Holing up for Xmas and New Year's Day?

fisher

We were planning on being in Khajuraho around Xmas and Adjanta around New Year's, but concern has arisen about the crowds. One strategy for tourist-infested sites is adjusting visiting time-of-day. For example, while mornings are not gina's or my strong point, we will be at the Taj's door at 6AM to try for an hour or two before the bus loads of school children, etc., arrive.

But minor adjustments in timing have their limit. Is Khajuraho beseiged at Xmas? And one Web site said that Ajanta on weekends and holidays made rush hour in Kolkata look like a picnic.

An alternative would be a more holistic approach: In planning an itenerary, just hole up somewhere from Dec22-Jan2. In our 60 days, we would like to spend maybe a week or ten days in Delhi --eating, drinking, a movie, a classical music concert, museums, forts, etc. We were putting this at the last.

How would it be to move Delhi to the beginning of the trip, and spend Xmas to New Year there? Surely Delhi's population buffers it from seasonal crowding. Or does it? Are our concerns even warranted?

Any other holing up site?

As always, thanks.

And maybe a Delhi bar wouldn't be a bad choice for New Year's Eve?

I guess this question can be generalized to this: Are there any tips for reasonably planning an itenerary so as to avoid crowds? (I realize that "India" and "avoiding crowds" might well be mutually exclusive.)

A two-month trip does free us from the necessity of seeing Agra on Friday, Jaipur on Saturday, and Udaipur on Sunday, etc. Still, it does seem extreme to do a 90-degree turn from the well-worn tourist trail every Friday evening, and then on Monday reclaim our places in the dusty march onward.

One thing I forgot to say is I realilze that for us Westerers here, it is all one big holiday. That is, once we have decided on the dates of our trip, the quantity of fellow Westerners we encounter is pretty much set, regardless of it being a weekend or national holiday. I am talking more about Indian tourists and their many, many children, especailly during those periods when said children are freed from their scholarly duties by a holiday.

midlifetravel

6am may well be peak time for the Taj- sunrise and all that - it was pretty busy when I got there at that outrageous time of the morning AND the sun didn't rise ROTFL! Delhi or other similar big city might be a good option during the holiday season - or lo0k at going up to Shimla - too cold for the locals, Iwas there in Jan at it was very unbusy - nice spot though - take a jumper and a warm sleeping bag though!

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