backpacking one month in august-advice???

Me and 2 friends are arriving and leaving from delhi and travelling around india for a month, had a few questions...

how do i book a train from delhi to kerala from the uk, any idea how long it would take and is this a good idea and then do our stopoffs on the way back up?

is there any point going to beach resorts due to the monsoon season,will everything be closed and no night life,resterants open?

is goa a good place to go?heard its very touristy but pretty, but we would like a place to go out at night and meet other backpackers..where would be best to go or stay?

my plan is: week down south, 10days in goa area, stop off in bombay, jipur, agra and then back to delhi (bad spelling)..does this sound ok for out time (1month) ?

thanks for any help....having a lot of trouble with trying to sort out train travels!!

ta

In addition to the advice given on your other thread; for bookings, read this thread first... http://www.indiamike.com/india/showthread.php?t=4305

A few things to save you digging too far in the above link (it is all there though!)

The booking site is http://www.irctc.co.in/

You will need to register first. I'm not sure whether they have changed this, but during registration it asks for a 'PIN' in the address - this is the Indian Postal code. When I registered, it would only accept Indian post codes, but I found that it would accept my (UK) address with any 6 digit PIN (I used 123456!).

If you do not know the station codes you are looking for, click on the little train alongside the 'from' and 'to' fields!

I found that http://www.indianrail.gov.in/ is friendlier for finding routes, fares, etc. (click on 'Trains between Imp. Stations'). So go there before going to irctc to book tickets.

Lastly, the credit card bit of the irctc site tends to be tempremental. It might take you a couple of attempts to get through. You will not be charged unless you have a ticket! Print the reservation yourself and carry it along with your passport (you need to give the passport number when you book).

If you need any more detail, I'm happy to help - it does work, honestly!

1.I live in Kerala, part of the monsoon heartland. This year we have had good rains. As of today, its reached a stage where we get break after a good downpour. While one cannot bet on this, I would expect August to be calmer (meaning longer breaks betweens spells of rains and more rain at night than during day time). The reason I am writing this is because rain pattern varies from year to year and you are planning to travel to Kerala and Goan monsoon is not very different from what it is in Kerala.

2. There are two rail major routes to Kerala from Delhi - one follows the west coast after Bombay (mumbai) and the other comes down central India. The former is slightly shorter and faster and is usually the preferred one - unless it is monsoon season. This is because the stretch from Bombay to Kerala (called the Konkan Rail) is single track and prone to disruptions due to landslides etc. Also the monsoon time table allocates an extra 3 hours to cover this stretch. All in all it would not be unreasonable to expect it to take a good 48 to 56 hours to reach Kochi (Ernakulam) from Delhi this time of the year. Trains usually run late in long journies such as these.

3. When booking rail tickets, please be aware that some trains are to be preferred over others if one can get bookings. From Delhi there is a train called 'Rajdhani Express' to Kerala (there are many Rajdhani's from Delhi - one to each state capital). Trains in India are designated by 4 digit numbers (as you might have already discovered), and the preferred one from Delhi to Kochi (Kerala) is 2432. The next would be 2654. Few other train on the Delhi Kochi Route are 2618, 2626, 2646, 2644. It is useful to know that trains with numbers starting with a 2 are supposed to be faster (Indian railways call these Superfast - which has nothing to do with the speed at which these trains run). Also not all trains run on all days :-(

4. If you plan stop-offs on way down to Kerala, you could plan to reach Kerala for Onam, which is a festive season in the state. Its a 10 day festival and this year it from 17th to 27/8/07 (its based on lunar cycle). On the other hand, given that it will be holidays for schools and people tend to travel more during this time and trains and buses will be that much more crowded, one could also consider avoiding that ;-)

Feel free to ask if you need clarifications. Wish you a wonderful time in India.

Theres no point! its too hot and too wet, head north instead to the hill stations and even to Leh. Thats where Im going in aug with my daughter, its awesomw apparantly.