Advice: 4 week trip to North India

Elies

Hi guys,

I really love this forum, a lot of usefull info!!

I planned an India trip, my first, very exciting!
At the end of June, I will fly to New Delhi and I will stay for 4 weeks. I did read the Lonely Planet and the Trotter guide (Dutch) and I found out what I would like to see (too much I think ).

I planned an itinerary, looking at train and bus oppertunities. What can not be changed:
I arrive June 26 in New Delhi and will fly back the 24th of July from New Delhi again. On the 22th of July, I booked a flight from Leh to New Delhi.

What is my plan right now:

New Delhi
Jaipur (Amber Palace, Sariska Sanctuary) (by train)
Agra (Fathepur Sikri, Bharatpur) (by train)
Varanashi (by train)
Hardwar (by train) Rikishesh (bus)
Chandigargh (by train)(or can I go directly to Amritsar?)
Amritsar (by train)
Pathankot (?)
Dharamsala (by train)
Manali (bus)
Leh (bus)
Delhi (flight, kingfisher airlines)

What I would like to know:
- What train tickets should I defenately book on forehand?
- When and how do I get my bustickets?
- Is this too much and if yes; what and how (route) to skip?
- Information about what is not as interesting as I suppose it will be and about how much time to spend in te places I planned to visit.
- I'd love to see some nature reserves and some relaxed little towns: where can I find (and especially, easily reach!) these on my route?
- Tips for my first time visit (I'm a 26 year old woman..) to India! (and yes I already did read a lot of treads about this subject)

Many thanks in advance!!

vonkla

Hi
Welcome to IM.

I have not visited yet the Northern part of India but I guess your plan is doable.

Go to a train site as http://erail.in/ and select your trains and find out about the availability. If there are a few seats available you must book them as soon as possible.

There is indeed a direct connection between Haridwar and Amritsar

As for Bharatpur there will be no water in the Keoladeo Reserve

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

rajered

It is doable. If you want to book rail tickets in advance it is necessary for you decide how many days in each places. Reason being not all the trains run on all days. There might be a possibility that you think of going to Amristar from Haridwar on Monday and there are no trains on Monday.

Elies

Nice website, I didn't read about this one yet (much faster than looking for availability on the site where I should book the tickets)

And as for Keoladeo; I read that the water would be low/gone, but is it still worth a visit?

vonkla

We were there in October/November 2005, when there was plenty water. I have no idea how it is in the dry season.

rajered

In Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary the best time to visit is from August-November for resident birds and October- February for migrant birds

Elies

Erail provides me good info about train times and availability, I'm planning to book tickets this weekend!
But, I would love to hear from some experienced India travellers, at what places on my itinerary should I stay for 2-3 days and what places should I skip or only visit one day or so??

I would love to hear some advice about this!! Than I can plan what trains to book on what dates.

Now I've read more info about travelling from Amritsar to Dharamsala, my itinerary changed into:

New Delhi
Jaipur (Amber Palace, Sariska Sanctuary) (by train)
Agra (Fathepur Sikri, Bharatpur) (by train)
Varanashi (by train)
Hardwar (by train) Rikishesh (bus)
Amritsar (by train)
Dharamsala (by bus)
Manali (bus)
Leh (bus)
Delhi (flight, kingfisher airlines)