First timer- Rajasthan and Goa

Hello to all at India Mike!

My partner and I are planning a 3 week trip to India in January/Feb - our annual leave year ends at the end of January so we're planning to combine one week of this year's allocation to 2 of next years. So 3 weeks in total.

Now this will be our first time in India, and we have found flights with either Air France or Finnair which are a decent price when flying from Scotland or there abouts (as we are based near Glasgoow).

So.. the plan is 3 weeks from around the 26 Jan until 16 Feb, give or take a day or 2 either way.

We can fly into Delhi, & out of Mumbai (or vice versa) for the same price as flying in out of the same airport and want to spend around 10 days in the Goa area just chilling - preferably at the end of the 3 weeks, hence thinking of flying out of Mumbai.

I'd love to see the Taj and Jodhpur.

I've set a very very rough itinery... and would appreicate your initial thoughts - if you think its far too much, or un-do-ble, or not a good itiniery for our first time in India, I'd appreciate your thoughts.

25 Jan - Travel Day to Delhi
26 - Arrive v early morning - rest of day, in Delhi
27 - Agra day trip
28 Delhi and night train to Jodhpur
29 Jodhpur
30 Jodhpur
31 Jodhpur
1 Feb Jodhpur (afternoon or night time train to Jaipur)
2 Jaipur
3 Jaipur
4 Jaipur to Goa area (by air)
5 Goa
6 Goa
7 Goa
8 Goa
9 Goa
10 Goa
11 Goa
12 Goa
13 Goa
14 Goa (Night train to Mumbai)
15 Mumbai
16 Travel home.

Also we have at the very most £500 (preferaBly £400!) spend per person when there and that includes our internal flights as well as accomodation, food, sightseeing. .. we're planing on beach hut type accomodation in Goa... so we're not looking for luxury anywhere we go by any means, but would prefer since travelling as a couple, a little bit of privacy when choosing accomodation.. but dont want to be countiong every penny... I assume that price range is do-able?

I'm a veggie so looking forward to a wider choice of menu than I'm used to at home when eating out!!

Thanks all in anticiaption that you'll reply.

If you;re thinking "Noooo! You should spend time here instead", I'd appreciate those type of comments too... pretty open to suggestions!

K_shel

Why are you so interested in Jodhpur, wanting to spend so many days there? Why not include Udaipur and Jaisalmer (imo much more interesting than Jodhpur), although, since you plan only around 7 days in Rajasthan, go to Jaipur from Agra via Fathepur Sikri, from Jaipur to Jodhpur, then to the Shekawati region, back to Jaipur and fly to Goa. You will still be kind of rushing doing this in 7 days only. Actually, I'd spend more time to explore Rajasthan (even 3 weeks isn't that much) and leave Goa for the next time, but if it's mainly chilling out on a beach you're looking for...
Have a nice trip.

Enjoy!

So lets say you have Rs 82000 (1000 pounds) for 23 days.
Take off Rs 15000 for airfare from Jaipur to Goa and that's Rs 67,000.
Or Rs 2900 for food, accommodation, admissions and trains for 2 people, which isreasonable for budget traveling.

One suggestion on the itinerary - don't double back to Delhi after Agra, go to Jodhpur from Agra. There's lots to see in Rajasthan and you might find that 3-1/2 days in Jodhpur is a bit long. Maybe take 1-1/2 of those for somewhere else?

Trains: www.erail.in
Flights: www.ixigo.com

If chilling out is what you want, then Goa I am sure will be great, but there are other places for chilling out too. I personally would cut your stay in Goa down to about 5 or 6 nights, cut Jodphur down to 2 nights and include Udaipur (a great place to chill out and eat in romantic restaurants) and Jaisalmer. Jaisalmer is wonderful and has a laid back desert vibe. Not too crowded and you can do camel safaris that take you out into the desert. Keep in mind though that this is the peak season in Jaisalmer, so book ahead. I stayed at a great chilled out place. It was the most relaxing 3 days of my trip to India.
I also agree with Hal, dont double back to Delhi, get an afternoon train to Jodphur.

I don't think you need to include any more places than you've already budgeted... you have a nice and relaxed trip planned and there's no need to rush around Rajasthan -- you can always come back!

But please take one or two of those Jodhpur days (it's a small town and not all that much to do there) and try to get to Ranakpur abnd Kumbalgargh, as they are really spectacular.

I agree with hal2004, that you should think about going direct from Agra to Jodhpur instead of doubling back to Delhi.

I agree with WWUSA - if your budget could fit in a day trip by car to Ranakpur and Kumbalgarh, or even stay one night in Ranakpur or Kumbalgarh, then back to your original itinerary after that, then much more interesting for you. I also think not rushing from one place to another is the way to go - you can absorb much in a first trip to India by staying longer in places,which you are doing.

Hello all, thanks for taking the time to reply.

I hadn't thought about going straight from Agra to Jodhpur - thanks for suggesting that - that could potentially give me an extra day as it is!

Only thing is our backpacks - I guess we could find somewhere to store it or else hire a guide for the day meaning not so much humphing of stuff?

Can anyone guide me to a timetable of the Agra to Jodhpur train... I have been on http://www.indianrail.gov.in/ but I'm still getting the hang of it and it leaves me a little confused!!!

I used that link hal2004 - thanks - looks easier to navigate than indianrail but it said no matching trains found for Agra to Jodhpur?

I'm not sure why I want to see Jodhpur - it just looks so pretty and its drawn me in but quite happy to reduce my time there for other suggestions..

I had originally thought of Jaisalmer too but my friend suggested that that would be too much travelling within that time frame of the first 10 or so days(when she knew I wanted about 10 days in Goa) and I would just knacker and stress myself out...

So i dropped in down... I also chose Jaipur partly because she had suggested flying to save time... but I'm open to getting a train to Goa but again it was about time and stress levels!

Now Udaipur is about 250km from Jodhpur, I'm not sure how long that would take by train..? What about Ranakpur or Kumbalgarh? They're not too far from Jodhpur?

Can you explain re backpacks - are you going to be in one place only for the day? I can't quite work out this bit - you can store luggage at the railway station usually - are you talking about Jodhpur - I thought you were staying a couple of nights there.

well people are saying to go straight from Agra to Jodhpur and not to backtrack to Delhi, so we'll have our luggage as we were planning to do Agra as a day trip..

We did Agra as day trip. We trained in from Varanasi and trained out to Jaipur. There is a place you can leave your luggage at the station. It only takes about 5 minutes to check your stuff in. Very easy.
From Jaipur we went to Udaipur by train and then we got a car from Udaipur to Jophur via Ranakpur. That was a very nice journey, took about 6 hours with the lunch stop and Ranakpur stop. The countryside on the way is spectacular.

Yes Jodhpur is very pretty and the fort is spectacular, we too had three nights booked there, but by the 3rd night we wished we had moved on.

Oh...and there is no train between Udaipur and Jodhpur.

RobbieJ

Is there any chance you can remember how much your car trip from Udaipur to Jodhpur cost?

Thanks

Abipops

Thanks guys for thr useful info so far.

I'm still very confused by the traintimetable but looking at other posts here - like the train info thread I think I may be starting to get the hang of it..

Using this http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/Tag0708/ am i right in thinking that a no 23 will eventually get me from Agra to Joshpur!? Or I could get a 79? But I'd need to change at Jaipur and wait to get a train the next day to Jodhpur?

My brain hurts!!!!

Try erail.in.
It presents the information in a much more usable manner.

It is easier to use http://erail.in/
Select Agra and Jodhpur in the boxes from to and you find 4 direct trains.
Good luck.

crosposted