Sth India Trip
 

Hi all,

We are planning a 12 day trip arround South India.

Due to flights we will probaly start in Bagalore and would like to visit Chennai Kerala & Goa.

We would really appreciate any tips on how to get arround eg trains, cars or fly as well some must see/do places.

thanks

Hi - can't help you with cars as have never travelled in India that way. I do know that Goa isn't the easiest place to get to by train - and besides, 12 days isn't very long so flying is probably on the agenda for you.

Having said that, train travel is a huge part of what visiting India is about. And the routes between Kerala and Chennai have possibilities for you.
You will have to visit the IR rail site for details as I don't have my travel diary to hand. Or www.seat61.com.

I liked Chennai (recommend a visit to Fort St George) but in such a short holiday you probably won't want to devote too much time to it. In Kerala there's the wonderful old part of Cochin with mouldering whitewashed churches and the smell of spices wafting out of the warehouses that are still there. There is (was) also a beautiful old synagogue. A trip on the Kerala backwaters is a "must" and I believe you can now stay on a houseboat-hotel if you like.

If it were me, I would travel Cochin to Chennai by land transport and break my journey in Madurai. I did this leg by bus - but others here may have advice on car and driver, and the train timetables are for you to discover. It's a shame the wonderful publication "Trains at a Glance" is not the same online as it is on paper as it is a joy for folk who love to work out what might be possible!

And you might also consider not going to Goa at all, as it will take a big chunk out of your time. If you are going for the old Portuguese/colonial flavour, you can get that in Cochin. If it's for the beaches there are some good beaches in Kerala too. There have been some posts on the subject recently.

Happy travels.

12 days is quite short for what u have in mind. I;d say Kerala go to the backwaters i.e. Kumarokam, Cochin, tea plantations. Chennai, briefly - from there Madurai, Pondicherry if that interests you. From Bangalore you might also like to see Mysore which is very historic. Within Kerala all driving. You can even self drive if you want. Do you want to plan this yourself or with a TA?

Also pl post budget for travel and hotel recos.

Thanks for the quick responses.

Let me provide a little more information about us. Middle aged Australian couple traveling with 3yo daughter.

As for accomodation we are looking at mid range hotels.

We are keen to experience Indian rail travel and realise that our time is limited so we will need to have a fairly good plan of where we want to go and how we are going to get there.

Again our thanks for the quick and detailed responses - please keep them comming.
Ger

By mid range do you mean US$50-75 or over? What kind of budget including transport did you have?

Hi All,

Thanks again.

Our hotel budget is in the US$50- 75 range. As for travel, we are still working through that and haven't finalised our budget.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

ger

Hi
Hving just returned from India.

Alleppy and Cochin are wonderful places to visit in Kerala.
cochin is wonderful with its colonial Portugese past(churches,synagogue and buildings)
Allepy is relaxing(cruise the backwaters- Lake Vembanad - weave down the canals and watch the idyllic village life.)
we stayed at the Kovilakom Lake Resort(Alleppy)- highly recommended.
Calangute Beach in Goa is wonderful. Your little daughter will enjoy the sun and sand.
Best of Luck.

Anom, I am sorry - Calangute beach in Goa is a MESS, utterly ruined and runover by tourists and tourist traps. What was once (20 years ago) the Queen of Goan beaches is now a dump. I am surprised you found it alluring.

Hello ger01

I think most people will advise that you forget about Goa, you will be able to find a nice beach, however, you can do the same in Southern Kerala and you want to reduce travel times as much as possible.

Whilst in Bangalore, I found a great shop for quality baby clothes (and up to 5 years), that was very cheap by British standards (though I've no idea of the price of clothes in Oz.) the shop on the east side of Brigade Road about 100 yards south of M. G. Road, this area is where you should stay in Bangalore, it's probably one of the most western parts of India I've seen and should help a little with the initial culture shock, there are burger bars, steak restaurants and Pizza places for your daughter and loads of 'English style' bars if you get the chance to use them.

I don’t know if you've been to India before, or if you've experience of travelling with a young child, so don't think I'm being patronising when I suggest you read the following info.

Copy and past the following address for some useful advice about travelling with a small child in India. (though the info was mainly aimed at those travelling with a baby)

http://www.indiamike.com/india/showthread.php?t=1903

So you want to experience train travel in India...... train journeys, and the people I met on those journeys have given me some of my best memories of India, one example is in the following link.

http://www.indiamike.com/india/showthread.php?t=4932

I will suggest a route for you to think about.

