help! itinerary too full?!

sandrinella

hello, please don't laugh at us, but we have only 2 weeks to spend, flying into mumbai and flying out of delhi. mid to end of november...
now, we were planning to go to the following cities:
mumbai, varanasi, darjeeling OR shimla, agra, delhi

Is this possible at all? Or are we trying to fit in too much?
Can you please also give advise if darjeeling or shimla is a must see? Or are they just to different to be compared?

Is there a way to get from Varanasi to Bagdogra by train/bus?(i have looked for flights already, but they don't seem to exist)

Any advise appreciated and sorry in advance if these questions sound stupid...
thanks a million!

capt_mahajan

Would suggest knock off darjeeling this time. The furthest east you would go then would be Varanasi. Will save you travelling time. 2 weeks is hectic enough as it is.

Darjeeling and Shimla are a bit different. Muse see, not for me.. I personally prefer smaller less habitated hill areas.

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Khak

Shimla is near Delhi whereas Darjiling is not near to any of your other destinations. Hence it may be logical to visit Shimla if you are in a tight schedule.

Bagdogra is the name of airport for Siliguri which is the gateway to Darjiling. The railway station for Siliguri is New Jalpaiguri (NJP). Look for trains from Varanasi (BSB) or Mugahlsarai (MGS) to New Jalpaiguri(NJP). Mughalsarai is a very large junction 25 KM from Varanasi and you will have much greater choice of trains than from Varanasi.

http://www.indianrail.gov.in/

sandrinella

thanks capt, we have been thinking the same, but we really wanted to go to Darjeeling. More then to Shimla, which is of course closer to Delhi...

You mention smaller, less habitatet hill areas. Would you mind giving a suggestion for the area around Shimla (or a hill area close to Delhi)?

thanks koustav too
I have been looking at the trains and there seems to be an OT from Mughalsarai to New Jalpaiguri, but I cannot seem to get pricing... Which class would you recommend for 2 girls travelling by themselves?

capt_mahajan

You could try Uttaranchal... Ranikhet is one such place, it is as easily accessible as Nainital or Simla, and quieter. Browse the Uttaranchal forum here for Ranikhet, Kausani, Almora, Binsar.. all of which you could spend a couple of days in.
A train takes you within a three/four hour drive from some such places, or even less.

In Himachal, the quieter areas are further than Simla, and need more time.

Khak

what is OT ??

i would suggest you go by 2A or 3A .........

you should get pricing .......... from home page of indian railways choose 'trains between important station'...... after you get your requried trains press 'get fare' in the bottom of screen

sandrinella

After some more research, we have come up with the following schedule


- Fly into Mumbai November 16th, stay till 18th (we have been to Mumbai before, so this should do the trick for us)

- Fly to Varanasi on the 18th (how many days would you recommend in Varanasi?)

- Take the Overnight train to Agra (is there anything else on this route that is worth stopping at or something a little detour away?

- Maybe stay 1 night in Agra, because if we don't have a place to stay in Delhi yet and we have to take the late train to Delhi, we might get the worst hotel room left (happened to us before in Mumbai)

- Try not to stay in Delhi and to get to Uttaranchal on the same day we get back there from Agra

- stay in Uttaranchal for the reminder of our stay and spend the last 2 days in Delhi

How does the itinerary sound to you now?
Too much in too little time?
What would be a good travel route in Uttaranchal, coming from Delhi, having about 5 to 7 days to spend there?
What would be the weather like in Uttaranchal at the end of November?

Thanks again for all your help in advance!
You guys rule!

machadinha

I'd try and stay 2 days/2 nights in Varanasi at least (preferably much longer, but you don't have the time), take the overnight that second day. By my reckoning, this would leave you with a short week for the Uttaranchal + Delhi bit, after Agra. Should be doable I guess. Can't comment on Uttaranchal as I haven't been there. I'd bring a sweater and sleeping bag for the hills that time of year, just to be sure. As many advise here, thermal underwear is light and will keep you warm, as will clothes you can wear in layers. See also this thread http://www.indiamike.com/india/healt...e-chart-t4062/ for some general charts. According to one of them, Nainital for instance would be 6-16 C at that time. Even Varanasi can get cool at night, at 13 C on average (and those alleys in the old town can be slow to warm up by day).

