First time travellers advice needed

-Is it anymore difficult to book short distance trains compared to long distance? And if so how far in advance if travelling from somewhere in the north to Goa in late April?
-What are generally the best places to go in India for a couple of 18 year olds who want to find vibrant cultural things like festivals and parades?
-What national parks would you recommend?
-Were looking to do some relaxation stuff while were travelling e.g. learning to do some meditation and go and visit some temples, any recommendations?


Were going to start in New Delhi then work our way east, going from Jaipur to Agra then east then down to Goa for sure. My mate is in India for 3 months, im only there for 3 weeks so while were travelling together I want to get the most out of it. Any recommendations of fantastic culturally vibrant places to visit would be great, I know the whole continent as a whole is great and you lot will probably shout me down being that I’ve no experience of India but seriously, for first time travellers, give some of your experiences if you fancy.

Cheers!

Welcome to IndiaMike.

No, it's probably easier for short distances as trying to book a long distance means that the seat has got to be available for all the route and people dip in/out of trains doing only a section of the whole route the train does.
As far in advance as you can, in short, book now or soon if you can. Work out the best trains first using erail.in.

Vibrant? Varanasi
Cultural? too many to list but I enjoyed Jodhpur,

I loved Ranthambhore the most but Sariska is on your route and shouldn't be ignored. Chances of seeing a tiger there is slim but it's so much more laid back than Ranthambhore, which is quite laid back anyway. Keoladeo is also on your route but there won't be much water there I guess, having said that we went there March 30th last year and spent all day there.

I guess Rishikesh will be mentioned by others, I've not been though.
Temples/Forts/Monuments are in many places but for me Jodhpur's Mehrangarh Fort will take some beating.

Do loads of reading on here and you'll change your mind several times, but do book up the trains soon and if you want to go on safari at Ranthambhore you need to book that up soon too. Go for the gypsy jeeps, not the canters, the difference is vast between them.

So to clarify, book trains far in advance for long haul ones? Plus should we go first class AC1? Since were pretty paranoid about cleanliness.

Is it possible for us to just turn up at a train station on the day and get a train from say Delhi to Jaipur because its short distance? If we do this will we be stuck in Sleeper class?

Cheers.

Unles you're the sort that couldn't possibly decide how long to stay in a town until you've been there - and therefore couldn't work to a fixed itinerary - I would book up as soon as you can...for any trip.

I've only ever done 1AC, 2AC and 3AC. They all seemed clean to me. 1AC is good if there's 2 or 4 of you and you can get a cabin to yourself, but that's pot luck.

I've never done that so I don't know but judging by the speed trains get booked up and the length of some wait lists, I guess turning up on the day is likely to see you be disappointed. There is a tourist quota but I don't think there's many seats on this.

Best thing to do is check out the availability on erail.in for tomorrow or the day after and see what the wait lists are like. Then have a look for a month's time or so on and see the difference. Then judge for yourself whether booking up really early is required.

Do bear in mind that you can always cancel a booking and you only make a small loss (I think).
You can book now for three months in advance which takes you beyond mid-May.

If anyone else fancies contributing to this thread, would be sick! Were off on March 30th and need as many ideas for cool places as possible. First 2 weeks in the North then last week for me in Goa / Hyderabad. So any suggestions for places up North or middle would be sick!

Cheers

I'm guessing you've done some research yourselves and probably have come up with a couple of places that stand out. I suggest you focus on those places/states/areas and post other questions in the appropriate forum.

Also I think that the majority of IMers won't understand surf/snowboard/ghetto speak so less of the sick and more of the cool.

Anyway my suggestions are Jodhpur, Ranthambhore, Delhi, Agra, Khajuraho, Ranakpur, Udaipur. For Goa I liked Tiracol Fort and Palolem the most.

Whats wrong with 2nd class sleeper ? You get more kilometers for your rupee and it's more interesting .The only problem I have had on an Indian train has been in the A/C class and that has been from people who thought they were better then they actually were .As for booking trains in advance if you turn up at a station /booking office a couple of days before you want to travel it is highly likely you will get a ride on the train you want .If that blows out there is always buses which go everywhere all of the time ,not to mention hiring a car plus driver , usually works out not to expensive but gets you to where you want to be quickly !! As for places to visit the only one I can add is the Golden Temple at Amritsar ,Awesome ...Enjoy



PS If a bit of dirt upsets you to much ,you are going to the wrong country

What on earth does this mean?

(and I agree with freenote about trains)

See what I mean.

@JuliaF it pretty much means cool, but here's Urban Dictionary's definition: Now used as the newest word to replace cool. Something that you've never seen before

Thanks OT. This old fuddy-duddy had certainly never seen it before.

the things you learn on indiamike ...

First time visitor to India will be visiting Delhi Jodhpur Udaipur Jaipur Agra Varanasi and Kolkata in that order Hotel and restaurant recommendations/ suggestions for these places would be much appreciated