I am a new member and have been reading the former posts, etc. everyone keeps saying that you need tons and tons of time in India. I am sure this is true, but I am extremely limited due to work. I have six days (not inclusive of travel) in India on the tail end of a business trip. I have never been outside of Delhi and want to pack in anything possible. I would really like to visit agra, Ranthambhore and Jaipur. I don't want any time in Delhi (seen enough of that city). I know, I know, it will be incredibly tiring, packed, etc., but is it possible? if so, can anyone suggest an itenerary?
oh, this will be in new year's eve and my husband will be joining me.
thank you!

Dear dcm58,

I went to India last October with the idea of seeing many sights in my short time. I was solo – and decided to set the pace a little quicker than how I usually prefer to travel. I have been meaning to put together a trip report. I have is a brief recap:

Saturday - Delhi Sightseeing - I'll skip details since you are not interested. Imperial Hotel

Sunday - Delhi Sightseeing - Imperial Hotel

Monday - Delhi to Ranthambhore NP (Sawai Madhopur) Morning train to Ranthambhore NP (5 hr train ride). Train was late & when it arrived the route was threatened by a Caste demonstrating for reservations & so my driver drove me to Sawai Madhophur – it took a little over 9 hours, over some really rough roads and stunning Rajasthan roadside sights. Arrived at Sher Bagh at night – dinner was around an open fire with Manganians - entertainers from the Thar desert - singing folk songs under a star filled sky. Night was filed with animal calls – even more sweet sounding after the honks & horns of Delhi! Sher Bagh

Tue (Oct 9) Sawai Madhopur to Jaipur
Morning cup of coffee delivered to my tent before the jungle safari by Gypsy. Heard the chittral’s warning calls & spotted the tigress (Machchli) and her three cubs hunting. Stopped for a cucumber sandwich in the jeep and a little cuppa chai. Then followed the tiger family on their morning routine.
Back to camp for lunch then time to hit the road. Afternoon drive to Jaipur. To check into hotel. I read the book "A Princess Remembers" so it was very interesting. Took free champagne tour of hotel; Rambagh Palace Hotel

Wednesday - Amber Fort & Jaipur Sightseeing
Elephant ride to Amer Fort then afternoon tour of Jaipur City: Hawa Mahal, City Palace, Jantar Mantar (Sawai Jai Singh II); Shopping for souvenirs; Purchased necklaces for family members. Very hot day. Back to hotel to swim & order dinner by the pool. Rambagh Palace Hote

Thursday - Jaipur / Fatehpur Sikri / Agra (250kms – 5hrs): Breakfast: Malarone This morning drive to visit Fatehpur Sikri; drive to Agra – check into hotel. Walked around the stunning sight for a couple of hours to watch the sunlight changing. Then over to Agra Fort & back to hotel for dinner. Taj View Hotel

Friday - Agra / (Jhansi)/ Orchha / Khajuraho (Train & Road Journey): Morning transfer to train station TRAIN to Jhansi (0800/1020hrs) Transfer to CAR: visit Orchha; lunch at Orchha Resort; then Khajuraho. Meant to see the Evening Light Show at Western Temples but just too tired. Stayed at Taj Chandela.

Sat (Oct 13) Khajuraho / Sarnath / Varanasi: Breakfast: Morning visit Western groups of temples (Lakshmana & Kandariya Madadev Temples)
Then transfer to airport for Flight @1:30PM to Varanasi (Benares), India’s holiest city. Arrived & checked into hotel. Drive to see Sarnath visit museum & see international Buddhist tourists. Dinner then off to attend ceremony (Aarti) on the Ganges River. Sat on a restaurant deck to see whole area. Wonderful to hear so many singing along with chant. Quite a sight to see. Traffic to river was very heavy. Through a Muslim area during Eid al Fitr – homemade fireworks booming. Stayed at Taj Ganges.


DAY 08 Varanasi / Kathmandu
Early-morning boat ride on the Ganges, followed by a walking tour of the old city. This was very unique. Then transfer to airport for Flight @ 12:20PM to Kathmandu.

I went on to Nepal & Lhasa, too. But I know you are interested in India.

I traveled for 18 days with a driver and local guide. It was perfectly organized through a travel agent, Mr. Min Kc at Pigeon Travel, who was extraordinary in his attention to my every wish! His email is: pigeontravel@yahoo dot com

If you would like to see some photos, here is my slide show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv6MHIn0hXc

Good luck & be ready for anything! Sleep when you get home


Mary

wow! your trip makes my idea sound exhausting, but doable. I agree . . . you can sleep when you get home!
this makes me wonder, though, should I try to see Vandarasi, too? is it possible? your pictures were so lovely, it made me even more ambitious!

