Travelling to India in 7 wks time and so far itinerary looks as follows: am able to make changes but need to firm up in nxt 7-10 days - any suggestions welcome.

Day 1 - Direct flight Delhi from LHR with BA.
Day 2 - Delhi Park Royal Hotel
Day 3 - Samode Palace
Day 4 - Mandawa Desert Resort
Day 5 - Bikaner Laxmi Niwas Palace
Day 6/7 - Jaisalmer Fort Rajwada
Day 8 - Jodphur Umaid Bhavan Palace
Day 9/10 - Udaipur Shikarbadi
Day 11/12 - Deogarh Mahal
Day 13 - Train Jaipur/Delhi Metrop. Nikko
Day 14/15 - Train Amritsar Ritz
Day 16 - Train back to Delhi and onward flight to LHR
Visit Ranakpur en route Udaipur/Deogarh; Diwali will be spent in Amritsar. No time for desert safari unfortnately.

PLEASE take a look and let me know whether you think this itinerary will work - I would also like some feedback on the choice of hotels. There must be someone out there who has something to say??!!

Having travelled a bit in India myself, I think you are trying to pack too much into the trip. Basically it seems to me that you are trying to cover in 2 weeks what most people would do in a month. Heat will be a factor in October (it will average around 85F and can be in the mid-90s in parts you are going) and will slow you down, as will jet lag. Also, if you are doing this on your own, you will be a bit slower too, trying to make your own arrangements, etc. A few comments/questions:

1. It appears you are driving or taking trains between destinations. That will really eat into your time. Indian trains can be late, very very late in some cases. You need to build some flexibility into your schedule to allow for this. You are only spending one night at several places; with travel time you really will not be able to see that much of your destination.

2. I assume you want to skip all cities like Delhi and Jaipur, as one day in Delhi is not enough to see it, and the Samode Palace is about an hour outside Jaipur and not convenient for seeing Jaipur.

3. Assuming you don't want to see Jaipur, I would skip Samode and concentrate of Jodhpur and Jaisamler.

3. One day in Jodhpur is not enough, IMO. I would actually skip Udaipur and spend more time in the Jodhpur area.

4. I believe Amritsar is a fairly long train journey, and it is hard to justify only 2 days there. Also, with security (and the recent bombings in Mumbai) you may not be allowed any access to the Golden Temple, which to me would be the whole point of the trip. I would skip Amritsar and stay south. I don't think you will find Dilwali to be much of a festival in Amritsar, as Dilwali is a Hindu holiday, not a Sikh or Muslim one. You are better off in Rajasthan or better yet even in Delhi where it is a very big holiday.

You are not going to see the Taj Mahal, which I assume is your intent.

My friend you have a winner on your hand provided that,,,you are either young or young at heart, which I have no doubt about, a traveler never get old.

The schedule is tight as the earlier samartian says, but not entirely impossible....

Take off either samode or mandawa and you would be in on a luxurious tour as far as time is concerned.

I can understand your reasons to be at Amritsar on Diwali, can safely assume that the reasons are relegious, family and more... if you ask me I would rather be with my family on a festival which probably you are trying to do than be in any metropolis.

The best way to do this tour in comfort is to prebook a Taxi and keep it on disposal, even by a rough estimate it should not cost you more than 35 USD per day for an AC Ambassador car and they are good when you are to travel on a weather beaten track.

assuming that Amritsar would be a family affair the taxi should not cost you more that 500USD in all for 14 days.

Your choice of hotels is nice, my safe assumption says that the hotel cost should not be more than USD 2000 in all whether you are traveling single or with a companion. This should be including breakfast.

Its a pity that Agra doesn't features on your tour or we could have touched base, anyways hope this gives you the needed solace...you are on a right track buddy if you really wish to travel fastly and furiously.

If you need more specific info feel free to write to me at [email protected] I will be glad to exchange views.

all the best

Thanks both of you for yr input - I travelled to Delhi/Agra/Jaipur in March this year and much as I wld love to visit T/Mahal again there isn't time (next time perhaps as I will have to come back for Varanasi/Khajuraho which I had hoped to include but have had to cut the trip by a week). Samode was recommended by a friend and I really really want to see Udaipur. I have a driver and as suggested the wonderful Ambassafor for the trip (contact from last trip) until I am dropped in Jaipur for the train to Amritsar. I will be visiting friends in Amritsar but would be ext. disappointed if the Golden Temple was off limits - do you think this is a possibility. I know this is quite a tight schedule but its so hard to leave anything out - what about leaving out Mandawa and taking the extra time in Jodhpur. What about Deogarh - this was another rec. and I thought it was a chance to relax for a day before Amritsar - perhaps this time would be better spent elsewhere. What do you think. Oh one other thing I am travelling alone - this probably isn't a consideration or is it?