vasin

Please comment / advise on our India Itinerary in January 2017. I will be travelling with my wife and 25 year old daughter. We are contemplating hiring a car and driver to do the whole trip, except for the trip to Agra (which we want to do by train).

Day1: Arrive in Delhi.
Day 2: depart to Agra and return that evening via train.
Day 3&4: Tour Delhi. (day 4 most likely will be New Year's eve for 2017)
Day 5: Depart for Shekhawathi Region visiting towns. Sleep over in Mandawa. (driving time from Delhi to Mandawa: approx 6 hours)
Day 6: Tour a bit of Mandawa then depart for Jaipur. (driving time: approx 4 hours)
Day7&8: Tour Jaipur. In the afternoon, travel to Ranthamboree National Park. (driving time: approx 4 hours)
Day9: Tour Ranthamboree National Park.
Day10: Travel in direction of Udaipur, stopping over in Shahapura. (driving time: approx 5 hours)
Day11: Arrive in Udaipur. Tour Udaipur. Sleep over in Udaipur. (driving time approx: 4 hours)
Day12: Travel to Jodhpur. (driving time: approx 5 hours)
Day 13: Tour Jodhpur.
Day14: Tour Jodhpur and fly out to Mumbai in the afternoon.

I am concerned that there is a lot of driving and we may not have enough time to tour. I used Google map to estimate the driving time. Please comment on how reasonable these driving times are. Do you have any suggestions on the itinerary?

MmePerdu

I wouldn't like to spend so much time in the car, while realizing some don't mind. Having toured around India by train, plane & car/driver several times, I'd prefer less driving for another reason, traveling by car in India can be unnerving, to say the least. Drivers are conditioned, it seems, to go as fast as they can and pedestrians & animals beware. I've experienced drivers going too fast for my comfort through towns and villages, and hitting living things and continuing on as if it hadn't happened, very upsetting.

If I return to India I'll limit my time in cars to an absolute minimum. Using trains, while busy and a bit of future shock at times is, in my experience, safer. For a relatively short trip, as yours is, I'd fly when possible on the longer stretches.

rhkkmk

I do think it is a lot of driving.

Why not do the whole thing by car. I used a Delhi agent, castle and king on both of my trips. Arvind, the owner was fantastic. It made excellent suggestions in routing. Google him for a quote.

thursdaysd

I would strongly urge an overnight in Agra. The Taj looks different in different light, and I recommend seeing it at both dusk and dawn. Fatehpur Sikri and Bharatpur Bird Park are nearby and also worth seeing, although you need a car and driver.

Are you going to Rathambore to see tigers? If so, I recommend reading other threads on this board. Personally, I would (and did) pick Jaisalmer instead.

I second MmePerdu's suggestion to use trains rather than cars when possible. Don't know whether you've been to India before, but the roads are like nowhere else except Nepal.

I can't imagine that Google is even in the ballpark when it comes to driving times. It can't get Europe right, so is likely to be worse for Asia. And I don't know where you see that Udaipur to Jaipur is 4 hours, when I asked Google Maps it said almost 5 hours without traffic, and almost 6 hours right now, and that's paying tolls, it's about an hour longer without tolls. The "super fast" express train takes seven hours, do you really think driving will be that much faster?

vasin

Thank you for your responses. We are from South Africa and have been on a good few safaris, so we are used to disappointments and successes on game drives. My hope would be to see a tiger at Ranthamboree, but given the likelihood of seeing one in just a one day visit and the effort / logistics to get there, I am now re-thinking this leg. (after reading the various threads and blogs).

The upshot of this, maybe less time driving and more time exploring some of the destinations already on my itinerary.

I will look into train and plane travel as an alternative.

Cambotrav

I'm not quite sure Mandawa is worth the stop if you are not going to Bikaner and Jaisalmer. There is actually not that much to see. You also do the tour differently, by doing Delhi-Agra-Ranthambore-Jaipur etc... To avoid the back and forth, and the many driving hours. As for distances and driving times, count 50 kms/hour. They give some inputs here:
http://www.drivers-india.com/faq-tip...ajasthan-india
I wouldn't trust the times indicated on google to much.
Have a great trip

vasin

Thank you Cambotrav.

We have put Agra at the beginning of our itinerary, because we were planning to get back to Delhi and at least spend New Years eve 2017 in Delhi and then set out on our Rajasthan sojourn the next day. I am not sure how New Year is ushered in in India, but I am guessing that in a hotel in Delhi, there will be some sort of festivities and that we will see some firework displays of sorts.

Can anyone make a suggestion on the following: After jaipur and on our way to Udaipur, we have been considering stopping of at the village of Shahpura for one night to break the journey and to get a glimpse into village life in Rajasthan. The only hotel is Shahpura Bagh which is either booked out or charges a very high rate for a one night stay. For the pleasure of spending a few hours in a village, I am not comfortable to spend that amount. Could someone suggest an alternative village to stop over at. There are some other affordable hotels about 30 to 40 kms away, but that could be adding a further hour to our travel plans.

thursdaysd

I wonder if they have fireworks around the Taj? That would be better than Delhi, I would think.

vp_singh

a. New Year should be spent in a place like Udaipur. The Oberoi Trident is a fine property, but fills up quickly.
b. There is only one hotel in Shekhawati region, worth spending a night in or money on. It is Alsisar Mahal. You can visit the beautiful painted havelis from this base.
c. Take off Ranthambhore, for this Trip. Sadly, with truck loads of 'picnickers' visiting the sanctuary around the New Year, your likelihood of catching a glimpse of the Royal Bengal Tiger are fairly nil. Indeed, a close proximity tiger sighting is like none else for I completely endorse Robert Ruark's (African fame) observations in his book!
d. Shahpura Bagh is a beautiful property, Old world charm, rural experience, great evenings with the hosts & excellent hospitality!
e. Chanoudgarh is another great destination but locates between Jodhpur & Udaipur.
f. Keep off, as much as possible, all those national highways that form a large part of your trip itinerary as outlined above. Some of these pass through industrial corridors and are unpleasant to travel on.
Happy Travels!

Cambotrav

I am not sure you will find much attractions on NYE in Delhi. Even in hotels. They might try to do something for the tourists staying there, but it won;t really be authentic I fear.
From Ranthambore to Udaipur, you could actually stop in Bundi. It is small city, not too busy (especially the part of the city close to the Palace and Fort). It is very charming.