Hi all,

My wife and I are going to be in New Delhi for her sister's wedding in mid-April. A couple of days after the wedding, we would like to travel for a couple of weeks in the north and north-east parts of India (and possibly neighbouring country's). Some of the places of interest include: Ladakh, Nepal (Kathmandu), Bhutan, and Darjeeling/Sikkim. If we travel in a loop, it would be nice to visit Varanasi and Khajuraho on the way back to New Delhi.

Now, this may obviously be too ambitious, but I wanted to get your ideas on possible itineraries for a 2 week time frame incorporating the above locations.

I understand that Nepal is in a state of flux right now, but we still want to keep it under consideration. If it is not an option, then maybe Bhutan would be a good alternative?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

It sounds like this is not your first trip to India - please advise.

You are correct. My wife and are both of Indian origin and have been back to India a number of times while growing up. We have done most of the traditional Indian tourist sites (i.e., Taj Mahal, Delhi, Mumbai, Rajasthan etc.) and we recently visited parts of south India (i.e., Kerala, Chennai etc.) which was absolutely breathtaking.

We know that there is so much to see in India, so we'll just have to tackle it piece by piece....

Hi, firstly, Nepal is bursting with tourists at the moment, (November being the peak). No tourist was hurt during the troubles.
Ladakh and Darjeeling are too far apart to mae a good tour. Go to the EastDarjeeling, Sikkim, drive to Biratnagar in Nepal and fly to Kathmandu. After a tour there, fly to Varanasi, then Khajuraho, Agra and then Delhi. If you send me a message with how long you want to be there, I can do that. I lived in the area for 5 years, and can tailor the tour to your required speed of travel.

Can't advise on Bhutan (I believe you must fly in) or Ladakh (roads not open till June). You probably could visit one or the other by air in and out, but up to you to find out if you can connect from there to other places on your wish list. Suggest researching where you can fly to from Katmandhu. Kolkata must be a possibility.

From there you could go up to darjeeling, and from there to Sikkim and back, by road. But maybe you can fly all these segments!!

To get back to Delhi - Kolkata to Varanasi by train. Varanasi to Khajuraho by road or rail/road. I went via Lucknow which is also an interesting place to visit. From Khajaruho you could consider travelling back to Delhi via Orchha and Jansi.

Orchha used to be a small out of the way place with almost nowhere to stay and an amazing collection of temples and palaces in various states of preservation - and a river - and a small village. Wonderful.

Don't know what it is like now - but strongly suggest putting it on the list of possibles.

Best wishes.

Thanks for the info.

Based on the info posted, I was updating my potential itinerary as follows: Delhi - Nepal (Kathmandu) - Bhutan (Paro) - Darjeeling - Khajuraho - Delhi.

Is this doable in roughly two weeks?

Hi Taia,

The problem that you are facing is one of the most common problems faced by travellers coming in to India -- too many places to cover in a short time span !!!

Being a resident of eastern part of India, and having travelled widely in these areas, I would offer the following suggestions ( assuming that you have 14 days to complete your trip) :-

Day 1 :- Delhi to Bagdogra by air ( approx 2.5 hrs, USD 150/- approx)and then by road to Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim ( 4 hrs drive from Bagdogra).
Day2 :- Local travel in Sikkim to cover Rumtek monastery and Tsomgo Lake.
Day3&4 :- Visit North Sikkim ( Yumthang valley and Lachung) and return to Gangtok.
Day5 :- Travel by road from Gangtok to Darjeeling ( 4 hrs). Overnite at Darjeeling.
Day 6 & 7 :- Local travel and site seeing at Darjeeling. ( cover Kurseong or Mirik from Darjeeling).
Day 8 :- Travel by road from Darjeeling to Phuntshilling in Bhutan ( this is a 8 to 9 hr journey).
Day 9 :- Arrive at Thimpu and local site seeing
Day 10 :- Thimpu
Day 11 :- Travel to Paro and local site seeing.
Day 12 :- Flight from Paro to Kolkata, and Kolkata to Varanasi.
Day 13 & 14 in Varanasi.
Day 15 morning :- Arrive at New Delhi in the morning by train or air.

I know that this is a pretty sandwitched tour, and can be done better if you can add another 2 or 3 days into your schedule.

Alternatively, you can spend Day 13 in Kolkata and only one day i.e. Day14 in Varanasi.

It is better to keep Nepal out of the circuit for now because of the political situation there, and also because of the fact that the beauty of the other Himalayan places such as Sikkim, Darjeeling and Bhutan are also very nice – so you won’t be missing much.

Pls note that Ladakh is inaccessible until June and Khajuraho is way off your normal route – so I have kept those off your itenary. If there is any other way that I can help, please let me know.