India Itinerary Help

Old Oct 3rd, 2010, 03:10 PM
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India Itinerary Help

I posted the message below an hour or so ago but neglected to tag it to the India forum, so I'm re-posting. Thanks & apologies for the repetition


Help with preliminary plan for 6-7 week itinerary, India & Bangladesh
Posted by: brk01 on Oct 3, 10 at 5:41pm
Posted in: Asia

Two recent retirees beginning planning for 6-7 week trip to India (late January through early March). Would really appreciate Fodorite experts' views on possible itinerary before we buy tickets & get into more detailed planning.  Preliminary thinking is trip could unfold like this:

- fly into (and out of) Delhi
- week or so in Rajasthan by train (thinking Jaipur, Jodphur & Udaipur).  Ok with skipping Agra.  
- train to Mumbai, 2-3 days there, train (fly?) to Goa
- couple of days in Goa, then down to Kerala for 5-6 days or so.
-Trivandrum for a few days, then fly to Kolkata
- Kolkata, then fly or bus to Dhaka  
- maybe a week in Bangladesh (including trip on the Rocket)
- fly back to Kolkata, train to Varanasi for a few days
- back to Delhi for flight home.

Have been to India before but last time was 15 years ago.  Level of travel not extravagant but not rock-bottom either, do not want to force too much in, and would hope to build in a fair degree of flexibility to adjust itinerary on the spot. 

Big question: does this generally sound about right in terms of number of places given the amount of time we have? More specific questions: Should we cut back time in Bangladesh and try to add Chennai? Does it make sense to fly from Rajasthan to Mumbai? Would welcome any and all suggestions at this early stage. Thanks to all.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2010, 04:13 PM
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Here are a few thoughts:
Rajasthan by train- good idea, a week is about right. We did 2 days in Jaipur, was perfect. Udaipur we had 2 as well, but would have stayed 3- there's lots to see. Also if you can't get trains, then there are good buses.
Yes it is worthwhile to fly to Mumbai- the train line is not so reliable- we had a lot of delays, and it is a very short flight and rather long train ride.
Mumbai- we stayed 2 days and it was 1 day too many, unless you really love big cities.
Mumabai to Goa- perfect amount of time for a night train, otherwise flights are good.
Goa- we loved it- good beaches and good food. We actually rented a scooter to explore the different beaches- just depends how much you like beach.
Kerala- 5 days is good for coastal area, but I would add a few more if you want to go into the hill towns.
Trivandrum- not much there; it is a regional capital, actually I would skip it all together unless you are flying from there.
Haven't been to NE India/Bangladesh so can't comment on that.
Varanasi- I would give 3 days or so
Delhi- give yourself a day or 2 at the end to go shopping. A lot of regional goods are actually cheaper in Delhi than they are in their region of origin.
If you do want to go to Agra- there is a Shatabdi train round trip, leaves in morning returns in evening, almost daily.
Chennai- not much there for tourists, unless you go down to Mamalapuram.

Feel free to ask more specific details, once you know more.
D
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Old Oct 3rd, 2010, 06:56 PM
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Some thoughts are as follows:

1. I never see the logic in flying into and out of Delhi on a trip which includes so many different areas. It seems like a lot of backtracking. For example, you could fly into Mumbai and do the south and then over to Bangladesh, and then head to Varanasi then Delhi for the end of the trip. Doing this as a circuit would seem to be easer. Most airlines would not charge you more for doing an “open jaw” trip into one city and out of another.

2. On that same subject, not sure where you are coming from in the US, but if you are transiting through Dubai, Hong Kong or Singapore, you might consider going to Trivandrum or Chennai first rather then heading to the big cities (or vice versa). Many airports in India now have international flights and it is worth considering them as an “easier” introduction to India. I would agree that neither Trivandrum nor Chennai offer a whole lot for the tourist, but if you are planning to use them as starting points for sightseeing in the area, then they work as airport hubs. You can also fly to/from Dhaka to places like Hong Kong and Singapore, which again may make this an option for the beginning or end of a trip.

3. As you have been to India before (many parts of which, like the Delhi suburbs, have changed beyond recognition in 15 years), then I can sort of see going to Mumbai. But really there are so many other more interesting places, with more to see and do. Your itin is rather heavy on cities to begin with; does not look like a whole lot of countryside (other than parts of Rajasthan perhaps). IMO you are giving short shrift to the south not including places like Madurai or Pondicherry, which is one of my more favourite places. Hyderabad is quite interesting, IMO and very different from the Hindu India you will see in the north and the Christian India in Goa. (Many international flight options into Hyderabad as well, which may work as an exit or entry city.) Even though you have a decent amount of time for the trip, going to Mumbai seems like a bit of a waste of it. I guest my closest comparison would be whether you would recommend that someone with 6 weeks in the US go to LA in favour of skipping places like New Orleans or Yellowstone. (I am not sure which city in India is New Orleans in that comparison, but hopefully you get the point. Yellowstone could be Peryiar park in the south, or Ranthambore of Corbett in the north.)

