India 15 Days
Nov 3rd, 2010, 08:48 AM
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India 15 Days
Hi Fodorites! You always deliver good info and I would be lost without this forum (and trip advisor!) thanks especially to jgr22 and dogster for great ideas!
Sis and I are going to Northern India for 15 days this winter.Trying to do as much as we can (we are a bit insane travelers (i.e., all of vietnam in 9 days). I know travel in India is slow but have put together a VERY loose itinerary. only things definite are flying in Delhi, out Kolkata. FYI: We love to see living culture (rather than museums and old forts), and appreciate small villages, and for relaxing: wildlife viewing and beautiful beaches (not at the same time
-Delhi. arrive Sat afternoon. stay 1 night.
-Sunday take fast train to Agra. See taj at sunset. stay 1 night. see taj at sunrise.
-Monday drive to jaipur (or jadphur instead?), stopping at fatephur skier. (stay overnight?)
-Tues travel to Ranthamborne. stay 2 nights (3 safari drives).
-Thurs travel to Varanassi. stay 2 nights.
-Sat fly to Kolkata (or overnight train)
-fly to Adaman Islands. Ferry to Havelock. 3 nights.
-Tues fly to Kolkata. stay 1 night.
-?
-?
-?
-?
-Sunday late evening flight to nyc.
This itinerary here is incomplete since we have15 nights total. I'm thinking we could
A) Spend more time at these destinations and/or
B) add in some visits to smaller towns/villages (Pushkar, Ranakpur, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Khimsar, Mandawa - desert and camels sounds fascinating!)
Anyone have any itinerary suggestions or thoughts about where we should be spending more time?
Sis and I are going to Northern India for 15 days this winter.Trying to do as much as we can (we are a bit insane travelers (i.e., all of vietnam in 9 days). I know travel in India is slow but have put together a VERY loose itinerary. only things definite are flying in Delhi, out Kolkata. FYI: We love to see living culture (rather than museums and old forts), and appreciate small villages, and for relaxing: wildlife viewing and beautiful beaches (not at the same time
-Delhi. arrive Sat afternoon. stay 1 night.
-Sunday take fast train to Agra. See taj at sunset. stay 1 night. see taj at sunrise.
-Monday drive to jaipur (or jadphur instead?), stopping at fatephur skier. (stay overnight?)
-Tues travel to Ranthamborne. stay 2 nights (3 safari drives).
-Thurs travel to Varanassi. stay 2 nights.
-Sat fly to Kolkata (or overnight train)
-fly to Adaman Islands. Ferry to Havelock. 3 nights.
-Tues fly to Kolkata. stay 1 night.
-?
-?
-?
-?
-Sunday late evening flight to nyc.
This itinerary here is incomplete since we have15 nights total. I'm thinking we could
A) Spend more time at these destinations and/or
B) add in some visits to smaller towns/villages (Pushkar, Ranakpur, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Khimsar, Mandawa - desert and camels sounds fascinating!)
Anyone have any itinerary suggestions or thoughts about where we should be spending more time?
Nov 3rd, 2010, 11:52 AM
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What is your budget /night for accommodation???? Knowing that will definitely help with recommendations.
As you noted above, In Rajasthan, there are many places to stay within or on the edge of small villages.(There are other places like this in INdia, but ones i know of personally are not on your itin.) Let us know your budget, and appropriate recommendations can be given.
Also, check the Indiamike website, as the contributors and readers "traffic" is by far the most of any website for India=related questions, You will get loads more info than what you will see here. Recommendations there tend to be more "budget" oriented. E.g., You will not see recommendations for Oberoi hotels--most IMers woud be mortified to spend on one night's accommodation what could feed and house an average Indian family for a month!
As you noted above, In Rajasthan, there are many places to stay within or on the edge of small villages.(There are other places like this in INdia, but ones i know of personally are not on your itin.) Let us know your budget, and appropriate recommendations can be given.
