Questions about my tour itinerary...

emmyisyummy

Hi all,

I am going to India in late September / early October with VegVoyages, a vegetarian tour group. I don't have much time off work, which is why this trip works well for me. I basically only need to take a little over 2 weeks off. I was wondering 2 things:

1. What does everyone think of the tour itinerary? Please see link:
http://www.vegvoyages.com/vegin-out-in-the-land.html

2. I have a couple of days in Delhi before the tour starts, is there anything that is a "must see" for those 2 days that isn't included in the tour? Any suggestions would be amazing!

Thank you in advance for all of the help!

steven_ber

Looks like an interesting tour that tries to keep away from the beaten track.

The price seems high, but then again, tour prices always seem high to a person who travels independently, and this tour seems to include a lot of extras that other tours don't.

If I had to recommend a tour of Rajasthan to someone, and I knew they didn't like big cities, I'd look into this tour a little more with the view of recommending it.

And whilst I'm giving the view of only 1 person, I'm 1 person who is rarely impressed with a Rajasthan short Itinerary.

As for your spare time in Delhi......

There's a lot to be said for just wandering around getting the feel for a big city in India, you'll spend half a day just working out where you are and what you're doing.

Here's an interesting challenge.

You're going to be visiting some small rural villages/towns where life is completely different from life in Delhi, yet many of those people in the small villages will dream of one day living in Delhi, have a wonder around Old Delhi and Connaught Circle, and maybe Old Delhi (or New Delhi) railway station and try to imagine these villagers trying to cope with Delhi, on the train stations you'll see plenty of villagers who really look out of place.

It sounds a crazy thing to do, but it gives a theme to wandering around, and much more than that, try doing the same thing when you return to Delhi having seen the villages, you'll be amazed at how different you view things.

I'll try to keep an eye out for this thread to see any updates, but there are so many threads on indiamike these days, and the thread title is one of the most common, so I may miss it.

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anupmathur

I would recommend a visit to the 'new' attraction in Delhi - the Akshardham Temple. You can spend almost an entire day here or come away early if it's not your cup of tea!

machadinha

Good advice as always, Steve. I concur with the just wandering around theme; and that this is usually best done having some sort of goal no matter how silly or esoteric in mind.

I noticed you mentioned on another thread just recently not being too familiar with this approach (lord, there's many ways to navigate this site!); in any case, what you can do for such cases is go >Thread Tools on top of any thread, then go >Subscribe there. The thread will now be listed under your >Subscribed Threads; arrived at by going >Quick Links on top right of any page.

Chances are it will then just be pushed out of sight by other subscribed threads, of course; but, one can try to keep an eye on such threads at least.

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delhiwala

Dear emmyisyummy,

Your tour does not list any sites for Delhi. They are not covering anything in Delhi.

Delhi has many beautiful spots, some of them are:

1. Red Fort
2. Shanti Van (Gandhiji Memorial)
3. Qutub Minar
4. Lotus Temple
5. Jama Masjid
6. Akshardham Temple

Delhi Transport Corporation runs a Delhi Darshan tour daily. You may go on it for a short and sweet introduction to Delhi.

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machadinha

That's exactly what she says, DW :

btw Many big cities now offer an all-day bus ticket, do you know if Delhi does? My understanding is one just asks any bus conductor for this. Exceedingly cheap; on the other hand and come to think of it, public bus travel in Delhi isn't renowned for its woman-friendliness, and in any city may be less than fun (understatement) during rush hours in any case.

Could otherwise be fun for aimlessly zipping around the place & just seeing where you end up no doubt (and/or including some highlights while you're at it). Perhaps less recommendable to a newcomer; or rather fun instead, it's hard to say.

delhiwala

Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has a scheme called 'Green Card'. This is valid for traveling in all DTC City bus services except Airport Coach & Tourist services for one day. The fare is Rs. 25/- only.

machadinha

Aha, thanks. I was told by a Mumbaikar who wasn't sure that he thought this exists there now; and I know it does in Hyderabad. Same deal, same price, indeed.

Leading me to think it could be worth enquiring about this with bus conductors in any at least major city now.

emmyisyummy

Thank you everyone for your help so far!
I would love to just go and do independent travel, but my family (especially mom) didn't like the idea, and I didn't really want to make my mom upset, so I thought of a compromise. I wanted something more off the beaten path and I felt this was a good tour for that, and my mom is happy because I will be with other people and I am glad to hear, steven_ber, that someone who has experience agrees it is a good tour.
As for what to do in Delhi, I will take the wandering suggestion seriously... and I will look into the suggested sites, delhiwala! thank you for all of the feedback so far!!

machadinha

nb Jyotirmoy once came up with this list of 174 (!) Delhi monuments: Monuments in Delhi .