40 days and 40 nights in Southern India

timeo

Hi guys,

I'm new to this website, though I've been lurking in the shadows for quite a number of months now. Great tips everyone!

Anyways, I'm going to India in mid-January 2008, with the first segment of the trip on my own, only to join my friend who's doing an Aga Khan internship in Keshod, Junagadh District, Gujarat in Delhi later on for a two week-ish whirlwind tour of Northern India (Rajasthan + Agra + maybe Varanasi if we can squeeze it in).

I was hoping for some feedback for my journey in the south. Having never been in India, I don't know if this itinerary is overly-hectic or intense. Places I should leave out or add? The only concern that I have is that the bulk of the latter half of the trip consists primarily of 2 days and 2 nights stays in places before jetting off again on another 6 hour train ride to the next town.

1. Mumbai (4 days)
train to Aurangabad for Ellora/Ajanta caves
2. Aurangabad (4 days w/ day trips to the caves)
train to Karmali Station in Goa via Mumbai
3. Old Goa (1 day)
4. Panaji/Panjim (2 days)
5. Ajunta (2 days)
bus to Madgaon from Panaji for Hospet Junction
6. Hospet (4 days w/ most of my time in Hampi)
train to Tirupati/Tirumala via Bangalore's SBC/YPR stations
7. Tirupati (2 days)
8. Chennai (1 day)
9. Puducherry (2 days)
train to Thanjavur via Villuparam Junction
10. Thanjavur (2 days)
train to Tiruchirappali aka Trichy
11. Trichy (2 days)
train to Madurai Junction
12. Madurai (3 days)
train to Kollam (via Trivandrum or direct?)
13. Kollam (2 days)
boat to Alleppey
14. Alleppey (2 days)
train to Eranakulam Junction or Ernakulam Town Stations
15. Kochi/Ernakulam (2 days)
train to Bangalore
16. Bangalore - flight to Delhi

Any help on the feasibility of this or how realistic this is would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

Tim

vandy

Good Day Tim, It's doable I Guess.

I usually advise First timers to India to TRY and
Keep travel to a minium,Travel in India can be
VERY tiring,even for Experienced travellers who
have been to India Before.

I hope you have got some time off when you get
home,good chance your going to need it.

It's different if your'e on an organized tour as
everything from travel to accom is pre arranged.

Good Luck & Happy Travelling

vandy

timeo

Thanks for your comments. The original plan included Kanyakumari and Ooty as well actually, but that would have extended the entire trip to a month and a half and I still had the highlights of Rajasthan + Delhi + Agra + Varanasi to do, so I didn't want to take too much time or exhaust myself out. It's my first time travelling on my own really (aside from 1 week trips to Chicago/Montreal/NYC and the like), so this is something different altogether, and I'm a little worried that I'll miss trains or that I won't get on the right one (and up being stuck in some small town where nobody speaks English). If you had to cut out 1 or 2 places, just so that it's less hectic and stressful, which ones would you leave out? I'm interested in seeing temple architecture, cities and beaches, but the Keralan backwaters and the Ellora and Ajanta Caves sound great too. Is Puducherry actaully worth it?

I wanted to do India not through an organized tour because I figured that there might be places that I may want to go to that aren't covered by a tour bus, but as it is, it seems like I've already booked up all my time!

Thanks,
Tim

Nick-H

The mountains are between Maurai and Kerala: it makes sense to include a hill station if you can.

One day for Chennai? We may be the smallest of the Metros, but that still leaves us as India's 4th biggest city. Pondicherry is tiny by comparison, but you're spending two days there. Mahabalipuram is a nice day out from Chennai, Pondy is doable too (2-3 hour drive).

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fagdiva

while all the places you mention may be worth a visit, better you give yourself a few extra days in the places you like best and skip a few stops, reserve them for another trip.

my experience is to make a loop with as few train or bus rides as possible and at least 3-4 days between them. as noted above, the travelling aspect is exhausting, and more so if you feel you have a schedule to maintain.

my advice: avoid the big cities and spend more time at the ruins, beaches and temple towns. Chennai, bangalore, mumbai are perhaps more work than pleasure. the real charms are in the rural areas and ruins. flexiblity is an asset, and assume you will return again to pick up the trail of the stuff you missed...

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