Also, check the Indiamike website, as the contributors and readers "traffic" is by far the most of any website for India=related questions, You will get loads more info than what you will see here. Recommendations there tend to be more "budget" oriented. E.g., You will not see recommendations for Oberoi hotels--most IMers woud be mortified to spend on one night's accommodation what could feed and house an average Indian family for a month!
Nov 3rd, 2010, 03:18 PM
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thanks for your tips Cali! we will be doing some budget and some upscale - a mix 
we have a great running list of accomo. from fodors/tripadvis/indiamike.
at this point in our planning we are still trying to sort out days in each locale (!) and which small towns we can squeeze into our already tight schedule. any thoughts on this?
we have a great running list of accomo. from fodors/tripadvis/indiamike. at this point in our planning we are still trying to sort out days in each locale (!) and which small towns we can squeeze into our already tight schedule. any thoughts on this?
Nov 3rd, 2010, 04:12 PM
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At the risk of being negative, you have too many destinations in too short a period of time. Traveling in India is slow and difficult. Plan to spend two, preferably three nights in most places. You seem to be wandering around the map -- look at Google maps and check the travel time between destinations. For instance, flying into Delhi, spending the night, traveling most of the next day to get to Agra, etc., etc., etc., then going west to Rajasthan, then east from to Bengal. I don't know how old you are, but if you're over 50, you'll be completely frazzled. Enjoy India. Let its wonders sweep over you rather than trying to drink it in with a firehose!
Nov 3rd, 2010, 08:27 PM
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lol poor old scaggy, I knew you'd get told off for doing it too fast. indiana is right, of course, as if everybody else telling you to slow down. But you're not gonna, so let's deal with what YOU want, not what WE want.
I've done many a whistle-stop, zoom zoom tour in my time. Not now, but when I was young I was more intent on a rush of sensation, rather than the delights of a lengthy gourmet meal.
So, you can do ALL that you want, but I need to know what level you're traveling at - if it's a cruise thru the Oberois - or a backpackers journey. 'Cos there's an easy way to do this and a hard way.
To help you, I'd suggest you go look at some travel agent sites first. Yup, I know you're not gonna use 'em, but you can steal their itineraries.
For example, here's a very cool website. It's interactive and a LOT of fun to play with.
http://www.indiaunbound.com.au/
As you see, it's an Australian company but the $$ are A$$, but the exchange rate is much the same. So go play in there first. It obvious you have no idea of drive times between cities - the site will give you those if you look. I'd lose the Ranthambore chunk.
BTW, you can't fly from Varanasi to Kolkata direct. You have to go thru either Delhi or Mumbai.
Despite what people say, you're doing no more than the average punter does on his/her first shlep to India. It's doable. Report back on your $$. that's the clue. What months? Do you want to book all this yourself?
Where are you flying in from? Just add jetlag to your schedule. You may need an extra day in Delhi to get over it.
You can fly to Agra too from Delhi. Investigate your arrival time and Agra flights departures. You might be able to save some shlep and fly there after your incoming international.
What city do you fly OUT from? I think there are flights from Andamans to BKK as well. Use www.skyscanner.com
I've done many a whistle-stop, zoom zoom tour in my time. Not now, but when I was young I was more intent on a rush of sensation, rather than the delights of a lengthy gourmet meal.
So, you can do ALL that you want, but I need to know what level you're traveling at - if it's a cruise thru the Oberois - or a backpackers journey. 'Cos there's an easy way to do this and a hard way.
To help you, I'd suggest you go look at some travel agent sites first. Yup, I know you're not gonna use 'em, but you can steal their itineraries.
For example, here's a very cool website. It's interactive and a LOT of fun to play with.
http://www.indiaunbound.com.au/
As you see, it's an Australian company but the $$ are A$$, but the exchange rate is much the same. So go play in there first. It obvious you have no idea of drive times between cities - the site will give you those if you look. I'd lose the Ranthambore chunk.
BTW, you can't fly from Varanasi to Kolkata direct. You have to go thru either Delhi or Mumbai.
Despite what people say, you're doing no more than the average punter does on his/her first shlep to India. It's doable. Report back on your $$. that's the clue. What months? Do you want to book all this yourself?
