Itinerary for Uttar and Madhya Pradesh

Hi everyone,

Still planning my next trip for mid-end September and am now looking at the possiblity of UP and MP. I want to visit;

Delhi - Flying in to
Lucknow
Varanasi
Khajurao
Orchha
Gwailor
Omkareshwar
Mandu
Maheshwar
Kota
Delhi - Flying out of

I have 15 nights so really want to limit this to max 5/6 places. Can people help point me in the direction of what's a must see, what can be dropped, as well as what makes most sense from a travel perspective as I'd like to make this a 'loop' starting and ending in Delhi.

In terms of what I'm looking for, my favourite places in India (so far!) are Delhi, Hampi, Pushkar as well as the beaches of Kerala such as Varkala and Mararikulam. So I guess nice history, a slightly traveller vibe and decent places to eat, drink and chill out are important!

Any help greatfully received and paid back in good wishes.

NB

Given your interests and what you've liked in the past, I'd vote for the following as must:

Khajuraho (well worth an entire day or more) - see all the temple groups.
Orchha - nice but sometimes I feel it's a bit overrated (1 day to two days depending on how relaxed you would like to be on your travels)
Omkareshwar - Maheshwar - Mandu - should be two days minimum using a car and driver. OR if you're using public transport will take longer (we used a car though to get around these parts).

nice to visit - Gwalior - I loved the fort. Some dont like it as much but i read the history before i went to visit the fort. Gurjari mahal was missable. Scindia palace was Okayish (it was crowded else some rooms would be nice to visit especially the durbar hall - the personal pen and sunglasses collection of madhavrao scindia would be very missable).

Skip Lucknow given the time you have. Else, that's worthwhile too (especially if you read up on the first war of independence and visit the residency accordingly)

Hmm it's a very similar them to Varanasi but Chitrakoot instead of Lucknow Gwalior or Ohmkareshwar.

Mandu in September will be awesome lucky you.
The lakside palace at Maheshwar is just lovely and near the entrance there was a little place doing real coffee and scones with butter and Jam (yes really)

Eat well in Khajuraho, the other places are not well endowed with great eateries..

Thanks both some great advice there.

Can anyone help with a route? The plan is to fit in some train journey's where possible. Happy to get a car A-B but don't like car and driver tours.

Also, Klompen - What's Chitrakoot like?

Thanks,

NB

Very small and very laid back, with Bathing Ghats the main hub of the town lots of religious sites to do with Lord Rama and Sita in the area to visit.

I went on the local pilgrim bus with other pilgrims, it was great. Singing and clapping our way around the sites.

Then there is the hillside Hanuman temple which is certainly worth a look and a pleasant walk out of town.
The railhead Chitrakutdham Karwi is on the Varanasi - Khajurao line but the timings aren't great but you could also go via Mahoba which has more options for Khajurao anyway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitrak...eft_Chitrakuta


some photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9858331...7606941159960/

My list is getting bigger not smaller! This isn't helping!

NB

Well Gwalior is a hour and a half in the wrong direction from Orchha if that helps LOL

If you're doing chitrakut nomadicboo, then strongly recommend kalinjar. Bijapuri had a great trip report on this forum and amazing images.

In khajuraho, Raja's cafe appeals to westerners (though we hogged at the tiny khandelwal (or was it agarwal) bhojanalaya's thalis and alu parathas).

You could hire a car ex-Khajuraho for a 2 day and a night trip to Chitrakut / Kalinjar.
hire a car ex-Indore for the mandu-maheshwar-omkareswar trip - 3 days and 2 nights.
Train between Delhi and Jhansi for Orchha, then again Jhansi and Khajuraho for Khajuraho.
Train to Indore for the MP circuit.

Ok, I've been doing my research all day (I'm at work so getting paid for this is great! ). My two options that I can see are;

Delhi – 1 night then overnight Train 2562 departs New Delhi daily at 20:40 and gets to Varanasi Jn at 08:45 1 night

Varanasi – 3 nights then overnight train 21108 BSB - KURJ Link Express Departing at 18.05 and gets to Khajurao at 5.00am 1 night

Khajurao – 1 night then AC car to Orchha

Orchha – 2 nights and then....

Either;

Gwailor – 2 nights

Delhi – 2 nights and this leaves 2 nights spare to either add on to the above or go to Amritsar/Golden Temple or Haridwar/Rishikesh

Or;

Mandu – 1 night

Maheshwar – 2 nights

Kota – 1 night then overnight train 12964 Mewar Express departs Kota at 11.55 arrives Delhi 6.35am 1 night

Delhi – 1 night then fly home!

What’s best?

NB

See my post above. Also, this is one of the worst stretches of road anywhere in the country. If there's no truck blocking you from advancing, its because there's a pothole large enough to consume that truck.

