Itinerary Advice

It's closing in...

We're leaving for our first Indian experience (reason for the choice for the most touristy places) on the 6th November. However, we wanted to do it in the most natural way as possible (hence the self-organising masoquism) and also want to have of periods of complete relaxing time.

That said, I think we've finalised our itinerary, but it seems something is not right, especially in the end of our trip. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. So, so far we've got:

6th Friday
Flight London to Delhi
Depart: Fri 6 Nov 2009, 11:50
Arrive: Sat 7 Nov 2009, 01:25

7th Saturday
Pick up at airport to Anand Lok (Rishikesh)
1st day of trekking/relaxation package

8th Sunday
2nd day of trekking/relaxation package

9th Monday
Check out Anand Lok
Visit Rishikesh
Bus to Haridwar
Train Haridwar to Delhi
2018 +DEHRADUN SHTBDI *HARIDWAR JN 18:13 NEW DELHI 22:45
Check in (?)

10th Tuesday
Day in Delhi (guided tour - with who?)

11th Wednesday
Train Delhi to Agra
2002 BHOPAL SHTBDI NEW DELHI 06:15 AGRA CANTT 08:12 (inc breakfast)
UP State Tourism Development Corporation Luxury bus to visit Agra including Fatehpur Sikri (pick up and drop off at station)
Train Agra to Delhi
2001 +NDLS SHATABDI E *AGRA CANTT 20:30 NEW DELHI 22:30

12th Thursday
Morning in Delhi
Check out (?)
Train Delhi to Jaipur
2916 +ASHRAM EXPRESS DELHI 15:00 JAIPUR 20:25
Check in (?)

13th Friday
Check out (?)
Day in Jaipur
Train Jaipur to 23:30 train to Sawai Madhopur (Ranthambore National Park)
1768 +JP NAD FASTPASS JAIPUR 23:30 SAWAI MADHOPUR 02:25

14th Saturday
Check in (?)
Morning/afternoon safari

15th Sunday
Afternoon safari

16th Monday
Morning safari
Check out (?)
Train Sawai Madhopur (Ranthambore National Park) to Udaipur
2963 MEWAR EXPRESS SAWAI MADHOPUR 23:35 UDAIPUR 07:00

17th Tuesday
Check in (?)
Day in Udaipur

18th Wednesday
Morning in Udaipur
Check out(?)
Flight Udaipur to Mumbai
KINGFISHER IT-3158 14:25 UDAIPUR (UDR) 15:35 MUMBAI (BOM) Train Mumbai to Aurangabad
7057 +DEVAGIRI EXP MUMBAI CST 21:05 AURANGABAD 04:00

19th Thursday
Visit Ellora Caves
Train Aurangabad to Mumbai
1402 +NANDIGRAM EXP *AURANGABAD 21:35 MUMBAI CST 05:40

20th Friday
Check in (?)
Day in Mumbai

21st Saturday
Check out (?)
Day in Mumbai

22nd Sunday
Flight Mumbai to London
Depart: Sun 22 Nov 2009, 02:45
Arrive: Sun 22 Nov 2009, 06:55

As you probably can tell our favourite way of travel is the train, but due to the difficulty in getting to Mumbai from Udaipur we decided to fly. With that we loose 1/2 day in Udaipur which was planned and end up needing to rush from the airport to the train station to get the sleeper train to Aurangabad. Would there be any easier and efficient way to arrange those last days of the itinerary in a way that we get some time in Mumbai and get to visit the Ellora caves?

Re: hotels, we've searched around but so far the only one we have decided upon is the Rishikesh one as it appears to offer exactly the peace we are looking for at the start of our trip. The National Park one is chosen too subject to availability but regarding the other places (Delhi, Jaipur, Udaipur and Mumbai) we haven't decided yet. We were thinking of staying in hotels/hostels close to the rail stations... anybody has any valuable suggestions?

Thanks a lot in advance for your help!!

Stay in Agra and go to Jaipur from there.

Don't like your Jaipur - Ranthambhore train, try the 19.40 departure instead, it gets to Sawai Madhoppur at 21.30, and what would you be doing in Jaipur from 19:40 till 23:30? better to have a decent sleep in Ranthambhore.

Telephone Kingfisher and find out if they plan a Udaipur-Aurangabad flight this winter, they had one last winter.

http://www.flykingfisher.com/index.aspx?locale=en

Otherwise, there's trains from Ahmedabad (5 hours by bus from Udaipur) to Bhusaval, they depart at 18:00 (arr 04:30) and 23:55 (arr 11:15).

