Udaipur or Shimla?

Hi everyone, I'm going to India (first time) for 3 weeks in January, here's my itin:

Mumbai
Udaipur
Jodhpur
Jaisalmer
Varanasi
Agra
Delhi (just for a day to fly home)

My question is, I'm really wanting to fit Shimla in there somehow to get a feel for a hill station, and the only city I can bear to exchange it with is Udaipur, mainly because I'll be seeing 2 other cities in Rajasthan. Is this a huge mistake?? I know that everyone says Udaipur is beautiful and it sounds like it is, I just want to make sure we get a good amount of variety and I'm really curious about the Himalayas...

And 2) I remember reading at one point that there was a (albeit very slow) train between Jaisalmer and Kalka or Shimla, but now I can't find it on indianrail.gov.in. Am I crazy or is there one?

Thanks in advance!

Hi,
I went to Udaipur two years ago and I absolutely loved it. It was beautiful, tranquil and often relaxing when many cities are not. The place does not seem to require as much energy as other cities such as Jaipur can require. Having said that, I have not been to Shimla so I cannot compare. So I suppose that is not a great deal of help to you. But if Udaipur is on the list, I would keep it there. You won't regret it. How long are you to India for?

Sorry I just read that you are in India for three weeks. This is a very short time so I wouldn't try and cram in too much.

Definitely Udaipur.

Udaipur is a jewel, whereas Shimla is a grubby, ugly, over-commercialised, over-developed shanty town with absolutely nothing to recommend it except the train out. It is not worth the journey, and you will certainly regret the very long detour from your itinerary.

Just my opinion, of course (but an honest one - I was in Shimla in June). Others will undoubtedly have other ideas.

Hey, thanks everyone, for your responses. I guess I'll just stick with Udaipur, then. Will be easier than changing my whole itinerary around anyway!

If you want to go to a hill station I would go to Mount Abu (and probably place it between Udaipur and Jodhpur. The train station is Abu road in the plains.

Is Mt. Abu really good? I read that getting there from Udaipur was a nightmare, that the road is really bad. Right now I'm trying to figure out if there's a train from Udaipur to Abu Road.

Is Mt. Abu something worth going out of your way for? I guess what I'm asking also is, is it worth taking a day away from Udaipur and a day away from Jodhpur for? I have 3 days planned for Udaipur and 3 in Jodhpur.

We didnt much care for Udaipur. Its the most touristic destination we visited and felt it - Udaipur is mostly about the view of the lake and the City Palace. Shopping is rather uninteresting and prices are high. We didnt feel it was a good walking town either - but then, most indian cities arent.

There is no train directly from Mt Abu to Udaipur. Mt Abu is most accessible by train from Ahmedabad, Jodhpur or Delhi (the Ashram express goes there) - you can also go there the Falna, which is the nearest train station to Ranakpur.

There have been several threads about travel from Jodhpur to Udaipur in Indiamike amd my recollection is that you have to do the journey by road anyway. Abu Road is on the main train route to Jodhpur from Mumbai or Ahmedabad and is well served by rail. I do not know the condition of the roads.

Shimla is the wrong introduction to the Himalayas. Even if you want to be around a big hill station, Mussorie and Nainital are better options. Specially the areas around Mussorie. Otherwise, there are many options (which require a few days at least) in Uttaranchal.

But, for a 3 week trip, you seem to have enough on your plate.

I would always choose the Himalayas over anywhere in the plains, and so would knock out Udaipur .. no, actually I would knock out Varanasi, but thats just me.

Just some comments on your itinerary.

1) When you are travel from Jodhpur to Agra by rail you pass through Jaipur.

2) If you wish to go and see the Himalayas (not just any hill station), I would substitute Haridwar/Musoorie for Varanasi. Haridwar is sort of a mini Varanasi and is very close to the Himalayas Haridwar is less than 290 km from Delhi while Varanasi is about 776 km

I definitely think Udaipur over Shimla, and definitely try Mt Abu - it's nothing spectacular, just a really sweet place to pass some time, and gives you the hill station experience.

To give you an idea of our itinerary (Feb 2007) we took an overnight bus from Pushkar to Udaipur (not the best ride of my life, driver was demented). When we were ready to leave Udaipur, my husband and I took a driver and car and spent a day to get from Udaipur (leaving at about 8am) to Mt Abu. But! we went via Kumbalgarh (spectacular lonely fort some 20-30 kilometres in length north of Udaipur) and the Jain temple at Ranakpur. That's like going three sides of a square, and we drove through all sizes and conditions of road, from tiny village laneways to the big national highway. We got to Mt Abu in time to find a hotel and check in and go out to look for dinner. (From Mt Abu we took a bus to Ahmdavad then on to Diu). Can you look into going Udaipur <car and driver> - Mt Abu <car and driver> Jodhpur - OR transport down to Abu Road station and train to Jodhpur? I can remember puzzling for days over the travel guide to work out how to get around that sector, until finally settling on a car and driver. It went pretty well.

Mt Abu was lovely. Quite neat, a little touristy (Mostly Indian tourists, though, so a nice change ). Good bazaar for the locals with lots of little twisty pathways, delicious chaat and sweet stalls. The views were not particularly spectacular, although the bus ride up and down the mountain was great for monkey-spotting. There were some vistas to be had, apparently, but I didn't venture any further afield than the Delwara Jain temple and Mt Abu town. I think the idea is you go there for some relative peace and quiet! There are some great value markets in the evening (jewellery, knick knacks) where you can haggle over the goods at near-local prices, and some restaurants where you can pay $1.50 for a Gujurati veg thali.

Other than chilling out, the other best thing I did in India was also in Mt Abu, where I had 3 shalwar kameez made up within 24 hours, for the princely sum of $13 australian dollars per suit. The SKs were awesome for travelling and having somewhere to hide from all the attention I was getting as a blue-eyed Australian woman with bright red hair.

Enjoy your trip. I might have to go again...