I look forward to reading about your experiences. Enjoy!

  • Buonviaggio,

    I’ve been on Portrait of India, going on Singapore/Bali in 2024.

    Portrait of India highlights -
    1) Epic buildings - forts, tombs, monuments (Agra, Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur)
    2) Amazing markets - Cochi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Udaipur
    3) Best hotels of any Tauck tour as a set (Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur, Delhi, Mumbai)
    4) Amazing unique sites - Varanasi, activities on the Ganges; Mumbai, white shirt people, public laundry
    5) Tauck special activities

    Lowlights - Inter-tour flight airport security - necessary but it wears on you

    Hope this helps

  • Smiling Sam
    Lowlights - Inter-tour flight airport security - necessary but it wears on you

    Worse than Egypt?

  • I can’t really answer your questions for either tour . Too many good parts. I guess a negative is the long flights.
    My one word….just go on both tours. You will have different highs and lows

  • BKMD - As I recall, not worse than Egypt, but different. In India they made you take anything electric or with a battery out of your carryon/backpack. This included all adapters, electric toothbrush, camera equipment, etc.

    So it was a hassle doing the packing and unpacking. You learned and for the later flights you'd have all of the stuff that had to be removed pre-isolated and ready to go into the separate inspection container so that you wouldn't have to stand in and delay the security line as you dug through your carryon to extract everything.

    My experience is from 2018. It may be different now. As I recall I believe India had had a couple of incidents a year or two before my trip and so their measures may still have been at a higher state of alert, or that is just the way it's always done in India.

  • I agree with British, I've been to both and it's very difficult to compare, totally different. You need to go on both, it's worth it.

  • Smiling Sam - Yes, thank you - your comments about Portrait of India were definitely helpful! We’ve heard from people we’ve met on past tours that the India tour was a favorite, so it has been on the bucket list. Just wondered what it was about the tour that made it towards the top of people’s best trip lists. The Tauck tours we’ve taken have all been fabulous and wonderful in their own way, but we were just looking for a little more info from those with experience with the two tours we were considering. I don’t doubt we’d absolutely love either one, and if the fates allow, we would love to do both at some point! 🤞😊

  • Portrait of India was my #1 favorite until I went to Kenya/Tanzania…all of my trips have been exceptional (Vietnam/Laos/Cambodia, Japan, Morocco, Russian Treasures: including St.Petersburg and Moscow and Rhine River Cruise.
    I love India. The smells, the spices, the vibrant colors, the sights and the warmth of the people. The hotels were over the top gorgeous. And the shopping!! It was very exotic and very non-European. I don’t remember being stressed by the flights. Yes, I was patted down before every flight in a private area by a uniformed woman. And my bags were inspected. It was no big deal. Our TD was with us and orchestrated an easy transit thru the airports. It was a trip of a lifetime!!

  • Buonviaggio -

    One more suggestion. If you do the Portrait of India tour consider doing it during Dawili. It adds an additional element of celebration, color, …

  • Thank you, Smiling Sam! We had actually been considering that! Did you find that any sites or activities were closed or not accessible as a result of the holiday? Or did it not impact the itinerary at all?

  • No impact.

  • Good to know! Thank you very much, Smiling Sam!!

  • Thank you, Nancy Cohen & Smiling Sam for the detailed feedback on India! I appreciate it! It definitely sounds amazing. Smiling Sam - since you were there over Diwali, I assume that was October or November? If so, what kind of weather and temps did you have there in the different areas you visited? Thank you!

  • buonviaggio -

    I was there in late October, early November. I don't recall the exact temperatures, but they were comfortable. I'll post a couple of pictures from different places that show the type of clothes we wore.

    I apologize for the rotation on a couple of the pictures, but you can see the clothing so I didn't fix them.

    Agra -

    Jaipur -

    Udaipur -

    Lake Kumarakom -

  • You can find average weather info on Weatherspark These days, you just never know what is average, but once you book, you can look at the ten day forecast for anywhere you are going. We use this to decide our final packing. You will be going to different parts of India. I remembered the Taj Mahal early visit being quite cool as was the evening sail on the Ganges.

  • Hi, Smiling Sam! Thank you for the great photos! Wonderful shot with the Taj Mahal! It must be so impressive to see it in person! It definitely does not look like it was swelteringly hot there. 😁

    British - Thanks for the weather info!

  • British - Would you mind sharing how the weather was for you on the Kingdoms & Dragons tour? Was it pretty hot and humid everywhere?

  • buonviaggio - I went in September, it was hot but not overwhelming, I believe British went a couple of weeks after me.

  • Yes, I did, Komodo island was quite hot but otherwise it was perfect

  • Sounds good. Thanks, gladysorlando984 & British!

  • ****buonviaggio

    I'm late to the party in responses but...I absolutely loved the Portrait of India Tour. I liked it so much that I'm returning to India via the North India and Nepal trip in December 2023--which means I'll be repeating parts of the Portrait Tour which I am delighted to do.

    Too many wonderful experiences to name but a few were the amazing hospitality of the Indian people; the over-the-top hotels, the food, the amazing sights--Varanasi, Agra, the Mumbai train station and the sight of the Dabbawala's, the markets, the traffic and the beautiful relaxing time spent at the resort in Kerala...you can't go wrong. I traveled during the month of December. The weather was quite mild in Northern India and a bit warm in Southern India--all very comfortable. Don't forget to pack your bathing suit and an open spirit to receive all the goodness that awaits.

  • Wow!!! Robin, tell us how your really feel! I would like to see India, my wife NO WAY!!

  • Alan - Assuming Robin = PureLuxury, then I'd say she only described part of the tour's goodness. She left off Jaipur and Udaipur, which were also amazing.

    **Alan **- FYI, when we did Portrait of India there was a gentleman from London on our tour (that I still communicate with) traveling without his wife. She refuses to do trips that require more than one airplane ride going and one airplane ride returning. As such, he was 'allowed' to do the trip on his own.

    I'm just saying, perhaps Mrs Alan would grant permission for her hubby to go on his own. :D

  • We seem to meet more and more women on tours who we think are singles, it turns out they are not, their husbands no longer want to travel so they do their own thing. I can’t recall a single man we have met in that category.
    Alan, go for it, it’s not as if you are not in a safety net on a Tauck tour.

  • Smiling Sam Yes, PureLuxury = Robin. Jaipur and Udaipur were wonderful...How can I ever forget the beautiful dancers, Elephants and Camels that welcomed us to the hotel in Jaipur. It was a sight to behold. There were so many wonderful experiences and memories on this tour...

    British there were 3 single men on both the Portrait of India and Jordan and Egypt tours - divorced and widowed. But to you point, none of the gentlemen had wives that declined to travel with them.

  • Alan everyone is correct! Go as a single. I just returned from Japan with Tauck as a single and had a wonderful time. My hubby had no interest. In the past years, I have done Portugal/ Spain/ Peru/ Southeast Asia/Ireland/ Scotland/Austria and others all as a single traveler. And next week we celebrate our 49th anniversary. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

  • Alan, You can bribe your wife with jewelry! Your bride went to Africa, yes? What everyone said about India is absolutely true. I remember I didn’t want to go someone, and that was the place I had the best time from the beginning to end. If you’ve been on giver cruises, you begin to feel a river cruise is a river is a river cruise. Don’t get me wrong, all these tours are spectacular and wonderful bur they begin to feel the same after a while. I get on extreme sensory overload with too many museums, churches and temples so I look for anything different and memorable. I’m going to the Arctic circle (sorry to say not Ruth Tauck) in January and thst will be different. Just my opinion.

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