4. Without knowing your interests or where you have been in India on previous trips, it’s hard to give more specific advice. I would note that if you are interested in architecture, then perhaps Chandigarh would be a place to consider. Or going to Amritsar would give you exposure to a different part of India as well. You have no national parks or mountain areas like Shimla, Darjeeling or even a place like Ladakh which is Buddhist India and quite different. There are many options beyond just the cities on your itin (some of which, like Mumbai and even Kolkata, are just overwhelmingly huge. But IMO Kolkata is more interesting than Mumbai.)

5. You certainly have some long train journeys on this trip. Mumbai to Jaipur or other parts of Rajasthan is something like 17-22 hours. Flying in many cases would be significantly faster (it’s about an hour flight from Mumbai to Udaipur), but if you are on a budget then the price of the trains certainly is attractive. But my suggestion would be that perhaps you break these up into shorter trips with overnights; say going from Mumbai to Ahmedabad (7 hours, then stay a day or two to see the Elanta and Alora caves as well as things like Gandhi’s ashram) and then on to Udaipur (9 hours). Take day trains to the extent possible as you can see the countryside, and IMO, these are better than a lot of night trains, which personally I find exhausting. (To the best of my knowledge, it is a bit faster to go by road from Mumbai to Udaipur than to take a train, it has something to do with the different gauge tracks. A bus to Udaipur from Mumbai may be preferable to the train, look into this. A car and driver would also work, assuming this works for your budget.) I have heard from many Indians that the drive from Mumbai down to Goa along the coast is one of the prettiest anywhere, and you can stop places like the fort near Sindhuburg, so again you might consider that, I think it is about 8-9 hours. Otherwise there is a night train or you can fly.
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Old Oct 4th, 2010, 02:13 PM
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I would spend less time in Mumbai, but arrange to go to the Ajanta and Ellora caves in Maharashtra.
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Old Oct 5th, 2010, 06:00 AM
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I recently spent six weeks in India (itinerary at ridingthebuses.wordpress.com)and was going to take the train but more frequently took a plane or hired a car and driver. I suggest going right over to Jaisalmer (I took the bus from Jodpur). I spent one night in Mumbai and was rather surprised to find it so interesting. I preferred Kovalam over Goa. I also headed north for a few days (Haridwar and Rishikesh) which was a very nice change from Delhi.
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Old Oct 5th, 2010, 06:40 AM
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Thanks to all for valuable input! Will reflect on all this and i suspect come back seeking further suggestions as planning proceeds.......
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Old Oct 8th, 2010, 06:21 PM
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OK...i think you should visit just 2 places for 1 week in Rajasthan...


Look at cheap airlines:
www.goindigo.in
www.jetairways.com
www.flykingfisher.com
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Old Nov 21st, 2010, 12:00 PM
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Thanks to all for the thoughtful and helpful responses to my original posting last month. Planning for this 6-week trip is now further along (at least for the very beginning of the trip) but the itinerary has been shifted around so once again would welcome suggestions/critique on the overall flow and in response to specific questions noted.   As plans stand now:
- Arrive Delhi, two nights at Palace Heights hotel.
- Either train or car/driver to Agra, one night in hotel to be determined, have a look at the Taj the next day, then train to Varanasi.  Does this seem reasonable?  Think we can line up a car and driver to Agra on the spot thru the hotel or whatever?   Looks like 2C sleeper is only way from Agra to Varanasi: does that seem right?     
- Two or three days in Varanasi, then train to Kolkata.  From there we will reassess and play it a little bit by ear with general vision of heading south, then back up west coast, with possible side trip to Bangladesh depending on whether we can get reentry permits for India.  
- Regardless of whether we pull off the Bangladesh trip, we would still head south from Kolkata, maybe flying to Chennai and (taking Cicerone's suggestion) visit  
Madurai and Pondicherry.  Maybe even Periyar if practical. Then we would make our way to Trivandrum for some beach time at Varkala and/or Kovalam.  Suggestions on transportation/routing from Chennai to these places most welcome. 
- Next stop in any event be would be Kerala backwaters.  Assume best to head first to Kochi to scope this out?
- Depending on how much time is left, would then head to Mumbai.  Need to decide whether this would be via Goa or whether to skip Goa and fly from Kochi, which would be inclination to save time. 
- From Mumbai, again depending on time available for a hoped-for Rajasthan portion of trip, fly to at least one place, maybe Jodhpur, before making our way back to Delhi for flight home.
I realize this is still pretty loose at this stage but the idea is to keep our options open and build in a lot of flexibility. That said, would very much appreciate perspectives from experts as we continue planning, especially if there seem to be any major flaws in how see this unfolding.           
  
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