But in General, you're Itinerary is far too packed, you have to choose a place to drop, there are simply too many places, some of those days look extremely exhausting, and could easily be ruined by a train being 3 hours late.

Thanks steven_ber for your tips!

Looking at it now I don't really know why I planned to get back to Delhi instead of going directly to Jaipur from Agra... I guess it's because I did not fancy much staying in Agra overnight or spending mor time there than necessary for the Taj and Fatehpur Sikh. After having a look I guess I could either stay in Agra overnight and get the 4863 +MARUDHAR EXPRES *AGRA FORT 06:15 JAIPUR 11:30 or get on my way to JAipur immediately on the
2307 +HWH==JU==EXP *AGRA FORT 19:45 JAIPUR 23:59.

You got a point with getting the train earlier from Jaipur to Ramthambore. The thing with arriving at 3am is that accommodation is fairly expensive there and we thought we could just get ourselves in a morning safari and relax in the afternoon. I guess that if we took the earlier train and stayed there we'd need to reduce the stay in the Park to 2 days. But again that might give us a bit of leeway for the last bit of the journey.

All the air Udaipur Aurangabad connections I found had a stopover in Mumbai which increased significantly time and cost of travel. I've just contacted Kingfisher and they're supposed to get back to me soon... a direct Udaipur-Aurangabad flight would just be heaven! Re: the bus+train alternative, how far is bushaval from the caves?

I know the schedulle looks a bit tight... we wanted to have a relaxing start and then have a mix of hectic days with more calm ones. However, the (lack of) connection from Udaipur to Mumbai and the absolute need to see the Ellora caves kind of made things more difficult. What would you suggest to ditch? We do have 2 days in Mumbai in which our plan is just to wander around to get a feeling of it... should we cut it to the night before day we're flying back and that day itself?

Reduced the stay in the NP and the direct journey from Agra to Jaipur saves us a day. I hope it looks a bit more reasonable now... what do you guys think?

I still don't know what to do about that bit in the end... Kingfisher haven't got back to me yet, but I don't think I stand much chance in getting a direct flight from Udaipur to Aurangabad. The option steve_ber gave of a bus to Ahmedabad and then train could probably work better as it takes about the same time, it'd be cheaper and we'd still get to travel by land (althoug going by bus is not my favourite option). But how far is Bhusaval? Oh, what should I do?!

6th Friday
Flight London to Delhi
Depart: Fri 6 Nov 2009, 11:50
Arrive: Sat 7 Nov 2009, 01:25

7th Saturday
Pick up at airport to Anand Lok (Rishikesh)
1st day of Trekking package (Anand Lok)

8th Sunday
2nd day of Trekking package (Anand Lok)

9th Monday
Check out Anand Lok
Visit Rishikesh + bus to Haridwar
Train Haridwar to Delhi
2018 +DEHRADUN SHTBDI *HARIDWAR JN 18:13 NEW DELHI 22:45

Check in Delhi – Possible hotels:
Ginger
Master Paying Guesthouse (INR3500/double)
Florence Inn (INR3500/double)
Cottage Yes Please

10th Tuesday
Day in Delhi

11th Wednesday
Train Delhi to Agra
2002 BHOPAL SHTBDI NEW DELHI 06:15 AGRA CANTT 08:12
UP State Tourism Development Corporation Luxury bus to visit Agra including Fatehpur Sikri (pick up and drop off at station)
Train Agra to Jaipur
2307 +HWH==JU==EXP *AGRA FORT 19:45 JAIPUR 23:59

Check in Jaipur – possible hotels:
Pearl Palace (950INR)
Umaid Bhawan (2400INR)
Jas Vilas

12th Thursday
Day in Jaipur

13th Friday
Check out
Day in Jaipur
Train Jaipur to Sawai Madhopur (Ranthambore National Park)
2968 +JP MADRAS EXPRE JAIPUR 19:40 SAWAI MADHOPUR 21:30
Check in NP – possible hotels:
Khem Villas
Tiger Safari Resort
Tiger Den Resort
Castle Jhoomar Baori
Nahargarh Fort

14th Saturday
Afternoon safari

15th Sunday
Morning safari
Check out
Train Sawai Madhopur (Ranthambore National Park) to Udaipur
2963 MEWAR EXPRESS SAWAI MADHOPUR 23:35 UDAIPUR 07:00

16th Monday
Check in Udaipur - possible hotels:
Jaiwana Haveli (2340INR)
Amet Haveli (4000INR)
Day in Udaipur

