Driver, driver, driver, driver, DRIVER!!!!!!!!!! Can't emphasize this enough! DO NOT BACK DOWN and let your husband win. At any cost.

Travelaw, rest assured, my husband will not be driving. This is one battle he will not win. Thursday - we will likely avail ourselves of trains on many of the routes, although we will also hire a car in areas where we want to stop along the way at various sites and to also experience the small villages. We will likely fly to some of the furthest locations.

Jan-March is the best time to travel to North India. It is the best time to enjoy Indian winters, which turn rosy by February, and flowers are all abloom :) If you are a nature traveller, you will have a lot to relish. Also, summers in India may be a little tasking if you are from a cold country. Also, ideal time to see the hill stations and snow beauty of the mountains is between Jan-March.
Have a good trip!

I have to say that India is one of the few places Bob has NOT thought he would drive....Bali, Thialand, Turkey, Romania, all over Europe, south America, and Africa, but NOT India. Drivers are so cheap, and without much signage who know what road to take? Look for a good driver .

dgunbug - yes, I agree with the other advice you've gotten. And your plan of a combination of trains, driver, and flights for long distances certainly makes sense.

Have you read Shantaram? There's a scene where the main characters are in a taxi that gets in an accident. The character who's a local guy freaks out and insists that they skedaddle as quickly as possible... because he knows what might be coming... and he's right - a mob beats up the taxi driver - badly. So, while it's fiction... I'd never drive in India!

On our recent trip WITH car and driver, my husband, a determined driver who has driven on just about every trip we've taken throughout the world and has often been asked if he was ever a NYC cab driver, kept repeating how relieved he was not to be driving. As everyone has said, driving in India is unlike anywhere else! There may be traffic laws, but it's not clear for whom--not the drivers. It won't be a vacation if your husband drives--. It's quite an experience to be driving north on a four lane divided "highway" and see a large lorry coming directly at you heading south. If there's no access to the southern lane, the driver will just start driving south in the northern lane. Why not?

Thank you for your replies. althom - I'm adding Shantaram to my reading list.