Itinerary help
 

as part of a trip around the world we are stopping in india for a few days. originally we only planned 3 days. to see a bit of delhi and the taj mahal. we are thinking of extending to a week or more.

we are thinking:

Apr 15 Arrive Delhi
Apr 16 Travel to Agra
Stop at Akbar's Tomb/
Apr 17 Explore Taj Mahal/Agra's Fort
Apr 18 Travel to Jaipor
Apr 19 Explore Jaipor
Apr 20 Explore Jaipor
Apr 21 Travel to Delhi
Apr 22 Depart Delhi to Istanbul

suggestions? thoughts?

April 17th, 2009 is a Friday and the Taj Mahal will be closed. It's closed every Friday.

Spend an extra day in Delhi on arrival. There is plenty to see there. You don't really need two days in Agra if you're just going to see the Taj. You can arrive in the morning and depart for Jaipur in the afternoon/evening.

if you have the option, i did much the same trip as you and i did it over 11 days....you could do it in 9-10 days comfortably....hire a car and driver....best money spent...

i did this through castle and king

Do you know WHAT you want to see in Delhi or Jaipur? That will help a lot in planning your itinerary.

You could spend a night in Samode Palace, about 26 miles from Jaipur, on a side road to Delhi. a delightful property nestled in the Aravallis. The Durbar hall is a good 250 years vintage with original, stunning, frescoes on hindu mythology & more secular motifs. Food & ambience is excellant & so is the service rendered by the old retainers!

It's certainly a good idea to extend your stay, and having decided to do so, you have come up with a very sane plan. Like so many people want to rush around and try to see too much in too short a time. You could stay in India for months, but if you've a week then ..

Taking on board the info about the Taj being closed on Fridays (I don't think it was on my two visits) then staying in Delhi an extra day is sensible. I'd stay a day or more there, regardless. Lots to see. Then the rest of your plan is fine, though you might want to stop at Fatephur Sikri on your way to Jaipur from Agra.

You don't say how you will be travelling, but the latter suggestion is perfectly do-able by bus if you are that way inclined.

Have a great trip.

I haven't tried to go to the Taj on Friday, just saw on websites that it is closed Fridays.

First of all, in April it will be <i>quite</i> hot in north India, so make sure you are OK with this and whoever you are traveling with. I have been in Delhi in April when it was 45 C/113 F. It’s sunny as it is pre-monsoon, so it is pretty brutal; I could not imagine being a tourist out in the sun. (If you think Bangkok, where you will be coming from, is hot, just wait…) I would say don’t try to do too much in a day. You might consider going someplace in the cooler north like Ladakh; this will not be the traditional “golden triangle” area of India, but extremely interesting and beautiful and the temps will be significantly better. Good hiking too. A place like Shimla or Darjeeling would be a good idea too.

The Taj is closed on Fridays as mentioned above, as there is a mosque on the grounds. Therefore, you could spend the Friday in Delhi, which I like a lot and there certainly is a lot to do and see there. You might just split your time between Delhi and Agra and leave out Jaipur, as your trip is so short.

Alternately, if there is something you really wanted to see in Jaipur or that area, have you looked into whether you can connect from your international flight in Delhi right to a flight to Jaipur? As you are coming from Thailand, you may be able to get a daytime flight that will allow you to connect to a Jaipur flight. As you won’t be jet-lagged or anything, just carrying on to Jaipur may work well for you. See the flight schedules for Kingfisher and Jet (the best airlines) and see if they work for you. You will have to go over to the domestic airport, but that is not hard to do. Give yourself about 2.5 hours for the connection; you can generally do it in less time, but with immigration, baggage claim, and then check-in on at the domestic airport, you just never know. If you do this, I can provide details on changing airports. You may also be able to just get a train to Jaipur that afternoon, and then just reverse your itin. (But I think you may arrive too late for the fast trains, which go early in the morning, the slower trains take like 5 hours.)

There is also a flight to Agra on Kingfisher every day from Delhi, so you may be able to connect to that, but timing may not work and then you have the issue of being there on Friday when the Taj is closed. But look at the schedule and see if that appeals. You could go to Fatephur Sikri on Friday or do many other things in Agra besides the Taj if you elected to go down there right away and save Delhi for the last part of your trip. (Even if you go to Agra just by train or car rather than flying.)

May I also suggest, as you are coming from Bangkok that you might want to consider going to Varanasi, which is a <i>really</i> interesting city and a huge part of Hindu culture. Better yet, there are direct flights from Bangkok to Varanasi. You could spend a few days there, and then take a night train to Agra, spend a few days there, and then just go up to Delhi for your flight out to Istanbul (a great place, by the way). See info below for websites. You may be able to fit in Jaipur too (or a day in Delhi, would have to pick one.) You might find Varanasi more memorable in terms of the events you will witness than Jaipur or Delhi, which is mostly monuments (although the Jaipur desert is beautiful, but if you go to Fatephur Sikri from Agra you will see some of that too).

Finally, I would note that you can theoretically fly from Varanasi to Agra on Kingfisher, via Delhi. I am not totally sure that Kingfisher would let you do this connection, as it is less than an hour, but it is very much worth asking. You could take #334 departing Varanasi at 1:30 pm and arriving Delhi at 2: 50 pm, then connect to #2301 departing at 3:30 to Agra. Delhi domestic airport is <i>tiny</i> and the gates would literally be next to each other (there are maybe 8 gates at the terminal), so I think this connection should be possible. If possible, I would go business class, as if the Varanasi flight is late they will give you better service in making the connection, IMO.

www.indianrail.gov.in. - state railway of (India)
http://www.flykingfisher.com/ - excellent private airline
http://www.jetairways.com - private airline in India, very good
Indiamike.com

A very useful website for hotels in India is http://sawdays.co.uk/, click on the book for India. You can also buy the book, but the website will give you a very long list of hotels to start with.
A lot of these hotels are in the budget range, and all seem interesting and several, like the Imperial in Delhi, are outstanding (but it ‘s not a budget hotel by any means).

thank you so much for all your feedback. the temparatures are frightening me but i want to see a little bit of India. we are planning to hire a car to take us around. this was recommended by a few people and suppossedly very affordable. thank you SO much for the tip about friday taj mahal closed. i think we may add an extra day at the top to Delhi to explore and travel out to Agra on friday hopefully less people traveling out there since taj is closed friday and then stay overnight and see it saturday.

When you hire a car, make sure the driver KNOWS the area he will be driving you in and that he speaks an acceptable level of English so you can communicate.