17th Tuesday
Day in Udaipur

18th Wednesday
Morning in Udaipur
Check out
Flight Udaipur to Mumbai
KINGFISHER IT-3158 14:25 UDAIPUR (UDR) 15:35 MUMBAI (BOM)
Train Mumbai to Aurangabad
7057 +DEVAGIRI EXP MUMBAI CST 21:05 AURANGABAD 04:00

19th Thursday
Visit Ellora Caves
Train Aurangabad to Mumbai
1402 +NANDIGRAM EXP *AURANGABAD 21:35 MUMBAI CST 05:40

20th Friday
Check in Mumbai
Day in Mumbai

21st Saturday
Check out
Day in Mumbai

22nd Sunday
Flight Mumbai to London
Depart: Sun 22 Nov 2009, 02:45
Arrive: Sun 22 Nov 2009, 06:55

Bhusawal bus station is just outside the train station, there are direct buses to Ajanta, I can't remember, but I think it's about 50-60kms to the caves.

Shadab,

As far as I know soliciting for business is not allowed on this site....Please do re-check the rules and abide to them.

ribhu

If you are getting all the way to Aurangabad, please do invest time to visit Ajanta and Ellora caves.....You can do it in one day...would be a bit packed. A day and a half would make it perfect.

It would be sad if you miss either of them after getting all the way to Aurangabad.

ribhu

Still haven't heard from kingfisher and will call them tomorrow... if there is no direct flight, your sugestion definately seems the most reasonable one. I've checked buses from Udaipur and there seems to be quite a few to Ahmedabad taking about 5 hours (quite a lot for me that am a train person)... but would a hired car be quicker (any idea of how much it'd cost?)? Or would it be possible to get by car/bus to a train station with a direct link to Aurangabad?

Thank you very much for your comment, ribhu. My problem is that I don't have that much time... and Ellora is in my imaginary. That said, if I as per steven_ber's suggestion I have to go to Bhusawal it'd be silly not to visit Ajanta and from then head to Ellora. Do you think it'd be feasible to see both in just one day and be back in time to get the sleeper train (21:35 or 23:35) to Mumbai? Don't they have restricted opening hours? What would be best way to do it? Hire a car? If that's not very feasible, I guess I'd probably need to loose a day in Mumbai...

EDIT: I've just realised that the 8402 train stops in Jalgon 1/2 before Bhusawal (8402 +OKHA PURI EXP *AHMEDABAD JN 18:00 JALGAON JN 04:03). Would it be wise to get off there and start my journey?

Again, what would be the best option to manage both Ellora and Ajanta in one day taking into consideration opening times etc and the last train to Mumbai being at 11pm? If unfeasible, I'd probably had to stay in Aurangabad for the night and see Ellora the next day...

After many a thread read, I've decided to take the 2 day option for both Ajanta and Ellora... I'll follow steven_ber's precious tips and get a morning bus from Udaipur to Ahmedabad and from then get the train to Jalgaon. There I'll probably get a taxi to take me to Ellora and after to Aurangabad... arriving there I'll go for a relaxing stroll around town and stay overnight (any suggestions?). Next morning I'll get a taxi/auto-rikshaw to take us to Ellora (passing by the Fort before) and bring us back in time for the sleeper train to Mumbai... either the 21:35 or the 23:25. This means Mumbai is pretty much going to be missed, but hopefully we'll still be able to get a feel of it...

Does this seem feasible? I'm now going to start booking trains and will post my final itinerary once I have more certainty about it... thanks a lot for your precious help, guys!

EDIT: Forgot to say that I did check with the Kingfisher help centre the existence of that udaipur-aurangabad flight connection but Kingfisher is not doing it anymore...

I'd also add that Haridwar is quite a special place and it's definitely worth having a look around it if you are there.

Thanks, Matthew... we're staying in Rishikesh and getting back through Haridwar in the evening, so planning to have a little look around. A change in our plans is that due to the concern of doing the Delhi-Rishikesh journey by car during the night we'll probably be getting the early train from Delhi to Haridwar.

