6 months in India, Mum, Dad and 9 year old daughter,please comment on our plans

GP&D

Hi there,

6 months in India, starting Jan 2010, and mind-boggled by where to go. There are three of us, Mum, Dad, and 9 year old daughter. We have to balance history and culture with beach, intense experience with relaxation. Our itinerary hopefully takes us from one to the other in a good sort of rhythm. But what do you think?

So far we are planning on arriving in Delhi and staying there for a week or two. Then it'll be off round Rajasthan - we spent some time in Jaipur recently and we really want to see Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer etc (we'll do a desert trip from here). We should also probably go to Agra/the Taj Mahal whilst in the area.

Then we should nip up to Amritsar. Seeing the Golden Temple has to be a must. I want to experience India's religious variety so going to Sikhism's most holy temple seems a good idea.

We also want to visit Shimla, but not certain about this. Though simply must go to at least a couple of hill stations whilst we are in India. (Any suggestions gratefully received.) Oh, and that crazy, incredible, fantasy garden that chap built single-handed near Chandigarh

We've discounted going further north on security grounds. I'd love to visit Kashmir, but we're travelling with our 9 year old daughter, so need some smidgen of sense.

After Rajasthan, we're sort of aiming to travel down the west coast. Been to Goa a couple of times and reckon Goan beaches by way of some Maharastran beaches should be a good unwind after Rajasthan.

Then into Karnataka, we love Gokarna and I'd say it's a must for anyone in that part of the world. (We love the cafe restaurant down by the car park at the town beach.) Hampi definitely. Mysore possibly. (Any other Karnataka suggestions gratefully received.)

Then Kerala. We were there 12 years ago as a couple and loved it, but hardly saw anything. Really want to see inland Kerala, and go back to the beaches we frequented all that time ago.

After Kerala we'll head east, aiming for Kolkata... via Sri Lanka.

We think we'll spend a month in Sri Lanka, getting there somehow (?!) from southern India - not worked that bit out yet. Wisdom on this much appreciated.

Then back across to India and up the east coast. For some reason Pondicherry appeals - a little slice of Frenchification seems like fun.

I've heard Chennai is v manic and not so traveller-friendly, so may miss it out.

Puri sounds good - but might leave this until we return from Nepal in order to rest weary feet etc.

Everyone says Kolkata is amazing. Is a week there enough, should we make it two? And we have to go to the Sunderbans. For tigers, for estuary countryside and just because the name sounds so great. (I think this is one of the reasons I am so drawn to India, I love the place names, words etc.)

It's round about Kolkata that our itinerary gets a bit vague. I think we'll be here by March/April, which is a good time to zoom up to Nepal, maybe via Darjeeling. Hopefully we'll see something of Buddhism in India on this part of the trip. (Not sure where though, any suggestions gratefully received.) We've also decided not to do the North East States - for reasons of access, security, and, well, we just can't fit it in.

So, after a few weeks in Nepal we'll be heading back towards Kolkata - and then it's Varanasi. We had considered going to Varanasi, Allahabad, Ayodhya as part of the Delhi leg at the start of our trip, but somehow I think the spiritual centres of Hinduism should be left until we've been in the country for some time. In a way I think it will help us to make sense of India, of everything we've seen and experienced.

At this point we may treat ourselves to a flight to the Andaman Islands. A friend has been and says they are amazing. Just the chill we'll need after some heavy-duty intensity in Varanasi etc. But let's see where our funds are at this point.

Talking of travel, we love Indian trains. Done the 12 hr first class sleeper, done the 12 hr wooden bencher, loved it all, can't wait for more. Mind you, now I know what WL means at the top of your e-ticket (hence the wooden bench journey), I won't be having any more conniption fits when the passenger list goes up on the platform 40 mins before departure. (But even when that happened, it was a plus; a truly wonderful Indian family saw how freaked out I was, and rescued us, found us a bench with them, and helped make everything ok, in fact, helped make it all an amazing experience. Are Indians amongst the nicest people on earth? We think so.) Because we don't have to hurry, we are going to try to keep the train journeys down to a max of 12-20 hours. A 35 hour bone shaker would be more than my old bones could be shaken.

Then we'll have to leave India because I reckon our 6 month visa will be expiring and to the best of our knowledge we can't get an extension. (Does anyone know better? Please advise.) And at the moment, we're thinking we'll go to Thailand for three weeks before heading back to London. (Though we could put Sri Lanka off until the end of our Indian journey, and not go to Thailand, thus in effect giving us an extra month in India.)

Wow, that's a long itinerary. If you've got this far reading it, thank you so much. And if you can give us some suggestions for what we should or shouldn't add to our odyssey, thank you even more.

