Prospective itinerary for Northwest India in July

xander

Hi everybody, I've finally worked out some sense of my trip for next month. Does anyone have any thoughts as to whether this would entail too much traveling? Problems with weather? Train connection issues? Etc...

-Arrive Mumbai (Wednesday the 2nd)
-Fly from Mumbai to Udaipur (Monday the 7th)
-Train/AC car from Udaipur to Jodhpur (Saturday the 11th)
-Train/AC car from Jodhpur to Jaipur (Tuesday the 14th)
-Train/AC car from Jaipur to Agra (Friday the 17th)
-Train/AC car from Agra to New Delhi (Sunday the 19th)
-Fly from New Delhi to Pathankot (Saturday the 26th)
-Bus from Pathankot to Dharamsala (Tuesday the 29th)
-Spend 7 years in Tibet(?)

Thanks much.

Xander

Dilliwala

You cud fly all the way to Gaggal (near Dharmsala). Unless you want to take the bus up for the view.

machadinha

I guess as such it looks like you've planned plenty of time everywhere, would probably allow you to slip in day- or side-trips and stuff on the spot in many places too. So I think time-wise it should be fine, if not to say quite leisurely.

The weather and so on I can't advise you on however, my guess would be it's gonna be hot hot hot for much of it, but I really don't know what the current lowdown is. I guess the rains may be about starting now in that area, but I'm really not sure. (From what I've seen by way of reports on this board so far, it looks more like the occasional brief shower in Delhi and up into the mountains, no real monsoon to speak of yet, which won't immediately cool things off btw I don't think, but I really can't say I keep much of an eye on it. Maybe browse through the last pages of this thread for some spread-out recent observations: Where are you now? .... and how's the weather? (part 2).)

For some more general weather overviews, check this whole thread, and remember these are all just averages, actual temps and rainfall may veer quite a bit off to either side of the scale: India climate chart

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xander

Thanks for the ideas, Dilliwala and Machadinha...much appreciated to get some confirmation.

If anyone has any recommendations of particularly interesting things to do or see in these places (i.e. Udaipur, Jodhpur, hill stations, etc), please do let me know! I have the Lonely Planet book. I am very interested in adventure activities.

Alessandro

aren't you afraid of the monsoon? i was considering a similar itinerary, but i thought it would be better to stay for a while on the mountains...

ananda2193

I'd be more afraid of the heat.

Alessandro

what range of temperatures are we talking about?

machadinha

Do try that climate chart thread (the whole thread) linked to in post #3 above.

It actually shows May & June to be the very hottest months in the northern plains. Then by June and esp. July and through to September'ish the rains should be setting in (and... always and only on average of course, it can't be stressed often enough). I've never been there in summer and/or the monsoon; friends have, they found it quite alright, although they might opt to live mostly by night. All highly personal I'm sure, and depending on what you can cope with. (And remember the relativity of it all, so you may find the plains hitting a "mere" near-40C by July. Hey, inland Italy or Spain etc. see similar temperatures I think, and people go on summer holidays there. It probably matters too if you've been on the road for a bit or have just landed there, and where from, and I would strongly advise to never be in a hurry under such circumstances.)

But for practical purposes I guess you can consider roughly March-Sept. to be basically very hot, with May & June taking the absolute brunt then and easily topping 40C+. In Rajasthan, temps in the 50's at that time are far from unheard of I think. Mind you, those same friends tell me anywhere above say the higher 30's it's just basically really hot, one doesn't notice the difference so much anymore, whether it goes up to 40 or 45. Make no mistake these are dangerous temperatures though (after all, your body maintains itself at around 37C, so it basically has no way to cope), so you'll want to take it easy, avoid the heat of day indeed, and keep an eye on your fluids intake (and a healthy diet even though you may be lethargic and not hungry) by all means, you may not notice how much you're losing. Anyway and again, hopefully the worst should already be over come July.

This is about the north again btw, the south follows a slightly different pattern I guess, although I'm sure esp. the inlands there can fry up as well.

ps The monsoon doesn't spare the mountains, and can lead to logistical trouble there with a view to landslides and so on. So people go there to escape the heat, not the rains as such however, as far as I know (although those in the know will probably aim to get out of there by that time). It hits different places at different times of course, as it roughly sweeps up and back down the country, in a SE-NW motion and back again. That's why they call it the South-West monsoon.

vistet

Amen to that. Bigger problem towards the tail end of monsoon.

You could escape the heat by taking an evening bus Delhi-Dhasa , either from Connaught or Majnu ka Tilla.

Never tried the train route myself , but there are some threads here discussing it , sounds nice.

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ananda2193

Yeah, should be around 40 more or less.