Where are you flying in from? Just add jetlag to your schedule. You may need an extra day in Delhi to get over it.
You can fly to Agra too from Delhi. Investigate your arrival time and Agra flights departures. You might be able to save some shlep and fly there after your incoming international.
What city do you fly OUT from? I think there are flights from Andamans to BKK as well. Use www.skyscanner.com
Nov 3rd, 2010, 09:27 PM
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Dog, the departure is Kolkata,; see the OP: " only things definite are flying in Delhi, out Kolkata. "
The Dogster is completely correct--Scraggy, you're gonna do what you want to do (e.g.VN in 9 days!!) so make the most of your time, havw a blast, and keep on learning and asking!
Re; villages: one place on my "evetrally" list in Rajasthan is Hacra Dhani, home of Mr. Gemar Singh and family. Do a google search for the accomodations and village.
WIll send some more ideas (future ideas for me) from list soon, to throw in a few more ideas. There are folks here who have actually been (not just fantasy stage, like me and you) and many on IM who will give ideas .
The Dogster is completely correct--Scraggy, you're gonna do what you want to do (e.g.VN in 9 days!!) so make the most of your time, havw a blast, and keep on learning and asking!
Re; villages: one place on my "evetrally" list in Rajasthan is Hacra Dhani, home of Mr. Gemar Singh and family. Do a google search for the accomodations and village.
WIll send some more ideas (future ideas for me) from list soon, to throw in a few more ideas. There are folks here who have actually been (not just fantasy stage, like me and you) and many on IM who will give ideas .
Nov 3rd, 2010, 09:47 PM
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Well, I'd never put that together before Cali. Great minds think alike, eh? I have a lot of time for young Lincoln. I admire his spirit. So let's hope Scrags goies in and explores. It's such a cool site.
Nov 4th, 2010, 03:00 AM
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If you don’t mind my saying, the plan seems a bit unfocused. You are going rather vast distances in a short period, and don’t seem to have accounted for travel time. Some thoughts are below:
1. You have 15 days. Pick 4 places AT MOST. Otherwise this vacation will be a tour of airports and train stations. Right now, you have 6 places on your itin (8 if you count Delhi and Kolkata where you seem to be overnighting only). And you want to add <i>more</i> to that. This itin will require editing to be able to do just the 6 places you have named in the 15 days.
2. With due respect, you could not possibly have seen “all” of Vietnam in 9 days. You indeed went to Vietnam, and you saw selected parts. I am sure it was enjoyable and interesting, but don’t be under the impression that you saw any significant part of the country in that amount of time. Even more so with India, which is far larger and contains many separate cultures, not to mention geographies. Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Parsee, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian to name just the major religions. Snow-capped mountains, deserts, vast farmlands, beaches, tiny villages and huge cities to name the most obvious geographic differences. And food and language differences which are also significant. You are planning to see a sliver of north India. Again, that is fine, but keep your itin sensible so you can actually see the bit you are going to.
3. Following on from the above, in my experience, to be able to see village life and experience “living culture” you need to spend time. You can’t experience it from the backseat of a car, or get a feel for it by spending 4 hours in Pushkar on a pit stop between Jaipur and Jodhpur. Pushkar, Ranakpur, Udaipur, etc all offer opportunities to see village life and experience the culture, but you have to spend enough time to be able to gain and understanding of the culture, and especially the rhythm of village life. Otherwise your impressions will be quite superficial. ("India has poverty and there are cows in the streets. People drive like maniacs.") Not what I call insight into a culture. Again, this is why I advise that you take it slow. <i>Less is more</i> is my travel mantra.
4. With regard to your itin in particular, see below:
<i>-Delhi. arrive Sat afternoon. stay 1 night.</i>
I assume you are taking the Emirates flight via Dubai which arrives at 3 pm, as all other flights tend to arrive very late in the evening or early AM hours.