Hi dcm58,

My busy trip worked perfectly with the help of a great travel agent.

But be sure to visit Ranthambhore. And I would highly recommend the Sher Bagh.

This board is such a great resource.
I am sure those with more experience can advise further.

Good luck & happy planning!

Not only is the trip tightly packed, but is during high, high season, so you will be paying the most for hotels and they will also be quite full. Book right now, hopefully you can still get something. Personally I think you would do better to only include 2 places rather than 3, esp someplace like Ranthambore where you can have fires at night in December, or in Jaipur where you could get out into the desert, but if you want to do three then, assuming you have 5 nights:

Drive/Train to Agra, 1 night. With your limited time, if you can arrive at least in time for sunset at the Taj, and then see sunrise at the Taj the next day, and then see a bit of Agra and stop at Fatephur Sikri on your way out, you could get away with this brief time in Agra. Which, by the way, will you dislike because you will not spend enough time in it. But what can you do. Everyone wants to “see” everything without experiencing any of it. (Sorry, my rant for the day.) You could easily take one of the early morning surperfast trains to Agra from Delhi which would give you the better part of a whole day in Agra (and time to see sunset) and then see sunrise the next day and then head to Jaipur just after sunrise. Makes for some long days, but is certainly possible. One issue in December with early morning trains may be fog, which may slow the trains down a bit, it will just be a matter of luck. You could wait to take a slightly later train, say 10 or 11, these will take a bit longer and will then cut down on the time you have in Agra. It’s a crap shoot. Driving is possible, but again fog may be the same issue in the morning (and you never drive at night while you could take an evening train down).

Drive to Jaipur, 2 nights. Stopping by Faetphur Sikri on the way. I would say 2 nights in Jaipur, leaving in the late afternoon in time to make it to Ranthambore for darkness (but probably too late for the afternoon game drive as IMO you will need the time for Jaipur). Drive time is about 3 hours on good roads. IMO 2 nights in Jaipur is going to be rushed, but I guess can work. If you can cut out time from Ranthambore, you could do 3 nights in Jaipur which may work better in terms of seeing sights and also perhaps spending time in the desert.

Drive to Ranthambore, 2 nights. Arrive just at darkness. Drive time is about 3 hours on good roads. This would allow you would get 3 game drives in and possibly a 4th on the afternoon of your last day depending on how late a train you can get to Delhi. Take the train from Ranthambore to Delhi. Driving back is possible but only if done during the day which would cut down significantly on your time in Ranthambore. (I would not do those roads at night and even more so in the swirling thick fogs of December). Assuming your flight out is quite late on this same day, arriving into Delhi late in the evening should work OK, you would have to check schedules. You could theoretically get away with 1 night in Ranthambore if you arrived in time for an afternoon drive, stayed overnight and then did 2 more the next day and took a late evening train to Delhi (assuming this worked with yoru flight schedule). You could even do fewer game drives, but going all that way for only 2 drives would not seem worth it, IMO. However, it is your trip and this could be done. Game drives are only twice a day, the first at about 7 am and then again at about 2:30 pm, so you need to time your arrival to make the afternoon drive.

IMO you do not have time for Varanasi, as that is a flight or a very long train ride, and there are no direct flights from Jaipur or Agra, and even with a good connection it will take about half a day, and you really do not have that kind of time. (Also December fog would worry mean for flights on that tight a schedule.) It is very interesting, but not in that short a time. If you cut out one of the other places you would have time, but not 4 places in 6 days. I would not do that in Europe, let alone in India.

Cicerone, thank you for the information, especially regarding the fog. I agree that trains might be a better choice as the fog may delay flights.

Regarding your other comments, I realize this trip is rushed, and I realize that this is not ideal. I stated this in my very first post. Please do not lecture me, as you do not know my situation and can sound offensive as you "rant" about tourists wanting to "see everything without experiencing." I do not wish to see everything; I wish to see a very select few things in an unfortunately expansive geographic area to make my husband happy. Nor is it appropriate for you to inform me, quite disdainfully, that I will dislike Agra because I will not spend enough time there. I did not ask your opinion regarding that and you are grossly uninformed to provide it - having no details as to my background, travel experience, or tastes. Let me decide what I see and experience and whether it is beneficial.

With that being said, thank you just the same for the logistical advice on how to get from place to place. It is very heplful.

