North India in 11 Days

Hello!
Three of us, all between 32 and 34 years old, will be flying into Delhi Oct 1 with 11 full days to travel once we land. I know it's short but it's all we could afford with our American vacations. We're very excited to see India and hope you might be able to help with itinerary suggestions.

Our budget is medium to high but not luxury. This means we can afford to take an in country flight if it saves us time.

We are set on spending a very short amount of time in Delhi and Agra and then we want to take on some adventure, culture, scenery, trekking and yoga - likely closer to the mountains and hopefully in some more laid back towns as I know our senses will be overwhelmed from Delhi.

We are experienced travelers (over 80 countries visisted between us) and in good shape for trekking (although I know we will need to take it easy on some of our initial hikes).

We are planning on traveling to Delhi, Agra, Leh in the first two weeks of October. Interests are food, scenery, trekking, yoga and rafting (?). Basically a fit group of experienced travelers who like adventure and the outdoors.

We are considering:
Delhi > Agra > Delhi > Rishikesh > Leh and then fly back to Delhi

Instead of Rishikesh we were considering Mcleaod Ganj. It seems a little more out of the way but sounds like an amazing place. Which way to go?

There is also some concern about flight delays or issues from Leh back to Delhi in early October. Should there be cause for concern or historically have there been few weather related delay issues this time of the year? I'm sure it's worse in November and December.

Also, I've done searches for recommended hikes in Leh and unfortunately we can only afford a two day hike due to our time limitations. Any suggestions on a good route? Camping overnight would be great.

Finally, does it make sense to include Leh? We were considering it because it sounds like a beautiful place where we can hike, do yoga and relax but if there are other places just as nice that are closer, maybe North East of Rishikesh we would consider dropping Leh in favor of something equally as pleasant. This would allow us to cover shorter distances.

Thank you so much in advance for your kind guidance. Your expertise is appreciated.

Cheers.

`@crux why not you can go for The Haven of Earth called tapovan and also Gomukh The source of secret holy Ganga water ,. very nice trek and also very adventure trek,.

sounds like you have the scenery, adventure, and yoga part probably worked out and there is definitely culture everywhere you go. But Rajasthan is where it is at for culture I would say.........for me, what I got from seeing the colour and charm and people of Rajasthan, I didnt get from going into the mountains. (Though I only touched on Simla, that is it)

I am not sure if it's a good idea to visit Leh when you're in India just for 11 days(I travelled in Leh for 7 days and I feel I couldnt do much justice to it), you can hiking in and around the Binsar Wildlife sanctuary, i have a good experience there.Trip report- Binsar villages and chaukori.
You'l lget to see the himalayas,you could also do wildlife at the Corbett National Park.
If you go to McLeodGanj you could do hiking at Triund.

Thank you. I will look into Gomukh. I will look into it and research the trek more.

Thank you for your feedback although I see your account is now closed. We would like to spend some time in the mountains if possible.

Thank you so much for the advice. You are confirming some thoughts I've had as well on making journey to Leh. I had thought about Binsar in the past but maybe didn't give it enough consideration. Your pictures are great as well as your write up. It looks like it would be great for day hikes and amazing views.

So maybe we should do something like:
Delhi - for big, crazy city and overwhelmed senses
Agra - for architecture
Binsar - hikes, views
???? - for yoga and spirituality. Maybe Rishikesh since it's in the area as well. It would be great to find an alternative place since we're looking for fairly laid back places after the craziness of Delhi.

On another note, I thought Corbett National Park opened on Nov 15th as stated on their website so I did not consider going. Is there a chance it would be open in early October when we will be there?

Thanks so much for the advice so far and thank you all for any additional advice.