You could actually make the Mewar Express train to Agra which departs at 7 pm that same evening. This will take a bit of a mental push to do on top of jet lag, but would give you more time elsewhere. I think it is worth considering. There are some other evening trains as well, but the Mewar is one of the superfast ones which only take 2 hours. Nizamuddin station is about an hour from Delhi airport on a Saturday afternoon.
<i>-Sunday take fast train to Agra. See taj at sunset. stay 1 night. see taj at sunrise.</i>
You won’t see anything of Delhi on Saturday and are leaving early Sunday, but given your interests, I would say that is fine.
<i>-Monday drive to Jaipur (or jadphur instead?), stopping at fatephur skier. (stay overnight?)</i>
It is not necessary to overnight at Fatehpur Sikri, as it is only about an hour from Agra. You would still have 3 hours on the road the next day to reach Jaipur. If you see sunrise at the Taj, and get a decent start after breakfast toward Fatephur Sikri, you should have ample time to see it (2-3 hours needed) and then head on to Jaipur.
Driving from Agra to Jodhpur will take about 12 hours, and probably longer. Not including time to stop at Fatephur Sikri on the way. In the first place, given the short winter days, this is not possible to do in terms of driving all this in daylight. (I personally avoid Indian roads at night). Secondly, that is about 6 hours longer than I like to spend in a car in India in a day. Finally, this would mean that you would have to skip Ranthambore. Both have their pluses and minuses. Go to Jodhpur would make seeing Rankapur/Kumbulgarh as well as Udaipur relatively easily. On the other hand, Ranthambore park is quite interesting. Very different experiences I would say. And Jaipur and Jodhpur are different kinds of cities.
You could break the drive between Agra and Jodhpur up by stopping in or near Jaipur, or places like Pushkar, Ajmer or any of the small villages outside the main roads on the way. That could be interesting. You could also consider stopping someplace like the tented camp on the reservoir at Chhatra Sagar see http://www.chhatrasagar.com/) for a night or more which would give you a chance to see small villages and bird life. (The camp, as well as Pushkar and Ajmer would still be a very long day drive from Agra, so breaking it up with another stop might be preferable.) But doing any of these will require 3-4 nights, so again keep that in mind when travelling. You don’t want to spend just 1 day in each place, IMO, as you won’t really get a chance to experience living culture.
<i>-Tues travel to Ranthamborne. stay 2 nights (3 safari drives).</i>
Seems adequate and you will get in a decent number of drives. Bring warm clothing like hats, gloves and long underwear, as the drives are cold, esp the morning ones as you go out before sunrise.
<i>-Thurs travel to Varanassi. stay 2 nights.</i>
How are you planning to ravel between Ranthambore and Varanasi? The train takes 14-16 hours. Timing could be awkward, i.e. you either have to miss the morning drive at Ranthambore to be able to get an early train, or you will miss sunrise at Varanasi as night trains don’t arrive until mid-morning or later. As you have 2 nights in Varanasi and 2 in Ranthambore, perhaps this will work, but bear it in mind when planning. This may necessitate allotting 3 nights in either Ranthambore or Varanasi to be able to make this work wit train schedules. If you plan to fly, you first have to get to either Jaipur or Delhi to then connect on to Varanasi. This will also take the better part of a day, so again you may have to allot more time to Varanasi to make this work.
<i>-Sat fly to Kolkata (or overnight train)</i>
I don’t think it is possible to fly from Varanasi to Port Blair in the same day (via Kolkata), as the non-stop Jet flight from Varanasi does not arrive into Kolkata until 3:30 pm and flights to Port Blair depart in the morning. (To the best of my knowledge, there are no non-stops between Varanasi and Kolkata other than on Jet, but do check.) So you may have to overnight in Kolkata, which seems like a waste (either spend more time or skip, IMO). The overnight train takes about 10 hours and probably will work better. Be sure to leave enough time to get from the Kolkata rail station out to the airport. Flights to Port Blair seem to all depart between 9:30 and 10:30 am.
