India Itinerary
 

Am thinking of going to India next year in late March or or early April. How does this itinerary look? 3 nights in Delhi then drive to Agra for 1 night then either fly or drive to Jaipur for 3 nights. Then fly or drive to Udaipur for 3 nights and then fly back to Delhi for 2 more nights. Does this sound doable? Any suggestions for a travel agent in India who is not too expensive and can assist with hotels and domestic travel? Should we just arrange for domestic travel when we get there? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

The itinerary sounds pretty good - you might want to work in 2 nights in Agra so that you have a full day, starting with the Taj at dawn. Keep in mind that it starts to get very HOT in India at that time of year - early March or late February would be better. We used Compass Tours in Delhi. E-mail Durjay at [email protected] for rates. There are reasonable and reliable. If you use Compass, they will most likely arrange a car and driver for your entire stay. You can also arrange this through your hotel. See our trip report at:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34578710

Craig is quite right re weather. Mid March onwards every week gets hotter so plan your trip as early in march as you can. The Taj mahal now allows viewing by moonlight certain days so see if you can plan around that. I feel on such a tight schedule 1 night in Agra is enough. I would suggest Del-Agra by train, Agra-Jaipur by car, Jaipur-Udaipur either car or flight (take a look at flight schedules then decide as the sector has only 1 daily flight I think) then udaipur-Delhi by air. Or you could also fly into Delhi and out of Mumbai in which case your last leg would be Udaipur-Mumbai. Mail me on saandaainhk at yahoo.com for further info. I would not leave arrangements until you reach as the hotels and flights you want could sell out.

Thanks for the info.

I just returned from a week in Delhi 3 weeks ago...so was there exactly the same time you plan to be. It was warm, but it's a dry heat and to be honest, I thought it was perfect. It's hot but it's not sticky and wet like some equatorial countries...I cruised around in linen pants, singlets, nights are quite cool, so I still wore my boots and jeans out. We didn't have quite as long as you...but I would definitely drive between Jaipur and Agra, it takes about 4.5 hours but it's such a fantastic trip. Seeing the women working in their briliantly coloured saris in the fields, being held up on the road whilst a man herds his 100 cows..it's a bizarre and fascinating drive. As for a travel agent - we used Perfect Travels and they were simply superb. In terms of hotels, we usually do 5 star but I wanted something more intimate (and cheaper this time), we stayed at the Bajaj Homestay - only 8 guest rooms, basic, clean,central, the people there made you feel a real part of the Indian experience...definitely recommend. As for Jaipur, we stayed at Umaid Bhwatan - great, pool, nice, both of these places were only US$50 a night including breakfast and 22% tax, also you're so busy you're rarely in them, so unless your planning to go to India for some R&R !?!?, I wouldn't bother staying anywhere else!...in Agra, we stayed at a terrible place called Hotel Clarks Shiraz. By far the most disgusting hotel - do not stay there! Friends of ours stayed at the Oberoi Amarvilas, if you can do some of the trip cheaper I strongly recommend staying there, as it's almost as if the Taj Mahal was built for this place - simply stunning.
As for domestic travel, I organised it all with Raj from Perfect Travels 2 nights before we left. He was truly outstanding. I live in Hong Kong, am from Australia and have also spent much time in other parts of the world, and the service these guys showed was better than we've had anywhere, prices and responses from these guys were great. First class trains are also good in India - so much better than what I was expecting.

Anyway, hope this helps. Have a ball..am very jealous and am planning my next trip back. You've got a good itinerary. If anything I'd say maybe cut back in Delhi. The hustle and bustle is great but 3 nights there is stacks. Spend more time in Rajasthan -it's just so beautiful.

Thanks for all the good information!