Honeymoon in India
Oct 14th, 2010, 10:06 PM
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Honeymoon in India
I am in the process of planning my India honeymoon for this upcoming July and was wondering if anyone had insight into places to visit, places to stay in cities I have currently selected, or any other advice for a first time India traveler.
The essentials. We have about 2.5 weeks give or take a few days, would like to see the Taj Mahal, the Himalayas in India, and Goa (have a friend there). Cost will be an issue so excessive travel should be minimized. Here is the current itinerary:
We are going to start in Delhi and spend 3 days visiting the plethora of historical sights and enjoying the large city experience. We will then take a bus down to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, spend a night, and then head back to Delhi the following day. From there, we will fly to Leh and spend approximately 5 days hiking and visiting the surrounding areas. We will then take another flight down to Goa and spend 5-7 days enjoying the beaches and spending time with a fellow classmate of mine's brother. Finally, we will take the train up to Mumbai, spend 2-3 days exploring the city and then fly to Uganda to finish the trip (that is already planned)
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Brian
The essentials. We have about 2.5 weeks give or take a few days, would like to see the Taj Mahal, the Himalayas in India, and Goa (have a friend there). Cost will be an issue so excessive travel should be minimized. Here is the current itinerary:
We are going to start in Delhi and spend 3 days visiting the plethora of historical sights and enjoying the large city experience. We will then take a bus down to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, spend a night, and then head back to Delhi the following day. From there, we will fly to Leh and spend approximately 5 days hiking and visiting the surrounding areas. We will then take another flight down to Goa and spend 5-7 days enjoying the beaches and spending time with a fellow classmate of mine's brother. Finally, we will take the train up to Mumbai, spend 2-3 days exploring the city and then fly to Uganda to finish the trip (that is already planned)
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Brian
Oct 14th, 2010, 10:31 PM
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One tip I give to all honeymooners in India, restrict public displays of affection to a minimum. India is culturally very different from the Americas or Europe and intimate behavior in public places, even between married couples, is generally frowned upon. The smaller the town, the deeper the frown.
Oct 15th, 2010, 01:03 PM
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Hi Brian-
Regarding your itinerary- for Agra you should take the train (there's a Shatabdi- a nice one) that goes from Delhi in the morning and returns in the evening. We did stay a night as well and liked it a lot. You can book the train at the tourist office in the Delhi train station when you get there, or online beforehand. I'm not sure if you already have a flight out, but IMO there isn't much tourist interest in Mumbai and I would actually save Delhi for the end (it can be a bit overwhelming at first) and also the shopping is better/cheaper in Delhi (the wholesale markets are there). If you do end in Mumbai 1 day is really enough to see the attractions. Hope that helps.
Regarding your itinerary- for Agra you should take the train (there's a Shatabdi- a nice one) that goes from Delhi in the morning and returns in the evening. We did stay a night as well and liked it a lot. You can book the train at the tourist office in the Delhi train station when you get there, or online beforehand. I'm not sure if you already have a flight out, but IMO there isn't much tourist interest in Mumbai and I would actually save Delhi for the end (it can be a bit overwhelming at first) and also the shopping is better/cheaper in Delhi (the wholesale markets are there). If you do end in Mumbai 1 day is really enough to see the attractions. Hope that helps.
Oct 16th, 2010, 12:42 PM
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The Shatabdi is a good choice for train. It's an express train which means it is quicker since it doesn't stop at every outpost along the way. It leaves Delhi for Agra (about a 2 hour journey) around 6am so you should have a hotel not too far from the train station. Why? Because Delhi is huge and can take 1 to 2 hours to get from one end of Delhi to the other. Location logistics is important.
Oct 17th, 2010, 08:03 PM
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My thoughts and suggestions are as follows:
1. As noted above, much of India will be very, very hot in July, and parts will be quite rainy. The rainy parts include New Delhi, Agra, and esp. Mumbai and Goa. I find Goa to be really beautiful in the monsoon, but if you have dreams of sitting by the beach or a pool on that portion of the trip, then perhaps Goa would not be a good idea in July. Take a look at weatherbase.com and other websites and guidebooks to get an idea of rain, and make sure you are comfortable with the potential temperatures. Average rainfall in July in Goa and Mumbai are 30 inches or so, which is more than many “rainy” places – like Seattle or London – get in an entire <i>year</i>. The rain can be torrential, and there can be flooding (esp. in Mumbai). This can slow transport down considerably. So bear all that in mind. (If you want to avoid rain, go to the west coast, places like Chennai, Pondicherry and beaches in between or further south. They have rain in the Fall months).
