Rajasthan, 3 weeks, December - where would you go?

Kiwimoo

Where would you go (and why) for days 7 and 8 of our itinerary (we listed 6 options)? Also, do you think this itinerary is too rushed? We are a young couple (30 yrs) and this will be our first trip to India, though we're familar with travel in other parts of Asia. Thanks in advance!

Day 1 Flight from USA
Day 2 Flight from USA; arrive in Delhi late at night
Day 3 Delhi
Day 4 Varanasi
Day 5 Varanasi
Day 6 Varanasi
Day 7 Gwalior or Bundi or Khajuraho or Chittor or Orchha or Natl Park
Day 8 Gwalior or Bundi or Khajuraho or Chittor or Orchha or Natl Park
Day 9 Agra (Taj, Agra Fort); evening bus to Fatepur Sikri
Day 10 Fatepur Sikri, evening bus to Jaipur
Day 11 Jaipur
Day 12 Jaipur, night train from Jaipur to Udaipur
Day 13 Udaipur
Day 14 Udaipur, night bus to Jodhpur
Day 15 Jodhpur
Day 16 Jodhpur, night train to Jaisalmer
Day 17 Jaisalmer
Day 18 Jaisalmer
Day 19 Jaisalmer
Day 20 Delhi
Day 21 Early AM flight back home!

karuna

Someone will be along in a minute to answer I expect, but in the meantime you could check out the Rajasthan Itinerary Info Thread, which answers a lot of common questions about travelling around Rajasthan (and beyond). It's a sticky at the top of this forum.

Here's the direct link:

The Maha Rajasthan Itinerary Info Thread

Hope it helps.

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Aishah

It all depends on what you are interested in. If you were going to Bundi, you would do this after Jaipur or else head towards Bundi - Udaipur and put Jaipur in on your way back to Delhi.

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Kiwimoo

Karuna, thanks for the head's up - we'll check out the Rajasthan thread.

Aishah - thanks for bringing that to our attention; we will need to rearrange our itinerary depending on what location we decide upon.

Mickey S

There's a lot of zig-zagging going on there. Do you have a map?

A whole day in Fatehpur Sikri is too much; you can see everything there is to see in a couple of hours. It's best done as a half-day trip from Agra. There are frequent local buses.

In a three-week trip, three days in Varanasi is also too much. Either you'll love it, in which case even three days will not be enough, or you'll detest it, in which case it will seem like a lifetime. Two days (three nights) will give you a good feel for the place.

You haven't posted any dates, but don't forget that the Taj is closed on Fridays.

Try this route:
Delhi-Varanasi-Agra & Fatehpur Sikri - Bundi - Udaipur - Jodhpur - Jaisalmer - Jaipur - Delhi.

If you take a car between Udaipur and Jodhpur you can stop at a couple of very interesting places en route. And if you have time you could go from Jaisalmer to Jaipur via Bikaner, for the temple at Deshnok. You can pick up the evening train to Jaipur at Deshnok itself.

Kiwimoo

Mickey S., yes, we built our itinerary while looking at a map of India. We were planning on flying back to Delhi from Jaisalmer. Depending on where we go for days 7 and 8, we might need to shift around our itinerary to fit them in a logical order.

Thanks for your advice on Fatehpur Sikri, Varanasi, and the Taj's hours! Also, thanks for recommending renting a car - we had not considered that as an option.

We are contemplating skipping Jaipur altogether since so many people on the threads we've seen don't care for it (due to the touts, I believe). However, we keep hearing many good things about Bundi and Bikaner.

My husband is very keen on visiting Gwalior ("because the fort looks cool")- is it worth it or should we spend our time in Bundi and Bikaner instead?

karuna

No flights from Jaisalmer! You can take an overnight train.

There's lots to see in Jaipur. If you do take a car and pre-arrange hotels, you won't have much to do with the touts (what have they got that you need?). I did meet the most persistent shopkeepers in Jaipur, but it's as funny as it is infuriating really.

Mickey S

My point, specifically, was that it makes no sense whatsover to go from Varanasi to Bundi then back to Agra before going back down to Udaipur again.

But bear in mind that "overnight" means 19 hours...

I agree. The touts and shopkeepers in Jaipur were the worst in the whole of Rajasthan, but there are undoubtedly a lot of places of interest in the city. Don't miss it.

Kiwimoo

Ahh...for some reason we thought LP mentioned this as an option. However, we just checked our LP and it says the airport has been closed for several years. Thanks Karuna!

So then we will plan on seeing Jaipur last as Mickey S. describes in the above itinerary. Should we then hire a car from Udaipur to Jaipur (or Delhi)? How should we return to Delhi from Jaipur? When you say "take a car", do you mean for us to drive or should we hire a driver?

karuna

Eeek, no don't drive yourselves.
Udaipur to Jaipur is a long run. You can take the train (I think there are some threads on this somewhere, let me have a dig about and I'll find them edit- http://www.indiamike.com/india/india...0/#post128515). Pre-book a hotel in Jaipur and have them send a car to meet you at the station if you want to avoid touts and pushy tuktuk drivers. Most hotels have a car hire service so if you could carry on using the car for sightseeing while you are there.

You can get a train back from Jaipur to Delhi, or a bus, or hire a car and driver/taxi. If you check out the train forum here it will list trains, and the big Rajasthan Itinerary thread has some posts with information on buses.

Mickey S

I would suggest taking a car and driver from Udaipur to Jodhpur, so you can see the Ranakpur temples and Kumbalgarh Fort en route. Then take the train to Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Jaipur and Delhi, in that order.

karuna

High five Mickey- we've dismantled all her travel plans and scared her away! Woops!

Kiwimoo

Hehe. We've driven ourselves in other countries and came out alive so we thought it might be OK in India.

Awesome. Thanks for clarifying--that makes sense [sigh of relief]. I guess we'll hire a car/driver once we figure out accomodations. Should we book hotels now for December or should we just show up?

You'll have to try harder to scare me--I'm still here!

Mickey S

If you're certain of your route, and of how many nights you want to stay in each place, then I would recommend making reservations immediately. December is high season in Rajasthan, and you may find that the most sought-after hotels, in all price categories, are already fully-booked for certain dates.

If you're going to Bundi then I recommend the Haveli Braj Bushanjee very highly, although it's a little overpriced.

Trains get very busy too, so you should be ready to book as soon as they become available, which is 90 days before the date of travel.

Incidentally, if you're looking for an out-of-the way destination away from the tourist crowds then you might want to consider Phalodi. It's a lovely, laid-back little town midway between Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. All trains to and from Jaisalmer (on the Jodhpur and Bikaner routes) stop there. The town has a lot of old havelis, one of which is now a very comfortable hotel, and it is only a few kilometres to Kichan which is famous as the winter home of thousands of Siberian cranes. I loved Phalodi.

Kiwimoo

Sounds good Mickey. We'll get right on it once we finalize how many nights in each place.

Thanks for the rec on the Bundi place. I'm assuming there is another forum where we can learn of other good hotels?