8 Weeks Between South and North

the opoponax

I don't really have a whole lot of questions about this itinerary -- I mainly wanted to show off my brilliant and fun plans. And of course get the input of anyone who cares to weigh in.

As I've said in other posts, I'm a relatively slow and laid back traveler, and ideally this is just a guesstimate. I can easily see myself sacrificing planned destinations and checking out something not even mentioned here (in fact, if anything fantastic comes to mind, suggestions are definitely welcome.

Evening of Jan 9 - leave JFK.

Jan 10 - early morning plane change in Zurich. Arrive Mumbai 10:30pm. With customs and baggage and the taxi ride, I imagine I won't see my hotel till after midnight. I hope to stay at either the New Bengal, Benazeer, or Sea Lord (the Residency is already booked for my dates).

Jan 11 - Get my bearings a little in Mumbai, no particular pressure to explore (I'll be back at the end anyway).

Jan 12 - lunch with friends up in Bandra, hop the overnight train to Margao.

Jan 13 - 23 Agonda, most likely.

Jan 24 - back to Margao for the day train to Hospet (yes, I've checked to make sure this train runs on the 24th, and I will be pre-booking it as soon as it becomes available).

Jan 24 - 28 Hampi

Jan 29 - LONG train from Hospet to Howrah. This is the most intimidating travel leg of the trip. If I wasn't already splurging in Mumbai, I'd fly it.

Jan 30 - Feb 2 Kolkata

Feb 3 - 15 off the beaten track in West Bengal, with a few days cycling around near Malda and then a jaunt up in Darjeeling and/or Kalimpong, and might look into Sikkim if I have time.

Feb 15 - Overnight train either from NJP or Howrah to Varanasi, whatever works out better.

Feb 16 - 19 Varanasi

Feb 19 - Overnight train to Lucknow.

Feb 20 - 22 Lucknow. Thinking about sacrificing this to make time for Amritsar.

Feb 22 - Overnight train to Delhi.

Feb 23 - 29 Basing myself in Delhi, with side trips to Agra and Fatehpur Sikri (also possibly Amritsar if there's time, or maybe Mathura/Vrindavan.

Feb 30 - another LONG train trip from Delhi back to Mumbai. Might fly if I can afford it.

Mar 2 - 4 Mumbai again.

March 5 (the very wee hours) leave Mumbai airport for Frankfurt, then home!

atala

You mention the possibility of Amritsar a few times. What I have heard of it (not been there myself), it is hardly worth it except for the Golden Temple, which is also not that impressive it seems. Depends on tastes and circumstances. It may be the one big thing for you, who knows.

If you have not been there yet, I'd recommend the Vrindavan area any time before anything else. But skip Mathura, except if you are interested in exceptional Buddhist sculptures at the Mathura museum.

Stay in the old town of Vrindavan, and make Agra a day trip from there (40 miles).

http://www.indiamike.com/india/uttar...ndavan-t45071/

Mickey S

The Golden Temple is one of those things that you really have to see once, but it is quite disappointing. It's not nearly as impressive as you think it's going to be, and it's very crowded. There is little else to occupy you in Amritsar.

If you really want to see the Golden Temple then do it in a day trip by train from Delhi.

the opoponax

Thanks, Atala. I have a couple of reasons for vaguely considering Amritsar. The Golden Temple does seem pretty cool (from photos and guidebook writeups, of course). The main reason, though, is that Sikhism really fascinates me. While I'm not keen to convert to any particular faith, let alone have one of those cheeseball spiritual experiences every backpacker seems so eager to have, if I were to get interested in any so-called "eastern religion", it would probably be that.

I think the main reason it's still a ghostly presence on my itinerary is that my original plan was to spend a lot of time in Himachal and Ladakh and visit friends in Punjab. I also wanted to maybe get into Pakistan a little, if I could swing a visa and a travel buddy. In that original plan, Amritsar seemed like a logical stop. But now I'm going at the wrong time of year for Ladakh, the Punjabi friends won't be around, and the situation in Pakistan makes me reluctant to even try to go. And, of course, I've sworn not to have a spiritual experience if I can help it at all!

So I'll probably take your advice and leave Amritsar out. And will definitely look closely at spending some time in Vrindavan. Any other suggestions are quite welcome, of course.

wonderwomanusa

Lucknow is a nice town to visit; try to leave it on the schedule.

pontesnm

You have not indicated whether this is your first visit or not. Assuming this is your first visit, you are missing important places close by and travelling too far. Thus for example, you could easily do Hampi, Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal, Bijapur, Ahmednagar, Ajanta and Ellora, Jhansi, Orchha, Gwalior, Agra, Mathura, Delhi and Shekhawati (Rajasthan).

If you wish to bicycle (bike = motorbike in India) you can easily bike up and/or down the Konkan coast in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

the opoponax

Pontesnm, I'm confused about your advice.

