Bob - any suggestions on what to give up to give Jaipur more time?

Anyone else have an opinion regarding plane or train with regard to Varanasi? I'm inclined to do the overnight train to get extra time there.

We took the train from Varanasi to Agra.

Was that an overnight train? How was it?

Yes, you will need to pay twice - at the tourist price - to enter the Taj Mahal at different times.
The trains can be booked on Cleartrip.com. They charge Rs20 for the booking but you can use your credit card, which is something you cannot do on the Indian Railway site. The sleeper trains are now generally three tier and you had better be nimble and not claustrophobic if you are allocated a top tier. You just pull curtains around you.
See my comments on Amritsar and the trains on your previous request.
I think it is quite a long way from Udaipur to Jhodpur in one day. There are things to see on the way and I would not like to be in traffic at night. Truck drivers live on bung and drive like crazy. Nor would I like to be driving with a tired driver.
We drove from Ajmer to Chittaughaur which is on the way to udaipur and that took us the better part of a day although I must say that we peeled off the highway before Bilwara to visit the temple at Shapura (worth the effort) over a very long and bumpy dirt road. A night at Shapura Bagh and a visit to Dhilkola would have been a better choice.
If you are going to Ajmer read my review on Badnor House on TA. If you want a driver in Agra, then I highly recommend Kan Singh if you want someone who is jovial, honest and a great person to be around. He was recommended to us by a host we stayed with in Kota and Kan Singh was the best.
You do not need to go through a high priced travel agent. You can do most bookings yourself, or if you have someone like Kan Singh, he is happy to assist at no extra cost.

We had almost 10 days in Rajasthan and then three days in Amritsar. The remaining days were spent in Delhi.

BTW it will be hot even in Sept/October. We were there from mid March to 2nd week of April - very hot. My mother was there in Sept/Oct last year and she also said it was very hot then.

"The sleeper trains are now generally three tier" - nonsense. There are plenty of trains with 1AC, never mind 2AC, accommodation between Varanasi and New Delhi. Even the trains to Jaisalmer, which used to only have 3AC (three tier), now have 1AC and 2AC. Nor is it true that "You just pull curtains around you" as the curtains are for the section, not the individual berth.

Also, the Indian Railways web site is apparently accepting foreign credit cards again - from seat61.com: "stopped accepting non-Indian credit cards (other than Amex) in late 2010, but as of March 2011 now seems to accept them again"

I do agree that you should not be on the roads at night, but not that travel agents are necessarily high-priced.

Rasputin - thank you for your comments and suggestions. I look forward to reading your trip report when you have time.

I have been a bit concerned about the long drive between Udiapur and Jodhpur and getting in before dark, but had read that others have done it. We plan to leave by 7 AM to insure we are at our destination before dark. Does anyone have comments about this lengthy drive with stops to Kumbalgarh Fort & Ranakpur?

Rasputin - I am a bit confused by the route between the two cities. Do you have to go through Chittaughaur, or is that an alternate route that you chose to take? I looked at pictures of Chittaughaur and it looks fabulous. Did you also go to Kumbalgarh Fort & Ranakpur? If so, how did the sites compare? I don't think it can all be done - even with an extra day - can it? If so, do you have any suggestions on what to omit in my trip plans to allow for these extra stops?

Thursday - we watched a documentary on India just yesterday showing the three tier sleeping compartments. I don't think I would be happy to be on the top bunk! I have slept on top bunks on other sleeper trains which seemed to have far more room and was not thrilled with those, although I made do. I think I would prefer a first class private compartment for two.

I agree - the top tier isn't a great place, and the middle tier is still a bit short on headroom, but I've only been in 3AC twice - once going to Jaisalmer back when that was the only choice, and once when I booked late. The second time was a day train, when the berths are down, and in any case I had a side berth, which is only two tier.

However, while if you're a twosome and book 1AC you stand a good chance of getting the two-berth compartment, you might still wind up in a four berth. There are very few 1AC compartments on most trains - often just one two berth and two four berth. For photos and info on Indian trains see http://seat61.com/India.htm.

dgunbug - I think you have plenty of time in Varanasi without staying late to take the train. You have 2 full days plus the afternoon/evening of your first day. Most of the action occurs first thing in the morning and just after dark (the aarti). Even if you do a full day trip to Sarnath and an all-day walking tour of Varanasi you will have time left over.

If we do fly out to Delhi instead of taking the overnight (which sounds preferable to me), do you think we have too many days in Delhi? Should we add that day somewhere else?

Also, note that we will have till 8-9:00 in Delhi, rather than leaving by 6 pm. Since we cannot enter the terminal prior to 3 hours check in and since the new metro makes getting out much easier, I think it is safe to spend more time in Delhi.

you are right....there is little that i would suggest that you shrink.... we just loved jaipur and found plenty to do there and will be there again this year for a few days...

Rasputin1, you spoke about Kan Singh but never gave his contacts. Can you please share his e-mail address and phone number please? Thank you kindly.

Hmmm, thought I already posted a response to your Delhi question but it didn't seem to take. We had about the same amount of time in Delhi but we toured in the mornings and shopped in the afternoons - we found that the shopping was quite good in Delhi for what we were looking for at the time. We did old Delhi one day, "new" Delhi the next and south Delhi on the third day.

I see now that I did post a response but on the wrong thread. I hope you are doing a late check-out on your last day in Delhi.

Craig - Thanks for the suggestion for the late check out in Delhi. We will definitely need time to clean up before returning to the airport.

Bob - Unfortunately, as the schedule is, even if we wanted to add an extra day in Jaipur, it would get us into Agra late on Thurs and the Taj would be closed for visiting on Friday.

So, the question is - should we do 3 1/2 days in Delhi or should we take an extra day in Gwalior or Orchha area?

i had 3.5 days in delhi and it was not enough, but we skimped on shopping... we are returning for more this year...

i don't know what the attractions for you in the two other cities so i cannot judge for you if the time there would be more important...

we followed the outline craig has given basically... and it worked very well for us.... there were lots of strikes by shop keepers while we were there thus making visiting many of the shops we wanted to more difficult.

We aren't shoppers, so one full day in Delhi was enough for us. I enjoyed Gwalior a lot, although didn't have enough time there. If I had it to do again, we'd spend the night.

Ranakpur and Kumbalgarh Fort cannot be done at the same time as Chittorgaurh. They are in different directions. You can take the road from Udaipur and branch off and still get to Pushkar or Jhodpur.

Rasputin - thank you for your clarification.