We are going to India in April for 3 wks. We fly in to Mumbai where I have family. The places we want to go are as follows:
1) Jaisalmer
2) Jaipur
3) Delhi
4) Agra
5) Varanasi
6) Shimla
7) Goa
8) Cochin
9) Coimbatore
10) Andaman Islands

Is this possible? Are there places we should eliminate? If so which one(s)?
Also want to get the "Visit India" flight pass - is it better to go with JetAirways or Indian Airlines?
And how do we get from Mumbai to Jaisalmer - I think we may have to connect through Jodphur!

Any help or words or wisdom are appreciated!
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OK, that sounds like a LOT for 3 weeks. To be honest I don't know all the places well.

I've done Delhi, Jaipur, Delhi, Agra & Varanasi, which are the typical Nothern places. I took two weeks and that was RUSHED.

You are adding Goa which is in the south and other places I am not even sure about. The only thing that will help you on this is that flight pass. But I still think it is a lot.

I agree with Wayne! I'm usually pretty bad about trying to do see too many places in too little time, but this list leaves me feeling breathless! How long do you want to spend in each of these places? Does your 3 weeks include travel time to and from India? And even flying, you'll need to allow ar least half a day between each of these places.

I'd start by dropping the Andaman Islands, especially since you don't want to go to Chennai, which is the most likely gateway. Then I'd seriously consider doing either a northern loop or a southern loop, rather than both. If you still want to try for both you probably need to drop Varanasi (much as I hate to recommend that!) and Simla.

Then I suggest sitting down with a blank calendar & the airline schedules and plotting what's left. Also take a look at the railway schedules to see if night trains make sense. Good luck!

I recommend drop the south. I know Goa is supposed to be gorgeous, but you can catch beautiful beaches somewhere else

Varanasi ONLY exists in India.

Wayne - I'd absolutely vote for Varanasi over Goa, although throw in Kerala and it gets a little bit closer. But then I'm not that keen on beaches, whereas an overnight on a rice barge on the backwaters in Kerala is pretty special. While Varanasi is top of my must-revisit-in-India list, it doesn't seem to fit well with the rest of the OP's list.

Thanks for the responses. I figured we were taking on too much! However Andaman is not something I want to give up. We are beach lovers. I am thinking of dropping Goa and Shimla. Varanasi is a must for us. Have family in Coimbatore so no choice there! Is it worthwhile going to Cochin?
We are in India for exactly 3 weeks - travel time is on top of that.

Thanks again for all of the help!!

While I enjoyed Cochin it's not in the same class as Varanasi and Agra, especially if you don't have time to cruise the backwaters. Given your list & constraints I'd do Mumbai - Coimbatore - Andaman - (Kolkata) - Varanasi - Agra and some variant of the Delhi - Rajasthan circuit on the way back to Mumbai, but you may want to do Kolkata-Varanasi by night train - not sure there's a direct flight.

If Andaman is a must for you I'd drop Jaisalmer and Shimla. Shimla is an easy choice to drop - as a matter of fact I'd also suggest if going to a hill station was on your radar screen look at something near Coimbatore where you have to visit your family - Munnar tea plantations for example are beautiful and a few hours drive. Jaisalmer is one of my favourite cities in India but with this itinerary will entail a great deal of travel time which you do not have. Also bear in mind that direct flights to Port Blair are from Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad so you perforce need to touch one of these cities or potentially have a long connection at the airport - take a look at flights then decide. What might make sense is flying into Delhi, doing Varanasi, Agra, Jaipur, from Jaipur flying to Mumbai, doing Coimbatore, something else from there - could be a plantation retreat eg Munnar, Cochin, the backwaters, Chennai, Port Blair, back to Mumbai and out from there. The other advantage of this itinerary is you are doing the north first when weather will be a bit better - in April every day brings hotter days. I am not sure the air passes include Port Blair, check that then decide.

Ok, just checked, Port Blair is NOT included in the Jet Airways pass so will prob not be included in indian Airlines either. Also, you can only touch a city once and generally fly in 1 direction hence my suggestion to you of starting in Delhi and working your way south.

where is my post?????????????

Hi Patricia

think your reply is on my original post! I was advised to re-post under a new heading so i did.

Thanks a lot for your information and the itinerary. When were you in India?

This info may be too late, but the top of your list should be Agra, Varanasi and Kajhuraho. The last one rivals Angkor Wat for its sculptures and is older. Delhi and Jaiphur are not worth the efforts. Cochin is a must because it shows you the contrast between north and south, and the food is much better.

I think Jaipur is OK, I loved riding up to the Amber Fort, Jantar Mantar was interesting, um... and ok, the walls are pink. But I would go to Kajhuraho easily before doing Jaipur again.

While Khujaraho is unique I wouldn't compare it to Angkor Wat. After a while I found the sculpture repetitive. I'd rate Jaisalmer above Jaipur but I found both interesting, manageable towns. I agree that Delhi is disappointing.

Really? So I should not bother with Delhi or just plan a day or two there?

Either one of Goa or Andaman will have to go. Decided to go to Coimbatore to see relatives and may forget Cochin depending on time.

Good exchange here. One point, please check if you need a permit to go to Andaman&Nicobar Islands....http://www.and.nic.in/...the islands were known as Kala Pani (black water) as during the British Raj political dissidents were sent there as prisoners, my Grandfather among them. Between Goa and Andaman, I would choose Andaman.

I haven't been to the Andamans, but even so if I were a beach person I'd probably pick them over Goa - but it will take longer to get there! For my take on Delhi see my trip report (Disappointing Delhi) at http://www.wilhelmswords.com/asia2001/ but bear in mind I'm not a shopper.

Well I for one loved Delhi and am glad I started my India tour there.

Qtub Minar, Humayun's Tomb (which makes you appreciate the Taj more), the Lotus Temple, the Jama Masjid and the Raj Path. I also went to the great Sikh Temple and Indira Gandhi's home. The Raj Ghat was closed the day I was set to go and I didn't get to see the Red Fort in Delhi.

But I loved the insanity of the city.

Wow - thanks again everyone for the information. I would tend to agree that Andaman is nicer than Goa. I think we will be keeping Delhi on the list as there is a lot of history there.

Any thoughts on Coimbatore?

Coimbatore per se does not have a huge amount of charm. It is an industrial city and looks it. As I mentioned you could use it as a transit point for some other places. If you are going to Coimbatore you can cosnider keeping Andaman - you can fly Coimbatore-Chennai-Port Blair. Expensive tho - hope you saw my post re Port Blair not being included in the pass. If you want to do it all on the pass Goa is a better option.