Help! I need Itinerary Advice.

karelle

We are travelling as a family, with older children for 2 weeks in December. We are flying in and out of New Delhi, and want to get a taste of both noth and south. There are alot of places we would like to see, as we want a little of everything (culture, wildlife, shopping, relaxation) and have a luxury budget.
Here are the places we would like to visit, any comments on this would be extremly helpful, as well as what order to see them in, and also which ones to cut out:
Fly into Delhi
Agra
Ranthambore
Udaipur
Cochin
Kerala
Goa
Varanasi
Mumbai
Jaipur
Fly Home from Delhi

machadinha

Well with 10 destinations in 14 days you'd be spending most of your time on airplanes or at an airport or getting to and from a hotel no matter what your budget is. How exactly did you envision this? See also a recent post of mine on the situation on the ground (just a general sketch really, others may well see it differently) here . I'd cut it down to a couple of places in a realistic area, especially when travelling with kids, or if money is no objection I'd look for a tour arrangement for the period, or hire a car and driver and do an easy tour of any one of those areas.

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freemanx

are you serious???

karelle

I dont plan to see all of those cities, but would like to see both the north and south. Which ones should i cut out?

beach

Agra (1 day)
Ranthambore (2 days)
Udaipur (2 days)
Cochin (2 days)
Kerala (4 days)
Goa (4 days)
Varanasi (2 day)
Mumbai (2 days)
Jaipur (2 days)
Delhi (2 days)

That's the required time frame like. Cut the destinations that you prioritise and put it here again. People would help to refine it

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karelle

Alright,
Heres what I've cut it down to... any comments on anything I'm missing please let me know! Also the best way to travel between these cities and how long that would take would be much appriciated
Delhi 3 nights
Agra 1 night
Udaipur 2 nights
Kerala 3 nights
Varanasi 2 nights
Jaipur 2 nights
Delhi 1 night

beach

Look like Agra (Taj) can be done on a day trip (by train) from Delhi as base. That's what most of the people do...

Also Kerala is a long strip of land. Plan for the right locations (Alleppy, Cochin, etc ). Trivandrum(south),Cochin (central) Calicut (north) cities of kerala has airport links. Almost all the other places are linked by railway.

hang on... someone would comment more on your plan...

Jorge Reverter

Hi Karelle,

As everybody says, is a nonsense race to travel through India from North to South in two weeks.

Try to fly to Mumbai and spend your holydays in South India. Is the best time to do it.

I would advice you to stay only in Kerala and Goa with an extension to Madurai.

The journey could be like that:

Mumbai (1)
Cochin (2)
Alleppey - Backwaters (2)
Munnar (2)
Thekkadi - Periyar park (2)
Madurai (2)
Goa (4)
Mumbai (1)

That means 15 days/nights. You can fly from Mumbai to Cochin and then by car/bus. From Madurai you can take a train to Goa and from Goa by train or airplane to Mumbai.


Jorge

karelle

Unfortunatly we have already booked our flights to Delhi, is it too hard even with taking internal flights. I would really like to see a little bit of culture and then relax for a few days in Kerala.

Jorge Reverter

You can also fly from Delhi to Kerala and/or Goa. India is quite a huge country and you'll find "art and culture" almost everywhere, it depends in which period you are more interested.

cyberhippie

I understand completely where your coming from Karelle, al the thoughts of doing it properly, making it a well rounded trip, this is the only time I might see India.......
Also being from Canada you've probably sat down with a map looked at your destinations and thought that doesn't look too far! A common mistake, I sometimes do it myself, still!
India is BIG and the slowness of the infrastructure makes it bigger still!
Even with two internal flights (which you would need to cover Kerala AND Varanasi) your itinery will almost definitely lead to you pulling you hair out in frustration at the sheer amount of time you spend sitting in trains, planes and buses!
It's almost a catch phrase of mine by now but travel in India is hard going, for young or old, trains are delayed, buses don't leave on time and the distances involved are huge!
Add to this the fact as a newbie you will almost certainly have other things impacting on your general state of mind and you come to the conclusion that tearing around Inda in an effort to see all she offers ultimately leads to disappointment and tiredness, which can quickly lead to dislike of India!!
Karelle take your pick North or South, trying to see both in a three week travel marathon is unwise and won't be any more fufilling than picking and area of India and ENJOYING it.
Judging by your posts I'm leaning towards Jorge's itinery, a bit of Hinduism, a bit of culture, wonderful sail through the backwaters, wildlife, countryside!!
If you want you could slightly rejig this itinery to include some beach time either at Varkala or Cochin! A nice way to top it off couple of days on the beach!!
The distances involved in Jorge's itinery are relatively short and won't leave you feeling like you've been dragged through a hedge backwards!!

Happy Traveling

ruins_explorer

You know, we were faced with the same dilemma - coming from far away with only three weeks. We decided to stay in one region, Delhi, Agra, and Rajasthan - and we will return on subsequent trips to see other parts of India. That way, each trip doesn't have to involve flying across India to see what you missed. We figure we'll investigate South India next time we visit, and maybe another trip for Bengal (we have friends from there).

Maybe someone here can suggest a place near Delhi for relaxing. I hear the hill stations are relaxing?

karelle

How is this possible when we are flying into delhi on the 23rd of December and plan to spend 3 nights there when we arrive. We fly out of Delhi on Jan 6

cyberhippie

A internal flight to Cochin will do the trick, you could of course stick with the Northern part of your itinery!

ruins_explorer

Judging from your last response to Jorge, it seems like you want someone to write up an itinerary for you. I just finished my own for December so maybe I can help. What I did for myself was go through a guidebook and a map and figure out where I wanted to visit, what I wanted to see there, and made a little calendar of how I could spend my days. Then I took it to a travel agency recommended on here and they verified that it was do-able and are going to take care of it for me. I don't think in two weeks you can do both North & South India, but about half the places you list are near to eachother in the north. You could hire a car & driver or take trains and busses to get around. I've been reading these forums for a while now and they've been a great help to me.

Delhi Dec 23, 24, 25,
Agra 26, 27
Ranthambore 28, 29
Jaipur 30, 31
Pushkar or Bundi on the way to Udaipur 1,2 (these are smaller cities that maybe would have the culture or relaxation you're looking for)
Udaipur (people say it's relaxing and beautiful) 3, 4, 5
fly or train?? back to Delhi from Udaipur on the 5th and leave on the 6th.
or you could fly back from Udaipur earlier, take a train to Varanasi and visit it for a few days before you come back to Delhi.

There are some nice luxury hotels in most of these places that you can look up in a Rough Guide or on Fodors.com. Or if you hire a travel agency to put this together, maybe they can take care of it.

The other thing that people can do if they have a lot of money is the Palace on Wheels. It was too expensive for us, but it's like a cruise ship on a train and they take you all around Rajasthan by day and at night, you sleep on the train.