trebex

I am heading to India next month and planning to go to Delhi, Agra, Udaipur and Mumbai and one place in between. I wanted to go to Pushkar and all the guidebooks recommend it, but I have read some less than positive things about it online. (I'm not really interested in Jaipur). Any thoughts on Pushkar?

Nywoman

If you can plan to be there for the camel fair it is fantastic. Otherwise am not so sure.

rhkkmk

isn't the fair in december??

jaipur was my favorite stop in the golden triangle... we spent 4 days there

Nywoman

This year it is October 30th to November 2nd. It is a marvelous spectacle, and if possible not to be missed. We were there a few days before to see the setups and then left as it was getting under way. It gets very crowded when all the pilgrims arrive.

vp_singh

Pushkar is justified if you wish to see the Cattle Fair. And that too on the first two or three days, when the actual sale / purchase of camels, horses, cows, buffaloes etc. is taking place.
You may stay at some great fort-palace properties like the Sardargarh, Shahpura Bagh or if your budget allows, the luxury tents on the Chattra Sagar (lake). These properties fall between Jaipur > Udaipur.
Happy Travels!

Cicerone

Well, there is a huge swath of India “in between” Mumbai and Delhi, so neither Jaipur nor Puskhar necessarily need to be included. That being said, Pushkar is one of the oldest continually occupied cities in India, and is actually a somewhat important Hindu pilgrimage site, and you might want to include it for those reasons. Jaipur also offers lots to see and do. However, you also have plenty of other places to consider like Varanasi, Ahmadabad (and the Elora and Ajanta caves), hill station areas like Darjeeling, far northern states like Ladakh (not technically “in between” but certainly interesting). There are also places within Rajasthan like Jodhpur, Ajmer, Jaiselmer or Bikaner. However, without knowing (i) your particular interests and (ii) how much time you have in each place, it is a bit hard to give specific reccos.

Personally, on a first trip to India, I would skip Mumbai in favour of many other places which would offer more to see in terms of sights, and far less traffic. Or just spend more time in each place already on your itin. (I just spent 3 days outside Udaipur, did not go into the city at all, and barely scratched the surface of sights in the small area I was in; each region really offers a lot to see and do.)

trebex

Thanks for the replies. I am already flying out of Mumbai so I can't change that. I figure if I'll be in Delhi, Agra and Mumbai, I'll have seen enough of dirty, chaotic cities. So that is why I'm planning to skip Jaipur and Jodhpur. I thought Pushkar would be good as a small town and a religious pilgrimage sight, even if it is a bit touristy. Another option is Bundi, but I'm not sure if that is a better idea than Pushkar.

Nywoman

Jaipur and Jodphur are very different from Delhi, Agra and Mumbai. Each city is so unique with so much to see and do.

What is your itinerary? How much time do you have?

trebex

I have ten days. I am flying into Delhi and am planning to stay three nights. Then I'll train it to Agra for one night, get a driver to Pushkar for two nights, train or driver to Udaipur for three nights, then I fly to Mumbai for the last day and a half. I'd probably be better off flying back from Delhi, but unless Air India will let me change that for free which I doubt, I'll be flying from Mumbai.

i considered all sorts of routes; flying from Delhi to Amristar for one night, flying to Varanasi but that is in the other direction, flying to Jodhpur and then bus / train to Udaipur, train to Bundi and then Udaipur, flying to Leh... The Pushkar, Udaipur option seems best.

Cicerone

Well one way you could easily include Varanasi in the 10 days is:

Delhi for 3 days
Fly to Varanasi – 2 nights if possible (you will want 2 mornings on the river IMO)
Train to Agra (8 hours), 1 or 2 nights in Agra, including trip out to Fatephur Sikri
Overnight Mewar Express Train to Udaipur – 3 nights/days in Udaipur
Fly Udaipur to Mumbai to connect to your international flight (see below)

Day or night trains to Agra from Varanasi are possible. Note that you want Agra Fort station in Agra, not Agra Cantonment.

Another option to go from Agra to Udaipur is to drive to Jaipur, stopping at Fatephur Sikri (the drive to Jaipur is 4 hours, you need about 2 hours at FS), see anything of Jaipur you can when you arrive in the evening, and then the next day take the 7:15 am Jet Airways flight to Udaipur, you will be in Udaipur by 8 am. (Otherwise it’s a long drive to Udaipur from Agra.)

Whatever you do, make sure your schedule allows you to see sunrise and sunset at the Taj if at all possible.

If you think you may never get back to India, IMO, you may want to go to Varanasi over Pushkar, as it is so important to Hindus and Buddhists and is a really interesting place from that respect.

Otherwise, sticking to your original itin, Agra to Pushkar is just under 400 km, will probably take 6-7 hours, give or take a bit. You will pass through Jaipur. Roads are pretty good, esp. Agra to Jaipur. I assume you are going to see sunrise at the Taj and then stop at Fatephur Sikri which is on the way out from Agra to Pushkar, so this will take up 2 hours or so. Given this, you may actually want to break this trip up with an overnight either in or just outside Jaipur; as otherwise you will have a very long day to get to Pushkar. (Personally, my limit on Indian roads is about 5 hours, if for nothing else than that is as long as I want to hear <i>my own driver</i> honking incessantly.)

