Sorry, type. "Good idea " (not gapped idea) about a day trip out of a city and into nearby countryside or village.

You definitely need to start researching plane times between the cities you want to visit because that is going to determine your itinerary and how much time you will have where.

What time does your flight arrive in ND? Will you be able to get another flight out that same day, or will you need to spend a night in ND? What time does your flight from ND depart for home? You may need to spend the previous night in ND just to make sure you can make your flight home. Thus, potentially you could only have 8 nights in India unless you have already taken this into account.

And, I have no idea where you are coming from and whether you are people who can sleep on planes, but you could also be facing some serious jet lag issues.

If this is your first time in India, I'd recommend you end with Varanasi and not start with it, despite logistical complications. It's an assault on the senses to the extreme and will invoke a love/hate relationship. The easiest (most westernized, relatively speaking) in your itinerary is Mumbai and close behind are parts of Delhi.

Great advice from some experienced fodorites above.My suggestion is for 12-13 days,pick 3 places of your(and DH) choice & make the most of it.Do it elaborately rather than time in airports.
If its my pick it would be New Delhi,Varanasi and Kolkata. Delhi in,Kolkata out or vise versa.Accommodate Varanasi in between.

The rest can be saves for you next visit.

You could squeeze in Taj by day tripping to Agra from Delhi.
The 8 lane Yamuna Experssway takes you to Agra in 3 hrs from Delhi.That means, compromising time,in Delhi.

The problem with day tripping to the Taj is that you miss dusk and dawn, which are the best times to see it.

I second that bit - best time to see the Taj. Weekdays (except Friday when it's closed) entry from the East gate, at dawn before the crowds arrive. For sunset, try mehtab bagh from across the river.

Inquest, the number of nights was changed to10(from 12-13) and it was already suggested that OP use Kolkata as a port of entry to save making at least one domestic flight (since she and husband want to visit Kolkata). Flights are booked for ND in and out. Agree with Thursdaysd--Agra, even if they wanted to visit (getting mixed messages on that, above) is not a place to "squeeze in" during a 3 hour each-way (6 hour total of day tripping") visit. IF it were a top priority, it could be done logically via car, as an en-route overnight trip between Delhi and Jaipur, but that has already been suggested and there is no mention of Agra in the above "Plan" options.

SLifestyle, when asked for ideas, we're all eager to help, but need accurate info as to actual number of nights, reasons and/or order for a particular itinerary, etc. As to advice, take it or leave it--there are plenty of great ideas from which to choose, from knowledgeable people--but at least give us clear info on which to base sensible recommendations. You seem all over the place with changing plans, so that giving tentative suggestions to the request for a "creative itinerary idea" rather difficult.

First the trip was 12-13 nights, then 10 nights. You will fly ND/Mumbai (as if that was firm)... but hadn't yet purchased tix after all. Based on one of your top desired destinations, you rec'd, from several people, the recommendation to fly into or out of Kolkata, in order to save the time/hassle of at least one intra-country flight...then purchased roundtrip ND/ND. Your first post says you're planning to see Agra...then in the next sentence, not seeing Agra. You no doubt have good reasons for the above, but the inconsistency makes it hard to know what you really want.

I fully agree that this 'Epitome of Love' the Taj Mahal is at its monumental best at dusk and dawn.Op's paucity of time and eagerness to 'must see' Taj,is why I suggested day tripping.

Cali,like you rightly said there was a lot of uncertainty, from the initial 12-13 nights cut to 10 nights.This was another reason I suggested 3 places.Further,the port of entry and exit too seemed unclear earlier.

OP,please don't get me wrong. In here,specific questions get specific answers.Like Cali mentioned,accurate info is key to getting good advice.Without which the discussion could go into a tail-spin.

I am back, thank you for so much comprehensive information. We're driving ourselves crazy. This is our plan, we arrive early AM in Delhi, spend the rest of the night, next day and leave the following morning for a meditation retreat in the middle of India. After the one week retreat, we have 9 nights to plan. Here are my questions; After our retreat, we can do the following:

1. Drive directly to Khajuraho for one night then fly to Varanasi. I am not so sure about Khajuraho?
2. Train 12 hours after our retreat (one night on the train) to Varanasi skipping Khajuraho
3. Fly to Delhi and catch a flight to Varanasi the following morning.

**After this transfer night we will only have 8 nights. We are thinking,

A. Varanasi - 3 nights
B. Kolkata - 3 -4 nights
C. Jaipur 2 nights or fly to Delhi from Kolkata and spend the last 1-2 nights in Delhi and not Jaipur. We have a VERY late flight out.

"retreat in the middle of India"--that covers a lot of ground. Where? How are road connections? How long a drive ? A coupe hours? All day? etc.
(Don't go by "google maps"--usually underestimates drive times for India). Impossible to say if Khajurao is a good idea, and worth more driving, without knowing the above info.

However, in any case, you say you are now down to 9 nights (from 12-13, then 10) even without Khajuraho. So imho, you are probably better sticking with one of your original Plan A, or Plan Bs, about which you enquired on a previous post, and where you have received excellent ideas from assorted Fodorites.

India is chock full of magical places, but approaching with a "hey, this looks good!" (e.g. now adding Khajurao) is not the best way to see it.

I'd still recommend Udaipur vs Jaipur, if you can just as easily fly there.

Assuming you are in a place for your retreat where you can easily catch a train, I'd go with #2 the train.

How exactly are you planning to get to Kolkata from Varanasi?

How exactly are you planning to get from Kolkata to Jaipur or Delhi?

Once again, all of these details will help to determine what you an actually do.

As I said upthread, we are not Delhi fans and have seen it in bits and pieces--a half day here, a half day there etc. while working around flights.

We once had a very late flight home out of Delhi just like you do. We spent our time elsewhere, arrived in Delhi early to mid afternoon and had a driver pick us up. Did a bit of sightseeing and had dinner and then had the driver take us to the airport. It worked fine.

I am not sure how to cut this small pie up. We are looking to figure out our last 8 nights, this is after:

1.5 nights and one day in Delhi after our arrival.
One week on retreat, plus one night to transfer from our retreat.

Our India outbound leaves at 1 AM, we have 8 nights and 9 days. Our plan is to either fly or train into Varanasi and then fly to Kalcuta. My question is 1. How many nights in these two places, 2/3, 3/3, or 3/4 2. Where should we go after with our 1-3 nights? My thought is leaning more towards, 3 V - 4 K and spend our last night in ND. We could stay in ND for our last night and tour the day before our late flight home. Orrrrr we could also have 1-2 nights in Jaipur as discussed. I apologize for this.

Have you checked the train times? (Use cleartrip.com)

Have you checked the flight times?

You will find both of those easier if you spell the city Kolkata.

Are you going to Khajurao (mentioned previously) OR Jaipur? Or neither?

Fwiw, my suggestion for # of nights in the only two places (aside from New Delhi) that have been constant in all your above posts, is:

Varanasi: 3 nights
Kolkata: 4 nights.

Last bit of serious advice:
Do NOT keep wondering. Decide...soon!! You have limited time because the best flights, trains, and specific hotels options may already be full or nearly so for this most-popular visiting time.

Good luck!!!!! I daresay you will love India!!