3wks road trip: arrive/depart Delhi vs arrive Calcutta depart Delhi

Edor

Seek advice comparing flying into and out of Delhi compared to flying into Calcutta and out of Delhi.

I'm helping plan for 23-year old son who is an art major traveling alone for 1st time in India to the north Jan. 7-29, 2008. He loves art, architecture, talking with people, food, hiking, music. Wants to taste a diversity of northern India yet be open to synchronicity and falling in love with a place and staying a week and therefore abandoning the "plan". Intends to "save" significant time in Himilayas for different journey. Travel by rail (day & night), some bus, and fly if really necessary. He will have traveled with me for 2 wks in Thailand which will be his first time outside USA/Europe.

Seems to me that flying into Calcutta and out from Delhi might make it easier to explore Bodh Gaya and Varanasi and then choose direction (e.g. stay south in UP and head to Rajasthan and then loop around to Hardwar and to Delhi). Flying in and out of Delhi would probably encourage more concentrated loop at a slower pace?

My son is dyslexic and will get on this wonderful forum soon. I traveled for 5 months in India in 1971 and 1986 and fortunately some has not changed but a lot has, so thanks for your thoughts on the fly-in and fly-out possibilities. Because of connections in Bangkok the choices are as above rather than into Delhi and out from Calcutta.
Thanks, Edward

Gayamom

Hi, Edor:

Both options seem reasonable and I guess ticket prices are roughly the same? If Calcutta and West Bengal are on your son's itinerary, then maybe the BKK-Calcutta/ Delhi-home option? If Calcutta etcetera aren't on your son's itinerary, then maybe the Delhi round trip option? After all, Varanasi is only an overnight train ride from Delhi, I think. Doesn't seem like he'd save time if the main purpose of flying into Calcutta were to visit Varanasi (also an overnight trip, I think)? How lucky you are to have those two weeks in Thailand with him!

capt_mahajan

It is a good idea, into Calcutta/Kolkata and out of Delhi. It is true, Varanasi and Bodh Gaya will be easier this way, else flying into Delhi, making it to Varanasi and back to fly out will be more cumbersome, given that flying within India is not what he really wants to do.

As for the choices of direction, it may be premature to make that choice at Varanasi.

My only concern is that given a total three week trip, and lets say almost a week by the time he gets to Delhi, two weeks may turn out to be short for Delhi/Rajastjan/Haridwar.

For architecture, Delhi/Agra/Rajasthan on his shortlist becomes a must see. Pity he doesn't have time for Hampi and some of the temples in the south. But theres always next time.

Flying in and out of Delhi gives him the option of knocking off Varanasi and concentrating around Delhi/Rajasthan/Uttaranchal.

If he is contemplating Haridwar, I suggest he make it a little further, and include Karanprayag; its just a few hours, and he can hike a bit too.

incitatus

The Captain is correct.In Kolkata out Delhi is the best plan because all the places one would want to visit line up beautifully for easy transport by rail.

eg Kolkata-(Puri)- Gaya- Varanasi- (Orchha)- Agra-Jaipur-Jodhpur-Jaisalmer-Delhi would be possible.

Travelling directly between Kolkata and Gaya is possible but I included Puri to provide exposure to Orissan temple architecture.
There is direct rail transport to Gaya from Puri.

Most people travel directly between Varanasi and Agra (overnight train) however taking a train to Jhansi enables a trip to Orchha 10 miles away.
Orchha is a small village with the remains of an attractive fort/palace complex .Being rural it's an ideal quiet place to stop for a few days to recharge in peace and quiet.

There are a couple of dozen trains from Jhansi to Agra every day to continue towards Rajasthan.

Edor

Thank you both for responses - the travel game of wonderful options has begun...

Would it make sense to attempt more of the above by doing the following? 1) forget Haridwar - save it as part of future trip to Himilayas; 2) fly immediately from Calcutta to Patna upon arrival (actually Jet Airways has flight to Bagdogra which I understand is a military airport which maybe why I can't find it on map) and essentially start the road part of trip from there thus potentially allowing more time for travel to Varanasi-Agra- and then Rajasthan.

Perhaps there is an overnight train from Calcutta to Patna or Bodhgaya as an alternative and which would give part of a day and half in Calcutta.


It seems like the in and out of Delhi option might make some sense if one gave up anything east of Agra and kept to a more leisurely and concentrated loop including Rajasthan into Punjab and then the northern parts of UP and back to Delhi. While there are many splendors here I am sure, giving up Bodh Gaya and Varanasi is a sacrifice/choice.

While initially I want to stay broad in my ?s a detail is important if he does Calcutta - Bagdogra on Jet Airways upon arrival from Bangkok. If all is on time there would be 90 minutes between flights. Is this too tight? The JA flight is only $88.

Again thanks so much, Edward

Edor

You people are great and quick. Incitatus replied while I was writing above. It seems like that flying into Calcutta and out from Delhi will be the best option, but will let it evolve for a couple of days.

wonderwomanusa

No reason to fly to Patna; there should be several trains from Kolkata to Gaya.

After Varanasi, your son might want to stop in Lucknow for a day or two; it's a cool old town and the Imambara is a lovely piece of work. And it's on the way to Agra, etc.

