10 day trip to South India and Taj Mahal

anjuwong

Dear all,

My friends and I are planning a trip to India in early Dec, our tentative itinerary is as follow and would love to have some advices and suggestions from you all.

Day 1-2 New Delhi, Agra (Taj Mahal)
Day 3-4 Chennai (fly from Delhi)
Day 5-6 Bangalore
Day 7-8 Kerala
Day 9-10 Hyderabad

Any ideas and recommendations would be highly appreciated, many thanks in advance!!!

Cheers, Anju

enidhi

your schedule looks too tight.. more than half the time you'll end up travelling.

Agra will be 1 full day,
Delhi needs 2-3 days (Aksharadhama alone can take a day),
Chennai and Bangalore may not be too exciting as tourist places-you may wish to visit nearby Pondichery and Mysore...

Similarly Ramoji film city in Hyd needs one full day, other places need 2-3 days...

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sky_aps

Hello Anju ,
I may not able to suggest everything but i can let you know about
Day 5-6 Bangalore and Day 9-10 Hyderabad
Not sure wht you are gonna visit in Kerala as you have mentioned that you are gonna visit Kerala (the entrie state ) in 2 days.

I'd Suggest you go from B'lore to Hyderbad instead of Kerala as From Kerala it will too long journey to go to hyderabad.

Anywayz, In bangalore there are couple of good places to visit like Brigade Road,MG ROAD,Commecial Street, Lal Bagh, Cubbon Park, Musuem, ISKON TEMPLE, FORUM MAll which will take about 2 days to complete all these. IF you can Sqeeze in Mysore as well from B'lore as its only 120 kms/3hrs journey, you'll love to see the Mysore Maharajah’s Palace(http://mysorepalace.in/main.htm), Chamundi Hill and Brindavan Gardens in one day and can come back to B'lore that night.

From B'lore go to Hyderabad (Over night journey in Bus/Train) and you can visit these places in Hyderabad, Lumini Park, Hussain Sagar Boat Ride, Salarjung Museam,Birla Mandir and incase if you plan to visit Ramoji Film City it will take complete day it self as it way out of the city - About 50 kms/ apporx 2 hrs drive. One more thing is that, Hyderabad is Famous for its Pearls and incase if you plan to buy them you can visit shop mangatrai(http://www.mangatrai.com/) and if you are working in an MNC company/Software company (It does not matter where you are from)-- Flaunt your ID -- you will get wooping 35% dicount on your shopping.

Please Plan it accordingly as i'm sure you don't want to go back to your place dis-hearted.

All the best for your trip and Have Fun

vandy

It would help with suggestions if you could let us know where your intended Departure from India is
ie which city.This will help to avoid backtracking which in turn will save you time & money.

rgds

vandy

Hal

You will see the inside of some of India's nicest trains or airports.

Seriously, your itinerary tries to cover far too many distant places in a short time. Do you have any idea of travel times or distances in India? Even if you're flying, a 1-1/2 hour flight will take 6 hours after the rickshaw to and from the airport and checking in and out.

For 10 days, if the Taj is a must, I'd suggest
Delhi - 2-3 days
Agra - 1 1/2 days
Kerala - 5-6 days

anjuwong

Thanks to all for your valuable advices. After reading your comments, I think we need to revise our plan.

We are from HK and for us, Taj Mahal is a must. However, our plan is not to spend too much time in Delhi, but to travel a bit more in the South. Out of the 4 places in South India, namely Pondicherry, Bangalore/Mysore, Hyderabad and Kochi, Kerala, which place should we skip in our 10days trip? Would love to hear your views on this.

Again many thanks in advance!!!

santos_g15

there is nothing in chennai mate .catch a taxi as soon as you land head to mahabalipuram.(aka mammalapuram).have a nice trip.

santos_g15

pondicherry is quite nearby to mahabalipuram.mahabalipuram has nice chariots made out of huge single piece of rock and many carvings depicting mahabharatha.it has nice beach too .pondicherry is also nearby.bangalore has a lot of parks ,shopping malls (MG ROAD) and hyderabad too has parks,museums,ramoji film city,laser show at lumbini.if i were you i would skip hyderabad as it has got nothing exciting .kochi is also nice place.you have Fort Kochi, Chinese Fishing Nets, St. Francis Church, Mattancherry Palace (Dutch Palace), Synagogue, Bolghatty Island, Willingdon Island.i must tell you travel, hell a lot. if i were you i would spend entire days for south quota in kerala -gods own country.

VJ HAWK

I am sure Nick begs to Differ.

Hal

As fond as I am of Hyderabad, it is really out of the way, and has limited tourist attractions compared to other parts of the south.

Nick-H

He does.

Chennai is not overloaded with monuments, great temples and stuff to photograph. It is a laid-back (or was, until the amount of cars on it's roads increased by a brazillion in one year) city in which to see Indian life.

I agree with Santos's enthusiasm for Kerala, though, even though I'm convinced that it was the Kerala Tourist Board that assigned the state to god.

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vandy

Personally, with the limited time you have I would
Skip Hyderabad & Pondicherry.

Delhi or Agra to Bangalore by Plane and then onwards and southwards.

rgds

vandy