3 weeks in Rajastan and Goa

jessica04

Hi, myself and 2 friends are travelling to India in Jan for 3 weeks. Flying into Delhi and home from Goa. We're thinking of spending the majority of time in Rajastan but are also quite taken with the idea of Varanasi and Khajuraho.

This is our proposed itinerary travelling by night train where possible

Delhi - Agra - Jaipur - Ajmer (Pushkar) - Udaipur - Jaisalmer - jodhpur - Delhi - fly to Goa for 4-5 days relaxation

Is this far too much to cram in to 3 weeks? We wondered whether to cut out one of the fort towns. jaisalmer would be the obvious place to leave out due to it being so far West but I'm reluctant to do this as it sounds great.

Are trains the best option for this route? Some people on here mention hiring a car and driver - is this any quicker or more convenient than the train?

Also we really like the sound of Varanasi, Orchna and Khajuraho. Has anyone managed to find a route that would work over 2-3 weeks that could incorporate 1 or 2 of these places in addition to seeing some of Rajastan and Agra or is this overly ambitious? (we could stretch to a flight or 2 if needed)

Any suggestions or thoughts would be much appreciated. We're in the early planning stages so entirely open to suggestions!

Thank you for any help you can offer!

rajered

Delhi - Jaisalmer - Jodhpur - Ajmer (Pushkar) - Udaipur - Agra - Khajuraho - Varanasi - Delhi

jessica04

Thanks Rajered, that sounds like a good route with all the places I'd like to see. Would you recommend the train for the Delhi to Jaisalmer leg? From what I can gather flights aren't very reliable from Jaisalmer.

Also Khajuraho to Varanasi - my guide book tells me that flying is the best option. Does anyone have experience of doing this journey by air or bus/train?

At the end of our trip we will be heading down to Goa. Is it best to do Varanasi back to Delhi on the night train then fly to Goa from Delhi or could we fly from Varanasi to Goa (via either Mumbai or Delhi).

Thanks again

rajered

Delhi - Jaisalmer is a good overnight train.

Kajuraho - Varanasi I think flight would be best option. The roads in Madhya Pradesh are not that good.

Regarding Varanasi - Goa, check the flying cost and then decide, if train till Delhi and flight from Delhi would be cheaper or flying to Goa via Mumbai - Delhi will be cheaper.

Also from Agra the direct train to Khajuraho runs only on Mondays, Tuesday and Saturdays.

jessica04

After further reading and talking to friends who have recently done a similar trip we've changed our plans a little. I'd appreciate any comments...

Delhi - Varanasi (sleeper train) - Khajuraho (fly) - Orchna (bus)- Agra (train, also see Fatephur Sikri from Agra) - Jaipur (train) - Pushkar (train and bus) - Udaipur (sleeper bus) - Kochi (fly via Mumbai)

We plan to do the above in around 2 weeks leaving us with a week in Kerala. In Kerala we'll probably see Kochi, the backwaters and Varkala.

Does this sound like a good route? We'll book all the flights before we leave and the train to Varanasi. Should we book the Agra-Jaipur and Jaipur-Ajmer trains from England too or will it be ok to do that from India? What's the simplest way to book trains from the UK?

Many thanks once again!

vonkla

Your route looks very good but I think it is to hectic. Eight places in two weeks is a lot.
If I were you I should skip Jaipur and Pushkar and take an overnight train from Agra to Udaipur Trains Agra Udaipur

Since you are on a tight schedule it is better to book all train tickets before you leave.

You can easy book the tickets on-line. I always use http://www.irctc.co.in/ but there are other sites.
For more information check the railway forum.

__________________
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See our travel journals Mumbai-Dehli in three months; From Kochi to Delhi

jessica04

Thanks Vonkla. We've struggling to choose between places in Rhajastan. i imagine there will be similar sights in each of the main towns e.g. Jodhpur, Udaipur etc but it's hard to get a feel for what each place is actually like from reading guidebooks.

Jaisalmer sounded the most appealing place to me but it's just so far to travel on a tight schedule and we can't get any more time off work In your opinion is Udaipur preferable to Jaipur and Jodhpur? It suits us best in terms of getting flights down to Kochi.

Also, I've just been looking at trains and came across this website www.cleartrip.com it seems quite user friendly, has anyone on here used it to book trains?

Hal

There are a few threads here about cleartrip.com - you can search for them top right.

irctc.com is fine for booking trains once you get the hang of it. Use the Axis gateway for foreign credit cards.
You can use erail.in to see which trains are available.

The train to Jaisalmer is about 18 hours, but it is overnight from 5:40PM to 11 AM. You could consider heading there in stages via some of the other cities, then returning to Udaipur for a flight to Goa.

vonkla

Jaisalmer is indeed a long trip.
As for the other cities everybody on this forums has his favorites see The Maha Rajasthan Itinerary Info Thread

We like Udaipur and Jodhpur above Jaipur, a very general characteristic of these three cities:
Udaipue = romantic
Jodhpur = desert
Jaipur = shopping

An alternative to your itinerary
Agra
night train to Jodhpur
bus/car to Udaipur

jessica04

Thanks, I've had a look at the suggested threads - very helpful (this site is great!)

Think we're making progress! We might do Agra - Jodhpur - Udaipur then fly to Kochi. May stop in Pushkar to break up the Agra-Jodhpur leg unless we can find a convenient sleeper train.

We'll start looking into the best transport options between these places. It sounds as though buses are quite a good option, esp. Jodhpur - Upaipur. I'm a bit nervous of bus travel (had a couple of hair raising experiences in Guatemala a couple of years ago). Will we be ok on the roads in rajastan i.e. not too much overtaking into oncoming traffic on blind bends!

Thanks everyone!

bonded

Train 2307 is an overnight train leaving Agra Fort (AF) at 19:45 and reaching Jodhpur (JU) at 07:20

vonkla

Between Jodhpur and Udaipur you must take a bus or hire a car. There are a lot of threads with more information about this.
We did it by bus and it was quit comfortable. We had reserved seats and it took about six hours.

jessica04

thanks both. Think we will hire a car and driver from jodhpur to udaipur. Sounds like it will be nice to travel during the day for the scenery and stop at ranakpur on the way. Looking forward to it!

Bonded- we will be visiting fatephur sikri the day we will be catching the train to jodhpur, does train 2307 stop near to there or will we need to backtrack to agra?

bonded

The train reaches Bharatpur at 20:48. Bharatpur would be closer than Agra.

jessica04

Think we now know what our route is going to be and how we will travel from one place to another. We’re going to be away for 21 nights in total, 2 of which will be spent on the train. Below is our thinking on how long we will actually be able to spend in each place (assuming trains and planes are on time!). Does this seem about right, are there any places where we should try to spend more/less time? I know its all a matter of personal opinion but I’d be interested to know what people think…

Delhi 1 night, 1 ½ days
Varanasi 2 nights, 2 days
Khajuraho 2 nights, 1 ½ days
Orchna 1 night, 1 ½ days
Agra 1 night, 1 day (inc. Taj sunrise and Fatepur Sikri)
Jodhpur 2 nights, 2 days
Udaipur 3 nights, 3 days (inc trip to Ranakpur)
Kochi 2 nights, 1 ½ days
Backwaters 1 day and night
Varkala 4 nights, 4 days

Also we haven’t included a national park in this itinerary. Should we try to stay a night in Bharatpur for the bird sanctuary or perhaps visit Munnar whilst we’re in the south?