Hello India Crew!
This my first fodors message. In the past, I was able to plan my itineraries by taking bits and pieces of advice given to other posters. I planed a kick ass trip to Vietnam and Thailand by reading your trip reports. Thanks so much! My upcoming trip to India is different; the decisions are stressing me out. There is too much to see and not enough time. Please help me focus.

Let's see. My husband and I are in our early 30s, pretty adventurous/ active and are traveling to DEL for a friend's wedding (YAY) in early November. We have a total of 2 weeks but will be booked with wedding activities for the first three or four days. It looks like we'll be spending the following 3 days traveling to Agra and Jaipur with some of the wedding party. After everyone leaves Delhi, we have a week or so left to travel. Ideally we we'll be able to immerse ourselves, briefly, somewhere outside of the big Raj cities. We love nature, hiking, yoga, food, and culture. I'm torn between a trip up North to Himchal pradesh (Dharamsala and Amristar) or Garhwal (Rishikesh) or turning in the other direction to Varanasi, which so many of you report is NOT to be missed.

Per your suggestions, I don't want to do too much and be stressed out. But I do want to see a good variety of thing. Unfortunately, flying is not really in our budget. So, we are looking at private car/ train/ bus travel. Suggestions, please?
Thanks!

You will probabaly have less than a week to travel to destinations you have mentioned.
a. In this time you could do Amritsar & Dharamsala. Amritsar would give you a cultural high & Dhearamsala has some nice hikes. The road to Dharamkot from Mcleodganj or one from there to Upper Dharamsala or to Triund will be good hiking. The gradient to Triund is sharp. Two nights in Amritsar & three in Dharamsala are fine. You have excellant hotels in both of these places.
b. You could be in Rishikesh, the evening 'Ganges aarti' at Parmarth Ashram is a must. Rishikesh has some fine ashrams where you could indulge yourself in yoga. From Rishikesh you could drive to Corbett (opens 15 Nov). You will need a prior permit to be at Dhikala & elsewhere is a waste of time / money. Food (Rishikesh) will be vegetarian unless you stay at Neemrana Glass House 15 miles upstream, on the banks of the Ganges with a private beach / wooded hill across the river. The rooms away from road are better.
c. You could fly to Varanasi & spend about three nights there.
Hope it helps!

Thanks for the info vp_singh! Too bad, it will be too early for Corbett. I would also be interested in checking out some of the smaller towns in Rajasthan (i.e Bundi, Shekwhawati) and stay in a Haveli. I assume this would be doable before Rishikesh or Varanasi. Suggestions, please?

Incase you intend travelling to Bundi, than in place of Corbett add on Ranthambhore. The road from Ranthambhore to Bundi is fairly good, though narrow & you will cross the fortress of Indergarh, which affords great photography, from the road. From Bundi Jaipur is but 5 hrs drive.
Shekhavati is fine if you are keen on frescoes but distending a short trip doesn't help. Btw, the Chatramahal palace in Bundi fort has some very fine murals from the Bundi school of art! There are nth number of interesting locations in Rajasthan.
Happy Travels!

An Indian wedding is a great experience in itself and so far with the trip down to Agra it sounds like you have a good plan. (Please consider wearing a sari or Punjabi suit for the wedding, the gesture will be appreciated I can tell you.) I am one of the people who often recommends Varanasi over many places, but I have to say that I love Rikisesh and in many ways prefer it over Varanasi as it is much smaller, and there are far, far fewer Western tourists. The evening aarti has actually made me weep on occasion. It is of course a major yoga centre too. The town is on a much smaller scale than Varanasi and you really can see all of it on foot and there are just all sorts of worshippers there, the people-watching is amazing, and this in India where it is great to being with IMO. I find it more accessible than Varanasi as it is so much smaller and less touristy, but you don’t have the major bathing or crematoria ghats, so that is one drawback. There is also excellent hiking in the area and whitewater rafting. It is an easy train ride from Delhi (but also look into the flights which may not be as expensive as you think for that short hop). I am also in love with the Ananda resort there ((http://www.anandaspa.com/), which is about 20 minutes outside the town, with wonderful with spa treatments, a tremendous view, great yoga instructors (I am a novice an really enjoy the private lessons), great food, just can’t say enough good things about this place. This may be out of your budget, but is really worth considering if you can do it. There are tigers in the area (I have not seen them, but others have seen them from the hotel, no promises on that point). The Glass House might be an interesting compromise if it is cheaper, the Neemrana group certainly have some interesting hotels, see http://www.neemranahotels.com.

Dharamsala would be a good choice too, I have only been once and do not know as much about the area but there is good walking and of course a visit to the Dali Lama’s headquarters is a must. With only a week and not flying, I am not sure Amritsar is worth it, you may spend a lot of time on trains, but a week there is too long but then you are too short in other places. (A week in Dharamsala is probably OK because you can do a lot of walking, although it is a long train/bus trip both ways.) You could of course just do a more typical tour of the Golden Triangle area, but with only a week that might be rushed. I also like Ranthambore, mentioned above, a good alternative, but would not give you the yoga opportunity really. An easy train ride from Delhi (a bad drive from Agra, IMO), but could also be combined with something in the area around Jaipur. But then IMO you would have to leave out Rikishesh or Amritsar.

One completely different idea is Ladahk, very good walking (check November should still be OK not totally sure). Also places like Shimla would offer good walking and nice crisp weather then too. Just to confuse you more. It’s a big country with a lot to offer.

You've been given such great advice, as usual from the India crew, that I don't need to chime in, but I did want to see if you knew about the site www.ixigo.com for internal flights (as you said that airlines weren't really within your budget; here you can find pretty reasonable fares sometimes.)
It's more practical to fly in some of these cases, of course, as your time is limited.

I was just in India for the first time in July; trip report (including Varanasi) and pix link are here:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35147706

Thanks so much for all of your suggestions!!! We are leaning towards Rishikesh. Time to do some more research. Then expect a few more questions from me. Thanks again!