I am giving the experience three stars because i know that I could not have functioned in India myself, and I got to see some great things in comfort--but my gut feels like two stars. This was my first trip with SmarTours, after being referred by my fiance and his parents. I may give SmarTours another chance with a different location, but will need to see. I cannot recommend this trip to others. The guide, Ravi, was very knowledgeable. The first issue was that Ravi deviated far from the itinerary- and would not keep us update, which created complete dependence on him. Certain activities were added and subtracted. We did not have the chance to do three of the optional tours that had been listed. Every time we brought up a deviation from the itinerary he said "SmarTours isn't updated". He worked very hard to gain our trust, and did so successfully. He then used that trust to become and instrumental part of us getting ripped off by vendors. In the 6 days (basically three of which were travel), we went to 4 different Artisan exhibitions. I have no problem with this in theory, and I did not buy- but we spent hours at each. I then spoke to Ravi about trying to find affordable locations to purchase lesser quality souvenirs since i could not afford to buy from the expensive artisans, he promised "for you, I'll take you to the best place". But each shop I'd stop near, he'd say, "no, this isn't a good deal, wait for Jaipur". And of course, I trusted him and waited, and in Jaipur it was the same story. When I confronted him about it all being more expensive, he said "yes, but the quality is better- I promise you won't find a better deal around". I bought there, and the next morning I found identical scarves with identical tags for less than half the price at a shop in the hotel. so at that point we knew he was intentionally misleading us. Another couple on the trip wanted to take a rickshaw ride in Jaipur, as they had done alone in Delhi. Ravi offered to arrange a deal for them and spoke to the driver- he said "700 Rupees, best deal there is". When the other members said they paid 100 in Delhi and argued, suddenly the driver came down to 100. There is a big difference between 100 and 700. So by the end of the trip, all of us left India feeling that our own guide ripped us off. Ravi also treated his assistant, Sanjay, with utter disrespect. I tipped Sanjay heavily, but I doubt he will be allowed to keep it.