New question:
Does it matter in which direction I do the loop? Should I travel Delhi-Agra-Jaipur-Ranthambhore-Delhi or Delhi-Ranthambhore-Jaipur-Agra-Delhi? does it make a difference on train selection or driving? I was thinking of traveling from Delhi to Ranthambhore first with the thought to spending more time there. Then, if we are satisfied with the safaris sooner then expected, we could leave earlier than anticipated and spend more time elsewhere?
thank you once again in advance.

These trips sound so exciting..I want to visit the tiger preserves in Nov 2008 but am traveling alone and would like to join a group ..does any one have any suggestions /// want to see Kanha, Corbett, Ranthambhore and Bandagavrh>>>thanks...SuzyQ922

Yes, it is possible and easy as well. In the month of May of this year, I visited Delhi, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Ranthambore, Jaipur and returned back to Delhi though the itineraries were tailored. There are number of tour operators giving you details of day-to-day activities that perfectly suite you. You may consult rajasthantours.net, tajmahaltours, Culture Holidays etc. for more information and tailored itineraries.

To dcm58, I don't get your response to Cicerone. There was nothing in her comments that were out of line and I don't know what set you off. Don't do your replies when you're in a cranky mood.

Jaya,

I apologize for offending you. I wasn't in a cranky mood until I read Cicerone's reply where I received a lecture for wanting to visit India too quickly and "see" everything wihtout taking the time to "experience" it. I feel that many long-time members try to push their own preferences on people instead of just answering the question. I have seen this with many of the postings I have research as well.
Again, I apologize for offending you or anyone else on the forum.

Cicerone gives you a long, thoughtful reply packed with excellent information and suggestions, including a two sentence, self proclaimed rant (which I agree with) and you get all bent out of shape over her "lecturing" you.

A simple 'thank you' would have been polite, and if you find your experience to be different, post it in your trip report here.

I have never understood the concept that unless you have 2 months to spend at a particular location, don't go, don't bother, you won't "get" it, you will just breeze through. What rubbish IMHO.. what I wouldn't give to have the luxury to fly into a place like India and the time to slowly traverse from destination to destination spending days or weeks "absorbing" everything unto saturation, but honey, this is the real world, I am a VP I got 2 weeks baby and that's it! To date: I have experienced amazing trips to places as diverse as Kenya, Egypt and Thailand.. usually never staying more then a night or two in one location. Was it enough,, heck NO! Will I go back when I am retired, heck yes! For me, you can get A LOT out of an exhausting itinerary, enough to get a sense of where/when/if you would like to come back and dig in further. My husband and I are heading to India in September we have 12 days and are really moving about (we have a private tour booked) and I can't wait. So while, I am sure it is considered ideal for most people to take things at a slow pace, that being said.. I read the controversial post and to me, it didn't seem at all "lecture-ish".. I post wack job itineraries all of the time and have been blasted WAY worse then that! Happy travels!

Dcm58..I would recommend this routing Day 1 - Delhi - Agra morning train.Sightseeing. Night in Agra.
Day 2- Morning visit Taj at sunrise & drive to Bharatpur via Sikri. Train Bharatpur to Ranthambore
Day 3 - Ranthambore
Day 4 - Ranthambore - Jaipur train
Day 5 - Jaipur
Day 6 - Jaipur - Samode - Delhi drive

It was completely I that was in the wrong, as everyone has told me that Cicerone's reply was completely appropriate. I must apologize, Cicerone, especially if I embarassed or offended you. I asked my husband and he agreed that I completely read too much into your answer and was entirely too touchy! then he added "what is wrong with you? you let people we know completely blast us far worse than this about our short trips and then you go off on this poster who was just trying to be helpful!" hmm, apparently I picked a very bad time to "go off" on someone. Cicerone, I am sorry. I guess I was "cranky" as another poster suggested . . . which is no excuse.
Also didn't mean to start a list of postings over this issue!
thank you to everyone else for the help on the itenerary. We are trying to stretch the trip into 8 days (don't know if we can, though), and are taking everyone's advice into account. this forum definitely provides a wealth of information.

We went to India and Nepal last Dec. for 16 days. Our itinerary is similar to the one described above.
We flew to Delhi, then went to Jaipur, then to Rathambore, then took the train to Agra (stopped in fateh puh sekri?). From there were went to Khajurahu, flew to Varanasi. We then flew to Kathmandu, went to dulekell? and then flew back to delhi and home. We did not thing this was rushed in 16 days. We toured in the morning with our guides and had all afternoon and evening free to do what we wanted. Some days we went back to the sights, other times we hung out in the hotel and relaxed.