DETAILS
Massage Tours in India
Sunday, March 19, 2006; Page P07
GETTING THERE: Numerous carriers, including American, British Airways, Continental and United, fly from the Washington area to New Delhi, Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and Bangalore, India. Fares start at about $1,070 round trip on American from any of the three D.C. area airports via Chicago, or on Continental from BWI via Newark, and rise as high as $1,500. For the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Mumbai and Bangalore have the easiest connections. American has the cheapest flight to Mumbai, for $1,226, flying from Reagan National via Chicago to London with a change to Air India. From Dulles, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Air France, British Airways and United fly to Mumbai with a connection in Europe; fares start at about $1,270. Flights to Bangalore (from Dulles) are pricier, running $1,600 to $1,850.
The Arya Vaidya Chikitsalayam and Research Institute is in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The Coimbatore airport is served by several domestic airlines, including Spice Air, Jet Airways and Sahara Airlines. The fare from Bangalore to Coimbatore is $181 on Jet Airways, for instance; from Mumbai, $383.
Kochi (formerly known as Cochin) is served by domestic airlines or express train from Mumbai. Round-trip air fares between Kochi and Mumbai run about $350 on Jet Airways or Air India.
The resort Ananda in the Himalayas is near the tiny village of Narendra Nagar, in the state of Uttaranchal. This is a 6 1/2-hour drive north of New Delhi. A driver will take you to the resort, wait there during your stay and drive you back. This is cheap -- about $30 per day -- but the drive can be uncomfortable and terrifying, on enormously crowded and uneven two-lane roads. A better route is to take the five-hour express train from Delhi to the city of Dehra Dun and hire a car there for the one-hour drive to Ananda. First-class fare on the Delhi-Dehra Dun Express train is about $11 one way.
WHERE TO STAY: Patients at the Arya Vaidya Chikitsalayam ( http:/
For more upscale accommodations, the best four-star hotel in Coimbatore is the Residency (1076 Avinashi Rd., 011- 91-422-220-1234, http:/
Ananda in the Himalayas (Palace Estate, 011-91-1378-227-500, http:/
At the Taj Malabar in Kochi (Willingdon Island, 011-91-484- 266-6811, http:/
INFORMATION: India Ministry of Tourism , http:/
-- T.R. Reid
