Advice for 14 day trip Mumbai - Ajanta/Ellora - Goa - Hampi

twintornado

Hi,

I'm planning a 14 day trip in the second half of September; flying both in and out of Bombay.

My planning so far is like this;

Arrive: 15/9 6.30am Mumbai

1 day Mumbai

[16/9] 2071 Mumbai CST 13:50 > Aurangabad 20:35

2 days seeing Ajanta and Ellora on separate day trips from Aurangabad

[18/9] 7058 Aurangabad 21:35 > Manmad 00.20
[19/9] 2618 Manmad 04:40 > Madgaon 20:30

5 days Goa

[25/9] 8048 Madgaon 08:00 > Hospet 14:45

Local bus to Hampi

1.5 - 2 days Hampi

[27/9] Bus to Raichur (171km 3 or 4 hrs) – Does anyone have details of when they run? Would a taxi be a suitable alternative?

1042 Raichur 22:50 > Mumbai CST 13:45

[28/9] Mumbai
[29/9] Depart

Any comments or suggestions would be very gratefully received.
I have a budget of around £30/per person/per day and I'm travelling with one other person. (A bit more for Mumbai due to high accommodation costs)

We would prefer to travel by air-con trains, is this possible on the routes I've mentioned.

Thank you for reading.

zoltan

Personally, I'd skip Goa & concentrate on Aurangabad (spend 1/2 day at Dalautabad fort); spend at least a full day at Ajanta & the same for Ellora.

Then, another 3 days at Hampi & surrounds and finally, some time in Mumbai and surrounds.

Cheers
Zoltan

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twintornado

I'm thinking now that I'll reduce the Goa section of the trip to 3 days and spend an extra day in Hampi.

My travel partner wanted to see Goa, I've been before and have no massive passion to go again.

It does act as a nice break as the Aurangabad to Hospet via Ahmadnagar is pretty long and we were trying to keep bus journeys to an absolute minimum.

Is there another possible interesting site (e.g. old Hindu temple, but open to other suggestions) to stop at for a day between Aurangabad and Hospet?

mani

Hello Twin,

Please see my Comments in Blue above.

Unless you really want to stay the night at Mumbai, you can instead take the overnight Train to Aurangabad arriving early morning this will allow you to get an extra day in aurangabad.

Have recently travelled to Aurangabad and can recommend that you spend time at Ellora and Daulatabad fort. Do walk through the underground passage of the daulatabad fort. The Panchaki is a good place to spend some time alone. Spent couple of hours here with my 8 year old who was only too happy to play with small carp fishes in the water tank.

We stayed at the New Manmandir hotel /Terminus. cost us Rs. 800 double per night. They are a well known Travel agency in aurangabad and can also provide taxis. The rate for a 80 Km / 8 hr trip in a Non Ac Indica cost us 750/- The Restaurant there serves good food.

Also will recommend a good thali restaurant near there cant really remember the name but you can ask your hotel reception and they will help you out Its Near this manmandir place. another one is BHOJ this one is near the bus station on the First Floor and you can easily miss this one if you are not looking.

Dint get to ajanta as we had only one full day in Aurangabad.

also cant really comment on the rest of your journey

All of the above mentioned Trains have aircon.

I hope you enjoy your trip.

mani

twintornado

Many thanks Mani.
I think an extra day in Aurangabad would be useful and I had originally planned to travel on the 15/9 but thought it may be nice to freshen up and acclimatise slightly in Mumbai.
I'll note your hotel information and put some time aside for a visit to the Daulatabad fort.