In Need Of Advice

HELLO,

IM NEW TO THIS FORUM AND HAVE NEVER VISITED INDIA BEFORE.
IVE GOT A ROUGH ITINERARY BUT ANY HELP OR ADVICE WOULD BE GREAT.

FLYING INTO DEHLI ON 19TH JAN
DHELI-JAPUIR
JAPUIR-AGRA
AGRA-VARANASI
VARANASI-CALCUTTA
FLYING OUT OF CALCUTTA ON 10TH FEB

IDEAS OF THE BEST THINGS TO SEE AND DO WOULD BE BE GREAT.

How many days do you want to spend at each place?
Are you interested in a side trip within Rajasthan?

ROUGHLY ABOUT 5 DAYS IN EACH PLACE.

YEH A SIDE TRIP WOULD BE GREAT.
IM OPEN TO ANY SUGGESTIONS YOU THINK WOULD IMPROVE THE EXPERIENCE. :-)

u don't need 5 days in agra and varanasi. Agra=1 day Varanasi=2 days ..maybe more if u feel like it. Once in rajasthan u could use yr. spare time to make a few side trips as Lily says...
If u do get to Kolkatta earlier and have a week to spare u could always take a visit to darjeeling. 4 days is what u need. Its cold there but i enjoyed it...but thats nearly 10 years ago.

ARE THERE ANY MUST DO'S WHILST IN THESE PLACES?

From Jaipur you can make tour to Ajmer and Pushkar.
I suggest you spend 3 Days in Bharatpur instead of Agra. From Bharatpur you can make a day return trip to Deeg. Start early morning from Bharatpur visist Fathepur Sikri and Tajmahal and Agra fort and catch train from Tundula to Varanasi.
2 nights in Varanasiand sarnath.catch train from Mugalsarai to Howrah(Calcutta). one can take train from Varanasi itself but Delhi-kalka- Calcutta mail is better choice from Mugalsarai or lot of good trains are there from Mugalsarai.
From Kolkata you can make trip to Vishnupur or Sunderban.If you like to visist Darjeeling then take train from Mugalsarai ( near to varanasi) for New Jalpaiguri (near to Darjeeling).After Darjeeling take train from New Jalpaiguri to Sealdah/Howrah( Calcutta).

WOULD YOU ADVISE I BOOK THE TRAIN BEFORE I GO OR WILL THERE BE PLENTY OF TIME FOR ME TO DO IT WHEN I GET THERE?
WHAT WILL THE AVAILABILITY BE LIKE?

After arriving in Delhi you can buy train ticket. Foriegn tourist have special counter with special quota.

Hi Rachel. I've just arrived back from 3 weeks in India and went to all the places you mentioned except Calcutta. Hated Agra - Taj wonderful but if I did it again I'd stay in Fatehpur Sikri or Bharatpur and bus in for the day. I loved Varanasi and could have stayed for a month but as Indiawise said, 2 days is enough to see the sights - which is basically the river. I also found 2 days in Jaipur enough. Other places I went were Pushkar (for camel festival), Ranthambore national park (I saw a tiger), Orchha (which was wonderful - probably my favourite place) and Khajuraho. It was a bit of a tight schedule but not too bad. If you want any more info just ask.