24 days till India...

sandia

I can't wait, but I'm struggling in putting together our itinerary..

My husband and I (we're 30) are traveling to India in March -we arrive in Delhi 3/19 and leave Delhi 4/11.

Here is our current tentative itinerary. I'm having second thoughts about only getting to see the North (it may be a long time before we make it back to India) and wondering if we could fit in a trip to Goa or somewhere more south... (we have a medium budget - we're willing to do a couple of domestic flights, but i thought flights in india would be less expensive than they are!!)

19th - arrive delhi, spend one night
20th - fly to Vadodara to visit family for 2 nights
22nd - overnight train to Udaipur, day and night in Udaipur
24th - overnight train to Jaipur, day and night in Jaipur
26th - back to Delhi - 2 nights
28th - Corbett Park - 3 nights
31st - train to Varanasi - night in Varanasi
2nd - train to Agra
3rd - train to city near Bandhavgah Park - 3 nights
6th ....?
11th - leave Delhi

so, here's where I get stuck... as you can see we are wildlife lovers and are including 2 nat'l park visits, but I don't think we have Varanasi and Agra fit into the itinerary the right way. And I'm not sure Udaipur should be a must see on our list - could it be replaced with something else? And do we have too many overnight trains?

If we still have the 6th - 10th left, any suggestions on where we should spend those days?

Sorry for the rambling post - any advise would be greatly appreciated.

steven_ber

There's a great itinerary in there somewhere, I'll try and think of a better route.

But why Delhi (in) and Delhi (out)?

Any combination of Delhi and Mumbai are normally the same price as using the same city.

What are the chances of cancelling the Delhi - Baroda flight, leaving Baroda till about the 4th, and replacing the flight with a Goa - Delhi flight on the 10th?

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Train information.

sandia

we should've flown into Delhi and out of Mumbai (or vice versa). can't easily change that, but i have not booked the delhi-baroda flight yet...so, all domestic travel is flexible at this point.

sandia

Here is a revised version:

19th - arrive delhi, spend two nights
21st - overnight train to Varanasi - night in Varanasi
23rd - train to city near Bandhavgah Park - 3 nights
27th - train to Agra
28th - train to Jaipur - night in Jaipur
30th - train to Udaipur - night in Udaipur
1st - train to Baroda - 3 nights in Baroda
3rd - train to Goa - 3 nights
6th - fly to Delhi
7th - Corbett - 3 nights
10th - back to Delhi
11th - leave Delhi

Are there cities I'm leaving out along the way that would be worth stopping in? I don't have my heart set on Udaipur, is there sompelace on the Varansi leg that we shouldn't miss?

Thanks..

steven_ber

EDIT, oops, sorry, didn't see your above post.

Not too happy with the following, but have a look, you'd have to get a bus from Jaipur at about 16:00 on the 23rd to be sure of catching the train from Delhi.

All times are train times.

19th - Arrive Delhi
20th - Delhi
21st - Delhi 06:15 Agra 08:07
22nd - Agra 06:10 Jaipur 11:30
23rd - Depart Delhi 22:40
24th - Ramnagar 05:00, Corbett.
25th - Corbett
26th - Corbett
27th - Corbett, depart Moradabad (100 kms from park) at 20:20
28th - Varanasi 09:10
29th - Varanasi 23:25
30th - Katni 07:55, Bandhavgarh
31st - Bandhavgarh
1st - Bandhavgarh
2nd - Bandhavgarh, depart Katni 19:50
3rd - Jalgaon 06:53, day at Ajanta caves, overnight in Jalgaon.
4th - Jalgaon 09:05 Vadodara 17:05
5th - Vadodara
6th - Vadodara depart 22:00
7th - Goa (Thivim 11:48, Madgaon 13:15)
8th - Goa
9th - Goa
10th - Flight to Delhi
11th - leave Delhi

sandia

very helpful.

do you say you're not very happy because it is a somewhat roundabout itinerary? or too rushed?

either way - I sincerely appreciate your advice. i hope my delhi roundtrip ticket doesn't turn out to be too big of a mistake!!!

steven_ber

The Agra-Jaipur-Delhi bit is too rushed, and there's too much traveling to get to and from trains in other parts of the trip.

But thats what happens in India sometimes.

Baroda to Udaipur would require you getting to Ahmedabad for the overnight train, that's why I left it out, (and because you said that was an option) and because I think it's overated)

Champaner is really close to Baroda, your family will probibly introduce you to a hundred neigbours in the first 24 hours, all of whom will feed you, so you might want to suggest a trip to Champaner to divert the attention away from you for a few hours.

steven_ber

There is also a serious flaw in my suggested Itinerary, you will be departing Baroda on Good Friday and staying in Goa over Easter, this may sound good, but it isn't.

The train to Goa and the plane to Delhi will be hard to book, and there will be too many 'weekenders' from Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad in Goa.

sandia

i'm glad you reminded me! i will have to keep that in mind.

thanks, again - you got me a lot further in my planning than i was this morning!