<i>-fly to Adaman Islands. Ferry to Havelock. 3 nights.</i>
This is a lot of travel for only 3 nights. I would stay longer. The trip out will take most of one whole day, between the flight to Port Blair and then getting the ferry to Havelock. This assumes you can get an afternoon ferry to Havelock, I have not done that much research on that, but my impression is that there is one daily ferry and it departs in the morning. If you need to overnight in Port Blair to get a ferry on to Havelock, then even more time is lost. The return will take the better part of a day too I think. So that is 2 or even 3 full days travel for 3 days of holiday time. Not a ratio I like.
<i>-Tues fly to Kolkata. stay 1 night. </i>
I don’t see the point of going to a huge place like Kolkata for one night, esp given your interests. If you can coordinate flights from Port Blair to work with your international departure on the same day, that IMO would be preferable. It would also give you more time to do the rest of your itin.
-?
?
-Sunday late evening flight to nyc.
What may make this itin even easier is if you could get an international light from your home airport to Bangkok. Thai Air has non-stops flights to Varanasi in the winter season, so check to see if they are running during your visit. So you could fly from Bangkok right to Varanasi and do the itin as Varanasi-Agra-Rajasthan-Delhi to Port Blair. While you can’t fly directly between Port Blair and Bangkok as far as I know, you could go to Bangkok via Kolkata and get a return international flight from there back home. However if you can get an open jaw ticket into Bangkok and out of Delhi, that would work just as well, IMO.
1. You have 15 days. Pick 4 places AT MOST. Otherwise this vacation will be a tour of airports and train stations. Right now, you have 6 places on your itin (8 if you count Delhi and Kolkata where you seem to be overnighting only). And you want to add <i>more</i> to that. This itin will require editing to be able to do just the 6 places you have named in the 15 days.
2. With due respect, you could not possibly have seen “all” of Vietnam in 9 days. You indeed went to Vietnam, and you saw selected parts. I am sure it was enjoyable and interesting, but don’t be under the impression that you saw any significant part of the country in that amount of time. Even more so with India, which is far larger and contains many separate cultures, not to mention geographies. Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Parsee, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian to name just the major religions. Snow-capped mountains, deserts, vast farmlands, beaches, tiny villages and huge cities to name the most obvious geographic differences. And food and language differences which are also significant. You are planning to see a sliver of north India. Again, that is fine, but keep your itin sensible so you can actually see the bit you are going to.
3. Following on from the above, in my experience, to be able to see village life and experience “living culture” you need to spend time. You can’t experience it from the backseat of a car, or get a feel for it by spending 4 hours in Pushkar on a pit stop between Jaipur and Jodhpur. Pushkar, Ranakpur, Udaipur, etc all offer opportunities to see village life and experience the culture, but you have to spend enough time to be able to gain and understanding of the culture, and especially the rhythm of village life. Otherwise your impressions will be quite superficial. ("India has poverty and there are cows in the streets. People drive like maniacs.") Not what I call insight into a culture. Again, this is why I advise that you take it slow. <i>Less is more</i> is my travel mantra.
4. With regard to your itin in particular, see below:
<i>-Delhi. arrive Sat afternoon. stay 1 night.</i>
I assume you are taking the Emirates flight via Dubai which arrives at 3 pm, as all other flights tend to arrive very late in the evening or early AM hours.
You could actually make the Mewar Express train to Agra which departs at 7 pm that same evening. This will take a bit of a mental push to do on top of jet lag, but would give you more time elsewhere. I think it is worth considering. There are some other evening trains as well, but the Mewar is one of the superfast ones which only take 2 hours. Nizamuddin station is about an hour from Delhi airport on a Saturday afternoon.
<i>-Sunday take fast train to Agra. See taj at sunset. stay 1 night. see taj at sunrise.</i>
You won’t see anything of Delhi on Saturday and are leaving early Sunday, but given your interests, I would say that is fine.
<i>-Monday drive to Jaipur (or jadphur instead?), stopping at fatephur skier. (stay overnight?)</i>
It is not necessary to overnight at Fatehpur Sikri, as it is only about an hour from Agra. You would still have 3 hours on the road the next day to reach Jaipur. If you see sunrise at the Taj, and get a decent start after breakfast toward Fatephur Sikri, you should have ample time to see it (2-3 hours needed) and then head on to Jaipur.
