violetm

Hi all,

I am in the early stages of planning our first trip to India, albeit its for this Christmas and New Year, and would love some help/advice with itinerary.

We have decided on Kolkata, Agra and Rajasthan, the details of which we are still unsure of but here's the initial plan ...

20 Dec Fly Australia to Delhi
Delhi (2 nights)
Morning train to Agra
Agra (1 night)
Drive Agra - Jaipur
Jaipur (2 nights)
Pushkar (2 nights)
Jodhpur (2 nights)
Udaipur (3 nights)
Fly Udaipur - Delhi - Kolkata
Kolkata (6 nights)
7 Jan Fly Kolkata - Australia

We are a couple in our 40's with no kids. I know we could add more places to our itinerary but we live a hectic life and tend to do the same on holiday but normally throw in some beach-time at the end to compensate. We don't want beaches this time (I have been to Goa years ago) so we're trying to experience India, but at a more relaxed pace without it being too exhausting (if that's possible!) hence the reason we're trying to space out the travelling, and deciding not to include Jaisalmer.

Our main interests are experiencing the local culture, markets, sightseeing and enjoying the food. Photography is a huge part of our trip. We are not hugely into forts, palaces, temples etc - want to see the main ones but not go out of our way, and wouldn't spend days wandering round them.

We definitely want to do the Taj Mahal, Udaipur has huge appeal, and we've just guessed at the nights for Jaipur, Jodhpur and Pushkar, to break up the travelling, but I need to do more research. Love the idea of horseriding in the desert and maybe staying in a tented camp.

We want 6 nights in Kolkata as its somewhere that we've always wanted to go. We decided to do it at the end as we'll stay at the Oberoi and can have some relaxing pool time there too. But we could still swap it round and do it at the beginning, we just thought that all the travelling at the end would be the most tiring part of the trip.

I do wonder if we should be doing Varanasi, I think the photography there would be amazing, but what would we cut back on?

The other thing is we need to get hotels booked as it's Christmas/New Year and lots are fully booked already. We're budgeting about $200 a night but will splurge for the odd special places. We really wanted to stay at the Taj Lake Palace but there seems to a min 2 night stay (1 would have done) and at $800 a night, is it worth it? I've never spent that much on a hotel room in my life! We'll probably never go there again though ... maybe we could cut back on our other hotels to help fund it.

We're mostly doing car and driver, but if there were any parts that were better by train or plane we'd consider that too ...

Any help /advice much appreciated.

Thanks so much, Steph

Kathie

Is there a reason you are spending 6 nights in Kolkata? We spent three nights, which was enough for an introduction. Unless there is some special reason for spending that much time there, I'd cut it back to 4 nights, which would give you two nights to add to other places. Remember that two nights somewhere is a mere one day - especially in India where drives are long and arduous. Add a night each to Jaipur and Jodhpur. I'd also seriously consider whether to cut Pushkar.

While in Kolkata, do at least one of the Calcutta Walks. It will really give you an experience of the city.

thursdaysd

I agree with Kathie. I spent several nights in Kolkata, but it was during the Durga Puja festival. Given a choice between Kolkata and Varanasi, I'd pick Varanasi. And if you want to cut down on travel I'd stay in Rajasthan and go to Jaisalmer and the Shekhawati region.

violetm

Hi, thanks for your replies ... I think Kolkata is the one place we know we really want to explore, do a cooking school while we're there, and we kind of wanted somewhere we could just unpack and hang for a while before the trip back to Aus, but maybe we should be rethinking this ...

I'd really like to include Varanasi which is an easy flight to Kolkata but not that easy to get to from Rajasthan, and I'm trying to cut down on travelling time by taking flights which is proving difficult as most flights from Udaipur/Jodhpur/Jaipur are only one a day and are already almost fully booked.

I wasn't set on Pushkar - still unsure if we want to do Jaipur and Jodhpur and Pushkar anyway - it was more to break up travel and also we thought Pushkar might be nice to stay somewhere less hectic than the bigger cities, but maybe that's not such a big deal?

As we need to get our international flights booked, I guess my biggest question is should we do Delhi/Rajasthan first and Kolkata last, or would it be better the other way round?

Thanks again,
Steph

thursdaysd

If you're set on Kolkata, why not stay on that side of the country? You could go to Orissa, which is interesting and little visited, and Bodhgaya, now that Bihar is safer, and maybe Varanasi. I'd suggest Darjeeling, but you'd have to check on the weather in December.

Since this is your first visit I'd recommend doing the more active leg at the beginning, while you have more energy.

rhkkmk

i did much the same trip only in reverse last year at this time.. click on my name and read my trip report--why india, part II

3 days in kolkata would be plenty..

yes to varanasi--2 nights
i'd like longer in jaipur and for sure in udaipur, and possibly delhi..

why pushkar after the festival is long over??

TGSTours

Pushkar unfortunately is getting a very nasty reputation with the prayer ceremony scam being aggressively pushed on unsuspecting tourists.

It would be better to fly to Varanasi from Udaipur and include Varanasi as the more authentic Hindu pilgrimage town experience

You can then take a flight or train to Kolkata

violetm

Thanks to everyone for your replies. I've taken everything on board you've said, done loads more research and read Bob's trip report which really helped. I now have a new itinerary:

20 Dec Fly Australia to Kolkata
Kolkata (3 nights)
Fly to Varanasi
Varanasi (2 nights)
Fly to Delhi
Delhi (1 night)
Morning train to Agra
Agra (1 night)
Drive Agra - Jaipur
Jaipur (3 nights)
Jodhpur (3 nights)
Udaipur (3 nights)
Fly Udaipur - Mumbai
Mumbai (2 nights)
7 Jan Fly Mumbai - Australia

The only bit I'm not sure about is 1 night in Delhi - we'll arrive in the afternoon and leave early the next morning so we won't really get to see it, but it was the only way we could Varanasi and Agra in, and it's probably the place we're least bothered about spending time. I've booked all the flights and most of the hotels.

Next on the list is find a car and driver for Agra - Rajasthan. I've found some recommended on here, but if anyone has any other tips suggestions they would be very welcome.

Thanks again

thursdaysd

I have no problem with essentially skipping Delhi. For that matter you could skip Mumbai too....

violetm

The only reason we're doing Mumbai is because the Udaipur to Delhi flights were fully booked in time for our flight home, Mumbai was easier, and it made no difference to our international flights whether we left from Delhi or Mumbai. Thinking about it now, we don't fly from Mumbai to Brisbane until midnight, and the Udaipur flight gets to Mumbai at 4pm-ish, so we could have an extra night in Udaipur and just one night in Mumbai, giving us an evening and a full day in Mumbai before flying home ...

I would have liked another night in Delhi or even Varanasi but that would have meant being in Agra on a Friday which is pointless, so up until Agra we are quite restricted, after Agra we could move things around if we need to, so any ideas suggestions still welcome