To take a train, there is no train station in Pushkar, you have to go to Ajmer (which is worth seeing in any event) and is like 10 miles away. The fastest trains seems to take about 7-8 hours, you have night and day options; day trains are nice because you can see the countryside.

Pushkar to Udaipur is just under 300 miles, will probably take you 5 hours or so, but again you might want to break this up by overnight in Kumbhalgarh and then the next day seeing that fantastic fortress and a quick stop at Ranakpur before heading into Udaipur. That way, you could concentrate on Udaipur and environs in your three days and possibly also get to Chittogarh fort.

Trains from Ajmer to Udaipur seem to take 5.5 hours. A day train looks like your best option, as the night trains depart at quite late hours, which means you would have to hang around Ajmer for most of an evening.

I still would try to cut of Mumbai, and spend more time in the countryside areas and small villages of India. This is esp. if you are flying from Udaipur and can connect right to your international flight from Mumbai. While the domestic and international airports at Mumbai are a few miles apart, your bags will be transferred (this is not the case in Delhi), which will make the trip quite smooth and you can just take the shuttle bus between the two or a pre-paid taxi. (I assume Indian Airlines will do the baggage transfer, check with them. I just did an Udaipur-Mumbai-Hong Kong flight last week, and used Jet Airways for the Udaipur-Mumbai portion, they transferred the bags all the way through to Hong Kong. I personally would use Jet Airways for the domestic portion in any event if you can change, as they are a much better airline, IMO, in terms of on-time records and service.)

Cicerone

Sorry its 300 Km Puskhar to Udaipur, not miles.

live42day

Cicerone. You say you are in India now. What are you doing for internet? Do you have your own computer and use WiFi, or do you use hotel internet cafes?
thanks.

Cicerone

Actually I am back in Hong Kong. But when I am in India, I usually have my own PC, because I travel for busines. I use WiFi and either buy minutes when in an airport, or go via the hotel's wifi. A lot of restaurants (and most offices where I have meetings) also have wifi you can hook into (security of course always a question). However, it if is strictly a personal trip with no business aspect, I do not bring a PC at all. If necessry, I use the PC at the hotel's business centre (if available), an airport or city internet cafe. I have to say that mostly on a personal trip I tend not to use the internet at all -- I am there to have fun and see something, not spend time on the internet including Fodors.....

That being said, I do have a Blackberry which helps tremendously to keep in touch for short messages to friends, family and colleagues. You can also get on the internet with it, but it's kind of cumbersome, IMO.

If you are wondering what to bring to stay in touch, I would say lugging a laptop around India is not worth it, but a Blackberry can be very handy, it can also be your phone. Or just a mobile phone which you can text on is good - esp a phone in which you can insert a local Indian SIM card, as rates will be cheaper.

If you want to record notes or a diary of your trip, some people like a PC, but I am old-fashioned and write everything down. Moleskine notebooks are great for this (I like to pretend I am Ernest Hemingway or at least Martha Gelhorn), they are small and have a version with a pocket at the back to keep cards from restaurants and shops, etc. All very handy.

trebex

I suppose I could fly from Udaipur to Mumbai on the same day as my flight back to NY, but I didn't want to take the chance of anything going wrong, like a cancellation or long delay.

Cicerone

What time are your various flights? If you are taking Jet from Udaipur I would really not have any concerns. If you are taking Indian Airlines, then you might want to be more conservative.

You would want at least a 2 hour layover between the time your flight arrives in Mumbai from Udaipur and the time your international flight departs. I had a 3 hour layover last week, and had a huge amount of time sitting around the airport in Mumbai. But you have to do what makes you comfortable. You can certainly go to Mumbai and spend time there if you want. And of course anything can happen with regard to a given flight, but that has not been my experience with Jet or Kingfisher. You also are out of the monsoon period and before winter fog issues in north India (which don't really affect Udaipur in any event), so weather delays are unlikely.

magical

Hi Cicerone....when you do use your own PC/laptop in India, what do you do for a secure internet connection. Especially, what do you do if you are doing online banking using WiFi? Or is that too unsafe?

trebex....plan on atleast 3+ hours between a domestic flight and transferring to an international flight in Mumbai...that's good advice from cicerone.

Cicerone

I don't do online banking at home so can't help you. I really am an old-fashionged gal (plus there is a bank branch in my building). I do use Wifi in India generally for other stuff (including sending and receiving confidential documents for clients) and I would say that I don't think India is any worse than any place else in terms of people next to you potentially accessing your info via Wifi.

If you are going to be away from home for a period that would actually require you to move funds or make payments from bank accounts (I have trouble imagining that on a 2-3 week holiday you would need access), you might want to arrange for telephone banking for that period as well. Would be easier I would think than using a PC as you can call from anywhere. Or arrange for automatic debits for things like credit card bills, utilities, etc so you don't have to make the payments yourself.

trebex

I am flying Kingfisher from Udaipur to Mumbai. I believe it lands in Mumbai at 3:45 PM. The flight from Mumbai to New York leaves at 12:40 AM.

live42day

Thanks for the PC advise Cicerone

Cicerone

<b>trebox</b>Wow, you have <i>loads</i> of time. There is also a later Jet flight from Udaipur that departs Udaipur at about 7:30 pm and arrives in Mumbai at 9:30 pm. That would give you about 3 hours to make the connection to your 12:40 am departure. But up to you, the Kingfisher flight would certainly leave you a huge margin for error. Both airlines have very good on-time records and excellent service.