Driving from Agra to Jodhpur will take about 12 hours, and probably longer. Not including time to stop at Fatephur Sikri on the way. In the first place, given the short winter days, this is not possible to do in terms of driving all this in daylight. (I personally avoid Indian roads at night). Secondly, that is about 6 hours longer than I like to spend in a car in India in a day. Finally, this would mean that you would have to skip Ranthambore. Both have their pluses and minuses. Go to Jodhpur would make seeing Rankapur/Kumbulgarh as well as Udaipur relatively easily. On the other hand, Ranthambore park is quite interesting. Very different experiences I would say. And Jaipur and Jodhpur are different kinds of cities.
You could break the drive between Agra and Jodhpur up by stopping in or near Jaipur, or places like Pushkar, Ajmer or any of the small villages outside the main roads on the way. That could be interesting. You could also consider stopping someplace like the tented camp on the reservoir at Chhatra Sagar see http://www.chhatrasagar.com/) for a night or more which would give you a chance to see small villages and bird life. (The camp, as well as Pushkar and Ajmer would still be a very long day drive from Agra, so breaking it up with another stop might be preferable.) But doing any of these will require 3-4 nights, so again keep that in mind when travelling. You don’t want to spend just 1 day in each place, IMO, as you won’t really get a chance to experience living culture.
<i>-Tues travel to Ranthamborne. stay 2 nights (3 safari drives).</i>
Seems adequate and you will get in a decent number of drives. Bring warm clothing like hats, gloves and long underwear, as the drives are cold, esp the morning ones as you go out before sunrise.
<i>-Thurs travel to Varanassi. stay 2 nights.</i>
How are you planning to ravel between Ranthambore and Varanasi? The train takes 14-16 hours. Timing could be awkward, i.e. you either have to miss the morning drive at Ranthambore to be able to get an early train, or you will miss sunrise at Varanasi as night trains don’t arrive until mid-morning or later. As you have 2 nights in Varanasi and 2 in Ranthambore, perhaps this will work, but bear it in mind when planning. This may necessitate allotting 3 nights in either Ranthambore or Varanasi to be able to make this work wit train schedules. If you plan to fly, you first have to get to either Jaipur or Delhi to then connect on to Varanasi. This will also take the better part of a day, so again you may have to allot more time to Varanasi to make this work.
<i>-Sat fly to Kolkata (or overnight train)</i>
I don’t think it is possible to fly from Varanasi to Port Blair in the same day (via Kolkata), as the non-stop Jet flight from Varanasi does not arrive into Kolkata until 3:30 pm and flights to Port Blair depart in the morning. (To the best of my knowledge, there are no non-stops between Varanasi and Kolkata other than on Jet, but do check.) So you may have to overnight in Kolkata, which seems like a waste (either spend more time or skip, IMO). The overnight train takes about 10 hours and probably will work better. Be sure to leave enough time to get from the Kolkata rail station out to the airport. Flights to Port Blair seem to all depart between 9:30 and 10:30 am.
<i>-fly to Adaman Islands. Ferry to Havelock. 3 nights.</i>
This is a lot of travel for only 3 nights. I would stay longer. The trip out will take most of one whole day, between the flight to Port Blair and then getting the ferry to Havelock. This assumes you can get an afternoon ferry to Havelock, I have not done that much research on that, but my impression is that there is one daily ferry and it departs in the morning. If you need to overnight in Port Blair to get a ferry on to Havelock, then even more time is lost. The return will take the better part of a day too I think. So that is 2 or even 3 full days travel for 3 days of holiday time. Not a ratio I like.
<i>-Tues fly to Kolkata. stay 1 night. </i>
I don’t see the point of going to a huge place like Kolkata for one night, esp given your interests. If you can coordinate flights from Port Blair to work with your international departure on the same day, that IMO would be preferable. It would also give you more time to do the rest of your itin.
