10 days Golden Traingle and Rajasthan advice please
 

Here is our proposed Itinerary for our trip in early December 2008.




Day 1 : Arrive Delhi at 2:20pm


Day 2 : Delhi to Agra


Day 3 : Agra to Jaipur


Day 4 : Jaipur


Day 5 : Jaipur to Pushkar


Day 6 : Pushkar to Jodhpur


Day 7 : Jodhpur to Udaipur


Day 8 : Udaipur


Day 9 : Udaipur to Delhi by Jet Airway, arrive Delhi at 16:30


Day 10 : Leaving Flight depart at 14:00.




It seems that we do not have much time in Delhi/ Please advise whether we should skip Pushkar and Jodphur and save more time in Delhi.




Lastly, the travel time on surface is quite long and take 4 to 6 hours,any idea on how to kill time or make the trip more pleasant and comfortable ?




Nicinici

this is almost undoable...

travel distances on the ground are long and slow..you do not have enough time in delhi, agra or jaipur...

for 10 days i would stick to those 3..

in 11 days i did the following and it was quite perfect, allowing us time to understand the country and cities...

arr delhi late at nite.
tour old delhi
tour new delhi
drive to agra
agra
drive to jaipur with stops
jaipur
jaipur and envions
jaipur
neemrana
drive to delhi for late nite flt

each of these lines represents one day..

we loved 2 nites in agra and we also liked the flexibility of the full days in jaipur....we would have liked 2 more days in delhi

neemrana is a fort palace on the way back to delhi...its a fabulous place and a good way to end the trip

Agree with rhkkmk that Neemrana is a great place but unfortunately wont be on the route youre planning. I posted a reply to your query on Tripadvisor and just reposting here for others who may be interested in this thread -

If you need to take any place off to add a day in Delhi, it has to be Pushkar. You can break the journeys or replan tham to make them more interesting as follows -

Agra to Jaipur - Stops at Fatehpur Sikri, Bharatpur Keoladeo Park and the step well at Abhaneri (nice restaurant there too for lunch)

Jaipur to Pushkar - Visit the Dargah at Ajmer and if youre cutting out Pushkar, take the train (Intercity Express in the evening at 5 pm) Jaipur to Jodhpur. It takes 5 hours as against 7 hours of driving.

Jodhpur to Udaipur - Start with a diversion to Luni, back to the highway upto Ranakpur (lunch at Maharani Bagh) and visit the Jain temples.

Dont skip Jodhpur. You will have enough time even otherwise just by cutting Pushkar

how can anyone possibly do all of this, with additions suggested, in this limited time...??????

If I counted right, you're doing 7 cities in less than 10 days. The arrival and departure days don't really count. This is like an Olympic speed race!

Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur alone will give you MUCH to see. Savor, don't rush. You will have to come back again to see more.

This is perfect route for you, most of the people follow this trip as you are doing.
So just follow it, it is perfect.
Raju India.

I agree that you are trying to do WAY too much. In 10 days I think the max you can is 3 or at most 4 places. Delhi & of course Agra are must sees, and in Agra you should allow time to see Fatehpur Sikri, the baby Taj, and Agra Fort. Then do some research and choose between Jaipur, Udaipur & Jodhpur. If you choose Udaipur, you should allow time to see the temples at Ranakhpur. We didn't and regret it. If you go to Jodhpur, in addition to the fabulous fort there, you should also allow time to go into the desert and visit the dessert villages or have a camel ride. We went to the small town of Ossian to see the temples there and then did a camel ride. It was a wonderful day.

Raju, the route may be perfect but we are commenting on how tight it is to fit into less than 10 days.

Dear all,

Thanks for your suggestion. Here I changed the itinerary as follows :

Day 1 : Arrive Delhi at 2:20pm
Day 2 : New and old Delhi
Day 3 : Delhi to Agra
Day 4 : Agra to Jaipur
Day 5 : Jaipur
Day 6 : Jaipur to Jodphur
Day 7 : Jodhpur to Udaipur
Day 8 : Udaipur
Day 9 : Udaipur to Delhi by Jet Airway, arrive Delhi at 16:30
Day 10 : Leaving Flight depart at 14:00.

For Jaipur to Jodphur and Jodphur to Udaipuue, is it better to travel by train and how long it takes ? Are there any tourist class train availabe ?

Nicinici

For info on train travel in India see http://seat61.com/India.htm and http://www.indianrail.gov.in/. That still looks awfully rushed to me....

Having covered Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and Ranthambore (all within driving distance) in 12 days, I can say without a doubt that your proposed itinerary is too too too much. Do not attempt this - it is absolutely nuts!!! Save Jodhpur and Udaipur for next time.

here is an example....the drive from delhi to agra takes about 6-7 hours....when were you planning to see the taj mahal...?? it is not open at all hours....to see it properly takes a couple of hours as well....your planning is not realistic....we are just trying to save you from huge hastles and a wasted trip...

I agree with everyone. You are still trying to do too much. I think you have to choose between Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Udaipur. You can't see all three in addition to Delhi & Agra.

veron_lam

Not sure what you mean by "tourist class" trains. Please elaborate.

imho train is THE way to travel in India but of course you must fit your schedule to theirs and that may not work for you.

I, too, think you are trying to do far, far, too much.

Delhi - Mukundgarh - Khimsar - Jodhpur - Jaipur - Bharatpur - Orchaa - Khajuraho - Agra - Delhi

Its a rajasthan Heritage Tour, and good for you

Great, thomas - 10 places in 10 days! Not good for anyone.

Dear all,

Thank you for the comment on my itinerary. I agree that I am trying to go to too many places in 10 days, but it seems to be quite a typical route from the well known tour operators. I also requested some tour operators for a quote but none of them said it is impossible.

Nicinici

I don't think that your itinerary being "quite a typical route from the well-known tour operators" is going to be in your best interests. The tour operators will make out just fine on all of the extra driving, the Udaipur - Delhi flight, the guides and the commissions from all the shops they drag you into as part of your "tour". You on the other hand will have absolutely no time to relax and actually experience India. Rather you will be shuffled from monument to monument and spend lots of time driving from city to city. You did ask in your original post how to make the trip more pleasant and comfortable. Other than the tour agency reps who have posted on this thread, the replies to your itinerary have been absolutely unanimous in saying YOU NEED TO LIMIT YOURSELF TO JUST 3 PLACES (Delhi, Agra and one other).

"none of them said it is impossible. " - why would they? While it may not be impossible, that doesn't mean it's a good idea. You can rush around and check off sights, or take things slowly and really experience India. This is not a country that lends itself to fast travel!

Hi,

Your itinerary is too cramped for your comfort and will definitely miss the finer points of any city you visit. You need to either cut some of the destinations if you have fixed days in hand or increase a couple of days to same itinerary. Pushkar is more enjoyable during Camel Fair unless otherwise you have religious bend of mind. There is no point in just touching a city, like you seem to doing for Delhi, and getting ready to proceed to another. Initially I also did the same mistake which was rectified by the tour opertor I used through www.goldentriangletour.com.