Help for planning itinerary for India trip
 

Hello,

I need help in organizing an itinerary to visit Delhi, Amritsar, Agra, Varanasi, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur. I don't know where to start and the sequence of the routes. I'm traveling with my husband and we will be in India approximately 10 to 11 days. Due to the lack of time, I think we would have to take flights to most of the destinations. Would this be a good idea? Someone please tell me how to travel around India; I need some tips.

Thank you so much in advance.

Before you can begin to nail things down, for a trip of that short duration you'll need to prune your destination list hard. To enjoy your time in India you must give yourself enough time for acclimating yourself to an entirely different way of doing things than you may be used to doing. The only way to do it, especially as you seem to want to travel independently (which I fully support), is to have plenty of time for each place and each onward move.

I suggest you cut your list in half. Amritsar and Varanasi are the outliers so I'd begin by dropping those. Or include them and drop the rest other than Delhi.

One way to speed things up would be to just go on a tour. Having others take care of logistics and details will allow you to cover more ground. But I don't recommend it if you can come to terms with far fewer places at a leisurely pace.

You cannot possibly visit all those places in 10 days (and does that only include time on the ground?). You need to spend some quality time with guidebooks culling the list.

Your transport options are plane, train or car and driver (you do NOT drive yourself in India, and you need to be off the roads before dark). For plane schedules the usual sites will give you an idea of the possibilities and the time involved (but bear in mind that fog can be a big problem in some months). For trains see http://www.seat61.com/India.htm

For suggestions on picking a car and driver look at the trip reports on this board.

It is a very long trip from Miami to India and China as I am also planning to spend a few days in Beijin and Guilin, China. I will spend 2 days traveling from Miami-Delhi and Beijin-Miami and I will have left 18 days. I'm thinking to spend 11 days in India and 7 days in China. This will be a trip of a lifetime. I don't think will come back to India and China in a very long time. Even though it will be very exhausting, I was thinking to visit all the places that I mentioned before, in India becuase I know may not have another opportunity to see them again. But I will consider your suggestions to skip some of the cities in my list. I planning to go February or March of 2015, would any of these month be good in terms of weather condition and fog? What do you think is better option, overnight train or plane to transport to some of the cities?

Thank both for your help, I really appreciated.

Again, you seem to have pretty much missed the main point. Have you considered that, ESPECIALLY if you don't plan to come back anytime soon, it's important to slow down and actually see the place? Or why bother? Rushing around is a complete waste of time, money, effort and one of the best things in life, travel. But I suspect that's exactly what you'll do. Maybe not remembering a thing except airports will be the impetus to return another time for a well-planned visit.

I suggest you go to India OR China, not both. But I suspect many people come to forums to have their wildest notions regarding what makes a good trip confirmed. And when they don't get that, go right ahead and do it anyway. That's fine, since you won't know what you've missed. So 2 huge countries in less than 3 weeks, just about the very worst travel mistake you can make.

Really Acala, I'm not trying to be rude, just attempting to help you get a grip here. It just occurred to me that what you imagine sounds like an episode of 'The Great Race' and why I can't bear to watch it.

Consider a nice high-end package tour that comes closest to your list. Under the circumstances, that makes the most sense, I think.

What time of year do you plan to go? The very best time to travel is February and March, and possibly October-November? I know that a couple of the places where we stayed in Rajasthan simply close down in May-July because of the heat. Then of course there is also monsoon season...

With only 10-11 days, I would suggest you limit your list to four destinations in India. Start in Delhi, from which you may be able to arrange a daytrip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. There is so much more to see and enjoy in other cities, that I would honestly have you not visit Agra but for the Taj. The new highway between Delhi and Agra makes this possible. Roads from Agra to anywhere else are not very fast (even with someone else driving).

Then I would suggest going from Delhi to visit Jaipur and Jodphur. Spend three nights in each of these cities..maybe 4 in Delhi, then fly back to Delhi or on to Mumbai to catch a plane to China. That would be 10 days, and you will have given yourself ample time to really enjoy and let India sink in.

You can either book through an agent, do it all yourself, or a combination of both. When you hire a car and driver, you CAN use them during the day to take you from your hotel to sights, and out to dinner at night if you want to go somewhere that isn't walking distance from your hotel. You have paid for them! There were places when we just wanted to walk or take tuktuks, and we let our driver know when that was the case.

I just finished a long trip to India - 23 days on the ground - and we covered a lot of territory. http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...r-in-india.cfm

We loved Jaipur and Jodphur the most, and Delhi was a great intro to it all. You might want to hire a guide just for the first day so you get your feet wet in a new culture with a "pro" showing you the way. You can also work through your hotels to get reservations to do all the top things in each city.

"I just finished a long trip to India - 23 days..."

Not my idea of "long" but then, truly, all things are relative, twice the length of the OPs intended visit. I think certainly a better person to give advice in this case. I need to lighten up and also save my efforts for those whose travel philosophy more closely resembles my own.

In any case, as a friend of a friend once said, we must all just "keep on truckin' ". And having fun as we do.

