6 wks in India - Delhi,Jaipur,Bharatpur,Agra,Va ranasi,Bandhavgarh NP,Ellora,Kerala

mirandabarber

Hey there,

What a great site! My fella and I are heading to India 25th November for about 6-7 weeks, returning on 13th January.

We are newcomers to the world of India and the investigations have just commenced, but some rough ideas are brewing and we are in love with alot of them:

Fly into Dehli, onto Jaipur, then Bharatpur for birdlife, Agra for the Taj, Varanasi for a longer stay to soak in the ghats (not literally!), Bandhavgarh National Park, down to Ellora/Ajanta caves, onto Mumbai, then fly on down to kerala/kochi to relax for the last leg of the journey, take in the backwaters, perhaps visit some plantations, take in the old part of kochi etc.

Several questions:

It appears from this site that up until varanasi our journey can effectively be done on train.

1. Is it advisable to buy some sort of rail pass to cater for all trips or just buy at location through hotel agents etc?

2. What is best way to get from Varanasi to Bandhavgarh national parl/Tala....all i can surmise is that we have to train to salta or something starting with 'S' then to umaria and then share a jeep or something to tala. Any clues on how best to accomplish this?

3. From the national park we would love to get to mumbai to access the ellora/ajanta caves but not at all clear what the best way might be?

4. Are we biting off more than we can chew for 6-7 weeks? We want to return to London relaxed after our last leg in kerala but happy to leg it around a bit for the first month with some breaks here and there.

5. It would be really useful to know what kind of length of time we should give ourselves in each place.

6. Is it a good idea to pre-book accommodation? We would definitely pre-book something for delhi, but we're the kind of people who like to wing it a bit and might change our minds and so on. Are there any parts of this trip you foresee difficulties with this?

Thanks so much for all contributions in advance!

Kindest regards,

Miranda x

New-South-Welshman

Well, in February this is what I'm doing... Delhi>Jaipur>Agra>Delhi>Mumbai >Goa>Delhi ... That is going to happen for the month. now to myself I feel like that isn't enough time, and that I should spend at least two months with this, because there is so much I want to do. You will seem very busy and rushed I feel, but that's because I'm so lazy. It is doable though.

__________________
Mr. Burns "Non-violence never solved anything!"

dilbharatmain

looks great, lots of ground to cover, but you will be able to do it quite relaxed with a bit of pre planning. I do not know if an Indian Rail pass will save you money, it may save you time as it gives you preferential bookings on trains. However if you have a couple of days in Delhi at the beginning of the trip, and are prepared to spend several hours at N.D.Station, you can book all your rail travel from Delhi as far as SATNA - the station you need for Bandhavgar N.P.. Maybe after the National Park it would be best to head in the direction of JABALPUR for onward rail connections to Mumbai and on to Ellora and Ajanta. From Aurangabad (Ellora/Ajanta) you may be better to train it to Goa, have a few beach days there, then fly Goa to Kochi - direct daily flights - then cruise on the backwaters, eat seafood, lounge in tea plantations for last week. Good luck. Dil.

mirandabarber

Thanks for this. I am up against this quandry: wanting to have a general plan of where to go and what to see, but not sticking to a super tight itinerary and being open to change. So I'm really not sure how and what we should organise in advance. I've read on other postings that arranging train tickets is not so bad if you make use of the agents based in hotels and so on. Hmmmm. lots to think about. M x

Shiver me Timbers

Your plan looks ok, don't bother with the Indrail pass.

Ajanta/Ellora are accessible from Aurangabad, which you can reach by train from Mumbai no problem.

I never booked accomodation in India, and visited some of the same places as you at the same time of year. It's not something to dwell on IMO.

mirandabarber

Cheers Conor, that's what i like to hear. Thanks for that. All the best, M x

mirandabarber

Hey guys, I'm heading to India on 25th November and have the first five or so weeks sorted in the himalayas, varanasi, rishikesh, rajasthan and mumbai.

The original plan was to arrive in Goa on christmas eve for a few days but some accommodation fell through and I'm feeling less and less inclined to chill in the middle of mayhem. Looked into going south to palolem only to discover that much beach accommodation has been bulldozed.

So we are re-thinking the strategy. We were planning on heading to Hampi/Karnataka after Goa anyhow, and then down to Kerala, Munnar etc thereafter until we fly out of Trivandrum on 14th january.

So can anyone recommend somewhere beautiful to travel to on 23rd December from Mumbai down south where we can chill for a three to five days over Christmas.

Have looked briefly into Gokarna, but doesn't seem to be much choice for accommodation.

Look forward to hearing,

Love Miranda x