India travel Route, any suggestions?

thenoley

Hi,

Myself and my partner got a round the world ticket and are starting our journey in India in mid October for a total of 30 days.

We will be arranging a train ticket (for approx 150 euros) through an agency which a friend recommended, having just done a trip to india herself- not yet booked.

The following is a rough route. I realise there are a lot of locations but tbh these are the places we really want to see and we don't think we'll be doing India again any time in the near future. We do not want to spend more time than we have to in each of the two main cities.

Mumbai- 2 days/1 night - quick city tour and out!
Goa - 10 days/9 nights - beaches
Ajanta- 2 days/1 night - ancient caves
Khajuraho 2 days/1 night - Kama Sutra temple carvings
Varanasi- 4 days/3 nights - Ganges, bathing ghats
Agra- 2 days/1 night - Taj, fort, tomb, etc
Jaisalmer - 3 days/2 nights - camel trekking, fort, towns etc
Delhi - 2 days/1 night - city tour and out.

The total number of days above are 27- our actual time in india is 30 days. ..... Allowing for some time to allocate for sicknesses (guaranteed!) and delays/missed trains. Night trains will be taken wherever possible as it's cheaper and allows us to extend visit length in each destination.

The flight into Mumbai and out of Delhi are booked and fixed as they are part of the round the world ticket and cannot be swapped even if we wanted to.

I guess I'd like to know what you think about this. I have a feeling some may say we're cramming in too much but this is the "revised" route!
We had places like Hampi and one of the national parks on the original list but decided these attractions weren't worth the extra bus trips and accommodation we would have to pay for. This route has been going since June with chops and changes but these seem to be the destinations fixed in our heads now!

Budget isn't really a problem, we've allocated more than enough for this leg of the trip and are planning to stay in affordable accommodation (any suggestions?) where possible. Delhi might be an exception- where we will probably look forward to a good night's sleep in a decent hotel!

Please let us know if you or a friend have planned similar trips to India, any advice on where to stay, which destinations to leave out or add and any other general advice we should heed. We are young backpackers with laid back attitudes and open minds!

:pac:Cheers!

cfitz

Of that list I've only been to Delhi and Agra so I might not be best place to advise. How much do you like your beaches? 9 nights in Goa could possibly be knocked back to 6. And then you could spend a few days looking for tigers in Ranthambore or one of the other parks. Seeing a wild tiger is one of my travel highlights but then it all depends on what you're interested in yourself. Down south, a houseboat trip in Alapuzzha is great, but that could be a bit to much of a detour for you?

thenoley

Thanks for the reply.

Funny, Ranthambore was the park we had originally intended on visiting for a night. But we decided against it as it would mean sacrificing time in Goa or visiting cultural sites. It was also a toss up between the national park to see wild tigers or a trip farther west to Jaisalmer for the camel trekking- which they say is a must when in India.

Alappuzha is near Kerala yes? I'm pretty sure that's too far for us- the farthest south we intend on travelling is Palolem. Did some planning for Goa today- this is it so far-

-Stay 2 days in Anjuna, go mental.
-Bus to Panaji.
-Spend 2 days in Panaji, visiting old goa and maybe going on a tour of the Dudhsagar falls.
-Train to south Goa, straight to Palolem beach where we'll stay for 6 full days just to chill out.

So really we're only spending 6 days beach bumming it.

How did you find Delhi and Agra? Stay anywhere worth recommending? get the delhi belly?

cfitz

Yeah Alapuzzha is in Kerala, so a long way south. We flew from Jaipur to get down there and visited Cochin and Kovalam as well while we were down there. The flights were quite cheap and well run with Jet Airways.

We stayed in a hotel near Paharanj in Delhi called Ajanta. The service in the hotel was mostly awful - the worst in any hotel I've ever been to. The restaurant was very nice though with good service. The rooms were awful by western standards though I wouldn't be surprised if they were quite good by Delhi standards. We booked a trip with the hotel to travel around by car for a few days (I think India was such a shock to the system we just took the easy option!). So we were brought everywhere in Agra by our driver and guide. We stayed in a nice new hotel but I can't remember what it was called - sorry! Agra has a bad reputation but it seemed ok to me. The Taj Mahal is stunning.

Delhi is horrendous, but you should be well ready for it by the end of your trip so it'll probably be like a bit of an adventure for you moreso than a nightmare. Go see a Bollywood movie somewhere in India, that was our Delhi highlight. We didn't get sick from the food at all, but we were quite cautious mostly eating vegetarian food except when we went to places like Pizza Hut. Looking back, I probably regret not being a bit more adventurous with the food. But then being sick in India wouldn't be very pleasant.

Of all the places I've been, India was by far the most difficult. One strong argument for not having a tight schedule is that you can be a bit more relaxed when things don't work out as you would like.

breadmonkey

Firstly, I think you'll have to spend a lot of money to get a good hotel in Delhi. I wonder if there's even such a thing. Don't buy a train ticket in advance; there's no need.

I think you're cramming in way too much travelling. Agra to Delhi via Jaisalmer in 5 or 6 days (1600km round trip) is insane . Look at the distances you're travelling!

Night trains are fine but you'll still be pretty wrecked afterwards so I wouldn't count on getting "extra days" by doing this.