"Kashmir delight with Air". Review on Cox and Kings, Hyderabad

Kashmir is a heaven on earth and there are no words to describe the beauty of the land. No photographs would do justice. This review is only on Cox and Kings package "Kashmir delight with air" and not on Kashmir.

I have done 3 abroad trips with Cox and Kings earlier and they were really good in organizing, courtesies and managing the tour. Also, I had organized a trip for my friend and family for their Kerala holidays and they also were very happy with the holiday package. Based on that experience only , I bought the holiday package from Cox and Kings, even though it was little more expensive than others like Make My Trip or Keshav.

Taking time to write this review so that readers will have a clarity on the package "Kashmir delight with Air" of Cox and Kings.

1) Cox and Kings will not provide tickets and vouchers on time: I had made a purchase a month or so ago in advance but tickets were provided only 2 days prior to travel. How much ever you follow up their answer will be "waiting for Mumbai office to respond".

2) Travel Insurance: They had collected Rs.1600 for travel insurance but never provided the insurance documents before or after the travel.

3) "Delight" is expensive than their "economy" package and the class of hotels were to be different. I was told "Delight" will have 4 star hotels and "Economy" will have 3 star hotels. Same difference in House Boats also. But both "Delight" and "Economy" were put in 3 star hotels are there is no class difference between both other than the price you pay. Hotels we stayed were Abshar in Pahalgam and Jamal resorts in Srinagar.

Now on the Tour Managers of Cox and Kings at Kashmir. I am putting the names of the people here as they were just horrible, unorganized, insensitive and were just useless. Jayant Choudhary( 8494023008), Shiv, and their supervisor and Kashmir coordinator Zamin Abidi(9582214420). Listing the way they conducted the tour for us.

1) You will spend more time waiting for the vehicle to come than at the tourist spots. You may be asked to get ready by 7.30 - 8.00am and their vehicle will come only by 10.00am. This happened to us thrice, they pick up from airport, tour of Pahalgam, and tour of Chandanwadi and Betaab Valley. I raised my voice on the 4th day and things went well from then on.

2) You will be changing vehicles you travel in; mid road and carry all your luggage yourself, whether it be raining or snowing.

3) You may be asked to change the Hotel for the convenience of the Tour Manager. I put my foot down, otherwise we would have ended up in some cheap shabby place as described by tour Manager himself.

4)There may be 15 people in a vehicle which can take on 12 people and you may sit with your baggage on your lap.

5) You will not be given lunch. The "lunch" will be given only after 3.30pm every day. The worst is that they change the tour plan given to you so that you will not have any lunch and they will not even warn you that there may be a delay  eg : On day 4, we were to check-in at a hotel in Srinagar and after lunch we were to visit the gardens of Srinagar, the Tour Manager changed the plan without any notice and took the group for lunch and we reached the hotel at around 4.00pm. Hotel Staff was also not informed about the late arrival and we were made to have some leftovers of the lunch buffet. When someone raised the issue, he was asked to wait till 5.00 when the proper lunch will be provided.

6) None of them answer their phones

7) They may not take you to all the places they promise. We were not taken to Shankaracharya temple because of "strike". There was no such strike, the tour manager did not want to walk 200 steps. On Day 3, at Betaab Valley we were not allowed to go beyond a point as they did not hire the vehicle for the appropriate time. The local vehicle hired was only for 2 hours where as actual requirement was for 4-5 hours. They tried cutting corners and we ended up spending only few minutes and were not allowed to go beyond a point at Betaab valley.

8) You may be forced to by tickets at "black" for the Gondola ride to level 2 and will not be allowed to buy online or at the counter. You will end up spending Rs.1300 against the counter price of Rs.800.

There were other families and groups in the same hotel we were put in and their Tour Managers were much more cordial and helpful and were with the team every time. Had the tour managers ( the 3 named above) were little more cordial and sensitive this would have been a much better tour.

I will not recommend Cox and Kings for the Kashmir trip, buy it from others. They will be much more economical and you will not end up in the hands of some lousy tour managers.