Second vaibhav_arora's advice on the roads in this part of M.P. terrible it took us 6-7 hours to do a 100 or so KM from Khujaraho to Chitrakoot, potholes don't begin to describe it....More like islands of tarmac in the middlie of a gravel track LOL
We passed Uma Bharti twice on that trip she never did fix the roads liked she promised as chief minister (and held me up for two hours in Chitrakoot grr)


All your options look good to me, but I would probably spend two nights in Mandu and one in Maheshwar..Nicer environment especially in September when everything should still be green...
Any particular reason to go to Kota before Delhi it's quite a ways for one night. You can catch the train back to Delhi from Indore which doesn't have a lot to see but it DOES HAVE the excellent Guru Kripik restaurant yum yum yum yum...( I hope it's still there anyone??)As well as being closer to Mandu/Maheshwar of course.

Good points by Klompen. If you end up in Indore and have the stomach for chaat, get to Sarafa bazaar after sundown. It's a jewelery market by day and an eat street by night (true - I saw it on TV

Also, I hastily hit post quick reply in the last one. The only people who go to Kota are engineering entrance hopefuls in their teens. It's the most polluted city in Rajasthan as well.

If you go to Maheshwar, get to Omkareswar preferably from the side of Siddhvarkoot by boat and not from the road. A boatman will take you to the island of Omkareswar from the waterside and the first view of Omkareswar temple is worth the trouble (it's an experience you need to have to understand what I'm describing here).

Now I'm going to throw a monkeywrench into the works...if you liked Pushkar, I really think you can't miss Omkaheshwar...really! Really interesting little holy town,just buzzing with sadhus, temples, pilgrims. I liked it much better than Maheshwar, but it was very different. Maheshwar was small, beautiful, serene, and a bit boring. (Just my opinion ) Something is always going on in Omkaheshwar.

Mandu is also worth at least two days, such a GREAT place to ride a bike all over the place. I loved the palace there. Accomodation is a little tricky there, but you can always stay at the ashram-like rooms at the temple right behind "Relax Point", the restaurant near the bus stop and market. (DON'T stay at Maharaja about a km out of town towards the palace, I wrote about it in another thread!)

I had a hard time figuring out Mandu-Maheshwar-Omkaheshwar also, and with your fairly short time, this is one area that you need a taxi for, even though I did quite a bit by bus, but it is not straightforward. I went Indore, Dhar, Mandu by bus; taxi to Maheshwar, bus to Omkaheshwar, but I would probably do taxi to Omkaheshwar from Maheshwar. There is no direct bus, no matter what anyone says.

I would probably leave out Lucknow and (gasp!) Varanasi...Varanasi is great, but that part is really a lot of long travelling. I think better to to to MP, lots of short distances and you can really enjoy that area without rushing around.

BTW, Bundi is nice for a day, and is very near Kota.

Klompen, I wish I had gone to Chitrakoot!

Thank you both - some great advice there and thanks Vaibhav_Arora for the info on the road conditions. I'm just looking at distances so thanks for making me take that in to account!

Klompen no real reason to include Kota other than it breaks up Maheswar to Delhi. If I drop it it actually saves me two nights (one for Kota and one for the night train) so the current plan looks like this;

Delhi – 1 night then overnight Train 2562 departs New Delhi daily at 20:40 and gets to Varanasi Jn at 08:45 1 night

Varanasi – 3 nights then overnight train 21108 BSB - KURJ Link Express Departing at 18.05 and gets to Khajurao at 5.00am 1 night

Khajurao – 1 night then AC car to Orchha

Orchha – 2 nights

Mandu – 2 nights

Maheshwar – 1 night

Omkareshwar - 1 night

Indore or somewhere – 1 night – train to Delhi

Delhi – 1 night then fly home!

So, know need to figure out where to go between Omkareshwar and Delhi for 1 night (you say there's not much at Indore and it's a good 17 hours - is there any alternatives?

Also, whats the best way to go Khujarao-Orchha-Mandu-Maheshwar?

My original plan was to go north in to Himachal but thought this would be easier in September! Now I'm not so sure!

NB

True Sab kuch Milega. Omkareshwar is special. I wrote a bit about the point (how to get to Omkareswar) in this post:

25 days. (Need help to knock my itinerary into shape)

p.s. someone who's been there recently should be able to add if these boats still ply between the Jain temple complex at Siddhvarkoot / Badwani and the hindu temple at Omarkeswar. When we went, the boatman stopped on the opposite bank where the water was shallow and clean. We jumped in the water and had a cool dip (it was the month of march, quite hot) and then went onto Omkareswar. The ride lasted well over an hour!