I am currently arranging an itinerary for a 21 day trip to northern India. I am flying into Mumbai around the middle of October and will depart from Delhi at the beginning of November. My wife and I have usually travelled independently arranging our own transport and accommodation but this time, as it is our first trip to India, we are looking to use a reputable Indian agent to help arrange the trip. Provisionally we are looking at an itinerary of:
Udaipur
Shimla
Patiala
Mukundgarh
Nagaur
Jodhpur
Jaipur
Ranthambhore
Agra
Varanasi
Delhi
Can anyone help with advice on the best itinerary to link up these locations, nos of days in each and preferred hotel accommodation. Indeed are they all worth visiting?
Trip to northern India
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contact castle and king for excellent assistance with the trip. i have used them twice..
that's too many places for 3 weeks i think..
11 cities in 21 days? I'd leave off at least four of them. It takes nearly a day to get to some of these cities by car or train, and if you are flying, just one cancelled flight could be a mess.
If you really plan to do this, I'd place Udaipur between Jaipur and jodhpur, Delhi after agra, and fly delhi-Varanasi-Delhi at the end.
If it were my first 21 days in India, I'd definitely skip Ranthambore and would choose either Shimla OR Varanasi. I'm not sure why you are visiting Patiala, Mukundgarh, Nagaur, unless it is to break up a long drive from Shimla to Jodhpur.
I'd go Mumbai-fly to Shimla- fly to Delhi, then drive Agra-Jaipur- Jodhpur Udaipur (and if you really must, then fly to Varanasi via Delhi) and back to Delhi . I'd have a MINIMUM of 2 nights in each town. Travel in India is SLOW and both roads and the trains are unpredictable.
I'm getting the picture fast! As a consequence I have already added another three days to the trip plus reassessing the number of towns to visit. I am going to work now on the route.
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