Delhi - Agra - Rajastan - Kerala - Madurai - Mumbai

MrJ

Hello,

In March-April I will travelling in India.

I have plotted this itinerary:

Day 1: Delhi
Day 2: Delhi
Day 3: to Agra by car
Day 4: Agra
Day 5: to Jaipur by car
Day 6: Jaipur
Day 7: Amber
Day 8: to Udaipur by plane
Day 9: to Mount Abu by car
Day 10: back to Udaipur by car over Ranakpur
Day 11: to Cochin by plane
Day 12: Cochin
Day 13: Angamaly and around
Day 14: Houseboat from Cochin to Kottayam
Day 15: from Kottayam to Periyar by car
Day 16: Periyar and to Madurai by car
Day 17: Madurai and in the afternoon to Mumbai by plane
Day 18: Mumbai
Day 19: Mumbai
Day 20: Mumbai + flight home in the evening

We're thinking about taking a day from our Mumbia-visiting time and adding it to another part of our itinerary.

Some questions to the experienced IM's
- Is this itinerary doable timewise?
- Which part would really benefit form a day more?
- Does anyone has experience with taking a houseboat in Cochin and arriving in Kottayam?

Already a big thank you!

Jeroen

SueJ

I can only help you with a small piece of this, but hope it is useful.

Cochin airport is North East of Ernakulam, and Angamaly is also, I think, North of Ernakulam. So you may do better to go straight there from the airport & then head South to Kochi after Angamaly. Not sure if you mean to visit Fort Kochi or Ernakulam??

You cannot pick up a houseboat from Kochi, but will need to travel by road/rail further South. You can pick one up at Alappuzha (used to be called Alleppey) or in the Kumarakom area, which is on the other side of the lake, near Kottayam. I know you can take a houseboat from Alappuzha to Kumarakom, but have not done so. It may make sense just to go by road from Kochi to Kumarakom & both pick up & drop off your boat there. There are far fewer houseboats out of Kumarakom than Alappuzha, so it is less 'houseboat central' and probably a better experience.

We stayed at Paradise Resort in Kumarakom in November & they had a superb new houseboat that we very much wished we had the time to go on.

I am currently researching our next trip which will include Madurai & my view would be that if I only had very limited time I would keep Madurai for another trip. What I would consider is to go from Periyar to Munnar, where there are tea plantations and great scenery & then fly to Mumbai from Cochin. But I could have got this wrong....so hope someone else has direct experience that will help you.

If you have never been to the backwaters before, and after a fairly packed itinerary before and after, you may just want to cut the mileage down by staying overnight in a resort on the lake or the backwaters.....it's just so peaceful and 1 night on a houseboat wouldn't be enough of the backwaters for me!

Whatever you decide, have a great trip.

Lord Average

Day 14: Houseboat from Cochin to Kottayam
Day 15: from Kottayam to Periyar by car
Day 16: Periyar and to Madurai by car
Day 17: Madurai and in the afternoon to Mumbai by plane

Can only really advise on this bit in saying that:

you can get a houseboat around Cochin area but dont think it will go to Kottayam.

there will be a LOT of travelling between Kottayam (or Cochin), to Periyar to Madurai. You have given yourself no time there, and all you will be doing is travelling and recovering from travelling before travelling again, and wont have the chance to see anything of Periyar and Madurai, both of which are fantastic places and deserve a couple of days minimum.

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camelgirl

You can do your plan because you are flying to a couple of places. But you really are cramming in alot! Everyone has a different idea of what a trip should be, some want to see "everything" some want to see less but learn more of each place.

Let me try to give you a western version of what you are attempting. I can only do this analogy for the USA, so if you've never traveled here, it won't help, but here goes anyway!

You arrive in New York City, one day in NY> drive to Washington, DC (about the same drive time as from Delhi to Agra), one day in DC> drive to Charlotte, North Carolina, one day (well that would be enough here but NOT in Jaipur!)> fly to Miami, Florida, no time there (!!) drive to Disneyworld, drive somewhere for a day >fly to Key West, Florida, one day there ETC, ETC.

I'm trying to point out that you are going to be in places that you need at least a couple of days to see anything. Also, nothing goes exactly as planned in India--that means lots of extra time that's not part of your itinerary-- and you haven't given yourselves anytime to relax. Even your backwater trip sounds rushed.

Your ID says you are from Belgium--in the 1960's Americans were so famous for trying to see all of Europe in 2 weeks that there was a saying "It's Tuesday so this must be Belgium".

Racing around India is done all the time by tourists but if you want to enjoy it, pick one or two areas and see what they have to offer. My husband and I spent a month in only Delhi & Rajasthan a year ago and still missed Udaipur (we are really slow!). And we are over 60 (like your parents) though we started traveling in India when we were 32 (which maybe makes our advise good for both generations ).

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