-?
?
-Sunday late evening flight to nyc.
What may make this itin even easier is if you could get an international light from your home airport to Bangkok. Thai Air has non-stops flights to Varanasi in the winter season, so check to see if they are running during your visit. So you could fly from Bangkok right to Varanasi and do the itin as Varanasi-Agra-Rajasthan-Delhi to Port Blair. While you can’t fly directly between Port Blair and Bangkok as far as I know, you could go to Bangkok via Kolkata and get a return international flight from there back home. However if you can get an open jaw ticket into Bangkok and out of Delhi, that would work just as well, IMO.
Nov 4th, 2010, 08:22 AM
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I knew i would catch some heat, but this is how one learns, right?! Of course I respect all of your opinions and really appreciate your thoughtful replies!
Based on your feedback we are considering taking out either the Adamans or Ranthamborn. We've already taken an African Safari (during the wildebeast migration), seeing a life-times worth of animals, so it looks like the RNP is the most logical thing to take out. Its looking like it makes sense to skip Jodhpur as it's a bit further away and focus on Jaipur, Chhatra Saga, Udaipur, Bundi. Then fly from Jaipur to Varanasi. then overnight train Varanasi to Kolkata.
I'm going to continue pouring thru your suggestions now and fine tune and maybe eliminate
. signed, scraggy-scaggy-scagly
Based on your feedback we are considering taking out either the Adamans or Ranthamborn. We've already taken an African Safari (during the wildebeast migration), seeing a life-times worth of animals, so it looks like the RNP is the most logical thing to take out. Its looking like it makes sense to skip Jodhpur as it's a bit further away and focus on Jaipur, Chhatra Saga, Udaipur, Bundi. Then fly from Jaipur to Varanasi. then overnight train Varanasi to Kolkata.
I'm going to continue pouring thru your suggestions now and fine tune and maybe eliminate
. signed, scraggy-scaggy-scagly
Nov 4th, 2010, 12:49 PM
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ha ha no worries.
So, i'm trying to convince my travel companion that this is a good itinerary:
Day 1 . Arrive Afternoon Delhi. 1 night.
Day 2 . Sightsee Delhi. Travel to Agra for Sunset Taj. 1 night.
Day 3 . Sunrise Taj. Drive to Jaipur. 1 night
Day 4 . Drive to Chhatra Sagar. 1 night
Day 5 . Drive to Udaipur. 1 night (stay at Ravla Khempur?)
Day 6 . Drive to Bundi. 1 night
Day 7 . Drive to Jaipur. 1 night
Day 8 . Fly from Jaipur to Varanasi (or night train?). 2 nights
Day 10. Fly from Varanasi to Kolkata. Fly to Adamans
Day 11. Travel to Havelock. 3 nights
Day 14. Fly to Kolkata. 1 night
Day 15. Cooking class in Kolkata. Evening flight to NYC
My companion is wondering if we can take local transport rather than hiring a car/driver thru Rajasthan. And would also prefer to eliminate the flight to Varanasi. not sure if it's feasible. Thoughts on this?
So, i'm trying to convince my travel companion that this is a good itinerary:
Day 1 . Arrive Afternoon Delhi. 1 night.
Day 2 . Sightsee Delhi. Travel to Agra for Sunset Taj. 1 night.
Day 3 . Sunrise Taj. Drive to Jaipur. 1 night
Day 4 . Drive to Chhatra Sagar. 1 night
Day 5 . Drive to Udaipur. 1 night (stay at Ravla Khempur?)
Day 6 . Drive to Bundi. 1 night
Day 7 . Drive to Jaipur. 1 night
Day 8 . Fly from Jaipur to Varanasi (or night train?). 2 nights
Day 10. Fly from Varanasi to Kolkata. Fly to Adamans
Day 11. Travel to Havelock. 3 nights
Day 14. Fly to Kolkata. 1 night
Day 15. Cooking class in Kolkata. Evening flight to NYC
My companion is wondering if we can take local transport rather than hiring a car/driver thru Rajasthan. And would also prefer to eliminate the flight to Varanasi. not sure if it's feasible. Thoughts on this?