What seems to be missing is central India, wildlife, Islam (though there will be plenty of mosques along the way), festivals, and the east coast seems a little unthought-through etc etc

Talking of festivals, I know Jan-June is the wrong time of year, but we will be there for Holi, and school and work commitments make June to December impossible. If you can suggest any other must-experience festivals or fairs between January and June, please let us know.

And one final MASSIVE worry. Are we just trying to pack in too much? Should we be staying in one place for a month plus, and really living a small slice of Indian life?

Wow, what a prospect.

G, P & D.

vikramkyy

hi GP&D
welcome to india.

i think you should start your trip from mumbai(cover maharashtra)---then go to goa (because jan-feb is a good time to explore. those places)----then go to kerla (visit ultimate places)---then go to karnataka(bangalore)(in karnataka you can add kodaikenal)---then you can go to Pondicherry and puri---- then you can moov back to ---tamilnadu(chennai)---then you can go to-----madhyapradesh(m.p) to visit wildlife- then you can go to rajasthan(jaipur,,udaipur) ----then you can go to delhi---then you can cover---chandigarh---amritsar---if you wish you can go to shimla and manali------ then should moov back to deelhi--then go to kolkata----darziling---sikkim----....
then come back to delhi ----then decide your plan for varanasi and kashmir...

.......

Aupmanyav

Just consider the weather. Winters, Goa Kerala, and Himalayas, if you want to see a place with snow. Avoid Darjeeling in Feb., rains. More travel till March, before it is too hot. Then settle at a nice place. You are not new to India. Let us see how the thread develops.

erin_zita

Firstly I would say that as you have the luxury of so much time, don't worry about planning it too much. If you find somewhere you love and want to stay there for a month then do it, but you won't know until you get there.

Weather is probably your biggest consideration. January is cold in the North, but lovely from Mumbai southwards. We got too cold in Rajasthan (after the tropical south) so fled back south to the Andaman Islands- completely off route but definitely worth it. When it gets later in the year it will be too hot everywhere except for the far north (a good time to visit Shimla and Kashmir).

I also really recommend Sri Lanka. There aren't many tourists there at the moment, and it's even cheaper than India. It's a wonderful place with a diverse range of attractions in a compact size. The beaches are also better and quieter than in India (except for Andaman Islands which are gorgeous). You can get cheap flights from Trivandrum-Colombo. I think you can also get another Indian visa in Sri Lanka.

I have lots of info on Kerala on my Kerala India Travel blog, especially about the backwaters.

I hope this helps a little.

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ananda2193

I think just go with your plan, but don't make concrete reservations. You'll have 6 months, so i'm sure, since your with a 9 year old that maybe they'll get tired of all the moving about and prefer to stay put for awhile. Maybe your parents also.

Plans always change. Go more with the flow.

And save the northern mountains for April-May when it's not soo cold.

GP&D

Thanks very much for all your suggestions. It really is most appreciated. Hmmm, interesting that you say that Rajasthan is too cold in Jan - we could always start in the south and work our way north.

Decisions decisions. Plus yes, if we find a place we love, we'll chill there and maybe miss somewhere else.

Thanks again, all comments really are gratefully received.

The excitement builds daily!

Aupmanyav

Rajasthan is never so cold that a Brit cannot take it.

GP&D

Good point, though my other half is Spanish!

GP&D

Now we're thinking forget Thailand, have an extra month in India. And leave our month in Sri Lanka until the end of our trip. Hmmmm.

vonkla

In the last years we made two itineraries of three month to India.

For the first trip we started in Mumbai, and made a loop through Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat and Rajasthan and ended in Delhi.

We started the second one in Kochi, stayed some time in Kerala and continued to Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and again Rajasthan and Delhi.

In my travel journals (see the links below) I wrote in more details about this.
Maybe it helps to make up your mind.

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

ananda2193

If your traveling for 6 months then that would mean you would in Sri Lanka in June. June is monsoon time and it will be raining cats and dogs. Better to see Sri Lanka before then.

GP&D

Your help is gratefully received.

re the monsoon, I was under the impression that the east coast should be ok, as the monsoon in June is mainly on the west coast. However, I'll go back to my climate charts and do some more homework.

And I like the look of your itineraries Vonkla, I'll do a bit more research.

Thanks again.

ananda2193

Heres a link to weather in Sri Lanka,

http://www.worldtravelguide.net/coun...Sri-Lanka.html

Theres 2 monsoons a year there, and if your going to be on the east coast then I think your right that the monsoon is really on the west coast at that time. Though i'm not 100% sure.
According to the weather chart you'll get lots of rain in Colombo and in the central mountains also.