Do you think the itinerary I'm proposing is too ambitious, too fast paced, and trying to pack too much in? Or is it just not the trip you'd take? Because it sounds like you're suggesting a very different trip to India than I had planned. Not so much in the list of stops, but just the style of travel.

Usually when I travel my goal isn't to see Every Single Thing, but to see the things that sound especially interesting to me. This is the main reason I've left Ajanta and Ellora off my list -- they don't set off fireworks of anticipation, and if I get a serious hankering to see them, I can always change my plans.

I've also learned in previous travels that it's best not to schedule weeks on end of ruins and old temples with no respite. I love them as much as the next girl (in fact I'm a huge history and archaeology buff). But I need to mix it up a little or I'll get "ruined out", as I learned trying to see just about everything more than 1000 years old between Naples and Rome. I'd go crazy adding in Badami, Aihole, Bijapur, Jhansi, Orccha, AND Gwalior after Hampi, all in a row like that.

Because of my work (I'm a filmmaker with some experience with and connections to Bollywood), it's likely that I'll not only come to India again someday, but also have more time to visit Mumbai and the surrounding area. So I'm not entirely writing off your suggestions. They just don't fit very well on this trip.

pontesnm

I grew up in Bandra and my neighbor in Bandra (and a good friend) is a documentary producer. I will be visiting there in Dec-Jan.

I was trying to shorten your travel time and shorten distance between stops to increase the flexibility with travel. If you wish to book your long distance trains well in advance the you have a great itinerary. Enjoy

Visitors often underestimate the difficulty in getting train reservations in sleeper or AC class for next day travel. Please read the comments by others in other posts, but virtually no one recommends travel in unreserved 2nd class for overnight travel. It is the cheapest fare class and they sell essentially an unlimited number of tickets, you have no reserved seats, you are not guaranteed a seat and there is no sleeper space to lie on even at night. This is where you encounter the real India, those who live in villages and have limited resources.

If you want reservations, you will pretty much have to have your plans set about a week (or more) in advance. I recommend that you start looking for availability now so that you have an idea how far ahead you need to book for long distance trips.


There are however many local passenger trains that are less crowded, they do not appear online and they are fine for shorter distances (some are daytime trains without sleeper and do not accept reservations). Therefore you can decide to move on at any time. The advantage of these trains is that you will encounter the local people who do not travel a great distance.


I indicated an itinerary that could be covered in several short hops and gives you several interesting places to stop without much long distance travel.

the opoponax

Just FYI, I have no intention of waiting till the day before to book most of my rail travel. At this point I plan to book everything up till my arrival in Kolkata ASAP (starting sometime early next week! squeeeee!). The rest of the plans will be made a little closer to leaving, and I might leave off reserving a few of the later tickets until I'm actually in India.

When I say "flexible traveler", I'm generally not talking about waiting till the day before to decide which far-flung end of the country to see. More like giving myself 10 days in southern Goa to do what I want with. A whole week in Delhi to either see the city, travel in the surrounding areas, or whatever. I'm not one of those "Arrive Kolkata. Chuck bags at the Fairlawn; proceed directly to Kali temple. Photograph locals for exactly twenty-five minutes. Take taxi (paying no more than 15 rupees!!!) to Nizam's for a kati roll..." type travelers, is what I meant.

the opoponax

OK, it might just be the obsessive planner in me, but I'm starting to think a somewhat blasphemous thought.

What if I skipped the Delhi chunk of my itinerary entirely, say going from Mumbai - Goa - Hampi - [maybe more of the south?] - Kolkata/West Bengal - Varanasi - [Khajuraho/Orchha?] Mumbai? Maybe taking Pontesnm's advice and seeing more of Maharashtra and northern Karnataka?

I don't really know why I want to blow off Delhi, Agra, Lucknow. I think I'm just getting jealous of all the wonderful South India stories. The culture in Kerala and Tamil Nadu just sounds way more interesting, and a lot of people here at IM paint Delhi and the surrounding areas as one big tout hassle tourist trap.

A little advice would be a huge help here. Oh, and BTW the reason Kolkata stays in the picture is that I have friends there I'm going to be visiting.

pontesnm

Well I would suggest that you go from Hospet (Hampi) to possibly Badami and then return to Goa and then go south by passenger trains to Gokarna (or other beach in Karnataka) and then make your way south via Kerala (to Kanyakumari southern tip of India) and then up to Madurai. (Another possibility is to go from Quilon (Kollam) via Tenkasi to Madurai very scenic metre gauge train). From Madurai you can go to Chennai.

I have given you just an itinerary. You can pick places along the way. You could easily spend 8 weeks just getting upt Chennai and doing say a detour to Rameswaran and Kanchhpuram and ...

I would decide what you wish to visit by reading the state forums. Also read the articles in Indiamike - you may decide to visit Bijapur (which is a bit of a detour from Hospet) if you plan to return to Goa.

Enjoy your planning!