35 days in India... realistic itinerary?

bert29

Hello! It is my first post here and i haven't read many of the other threads in this section, so I am sorry if I am duplicating something. At the same time, I see that all of you are big passionates about India, so I am sure you won't mind thinking about again :-)

We are a couple of 30 years old with a child of 8, planning to backpack for around 35 days, starting at the beginning of december. Our only experience in a "similar" place in these conditions would be Morocco (similar in terms of "patience" and slow moving, i guess, but it was only for 12 days).

We fly into Delhi, and we are departing from Chennai (we are heading to Southeast Asia after that), but we want to focus our trip in the northern part of India.

Our main transport idea are trains and buses, not discarding an occasional car if it is REALLY convenient in terms of time/price.

We have a vague idea on what we want to do, but i can't really figure out how to fit everything, and I am sure we have to sacrifice some places, and I accept that.

Our first idea would be landing in Delhi for 3 or 4 days, and heading north after that for about a week, visiting, maybe, Rishikesh, Dharamsala and/or Amritsar. I don't know if it would be too cold to do a (short) treck in the area by then?

From Amritsar, heading to Bikaner, and spending about 10-12 days in Rajastan, trying to visit the big ones, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Udaipur and Jaipur. Maybe Pushkar also if we have time, but i don't count on that.

From Jaipur to the east to Agra, where we can spend 3 days, with a side trip to Fatehpur Sikri. From there, Varanasi (maybe with a stop in Kajuraho if we have time), and further to Bodh Gaya. All this can be 5-6 days.

I was happy to take a flight from Varanasi to Chennai, to spend about 3-4 days in the south, mainly centered in Mamallapuram, but i was looking for flights in both skyscanner.net and airindia.com and i couldn't find them in this route. Maybe this fact can make me change the itinerary, since i think we will want to do the trip north->chennai by plane (too long for any other option).

Do you have any idea which would be the most convenient place to fly from somewhere in the area to Chennai? I could maybe head from Uttarakhand to Varanasi, and then Agra and Rajastan, flying from there... but it looks like a less smooth and optimal itinerary...

All together makes more or less the 35 days. I would like to ask you if you see this itinerary as realistic. Which parts do you think are modifiable to make it more enjoyable. We don't want to rush too much, so maybe we will have to skip some things. The basics that we wouldn't like to miss is Delhi, some taste of Himalayas, the most of Rajastan, including desert, Agra and Varanasi, and of course we have to go to Chennai anyway.

I looked also at the indian railways website and it seems the schedule finder doesn't work... it is always sorry and never finds any train.

So... i am a bit vague, i know, and sorry... but what do you think?

Thank you so much in advance!
Albert

incitatus

Welcome to Indiamike....

On your flights problem first...Varanasi is poorly served by airlines, however if you intend to visit Bodhgaya then the simplest solution would be to take the train to Kolkata .There's a minimum of 9 trains per day Gaya to Kolkata taking between 4.5 to 9 hours.
Spice Jet and Air Deccan fly between Kolkata and Chennai.
an alternative,if the purpose is to avoid extra long train journeys, is to take a train to the seaside pilgrimage town of Puri, which takes around 13 hours.
From Bhubaneshwar 1.5 hour from Puri there are daily trains to Chennai which take 24 hours.
Obviously this is only possible if you have the time to lay over in Puri (or Bhubaneswar) for a few days.

bert29

Thank you for the welcome and the answer, incitatus :-)
I haven't considered before the option of going through Kolkata, but now that you say it it looks attractive to me!
I would love to stay in Puri also for a little time, but i think it would be too much to get the feel for everything.

How do you see the rest of the itinerary, btw?

Thank you so much again!
Albert

karuna

Bert,

My personal opinion, that's all I can offer, and bear in mind I have raging toothache and am dosed up on codeine and antibiotics at the moment. I will try to make sense.

December + mountains = cold!

Jaipur isn't that great, or Jodhpur. Pushkar is better. Some may disagree. But it's on your route (if you're planning Bikaner - Jais - Jodh - Udai - Jaip, Push fits in between Udai and Jaip nicely. Lot to see in such a short time. As usual Jaisalmer's the difficulty because it's way out there. Truncate it - Delhi - Bikaner - Pushkar - Jaipur - Agra would be possible I think.

Three days in Agra is at least one day too many, IMHO.

From Agra to Varanasi, Orchha is a nicer place than Khajuraho to stop. I think you're not leaving yourself long enough for this bit though.
HTH. HTMS*


*Hope That Made Sense!

bert29

Ha! Thanks for the reply and for the advice :-)

In terms of the cold... well.. i am living in Norway right now, and I am pretty used to it :-) Will it be, btw, snow by then, which would make everything quite unbearable? We would love to have a taste of the low Himalayas, but of course the weather can stop us quite easily...

About Rajastan... Our first idea is to reach Bikaner from Amritsar... from there... well, Jaisalmer sounds just fantastic... and Udaipur (which looks quite far away, that`s true) seems a worthwile place also... we could cut Jodhpur maybe, and spend a bit less in Jaipur and Agra. I am happy to visit Pushkar also... hummm... i will think a bit more about all this...

I write down also Orchha... I must say that the idea was to stop in Khajuraho more for the publicity than for anything else, but seems a bit uneasily unreachable, but too touristy at the same time.... We will see!

Thanks for the opinion! This is exactly what i am looking for! :-)

I hope you get better soon!

Patheya

My best advice to you is to listen very carefully to your loved one when planning any extended trips... its sounds like you're doing alot... so maintain harmony in the relationship by catering to everyone's needs...
namaste dude

Kapumana

There is now a train from Bikaner to Jaiselmer which makes it a bit more do-able.

December in Himalayas will be cold and trekking will depend on snow conditions.

There was a recent post here saying Orcha has been ruined by lack of upkeep and general filth. Don't know if this is a general picture. Khajurou is quite splendid and different.

bert29

Thanks patheya and kapumana!

I am always very aware of the needs of my loved one. This is a great key for a successful trip! ;-)

Dude! :-D

I am aware also of this train from Bikaner to Jaisalmer, and i didn't know it was new :-D I am thinking in maybe adding a couple of days in Rajastan, giving it around 14... and keep the visit to Jodhpur to 1 day without overnight, inbetween trains from Jaisalmer and to Udaipur...

I will keep it posted anyway! :-)