November -Delhi, Shimla, Ajmer route

I'd really appreciate India Mike's expert knowledge/advice on the following.

We are a couple in our 60s, have travelled to India before and will have a medium budget. While we will try to take trains (overnight or day) or buses as much as possible, we will also hire a car/driver for some travel.

With 8 weeks in total we'll spend a few weeks in Kerala (from beginning of October), before heading north (probably fly Bangalore to Delhi) to explore the lower hill area until we travel towards Rajasthan. We will be in Pushkar from the 13th - 20 Nov (sadly we'll miss most of the mela due to work commitments).

Shimla looks very attractive, and I think would be a great area to be for a week or so - thoughts on this would be helpful especially regarding the cooling weather at that time. I am assuming that it is straight forward to travel from Delhi to Chandigarh to Shimla by train?

I am thinking that we will then drop down to Rajasthan through Shekhawati to Ajmer/Pushkar. My main query is what route we should consider for the travel from Chandigarh to Rajasthan and if it would be best to break this down into two days of travel with an overnight on the way.

With the exception of Delhi and Pushkar, we are flexible on the choice of towns, so if anyone has a better suggestion please let me know. Our interest is mainly the experience of living amongst other cultures, art and music. With the exception of Kashmir/Leh I have spent little time in the hills and am looking forward to this.

Thanks again for your help
Riro

Calling any travel in India "straightforward" is a bit misleading. To get from Delhi to Shimla by train, you take a regular train from Delhi to Kalka, then the toy train (smaller-gauge rails in the mountains) to Shimla. Each leg of the trip takes about five hours, but the toy train is very scenic. You mention Chandigarh; Kalka is near Chandigarh but not the same, so if you have business or visiting to do in Chandigarh that adds a wrinkle to it. Otherwise, you can book a train like the Himalayan Queen. You'll need a ticket for each leg of the journey.

Onward from there to Rajasthan via train is a little more complicated. As far as I can tell, no trains from Kalka go in the direction of Jaipur or Ajmer. It might be best to take the train back to Delhi, then from there to Rajasthan.

I do like Shimla a lot and think it will be good for your trip--though I haven't been there since 2005.

I would suggest to skip Shimla and go to Manali. You have a direct bus from Delhi to Manali or fly to Bhuntar from Delhi.

Shimla is also good enough but less crowded than Manali (in terms of buildings and people).

Thank you both, your suggestions are very helpful. I had picked Shimla as I thought the Oct/Nov weather, though cool, would not be too cold and the train trip in was of high interest. We don't need lots of people - quiet is nice. I imagined Manali would be much colder and there could be snow? However! I see that Kullu Dussehra is happening around this time. Mmmm - lots to think about.

Kullu dusshera willbegin on 24th october and continue till 30th october, 2012. you can get semi sleeper volvo coaches from delhi the volvo belongs to himachal pradesh tourism department(local goverment). they charges INR1220 per person one way. the bus will depart at 5.30pm from delhi (mandi house, himachal Bhawan. The volvo are all new & full on comfort(provide water & blanket complimentary). THe volvo will reach manali by 8am next day. You are requested to pree book your hotel in advance. for good rating hotel click tripadvisor.com

Kullu is 40km before manali. you can trvael easily from manali to kullu by local bus or taxi.

For shimla also you can try volvo departing from the same point(mandi house) http://hptdc.nic.in/

For fare see
http://www.hptdc.nic.in/trans.htm

Wow - thank you for doing that research for me. I'm quite keen to go on Shimla's Toy Train, but the photos just seem to fill my husband with fear! A bus might be a calming suggestion.