I have an opportunity to be in Bangalore for a week in late July and then would have another week after that to travel somewhere else before flying back to New York City. Since it is so soon, I need to make plans quickly, and I would be very appreciative of any advice regarding what destination or destinations might make sense for a week after leaving Bangalore at the end of July.

There are so many destinations I've heard of in India that sound amazing, but I don't know if they are practical, especially during Monsoon season. For example, a cruise or houseboat in Kerala sounds great, but would it be too rainy? And is Kerala even a place to go at all in July? So I guess I'm asking for travel advice factoring in the Monsoon, too.

Mysore sounds like an easy destination from Bangalore, so that is already on the list.

Any advice for an itinerary that factors in the need to end up in a good place for the trip back to NYC would be so great. Normally I would spend a lot of time doing my own research, but I don't have much time before I have to lock this in! Thanks!

You would either have to return to Bangalore or another Major city to fly out. Kochin/cochi airport is too tiny for a jumbo jet!

Either do a trip out and return to Bangalore or make your way via another smaller place to a big city. What are your interests?

There are a number of flights to the Middle East from Kochi airport, including one on Emirates to Dubai, plus a Silk Air flight to Singapore. Either would connect to a flight to New York.

I'm not sure what the monsoon schedule is, so I can't necessarily recommend Kerala for July. If you're in Bangalore, Mysore would be another possibility. In addition to sights in the town itself, you can visit the Hoysala temples at Belur and Halebid and Tipu Sultan’s summer palace at Srirangapatnam.

Thanks SiobhanP, it's been a few days since I posted this, and I got some good info from another board... found out I'm going to have to avoid Kerala, as it is monsoon-cental in July. So I'm going to stay in the south, but head toward Tamil Nadu.


Yes, thursdaysd, Mysore was in my post above as a place I'm already going, so we agree!

Why not try Rajasthan? It's not affected much by monsoons. Kerala and even Tamil Nadu can be pretty rainy. You can take a domestic flight.

You can try the operator www.vacationstoindia.com who I used. I recommend them...

Dogmatix, that would be a good suggestion and I'd love to go there except for one drawback.... vacationstoindia.com says about Rajasthan, "the heat in summer is great everywhere, with a mean daytime maximum temperature hovering at about 43º C".

That's over 109 degrees fahrenheit!

rje - sorry, realized you had written Mysore right after I posted!

Dogmatix - I find it refreshing when someone plans to go somewhere OTHER than Rajasthan! On reflection, if I had a week in July I'd probably try to get to Ladakh, but maybe not if I were based in Bangalore.