turtle78

Hi everyone - my husband and I will be taking our first trip to India in mid-October. Our first week will be spent in Kochi and then we are heading North. We've finally narrowed it down to what we want to see, but aren't really what order to see everything in. Your expertise would be appreciated.

Delhi - jaipur- ranthambore national park - agra - khajuraho- varanasi- delhi.

Does this make sense? We will have 2 weeks to do this. Am I cramming too much in or is this doable? Is the best way to get from city to city via train or plane?

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks!

Cicerone

While your itin for the north is technically “doable” in 2 weeks if you have some good flight times, IMO it is a rushed intin that you may not find enjoyable. I personally would cut out Khajuraho in favour of staying longer in one of your other places. As an example, I am a big fan of Varanasi and have been several times, but have only been once to Khajuraho and have no desire to go back. The temple carvings are actually not as fine in quality compared to those you can see elsewhere in India, but they get the most hype because of the erotic nature of the carvings. (Believe me, after you have seen about the third temple and the guide pointing out with mock solemnity “woman copulating with horse”, the whole thing begins to seem faintly ridiculous. Buy a good edition of the Karma Sutra and be done with it, and spend more time elsewhere in the north.)

As I have said many times on this board, the drive between Ranthambore to Agra is <u>awful</u>: bad potholed roads (in some cases just dirt tracks) and it takes 6+ hours. I believe the road has even been “improved” somewhat since my last trip, but I still think it is pretty bad. I would avoid it if possible. You might do Delhi-Agra-Jaipur, then drive down to Ranthambore from Jaipur (3 hours on good roads), and then train to Delhi from Ranthambore. (An easy and pleasant trip.) You could do Varanasi just after Delhi or last, as it is hard to fly anywhere from Varansi other than Delhi. However, you could also look into flying from Varanasi on Kingfisher, via Delhi. I am not totally sure that Kingfisher would let you do this connection, as it is less than an hour, but it is very much worth asking. They are an excellent airline. You could take #334 departing Varanasi at 1:30 pm and arriving Delhi at 2: 50 pm, then connect to #2301 departing at 3:30 to Agra. Delhi domestic airport is <i>tiny</i> and the gates would literally be next to each other (there are maybe 8 gates at the terminal), so I think this connection should be possible. If possible, I would go business class, as if the Varanasi flight is late they will give you better service in making the connection, IMO. See http://www.flykingfisher.com/. If this is possible, then from Kochi I would do Delhi-Varanasi-Agra, Jaipur, Ranthambore and then train back to Delhi from the park.

npjai

Are there two of these threads? Anyway here goes again - Dear Turtle78...India is a big country. It is my humble opinion that you should do India in several trips and not just one do-it-all trip. Since youre starting Cochin, just stick to the South and cover Kerala &amp; Tamil Nadu in detail.

turtle78

Thanks for the input, appreciate all your comments!

PS. Yes, there are 2 separate threads, I accidentally posted on another board and didn't know how to delete one!

rajuindia

Hi,
The best itinerary according me should be as follows:-
elhi
:-Varanasi by flight or by Night train.
:-Khajuraho by Nigh train or by flight
rchha By car
:-Agra by car
:-Jaipur by car
:-Ranthambhore National Park by car
elhi by train
This is best possible itinerary as far I think.
Best wishes.
Raju India.

rajuindia

Hi,
I think some images appears with some letters so I am going to put this message once again as bellow;
The best itinerary according me should be as follows:-
Delhi
Varanasi by flight or by Night train.
Khajuraho by Nigh train or by flight
Orchha By car
Agra by car
Jaipur by car
Ranthambhore National Park by car
Delhi by train
This is best possible itinerary as far I think.
Best wishes.
Raju India.

giblum

We went on an organized tour last October which does most of what you want - you might want to look at their web site to get some ideas. They actually have changed the itinerary for 2009, so I would look at the 2008 and 2009 departures to get some ideas - the web site is www.vantagetravel.com