hmm too much in too little time...

she_who_is_lost

hi there,
trying to plan my intinery but everything is blurring into a great big blurry thing so was pondering whether the wise indiamike's could offer advice and help
right, i fly into mumbai on the 26th june and fly out of delhi on 14th july - like i said all the times between various places and i also think i'm doing the usual newbie thing of trying to cram too much into too little time

so here goes

26th june - mumbai fly in 12.05 ish in theory there is a train for mumbai to ahmedabad and then when to udaipur putting me in udaipur at 0740 27th (if anyone can give me spcific details re that journey i would love them forever)
27/28 - udaipur bus to mount abu on 29th
29/30/1 - mount abu train to jodphur - tawi express no 9111 leaves 3.22pm
2/3 - jodphur intercity express no 2406 dep 5.45am to jaipur
4/5 - jaipur 2308 hawrah express to
6/7 - agra then a train to delhi and a train/bus to haridwar
8/9 - haridwar
10/11 - rishikesh
12/13 - delhi and fly away home

what do you think?? i'm thinking maybe drop jodphur to gain one or two days?
its so annoying i want to see so much but i don't want to and the detriment of other bits along the way!!
any help/advice/suggestions is gratefully recieved!

steven_ber

Others can comment on how difficult it may be to travel through Rajasthan at this time of the year.......

If you replace Jodhpur with Bikaner, the following route looks interesting.

Mumbai
Train 9707 departs Bandra (Mumbai) daily at 21:00 and gets to Abu Rd at 09:53 (2A, 3A, SL.)

Mt. Abu
bus to Udaipur.

Udaipur
Train 2966 departs Udaipur daily at 21:40 and gets to Jaipur at 07:15 (2A, 3A, SL)

Jaipur
Train 4737 departs Jaipur daily at 22:10 and gets to Bikaner at 06:55 (1A, 2A, SL.)

Bikaner
Train 4888A departs Bikaner daily at 16:40 and gets to Haridwar at 09:30 (3A, SL.)

Haridwar
bus to
Rishikesh

click here for Haridwar to Delhi train info.

Delhi

Then you can book into your hotel in Delhi, and maybe visit Agra on a day trip (getting about 10 hours in Agra) or got a train to Agra and stay for a night there, then a train back to Delhi, this will allow you to leave a lot of your stuff in Delhi.

The Shatabdi Expresses between Delhi and Agra only take just over 2 hours, and they use New Delhi station next to Paharganj, convenient for hotels.

__________________
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How to get helpful replies to your transport/Itinerary questions.



Train information.

Aishah

Given the temps in Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Bikaner area at this time of year (same time last year all in early 40'celsius-in other words b...hot!) I 'd be inclined to leave out Bikaner and stay more in the east of Rajasthan. After Udaipur how about Bundi - Pushkar then Jaipur? You could do this in your time frame and by buses.Jaipur - Delhi -Hardwar by train.

she_who_is_lost

thanks both for the advice its helped loads (esp the specifics with the transport steven_ber)
i'm intrigued why(or why not aishah) bikaner?
also, what is worth seeing in pushkar when the camel market isn't on?
thanks again has helped immensely

Aishah

You will be travelling a long way to come to a very ordinary city with a rundown palace-fort and not enough time to go to camel farm, animal/bird wildlife places, outside little villages and the Rat temple, all of which make up the features of Bikaner.
Also as i mentioned it could be too hot to enjoy any of these.
Mind you, I could be wrong!! There could be a freak early arrival of the monsoon who knows! East Rajasthan normally gets rain earlier because of the north east direction of the monsoon and Jaisalmer and Bikaner tend to get it coming from the Pakistan side which means more of a wait. The places i mentioned at the time you are travelling should be feeling more benefit from cooling rains and would be more comfortable. Bundi has an old castle, and is a quiet picturesque village, easy to wander about in - also stepwells which are interesting. There is a thread on Pushkar at the moment you could look at - in spite of all the negatives I still think it is a charming place to visit - both places suggested are entirely different from others you are visiting. This is the beauty of Rajasthan - you are seeing the unique character of each place unlike one you have seen before. The other reason is less travelling required and less tiring for you.

she_who_is_lost

bundi sounds good actually - the kinda thing i was looking for and less time travelling is always good - i'll look into it thanks for your help on this
she_who_is_lost