2. Going to Ladakh is a great idea, it won’t be rainy and temps will be much better. It’s quite different from the rest of India, and I think you will enjoy the contrast. However, from what I can see, the only flights to Leh from Delhi are very early in the morning (5:40 am on Jet, 6:10 am on Kingfisher and 6:30 am on Air India. I am not aware of other carriers who fly to Leh). If you are coming up from Agra to get this flight, you will have to stay overnight in Delhi in order to make this flight. This seems like a waste of time and an expense you don’t need. So you may want to rejigger the first part of the trip. Some options would be:
-see Delhi, fly early morning to Leh, fly back to Delhi on the morning flight and go right from the airport down to Agra by car. (The Jet or Kingfisher flights would be preferred, IMO, as they depart early in the morning.) You could also take a train from Delhi to Agra, but it will take you 1-2 hours to get to the train station from the airport. And other than the Kerala Express which departs at 11:30 am, the superfast Agra trains do not run after about 8 am, so you will have to take a slower train. Door to door this is going to take you longer than driving. It will of course be far cheaper than driving, but only you can decide whether the time is worth the cost. Then train or car up to Delhi to get your flight to Goa.
-assuming you arrive into Delhi on your international flight late in the evening (as many flights do) you could go right from Delhi airport onto to Leh on the 5:40 am Jet Airways flight. This may be a bit tiring, but in the end may work out best with the other parts of your itin.
-depending on what time you arrive into Delhi on your international flight, you can go right from the airport down to Agra by car or train. A car option would only work if you arrive in daylight and with enough time for a 4 hour drive in daylight (you don’t want to do the Agra road at night, IMO.) Again, this will be tiring, but may be preferable to backtracking to Delhi for a night just to get the flight to Leh.
-one final option would be keep your itin, but to take a night train from Agra up to Delhi and then go on to the airport. This would mean taking like an 11 pm train which arrives into Delhi at 3 am and then heading out to the airport. I think that one may be the most exhausting of all (and if the train is late, you may miss your flight).
3. I would also suggest the train over the bus for getting to Agra. (I know very little about the bus system in India, but would generally think that a train would be faster and more comfortable, and they are quite inexpensive. AC First Class on the Shabtabi is US$15, other classes are cheaper.) I would not do a day trip to Agra, but it seems you have ruled that out in any event. You want to see sunrise and sunset if possible, plus IMO you want to go out to Fatephur Sikri. You can easily do 2 nights in Agra if you wanted, although 2 long days and 1 overnight would work as well.
4. You might consider including Varanasi, which is very interesting and would be memorable. If this were my trip, I would do this instead of Mumbai. You can take an overnight train from Agra to Varanasi (a day train is actually preferred IMO, so you can see the countryside and they are not so tiring, but you do “lose” a day travelling). From Varanasi, you can fly to Delhi to connect to your flight to Leh (but again this will require an overnight in Delhi). An overnight train from Varanasi to Delhi is possible, and again might work well for connecting to an early-morning flight to Leh. OR you could do the trip as Delhi, Leh, fly Leh to Varanasi (via a connection in Delhi, there are Jet flight that would easily allow you to do this with a 1.5 hour layover in Delhi). Then night or day train Varanasi to Agra. Then train or car up to Delhi for the flight to Goa.
5. I am not a huge fan of Mumbai for a first-time tourist and more so in the monsoon season. Perhaps you could stay in the south for longer and then just head up for your flight out. It is usually quite easy to coordinate flights from Goa to make a connection to an international flight. This requires changing airports, a taxi ride of about 20 minutes, but is easy to do.