This is how it looks now:

6th Friday
Flight London to Delhi
Flight: BA0143
From: Heathrow (London) Terminal 5
To: Delhi Terminal 2
Depart: Fri 6 Nov 2009, 11:50
Arrive: Sat 7 Nov 2009, 01:25

7th Saturday
Train Delhi to Haridwar
2017 +DEHRADUN SHTBDI NEW DELHI 06:50 HARIDWAR JN 11:25
(580 Available 1A INR825 or CC INR435)
Pick up and check in Anand Lok:
1st day of Trekking package (Anand Lok)

8th Sunday
2nd day of Trekking package (Anand Lok)

9th Monday
Check out Anand Lok
Visit Rishikesh
Bus to Haridwar
Train Haridwar to Delhi
2018 +DEHRADUN SHTBDI *HARIDWAR JN 18:13 NEW DELHI 22:45
(Available CC INR505)

Check in – Possible hotels:
Ginger
Master Paying Guesthouse (INR3500/double)
Florence Inn (INR3500/double)
Cottage Yes Please

10th Tuesday
Day in Delhi

11th Wednesday
Train Delhi to Agra
2002 BHOPAL SHTBDI NEW DELHI 06:15 AGRA CANTT 08:12 (inc breakfast)
(460 Available CC INR370)
UP State Tourism Development Corporation Luxury bus to visit Agra including Fatehpur Sikri (pick up and drop off at station) ?
Train Agra to Jaipur
2307 +HWH==JU==EXP *AGRA FORT 19:45 JAIPUR 23:59
RESERVED 2A consecutive seats INR 1033
Check in Baba Haveli (RESERVED - 1100INR/night)

12th Thursday
Day in Jaipur

13th Friday
Check out Baba Haveli
Train Jaipur to Sawai Madhopur (Ranthambore National Park)
2968 +JP MADRAS EXPRE JAIPUR 19:40 SAWAI MADHOPUR 21:30
(23 Available 2A INR356)
or
2980 JP BDTS SUP EXP JAIPUR 20:40 SAWAI MADHOPUR 22:35
(14 available 2A)
or
2968 +JP NAD FASTPASS JAIPUR 23:30 SAWAI MADHOPUR 02:25
(18 Available 2A INR326)
Check in – possible hotels:
Vatika Lodge
Tiger Den Resort (4800-5800INR)
Tiger Safari Resort (1200-1800INR)

14th Saturday
Morning safari
Check in Khem Villas (RESERVED - 16000INR/night)


15th Sunday
Morning safari
Check out Khem Villas
Train Sawai Madhopur (Ranthambore National Park) to Udaipur
2963 MEWAR EXPRESS SAWAI MADHOPUR 23:35 UDAIPUR 07:00
(RESERVED 2A consecutive seats INR 1397)

16th Monday
Check in Devra Udaipur (RESERVED 4500INR/night B&B inc tax +350INR pickup)
Day in Udaipur

17th Tuesday
Day in Udaipur

18th Wednesday
Check out Devra
Bus Udaipur to Ahmedabab
Train Ahmedabab to Jalgaon
8402+OKHA PURI EXP *AHMEDABAD JN 18:00 JALGAON JN 04:03
RESERVED 3A consecutive seats INR1271

19th Thursday
Taxi Jalgaon to Ajanta Caves (journey time +/- 1 hour 15 mins) and Ajanta Caves to Aurangabad INR 1700 + tips

20th Friday
Check in Aurangabad – possible hotels:
Devpriya hotel
MTDC (AC INR1100)
Shree Maya
Ajanta Executive
Nandanvan
Taxi Aurangabad to Ellora Caves (passing by Daulatabad Fort, Khuldabad, Bibi Ka Maqbara, Rauza - Aurangzeb's tomb, Grishneswara Temple, Pan Chakki and city markets)
Train Aurangabad to Mumbai
1402 +NANDIGRAM EXP *AURANGABAD 21:35 MUMBAI CST 05:40
(RESERVED 2A non-consecutive seats IN1289)

21st Saturday
Afternoon in Mumbai

22nd Sunday
Flight Mumbai to London
From: Mumbai (Bombay) Terminal 2
To: Heathrow (London) Terminal 5
Depart: Sun 22 Nov 2009, 02:45
Arrive: Sun 22 Nov 2009, 06:55

Honestly, I am trying to figure in what state you will be on 7th and what trekking you will be able to do ?

After an overnight international flight, pre-time, post-time and a train all the way to haridwar.

I dont think you will be able to do anything on that day other than take rest.

ribhu

Lol I didn't notice that. Yeah that is pretty tight isn't it...I hope you manage some sleep on the plane, because you will only get an hour or two before getting up for the train in the morning.

Maybe you will get some sleep on the train...or otherwise you will need some REALLY good coffee!

Oh yes, trekking is just the fancy name the guys gave to the package... those first days are basically rest days.

Anyway, that is not defined yet, so I guess I could stay over Delhi for the night and get the late morning train to haridwar. But knowing that we arrive at 8pm by UK time (i.e. we are just not ready to bed) wouldn't it be the same if I just got into a sleeper train?