confused, travel itinerary

jaz

Hi

Well l thought l had my plans in check but after going through the Lonely Planet guide and hearing from other travellers l've met l'm having second thoughts. I'm hoping to head out from here on the 21/12 and l've already booked my flight out from India for the 24/2. So l have roughly 9 weeks. 2 weeks in Nepal and 7 weeks in India. From Kathmandu l was going to head straight onto Varanasi but l'm now l'm thinking of heading to Darjeeling, Mirik, Sikkim (gangtok, Rumtek, Pelling), Kolkata, Ranchi, Gaya, Bodhgaya and then heading to Varanasi, Khajuraho, Sarnath, Orchha, Jhansi, Gwalior, Lucknow, Agra, Fathepur Sikri, Bharatpur, Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Amritsar, Delhi back to the UK!!! My question is, is this too much for 7 weeks?? And also would travel to Darjeeling and Sikkim be possible in winter, what will the weather be like, will places be open etc??

Any input would be much appreciated!

Cheers

Jaz

Alan D

Hi jaz!

That's some itinerary you've put together there! By my reckoning 26 places in 49 days! It's possibly do-able if you were to stay completely healthy and all your transport connections worked out. I think if I did something like that I would end up in a rest home for 6 months.

However if you're young and fit it's possible. My inclination would be drop some places out otherwise you're going to spend a lot of your time on trains and buses. Perhaps the best way to do it is to see how you go - depending how things are going you could drop places out or take a rest day. I suggest you make a shorter list of the places you really want to visit and make those a priority.

To have some kind of flexibility helps travelling in India otherwise you're always going to be racing against the clock. What happens if an important connecting train is 5 hours late? - it happens, especially in northern India in winter, blanket fog for days.

Do you plan to pre-book all your rail tickets in advance? I guess you want to see as much of the country as possible but I think you've got enough places there for another visit to India.

jaz

Hi

Alan D

Thanks for the advice. I think your right, basically l'm just gonna see how it goes and may knock some places off if things don't go to plan or l end up staying longer in one place than l had planned. My plan is just to turn up in a town and from there book a bus/train a couple of days in advance, is this wise? I added a few places to break up the journey and thought that whilst l'm young and with no responsibilities l might be my last cahnce to do something like this , so l might aswell see as much as possible!

My original plan was to head straight onto Varanasi from Kathmandu but l met up with some backpackers in Beijing recently and they advised me to add on yet more places to my list saying darjeeling, Sikkim and Bihar are not to be missed. What would the weather be like in December/January in Kathmandu/Darjeeling/Sikkim?

Alan D

jaz

I take your point about trying to fit as much as possible into this trip. Yes, you could book your tickets as you go. As a UK citizen you should be able to get onto the Indian Railways foreigner tourist quota. Aren't IR kind to us! Failing that, there are always buses running between major towns and cities.

The weather you asked for - temperature figures for December

Kathmandu Min 2C Max 20C

Darjeeling Min 3C Max 9C

Gangtok Min 2C Max 15C

The chances of rain in December statistically in all these places is practically nil and the weather should be sunny. Kathmandu can often suffer though from smog when there is no wind blowing. Hope this helps.

jaz

Alan D

Cheers Alan your a star! I think l will just turn up in Kathmandu and take it from there as to whether l will move onto Darjeeling, Patna or Varanasi.