Nov 4th, 2010, 04:48 PM
#16
All those one-nighters make me tired just reading about them.... India is frenetic, sensory overload, especially if you use public transport. Plus you need time to actually see something! For train times see http://www.indianrail.gov.in/ or cleartrip.com.
Nov 4th, 2010, 06:43 PM
#18
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I agree that if you have been to Africa, then skipping Ranthambore is a good idea. They don’t compare, and I think you would actually find it somewhat disappointing after the richness of something like an African safari.
You now have 9 places on your itin of 15 days. You’ve obviously done the math and decided that the best way to do this is 1 night in each place. That just is making my head spin….You will be experiencing India from the backseat of a car or from a train (at least on the train you might meet actual Indians beside your driver…). I don’t get it. Will await your revised itin before commenting further.
But some things to think about:
I still vote for the train down as soon as you arrive.
You can take trains for some of the Rajasthan itin, but for some of this a car will work better. For example, a train to Chatra Sagar from Jaipur or Jodhpur would not be a good way to go, as the nearest railhead is Ajmer, about 50 miles away, but you basically pass by Chatra Sagar on the road from Jaipur to Jodhpur. So it depends on where you end up going.
The drive from Chattra Sagar to Udaipur will take 5-6 hours. If you want to include a stop at Ranakpur/Kumbulgarh, then you need to take this entire day as travel to Udaipur. So be sure to leave time to see Udaipur.
The drive from Udaipur to Bundi will take 5-6 hours or so. Again, leave time for actual sightseeing.
There are trains from Bundi to Varanasi, but they take a longish time (16-20 hours). However they might work, and it may be better than driving all the way to Jaipur (5 hours or so) and then either taking a train or overnighting in Jaipur and then flying.
There are trains from Jaipur to Varanasi, but they take 14-18 hours. Flying will save you a good bit of time. But then you may only get 1 sunrise on the river if you fly and have only 2 nights.
You can take cooking classes in all the places you are going. Don’t know that I would spend my only day in Kolkata having one.
You now have 9 places on your itin of 15 days. You’ve obviously done the math and decided that the best way to do this is 1 night in each place. That just is making my head spin….You will be experiencing India from the backseat of a car or from a train (at least on the train you might meet actual Indians beside your driver…). I don’t get it. Will await your revised itin before commenting further.
But some things to think about:
I still vote for the train down as soon as you arrive.
You can take trains for some of the Rajasthan itin, but for some of this a car will work better. For example, a train to Chatra Sagar from Jaipur or Jodhpur would not be a good way to go, as the nearest railhead is Ajmer, about 50 miles away, but you basically pass by Chatra Sagar on the road from Jaipur to Jodhpur. So it depends on where you end up going.
The drive from Chattra Sagar to Udaipur will take 5-6 hours. If you want to include a stop at Ranakpur/Kumbulgarh, then you need to take this entire day as travel to Udaipur. So be sure to leave time to see Udaipur.
The drive from Udaipur to Bundi will take 5-6 hours or so. Again, leave time for actual sightseeing.
There are trains from Bundi to Varanasi, but they take a longish time (16-20 hours). However they might work, and it may be better than driving all the way to Jaipur (5 hours or so) and then either taking a train or overnighting in Jaipur and then flying.
There are trains from Jaipur to Varanasi, but they take 14-18 hours. Flying will save you a good bit of time. But then you may only get 1 sunrise on the river if you fly and have only 2 nights.
You can take cooking classes in all the places you are going. Don’t know that I would spend my only day in Kolkata having one.
Nov 4th, 2010, 06:59 PM
#19
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One night is a place is exactly that - one night. With travel times, you won't even have an afternoon and evening there. If your idea of being in India is spending all of your time in trains, cars and airports, you'll love this itinerary. If, on the other hand, you have some thought of actually experiencing a bit of India, this itinerary will be an exercise in frustration.