1. As noted above, much of India will be very, very hot in July, and parts will be quite rainy. The rainy parts include New Delhi, Agra, and esp. Mumbai and Goa. I find Goa to be really beautiful in the monsoon, but if you have dreams of sitting by the beach or a pool on that portion of the trip, then perhaps Goa would not be a good idea in July. Take a look at weatherbase.com and other websites and guidebooks to get an idea of rain, and make sure you are comfortable with the potential temperatures. Average rainfall in July in Goa and Mumbai are 30 inches or so, which is more than many “rainy” places – like Seattle or London – get in an entire <i>year</i>. The rain can be torrential, and there can be flooding (esp. in Mumbai). This can slow transport down considerably. So bear all that in mind. (If you want to avoid rain, go to the west coast, places like Chennai, Pondicherry and beaches in between or further south. They have rain in the Fall months).
2. Going to Ladakh is a great idea, it won’t be rainy and temps will be much better. It’s quite different from the rest of India, and I think you will enjoy the contrast. However, from what I can see, the only flights to Leh from Delhi are very early in the morning (5:40 am on Jet, 6:10 am on Kingfisher and 6:30 am on Air India. I am not aware of other carriers who fly to Leh). If you are coming up from Agra to get this flight, you will have to stay overnight in Delhi in order to make this flight. This seems like a waste of time and an expense you don’t need. So you may want to rejigger the first part of the trip. Some options would be:
-see Delhi, fly early morning to Leh, fly back to Delhi on the morning flight and go right from the airport down to Agra by car. (The Jet or Kingfisher flights would be preferred, IMO, as they depart early in the morning.) You could also take a train from Delhi to Agra, but it will take you 1-2 hours to get to the train station from the airport. And other than the Kerala Express which departs at 11:30 am, the superfast Agra trains do not run after about 8 am, so you will have to take a slower train. Door to door this is going to take you longer than driving. It will of course be far cheaper than driving, but only you can decide whether the time is worth the cost. Then train or car up to Delhi to get your flight to Goa.
-assuming you arrive into Delhi on your international flight late in the evening (as many flights do) you could go right from Delhi airport onto to Leh on the 5:40 am Jet Airways flight. This may be a bit tiring, but in the end may work out best with the other parts of your itin.
-depending on what time you arrive into Delhi on your international flight, you can go right from the airport down to Agra by car or train. A car option would only work if you arrive in daylight and with enough time for a 4 hour drive in daylight (you don’t want to do the Agra road at night, IMO.) Again, this will be tiring, but may be preferable to backtracking to Delhi for a night just to get the flight to Leh.
-one final option would be keep your itin, but to take a night train from Agra up to Delhi and then go on to the airport. This would mean taking like an 11 pm train which arrives into Delhi at 3 am and then heading out to the airport. I think that one may be the most exhausting of all (and if the train is late, you may miss your flight).
3. I would also suggest the train over the bus for getting to Agra. (I know very little about the bus system in India, but would generally think that a train would be faster and more comfortable, and they are quite inexpensive. AC First Class on the Shabtabi is US$15, other classes are cheaper.) I would not do a day trip to Agra, but it seems you have ruled that out in any event. You want to see sunrise and sunset if possible, plus IMO you want to go out to Fatephur Sikri. You can easily do 2 nights in Agra if you wanted, although 2 long days and 1 overnight would work as well.
4. You might consider including Varanasi, which is very interesting and would be memorable. If this were my trip, I would do this instead of Mumbai. You can take an overnight train from Agra to Varanasi (a day train is actually preferred IMO, so you can see the countryside and they are not so tiring, but you do “lose” a day travelling). From Varanasi, you can fly to Delhi to connect to your flight to Leh (but again this will require an overnight in Delhi). An overnight train from Varanasi to Delhi is possible, and again might work well for connecting to an early-morning flight to Leh. OR you could do the trip as Delhi, Leh, fly Leh to Varanasi (via a connection in Delhi, there are Jet flight that would easily allow you to do this with a 1.5 hour layover in Delhi). Then night or day train Varanasi to Agra. Then train or car up to Delhi for the flight to Goa.
5. I am not a huge fan of Mumbai for a first-time tourist and more so in the monsoon season. Perhaps you could stay in the south for longer and then just head up for your flight out. It is usually quite easy to coordinate flights from Goa to make a connection to an international flight. This requires changing airports, a taxi ride of about 20 minutes, but is easy to do.
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