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capt_mahajan

The Ranikhet express leaves Delhi (Rohilla and then Old Delhi stations) around 9 and reaches Haldwani about 5.30 next morning. From there you can get a shared jeep or hire a car into Uttaranchal. Browse the forum here, you will get a lot of information.

Nights will be cold. If staying in budget accomodation, try to get one with a woodstove, and buy wood (usually home delivery!) as required.

Dilliwala

Since u don't want to stay in Delhi after leaving Agra, it's a waste of time and money coming here. U can head to Haridwar direct on trains 4317 (twice a week) or 8477 (daily) and then hire a car to take u around, or bus it. If u want to go to Mussoorie, train 4317 continues to Dehradun.
Or u can go to Bareilly or Moradabad and change for trains to Haldwani. Then again, Delhi is just as good a change-over point in this case.
Go to indianrail.gov.in and play around with the destinations a bit. Click the link 'Train/Fare Accomodation' at the top centre of the page. For Agra u'll have to try all 3 stations as origin - AGA, AGC and AF.

U were however keen to go to Darjeeling. This is still easily doable if u have the time and money - u just have to fly round-trip from Delhi to Bagdogra, from where u'll get a taxi or bus to Darjeeling. Or if u are so inclined, u can take a train from Varanasi to Kolkata direct, and then fly Indian or Jet to Bagdogra. On return u fly direct to Delhi.

machadinha

I suppose Darjeeling could be done, but it would turn what looks just about doable in 2 weeks into a mad scramble I think. So many different views, right

In any case, remember Indian domestic tourists with their busy working weeks seem to manage to dash around the country if they get the chance in a way that most of us mere pale-faceds would find hard to copy.

ps On temperatures, note that those lows can be a lot colder than you might imagine in the comfort of your home, with central heating and your woollies at the ready and whatnot. Many cafes and even guesthouses and so on simply won't be heated or poorly so if you're lucky, so you'll find the cold much more pervasive, or that was my experience. It can be hard to warm up.

steven_ber

The direct trains you'd need from Varanasi to (access point to) Uttaranchal only run on certain days each week, these trains would allow you to avoid the trip via Agra (visit on return to Delhi) and save you a fair bit of time.

However, not knowing how many days you'll be in Varanasi, or where you're heading to in Uttaranchal, it's difficult to suggest a train.

Train 2317 departs Varanasi (Wednesdays and Sundays) at 20:40 and gets to Moradabad at 07:25 and Najibabad Jn at 09:03 (2A, 3A, SL.)

Moradabad is 75kms from Ramnagar, Najibabad is 22kms from Kotdwar and a further 25-30kms from Lansdowne.

Train 4523 departs Varanasi (Mondays and Thursdays) at 15:30 and gets to Najibabad Jn at 04:40, Roorkee at 05:46, and Ambala at 08:15 (3A, SL.)

Roorkee is 31kms from Haridwar and a further 22kms from Rishikesh.

Ambala is about 50kms from Chandigarh and about 100kms from Kalka (for the toy train to Shimla), there are plenty of trains from Ambala to Kalka.

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Train information.

York_Katni

now it depends on what train you need to get back to guwahati. Avoid the amarnath express and lohit express although it appears to be an attractive option as a through option. They run late as they are single rake trains and even a small delay gets amplified by hours.

machadinha

? Guwahati is nowhere in this itinerary. What are you talking about?

York_Katni

badgodgra or NJP

I was cautioning about the perils of taking the above twins especially Amarnath who are known late runners. Even NFR does not know sometimes where they are

NFR is the rail zone the northern frontier railway