Bangalore, then a bus to Ooty (about 4-5 hours), Ooty is an old British hill station that I enjoyed visiting, lovely walks and an overall nice atmosphere.

But the main reason for visiting Ooty is the spectacular train journey to get to or from there.

The steam hauled toy train (train 661) departs Ooty daily at 15:00,and gets to Mettupalaiyam at 18:35, there is a connecting train to take you to Coimbatore, then you'll have a few hours wait for the following overnight train.

Train 1081 departs Coimbatore daily at 23:55 and gets to the beach town of Varkala at 08:56 the following morning, I know this is a late train, and the whole journey from Ooty to Varkala is a long one, especially for your daughter, but I think it's worth it.

Varkala has a nice beach, though it's starting to get a little touristy, there is plenty of accommodation available, watch out for the currents, not too much of a problem for you, but may pose a problem for your daughter, the water was always pushing me north along the beach, there is a similar problem at most beaches in India, it's just not spoke about much.

Varkala is close to Quilon, a good place to start a backwater cruise, the following link has lots of useful info on backwater cruises.

http://www.indiamike.com/india/showthread.php?t=3179

At the end of the backwater cruise, go to Cochin (close by), have a look around Cochin and/or go up to the hills close by (4-5 hours by bus), their said to be beautiful, but I've not been so cant comment.

Train 2624 departs Ernakulam Town (Cochin) daily at 19:15 and gets to Chennai Central at 07:00.

I would suggest you try not to fit in more destinations, 12 days is not a long time.

For more train info, check out the following link.

http://www.indiamike.com/india/showthread.php?t=1750

steven_bar,

are you indiamike? or are you just good at posting links (oh, and being seriously informative too).

Do you live in India?
If not, how much time have you spent there?

Hello fuzzylogic

I'm not 'indiamike' (He's an American), though I'm a moderator on that website and have been with the website since it began.

I try to only give links that provide useful information, I have a good memory of all the good threads from the past, and these threads can be found easily, so I provide links to them.

I live in London; I've been to India 5 times and travelled in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi, Utter Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam.

I'm not a travel agent (I'm a motorbike courier) and have never asked for, or received any money for any info I provide.

The first time I went to India (South) I found a lot of useful trains that were not in the 'Trains At A Glance' timetable, when I was planning my 2nd trip (Rajasthan) I got a few good maps, on these maps I found railway lines that were not covered in the TAAG timetable, so I started looking for info on the Internet.

It proved very, very difficult to get train info for these routes, so I kept searching and eventually it became a bit of an obsession, I ended up with all the local timetables for all of India.

I somehow got into planning people's Itineraries, and must admit that I still get a kind of kick from finding great train connections.

So there you have it, a motorbike courier with too much time on his hands, and having a strange obsession with Indian Railways.

Well you are doing ''The Knowledge'' of India trains. I am Indian settled in London, I still find it a chore to travel by train in India. But they are comfortable and quiet an experience. I havent been much to Southern India, but Kanyakumari (the southern tip of India) is a good place to include into a trip. If it was me travelling for 12 days, with Bangalore as my first stop...I would stick to South West of India -- Karnataka/Kerala/Goa/ maybe cover Ooty, but you can go to Munnar (http://www.munnar.com/ in Kerala and enjoy similiar sites and experience (we were chased by elephants when I visited my cousin who was tea plantation director). Some places to visit in these three states are Banglore/Mysore/Hampi/Cochin/Munnar/Kanyakumari/Goa....and many more...another tip --- if you want good empty beaches (but u need a car) near Goa, just drive up towards Mumbai and an hour or so out of Goa u should get to Vengurla...Ganapatipule.....When I take friends there they are stunned....blue sea/white beaches and no one in site for miles....but no coca cola vendor or beer either....!!

http://www.maharashtratourism.gov.in...apatipule.html

two hours from goa (estimates, as i have never been to these places via Goa...am from Mumbai hence I always travelled down the way)

http://www.maharashtratourism.gov.in...la-malvan.html

http://www.stayingat.com/india/goa/t...rekhol_goa.htm

This place is amazing, when I get married thats the place I will be spending my honeymoon at...also the picture doesnt show it, but on either side of that fort are empty beaches...plus as the river meets the sea here, u can have swim in the sea and then clean up in the river....maybe 1hr from Goa