Hi, i've been travelling around India for 7 months now and Leh has been my favourite place so far. Its beautiful and the culture is different then the rest of India and its very peaceful there - limited hassles by touts, beggers and scammers. All the other places you mentioned are well on the tourist map and for a good reason - they are beautiful. I like Dehli, i find it interesting and approachable. great metro system. Spend three nights here. Take a day trip to Agra as its a souless tourist mecca full of scum bags. Then go back to Delhi and fly to Leh, spend five nights here. Then hire a driver with a jeep (very easy to find in Leh) and drive down to McCloud, 2 nights here then Rishikesh 2 nights. If you have time visit Hardiwar 1 hour from Rishikesh, great place, great culture no tourists. The jeep from Leh will take 13hours, but its a great way to see the country side and will cost you no more then 100$. Hope this helps.

I am not sure if it will be possible to drive to or from ladakh in october.
If you are very keen on visiting ladakh,book your flights now(ex delhi), in 4-5 days you could visit monastries and have a look at the countryside. Pangong Lake or Nubra valley will probably be accessible, however there's a slight risk of getting delayed.

I would say go: Delhi(1 day)-Agra(1 day), proceed to Jaipur(1-2 days). Go to Rishikesh(a day),then go to Binsar spend the remaining time(allow atleast 2-3 days).

If you visit McLeodganj, go for Amritsar-McLeod-Triund,visit Kangra fort,baijnath places in the vicinity,it's a nice area.
Ladakh in October (19th-30th) will give you an idea of how Leh could be in october.

Thank you again for the excellent feedback. We will book flights in advance. Updated travel plans below to where we are flying in and out of Leh to minimize issues with road travel this time of year.

AdamScott - This feedback was extremely helpful and finally something clicked in my head for a draft itinerary (below). Would love to hear feedback from everyone on it. We are leading toward Rishikesh/Hardiwar instead of Mcleod Ganj mostly because we think it makes the most sense as far as travel flow. Getting to Mcleod Ganj seems to be a bit more of a challenge and given our time constraints it may not make sense. Interested in the view of others.

Also, will this give us a decent overall (although short) taste of these regions in India? A good blend of culture, outdoors, activities, sprituality/yoga?

• Day 0 – Arrive Delhi in evening.
• Day 1-Delhi
• Day 2- Day trip to Agra (Fatehpur Sikri/Agra Fort)
• Drive (Yamuna Expressway) – 2.5 hrs. each way
• Can get there early for sunrise behind the Taj. With a driver we can hit the areas around Agra as well.
• Train (Shatabdi Express) – 2 hrs
• Day 3- Delhi to Leh
• Flight – 1 hr.
• Day 4-Leh
• Day 5- Leh
• Day 6- Leh
• Day 7 – Leh to Rishikesh
• Not sure the best way to get here from Leh yet. Flight?
• Day 8-Rishikesh
• Day 9 – Rishikesh to Hardiwar
• (1 hr bus/car)
• Day 10- Hardiwar to Delhi
• Day 11- Delhi
• Day 12 fly home from Delhi
•
• (*removed mcleaod ganj)


Thanks so much!

You would have to go via delhi, make sure you book your train flight tickets as early as possible. You can reach delhi by flight,and then travel to rishikesh via a night train to haridwar(or a day train if you reach early enough from leh).
Seems to be a decent itinerary, but then you are spending 2 days going and coming from leh,and in acclimatization. But if you really want to visit leh,it's fine. Also remember that in 3 days you would be confined only to the areas around Leh(no excursions to pangong or nubra).

Yeah, I agree. Fly back from Leh to Dehli then catch a train (overnight) to Hardiwar, spend a few hours there and then take a 20min rickshaw / taxi to Rishikesh. With regards to visiting Pangong Lake in Leh I personally found it not worth the effort. It took a 5 hour jeep on horrible roads to get there, we stayed at the beautiful lake for 1 hour then a 5 hour jeep home. Now, I'm from New Zealand and surrounded with beautiful lakes so my perception is bias, but what I recommend with your limited time in Leh is just chilling in the town, taking hour bus rides to local villages and sites. Yes if you were there for 2 weeks then you can start catching 10 hour jeep rides, but seeing your time is limited don't push it . Have a good trip

Yeah, I got kicked off of India Mike for a week again. Jokes don't go down well......I anticipate this post will get me my life ban. We will see. I love you India Mike. Acha...Dhanuvaad