Suggestions for first-time visit to Northern India in June?

drsdg

First, this site has been incredibly helpful in the planning of our trip so far. Thank you all for your time and willingness to provide information!

My husband and I are traveling to India in June. We know all about the dastardly heat, but this is the only time we can set aside 3 1/2 weeks to go to India in the foreseeable future and our hearts are set on the trip. We are going in with eyes wide open and a healthy attitude, ready to roll with the punches and be flexible. We're 30 years old, in good health, and have traveled abroad often, including Thailand, Malaysia, western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

We'd love to get some advice on planning our itinerary from people who know the country better than us. We are planning to fly in and out of Delhi, dates still TBA, but likely arriving on June 5 or 6 and departing on June 26-30.

Here's some background on what we are looking for:

- midrange prices for hotels - we don't need opulence, but we'd like A/C and prefer non-shared baths. We understand it may be peak season in some regions and can occasionally splurge on higher range hotels.

- travel primarily by train, preferably in A/C given the likely temperatures, but we can be flexible. My husband is almost 200 cm tall, so I don't think the side berths will work. Also open to taking domestic flights if it means getting in more of the things on our "must-do" list

- Aforementioned must-do list includes the Taj Mahal, Varanasi, and hopefully Darjeeling (toy train)

- We'd also like to explore spiritually inspiring sites, perhaps Dharamsala, open to other ideas. Would love to visit an ashram, do some yoga, ayurveda, etc. Culture and spirituality is a higher priority to us than history / architecture - we're still interested in seeing some history, just don't want it to be the focus of our trip. For this reason, I don't feel particularly compelled to visit Jaipur. Would we really miss out if we skipped it?

- Kolkata is on my list of things I'd really like to fit in, as is Mumbai, but I'm not sure either of these are reasonable given our timetable (3.5 weeks) and the heat / monsoons.

Any suggestions, comments, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

wonderwomanusa

It shouldn't cost much more to fly into Delhi and out of Kolkata, so why not book the tickets that way and then you won't have to backtrack.

Given all you want to do, I think you might consider saving Mumbai for a different visit.

In 3-1/2 weeks, you could do Delhi, Agra, Varanasi, Kolkata, and Darjeeling and have a restful holiday in India. Given that it could be 112-117F during your visit, you might want to not do too much.

I suspect someone will know of a yoga ashram in Varanasi where you could spend a couple of days.

capt_mahajan

Would have been better flying out of Calcutta- agree with wonderwomanusa. Also on the rough plan.

Keep a few days for Delhi, even in the heat, and leave Rajasthan and the north (Dharamsala) for later.

Not the best time of the year, but there it is.

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zoltan

> - midrange prices for hotels - we don't need opulence, but we'd
> like A/C and prefer non-shared baths.

Generally, many budget and most mid-range hotels will offer you a private bathroom (or at least attached toilet/shower), so you won't have to share.

AC could be an issue - given the heat, there may be power outages, caused by overuse of low supply, which would see all power out for a period of time. This happened to me in a few places (and it wasn't during the high summers).

> travel primarily by train, preferably in A/C given the likely

Train travel is one of the quintessential experiences of travelling through India. As long as you indicate top/middle/lower berth, you shouldn't have any great problems getting the required (longer) section.

As for speeding things up a little, there is a flight that goes from Delhi => (near) Dharamsala - it's around 45 minutes. You could always fly up there and get a bus /taxi back to Delhi to continue your journey.

> must-do list includes the Taj Mahal, Varanasi, and hopefully Darjeeling (toy train)

I think if you were to go Delhi => Dharamsala => Agra => Varanasi => Kolkata => Darjeeling => Kolkata, you would be able to do this adequately in 3.5 weeks. But that (to me) would be the limit of places you would want to incorporate in an itinerary.

> Culture and spirituality is a higher priority to us than history / architecture <snip> I don't feel particularly
> compelled to visit Jaipur. Would we really miss out if we skipped it?

Not in the least.

> Kolkata is on my list of things I'd really like to fit in, as is Mumbai,

As others have said (above), I would do a flight into Delhi & out of Kolkata. Flying down to Mumbai would be putting more expense and reducing your overall travel time/enjoyment.

It's been my experience that many people who go to India once (and enjoy it), will go again - on subsequent journeys, they visit other areas that they have not been to on previous journeys.

If you have other questions, please feel free to ask.

Cheers
Zoltan

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drsdg

Thanks so much, everyone.

There is no good option for an open jaw flight for us, unfortunately. Plus, there is a festival in Varanasi that we are really excited to see on June 13th. So at the moment we are thinking:

Delhi - 3 days
Agra - 2 days
Varanasi - 3 1/2 days
Darjeeling - 3 days
Kolkata - 3 days
Fly to Amritsar - 2 days
Dharamsala - 2 days
Leh - 2-3 days
Fly back to Delhi for return home

Is this pushing it too much? I am sensitive to the fact that we may be limiting our time in each place, but we both have jobs that make it difficult for us to do these types of trips and want to see so much.

If this is too much - what would you suggest eliminating / reducing?

Thanks again.

capt_mahajan

Pushing it too much, yes.

You should be knackered (June, remember) somewhere around Kolkata or Amritsar.

I would choose either Dharamsala/Leh or Kolkata/Darjeeling.

Fly to Varanasi from Delhi?

faustus77

I think ur tkt will not prmit deplaning at delhi and emplaning at kolkatta.my sggstio to u would be to delhi-agra-khajuraho-varanasi-kol-drjling-kol-del. one look at the map understand the itinerary.U hve air condtnd trains all over, satna being the nearest convenient station to khajuraho.U have a flight delhi-agra-khajuraho-varanasi,but i am not too sure about current status.Bear in mind the airports are far away and the trains drop u in the heart of the city.From kol to delhi u hve aircndtn train leaving 1700 and arrvng del 0900 or therabout.U hve to book in advance though a foreigner quota is thereThen if time permits u can do del -leh or del dharamshala-amritsat.U can get get great indian food at amritsar otherwise u dont need 2 days.anything e mail faustus77@gmail.com regds

machadinha

Er, since this is not my mobile phone or beeper you're messaging me on, can we have that in English again please?

Kindly note that this is an international board and many visitors will have trouble enough reading just plain English.

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