first trip to india with no plan

bonster

hi folks, would love some advice, we're first time visitors to india, we've six weeks, arriving in delhi , leaving from bangalore.sorry about this but we're flying next week and we cant seem to agree on a route te. i was thinking delhi, agra, jaipur, pushkar, jaislamer, mt abu, and hopefully varanasi, and for the last three weeks we'd head for the south via mumbai. vague i know, do ye think we'll be alright making it up as we go along, ( we're last miniute types and each time we pick up the guide book i want to add another place to the list ). have hardly considered which spots to head for in the south yet . sorry, i am reading the other posts btw. thanks...

Mickey S

To visit those places the most logical route (taking into account geographical location and railway routes) would be:

Delhi
Varanasi
Agra
Jaipur
Pushkar
Jodhpur
Jaisalmer
Mt. Abu
Mumbai

then head south.

Jaisalmer is quite a detour on this itinerary, but worth it.

EDIT: Just re-read your post. You're leaving next week? So you haven't booked any trains yet? You might have to travel by bus rather more than you'd like.

bonster

thanks mickey, is there anywhere we could consider leaving for another time, in your opinion - ? it's a toss up between varanasi and jaisalmer , for me.

karuna

Oh man, that's deciding between two gems!

Varanasi is the bigger detour and without rail tickets.....yeah, cut Varanasi I think.

vinayverma

wish I could do this!..

any help we are here but you are on right track.

what you want baby???

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machadinha

Wouldn't you say the other way around rather? Oh... heck. Flip a coin.

A consideration might be that neither Delhi nor Varanasi may be very easy as an introduction. I'd look for somewhere quieter after Delhi (i.e., not Jaipur or someplace either). Pushkar could fit that bill, but would mess up Mickey's otherwise logical route though. I mean after Delhi-Varanasi-Agra-Jaipur as a first introduction I might well be looking for the first flight home, whereas it might be quite enjoyable once you've eased into it a little.

In any case and as OP will realize, s/he's left it a little late. It's over Christmas too I realize now, a public holiday, doesn't really improve transport options esp. on the major routes.

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mapleleaf

I just returned from my first trip to India--flew into Delhi, then went to Varanasi, Agra, Jaipur, Mumbai, Goa, Kerala and Chennai.

As a first timer, I have some comments.

First, there is a world of difference between northern and southern India. We decided that someone who traveled only in the south would not really 'know' India (as much as you can know a place in a short time.)Second, I was with 19 other people and we all thought that Varanasi was the highlight of the trip. We did the 'touristy' thing, ie. the boat ride on the Ganges before dawn. We felt the experience kind of 'summed up' the country in terms of the spiritual, the crowds, the poverty (as compared to us, which is always a mistake) and the sensory overload.

Please include Varanasi on your itinerary--I don't think you should miss it.

Darmabum

Two gems Indeed! Continuing with that gem-metaphor . . . Varanasi, for me, is multi-faceted, much more so than Jaiselmer; one of it's first names was Kashi (The City of Light); it has existed as a town for over 3000 years, there is no place in the world like it. In my almost three years of travel in India, I have spent a third of that time in Varanasi. It is, for me, the Essence of India.

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Shaktipalooza

I guess so much as you might not get to experience all the common cliché s offered up in the North. However the South is much more than a little of Kerala, Goa, Chennai, so you really didn't get to know that area either. The subcontinent has far too many facets to categorize just one aspect as 'The Real India'.
Varanasi is a fascinating place and on my short list of favorites too. However I do have more than a few Indian friends who absolutely can't stand the place. One in particular was essentially mugged by the funeral pyre attendants at the Ghat's, demanding more and more money as the cremation took place. What yah gonna do? Not pay up? Have the guys walk away with grandma's half cremated remains sitting on the river bank? Talk about a difficult situation.

Sometimes foreigners (myself included), not knowing the language, customs, nuances of a culture, will accept some of these 'spiritual' practices with warm fuzzy nostalgia while the people actually participating see it as a burdensome task.

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Mickey S

Probably true (I have yet to visit Varanasi), but the same can be said of many, many places. Paris, The Grand Canyon, Ankor Wat, Iguazu Falls, New York City... Varanasi is not unique in having "no place in the world like it".

Brisso

Lot of people have this starry-eyed guide book impression of Varanasi - to balance a bit - it is also hot, dusty, very dirty, a traffic nightmare, full of all kinds of faeces, suffers extended daily powercuts at the height of summer and at other times and has a significant hassle-factor.

My two bobs worth ...

karuna

Jaisalmer is also hot, dusty, pretty dirty, and has powercuts, but it's short on sh**, the traffic's OK and the hassle factor is less.

But. It ain't on Ma Ganga.

What you do is, you go once and see Jaisalmer, and then you come home exhausted and glad to be out of there, and within two months of being back, sick of the dreams of fresh lime soda and dusty pink sunsets, you book your next flight back and see Varanasi.


Edit: I kind of wonder what I used to think about before I went to India.