thursdaysd

I have been to Egypt and Morocco, and the hassles in India are definitely worse. This is what I wrote back in 2001 on my first visit: "The Taj Mahal is awesome, but it needs to be to outweigh the hassles of staying in Agra. Delhi was bad, Rajasthan was worse, and Agra was the worst. ... On the streets, you're besieged by rickshaw drivers. At the sights, you're besieged by would-be guides on the way in and souvenir sellers on the way out. At the mosques you're besieged by kids wanting pens -- or money. In the bazaars every stall-holder solicits your custom." I imagine it helps if you are with a guide, and it does help if you engage a rickshaw driver for a few hours and can say "I have one".

On that trip I found that things were better in the south (it was cleaner, too), and my second trip was almost entirely in the south, so I can't speak to current conditions. I doubt things have improved though. I recommend giving to an Indian charity before going as I find that helps with resisting the beggars, most of whom are likely in thrall to a local mafia.

Definitely keep Varanasi, with a side trip to Sarnath. If possible stay on the river - back in 2001 the accommodation was basic, but maybe it's improved. The "city" is quite different.

I haven't been to Udaipur, and four nights there and in Jaipur seems high. I am another fan of Jaisalmer. Sorry to see you dropped Gwalior and Orchha. With three weeks you could go a little more off the beaten track, although Bodhgaya is a less standard destination - I was sorry to miss it but in 2001 Bihar province was so dangerous my train from Kolkata to Varanasi carried armed guards. Fortunately it's much improved.

My photos from 2001 are here: https://kwilhelm.smugmug.com/Travel/Asia-2001 - not all of them are edited. If the gallery is password protected the password is usually the name of the gallery.

Looking at some of my photos reminded me - please, please don't ride elephants.

tripplanner001

progol, thank you for the encouragement. I'm leaning towards including it because Varanasi is so integral to iconic India, includes a visit to Varanasi, and may be the only opportunity for us to ride an Indian train (from what I understand, the trip from Bodhgaya to Varanasi is 4-5 hours, which is more than enough for the experience).

CaliNurse, thank you for your wonderful tips. We've already made note of some of it from your previous suggestion. Will reach out to a handful of agencies (do you mind PMing me who you used?), but we expect to limit our use to some internal transportation (e.g. train tickets), transfers, etc. We intend to do most of the urban sightseeing on our own so we could adjust as we want.

thursdaysd, yikes on the hassles. Definitely something I'm not looking forward to. In terms off-the-beaten-track India, are there any that you particularly enjoyed in the north? In addition to Bodhgaya, I'm looking into Bundi based on progol's trip report.

Thank you all again.

progol

CaliNurse recommends the same stepwell I do. The stepwell is called Chand Baori, and is located in Ahbaneri, which is between Agra and Jaipur. It’s a beauty and well worth seeing. The photos don’t begin t capture how impressive this structure is.

Nelson

The Chand Baori, does look incredible.

Not sure if this is considered off-the-beaten path, but the Dilwara Temples at Mt Abu were truly amazing. The story goes that the master craftsmen received pay in gold equal to the weight of marble that they carved. It's about 3 hours from Udaipur. Have a great trip.

tripplanner001

progol, that does look incredible. I think this is the same stepwell that was visited by the contestants on the Amazing Race in the last season. They were coming from Jaipur so it may make sense.

Nelson, thank you for your recommendation. I will check it out.

thursdaysd

If you're going to Mumbai you could consider Aurangabad for the Ajanta and Ellora caves. I liked the painted havelis in the Shekawati area in Rajasthan, but I don't know what shape they are in now.

I also went to Bhopal - the site of the bad chemical spill - for Sanchi and Bhimbetka, but that would make more sense if you were going to Gwalior and Orchha.

tripplanner001

Thanks thursdaysd. As usual, there is so much to see and not enough time. I am definitely drawn to the fort at Gwalior but figure I will get to see forts elsewhere and it all may look the same at some point. Will look at options to get to and from Aurangabad.