3 day trip from Mumbai
 

Hi, we are taking our 2 teenage kids to a wedding in Goa in late Aug. We have 3 extra days that we can go somewhere from Mumbai. Where would you suggest? We like natural beauty or would have liked the kids to see the Taj Mahal (we have already been) but I don't think Aug is the best time. We don't mind a short flight out of India too as long as it's not too expensive.(total budget approx $1200 - $1600)
Just looking for suggestions for that time of year. Thanks.

Hi,

You can go to Ajanta and Elora caves.Also can visit some spots in Aurangabad which is near by.

Please check various options at-
http://www.maharashtratourism.gov.in

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Paryatak.

u will love udaipur. its a convenient flight out of mumbai, the lake will be full after the monsoons and u can enjoy your kingfisher beer, watching the sun set ovet the lake and mountains, as your kids keep themselves busy in this safe city.

What about Mt Abu, will it be too wet?
The other destination I would love is Bali but I am not sure how expensive that would be. Any suggestions on where I can check for reasonably priced packages?

Can you give me a better idea of your itin? The wedding is in Goa, but are you going to then be IN Mumbai after that for some reason, or can you fly somewhere from Goa? Do you have an int’l flight out of Mumbai and that is why you want a trip somewhere from Mumbai? What time is your flight out of Mumbai (this may help with reccos).

As you know, August is monsoon and great heat in the west coast areas (I am kind of surprised that someone scheduled a wedding for Goa in August), so my first reaction is to go someone in the cooler highlands. But if I know your itin better that might help. Agra is just a pain with only 3 days from the west coast because flights are difficult; heat is too, but really it will be just as hot in Mumbai and that area (and rainier generally), so if you take it slow it might be possible. You can fly to Delhi and then train or car down to Agra. A lot of travel perhaps for 3 days, but doable if you really wanted to.

I have always wanted to go the Western Ghat area, where there are many national parks. I don’t know a lot about it, I believe that the eastern side of the range does not get rain as the mountains shield them, but I believe the parts on the western (i.e., Goa side) do get quite a bit of rain. In any event, you might look into that, as you should be able to reach these areas from Goa pretty easily. They should be cooler even if they are rainier.

One place near Mumbai I can think of is the Verandah in the Forest, up on a ridge above Mumbai. It’s an old colonial-style hill station retreat (the hotel has a bit more charm than actual facilities, but the ghost of the British Raj certainly is interesting), there is walking/trekking, some birding, etc. Pretty convenient to and from Mumbai (have not tried it in monsoon season though, Mumbai really can come to a stop at that time). See http://www.neemranahotels.com

Just looking at the Kingfisher schedule, they fly non-stop daily from Goa to Jaipur, certainly an interesting place (maybe too much right now), and an easy non-stop flight back from there to Mumbai. Its going to be hot and a little bit rainy (but a lot less so than Goa!).

Sorry, just read your post above. Bali for 3 days from Goa is just not going to work. Way, way too far in flight times (if you could fly non-stop, which you can’t, it would be like 10 hours each way; but you would be looking at more like 15 hours each way and at least 2 connections, i.e., Mumbai and Singapore), no convenient flight schedule (no non-stops) and then to have to go all the way <i>back</i> to Mumbai for a flight out is just ridiculous, IMO. You will spend all your time on planes. If you have more than 3 days AND you don’t have to go back to Mumbai for the flight home, then Bali may work (but to go all the way to Bali when you are already in a fascinating Hindu country seems kind of silly, personally).

Have not been to Mt Abu, but certainly would be cooler, would have rain, but less than Goa, as those mountain regions in northern Rajasthan just get less rain overall during monsoon. Not sure that you can get there easily from Goa if you only have 3 days. Probably quite interesting however.

But if you want major religious sites, in my experience you don’t have to go too far in India to find them, and IMO you would not have to go all the way to Rajasthan from Goa to find them. You might do some research on the Goa area and see what you can find.

Sorry, I guess I was not clear enough. We are going to be in Mumbai for 4 days, Pune for 3 days and then have another 5 days before leaving for Goa from Mumbai on Aug 23rd. Rather than spend those 5 days in Mumbai, I was hoping to go somewhere for 3-4 days. So the trip would be from Mumbai not Goa. We leave back for US the day after we return to Mumbai from Goa.
Bangalore/Ooty is one option but there does not seem to be an easy way to get from Bangalore to Ooty. I would really like to see Bali but the airfare from Mumbai seems quite high. I would like to stay away from any area that might be rainy since we will have to tolerate that while in Mumbai and Goa in any case! I hope I have explained myself better and can get some suggestions. Thanks.

From Mumbai, you have lots of flight options within India.

You could easily fly to Jaipur from Mumbai and go down to Ranthambore National Park. That is 3 hours by car from Jaipur, The park is quite interesting. I have not been in summer, and you may not see quite as much wildlife in the wetter months, as wildlife don’t have to congregate at water holes, but it still may be worth the trip, the area would certainly be green then, and it’s a lovely park and interesting drive down in the desert. With easy flight acces and drives it is probably one of the easier parks to get to. You should be able to go right to Goa from Jaipur also, check flights.

You could go to Ladakh, they do not experience any monsoon because of the Himalaya, they have some rains, but I believe that is earlier in the year, more like the spring months. Temps would be very nice there in August. You can do walking/trekking. I think that might be a good choice. Bhutan would be a similar good choice. Nepal as well, although I am not as big a fan of Nepal. For any of these, if you could fly into Delhi on your international flight, that might make these areas more accessible. Bangkok works very well for Bhutan as well (and I think can work for Nepal too). For three days, however, a trip to any of these will be a bit rushed.

I think for Ooty, the best way is to drive from Coimbature or take the overnight train from Chennai. I think that there are non-stop flights to Coimbature from Mumbai, so that may work. I believe that hill stations for Delhi like Darjeeling and Shimla tend to get a good bit of rain in August, check weatherbase.com. If you were going to go to Delhi, you may as well bite the bullet and go to Agra, in the heat just go slow, what can you do. It’s still the Taj.

Pune will be drier and cooler than Mumbai, and you might want to look into national park options around Pune. They get rain, but not as much as coastal areas. Pune is quite a nice city, although I don’t think there is a whole lot there for the tourist. In the back of my mind I am thinking that there is a national park a few hours drive from Pune, but am not sure, you might look at guidebooks about this, I may just be confused. There are definitely holiday resorts and homes in the area, esp about 2 hours from Mumbai up on the ridge, as Mumbai people use this area for weekends.

As I have said, Bali is just not possible for that short a time. I wouldn’t even suggest you consider it.

Sorry, I have been preoccupied with other things but am now back to planning my trip, thanks for the replies. OK, I guess Bali is out, I am trying to narrow down my options. One would be to go to Bangalore &amp; Mysore &amp; then fly out of Bangalore to Goa directly. Probably 2 nights in each place would suffice, or can we cover both in 3 nights? What is there to see and do?
Other option would be 3 nights/4days? in Ladakh or Srinagar. The advantage to Srinagar is that there is a direct flight from Mumbai whereas for Leh we would have to fly into Delhi first. Seems a waste to go so far for such a short time but can't really come up with anything else. Any thoughts/suggestions?

Any opinions??

I really liked Mysore and found plenty to do - see my trip report at www.wilhelmswords.com/asia2001 - Palatial Mysore