Edor

This forum and the people on it are amazing, thank you. Just having the experience and consciousness to tune in to makes armchair exploring of India so much fun. In between the several posts I did some more research and found the trains to Patna or Gaya so as was indicated flight is unnecessary. Also finally found Bagdogra airport which would be way out of the way and is used as jumping off place for Darjeeling.

I plan to edit my OP post by putting at the bottom of the conclusion that I reached based on the input. I had help implement this "idea" on another (photography) forum and it seems to be helpful to people especially if there are many replies and there are lots and pros and cons to one direction or the other. While it would be the OP's own opinion and synthesis of all of the posts it can often save someone who is reading things later on from reading pages and pages if they just want an overview and want to know what the conclusion was.

Again thanks to all of you - there will be a thread started by my son later on with a tentative route and asking for critique.

Edward

Edor

Just read several threads on fog at Delhi airport and makes things more challenging and interesting.

Seems that most say if there is fog it is typically worst in early morning and then again mid to late night. Is that accurate? And that on days when there is fog that eventually clears that many later flights are likely to be delayed by more than hour?

Any thoughts on whether it would be easier to travel landing in Delhi around 9:00pm Jan 7th versus taking off from Delhi at 12:45AM on Jan. 29th?

Most likely the flight into Delhi would be on Jet Airways from Bangkok (and it is non-stop). Any idea, if it actually took off but was unable to land in Delhi where is it likely that it would land?

Just when I thought that I was relatively set on where to land (Calcutta) and where to exit(Delhi), India reminds me that am not in control of my life the way I might think!
Again, thanks. Edward

Edor

This is my modification to my original post. Due to concern about the possibility of fog at Delhi airport in early January I have re-thought things as follows and have request for hints about the tentative travel plan.

1) Now think it makes much more sense to fly into Mumbai Jan. 7th and out from Calcutta on Jan. 26th to avoid Delhi fog as well have brief opportunity in Mumbai. 20 days including day of arrival and departure so really 18 days.

2) Tentative idea below. Any comments on proportion of time in each place; whether day train (to be able to see countryside and get a sense of transition between places) or night train is suggested if both are available; and whether there are any substitutes or other nearby places that would add greater richness to plan (by this I mean, greater diversity of cultural aspects; architecture and artistic expression be it style or age; spiritual/religious approach; geographical features; cuisine; "the feel of the place and its people").

Also I believe Magh Mela will be in Allahabad during mid-Jan. to mid-Feb., would this be "highly recommended"?

7 Jan. arrive Mumbai about 16:30
8 Jan. partial day in Mumbai fly Udaipur 17:10

9-10 Jan. Udaipur train to Ajmer (15:45 to 21:10)

11-12 Jan. Ajmer/Pushkar afternoon train to Jaipur

13-15 Jan. Jaipur Bharatpur & Fatehpur Sikri

16 Jan. Agra (any suggestion on best way to get there from the west for early morning arrival?)

While my son intends to be flexible and not stick to a set schedule if he does anything similar to the above, the travel it seems will be fairly rapid. At the point of Agra 10 of the total 20 days are utilized and so a change of pace might be good. Considering something like:

16 Jan. night train to Varanassi 3 nights here

21 Jan. to Patna and then Bodh Gaya 4 nights here

25 Jan. night train to Calcutta

26 Jan. fly back to Bangkok leaving 11:55

If Allahabad would be fascinating, or from a few comments I read about Lucknow (having relatively fewer westerners, fabulous culture, interplay of Muslim and Hindu etc.) perhaps a day in either on the way to Varanassi and therefore one day less in Bodh Gaya which appeals in part because of the Tibetan Buddhist influences there and wanting at least one place to be visited for a longer period of time to start to have it feel like home.

Edward

capt_mahajan

I would factor fog into my plan for possible delays, but I would still go ahead with the original Delhi plan... for one, it looks like a better plan (geographically speaking) than your second one and two, Delhi is a more fascinating city for a tourist than Mumbai is, overall.

Fog is worse early morning and evening. It is not situational... some say it is improved in the last couple of years but I don't know that.

antisense

This itinery is very simiar to what I'm thinking of doing for my honeymoon Jan 6 to Jan 25 (in Anjuna, Goa from Dec 29 - Jan 5).

Will be my first trip to india also. It is SOOOO hard to decide where to go with such a small amount of time.

Will keep an eye on this thread for sure!!

Thanks IM team ^_^

antisense

Edor

Thanks Captain for replying again. I spoke with my son and to us it seems the advantages of flying into Mumbai wins (versus flying into Delhi) and in either case flying out of Calcutta.

Since we will be heading separate ways at Bangkok airport even a slight chance of fog in Delhi and therefore his not taking off from Bangkok and being put on the next flight out seems like a poor way to start the beginning of your first travel-by-yourself Asia experience. So even though Delhi is probably more interesting and culturally rich than Mumbai, the latter seems like the best entry point for this trip. In addition since he is an avid hiker and back-packer he will spend time in Delhi on a future trip on his way to the Himalayas and in part that is why in the plan 2 above Delhi was completely by-passed in favor of having the potential for staying longer in some places and getting into more depth.


Still would appreciate any further thoughts you or anyone else has about the above tentative plan.

Edward