I agree that you should pick China or India. And if you are going in February or March it had better be India. Beijing will be cold and heavily polluted at that time.

While you can do Agra as a day trip from Delhi that would be a pity, as you would miss sunset and sunrise, which are the best times to see the Taj. You should also plan to see Fatehpur Sikri, possibly on the way to Rajasthan, and maybe the bird park.

Taking night trains will allow you to save some time. But on no account take back-to-back night trains (been there, done that). You need to lay this out on a calendar, with travel time - any good guide book should give you times for driving, see cleartrip.com for planes and trains. Bear in mind the effect of jet lag, the appalling state of most Indian roads, and the culture shock you will undoubtedly experience in India, even if you stay in the Oberoi bubble.

Yes, culture shock, that's what I was looking for. You won't get over it, but if you slow down you can become accustomed enough to possibly see beyond it. Although some never do.

Thank you all for your recommendations. I told my husband that we would make a great mistake going to both countries and as MmePerdu said it will be "a complete waste of time, money, effort". We have decided that we will only go to India.

You will really enjoy India. It is a fantastic destination. Now the FUN planning part can begin in earnest.

Can someone tell me what should I pay per day for a car and driver (english speaking) tanking us around the golden triangle?

Thank you

Acala, I'm very pleasantly surprised that you took our word for it and I promise, you'll have a much better trip as a result. India may be the most complex society on the planet and it takes all the attention we can muster. I'm very pleased for your good judgement, it bodes well for your trip.

You might ask online Indian travel agents for current prices for cars & drivers. There are a number of them mentioned in forum threads and trip reports here. Or, once you've chosen some of your accommodations, most can book them for you and can quote you a price.

Yes, it's always nice when someone listens to us. Too often new posters are too enamored of their imagined trips. I don't know what the going rate is, but a couple of pieces of advice.

India is one of the countries where you bargain. If you're booking from abroad, maybe not, but IN India, you bargain (especially if you're taking a rickshaw or shopping in a market).

Insist on pricing by the day or the trip, do not accept pricing by the kilometer.

Driving is good for short trips, up to half a day, maybe. Beyond that you're better off taking the train or flying. For Delhi to Varanasi (and Varanasi is much more worth seeing than anything in Rajasthan) I would fly, while for Delhi to Amritsar the night train would make sense, at least one way.

With 18 days I would do the golden triangle (Delhi, Agra, Jaipur) and Varanasi (maybe Amritsar as well?).

I did a tour of the Golden triangle with G Adventures, we did the Triangle in 8 days, and I did two extra days solo in Delhi. If i'd had the time, I would've done the Varanasi extension (4 days) like a friend of mine did, but I just don't have enough vacation time!

I would look them up, reasonable rates, GREAT guide, and a nice experience where the local transport was taken care of.

I'm glad you decided to cut out the trip to China - you wouldn't remember anything if you tried to cover both countries in 3 weeks. India is such a sensory overload that it deserves your complete attention!

My husband and I did a trip in January 2013 for 3 weeks, and we saw Delhi, Varanasi, Agra, and spent 2 weeks driving through Rajasthan. We did like driving from place to place within the region, as we really enjoyed seeing the smaller towns and the countryside from the car.

We were in Delhi, Varanasi, Agra, Jaipur, Bundi, Udaipur, Jodhpur, and Jaisalmer. We flew from Delhi to Varanasi; took the overnight train to Agra; and then had a driver & car for 2 weeks+ time. We loved it.

We worked with Nikhil Pandit of TGS Jaipur, and he was great -- we were able to make our own hotel reservations and flight reservations, but he took care of driver & car; train tickets; and guides. I had my own itinerary, but he gave me feedback and suggestions/advice when needed.

If you're interested, feel free to read my TR:
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...p-to-india.cfm

Paule

ACALA,
Very wise decision to eliminate China from your itinerary. This way you can concentrate on India and enjoy your experience. In February (2014), my husband and I traveled through parts of northern India. We arranged our journey with Castle & King; we worked with Arvind, the owner. This agency, which is located in Delhi, was highly recommended by a number of Fodorites on this board. We were very pleased with them. If you'd like, please read my trip report for details. Enjoy the planning!

Thank you all for your replies. Before I find sometime to read reviews on some of the travel agents you have recommended, I would like to know what would be better, if contracting an agency before traveling or as someone told me I should negotiate until I am there just to avoid the foreign charges. At the same time I want to make a detail itinerary and follow it to the letter, but if I wait to arrange a car and driver until I am in India, am I taking the chance to not carried it out as planned?

Thank you

Given your few days, I think you should consult someone before you go, either us here when you have a working itinerary, so we can help you with details, or a travel agent there. Or both, us then an agent to implement the plan.

If by "foreign charges" you mean credit card charges, unless you have a card that doesn't charge them, you'll get charged the 3% or so either way. If you mean charged more because you aren't yet in India, I don't think for 3 weeks it'll matter a whole lot.

Given your desire to have your itinerary all nailed down to follow closely, I'd make all the arrangements before I left home. Any additional items, such as needing a car & driver for an excursion once you're there can be arranged by your hotels or guest houses, no problem there. They all do it.