Varanasi - Khajuraho - Panna - Orchha - thoughts please

Jasper

Hi there

My wife and I are coming to Mumbai in March for a big wedding (Bollywood star - should be fun!). We're planning to take an extra 10 days to see a bit of India. We're not interested in beaches but want to see some of the culture. We've both done a lot of traveling in our youth (15 years ago)and my wife has been to India before, so we know what to expect.

We both fancy visiting Varanasi and Bodhgaya, rather than the usual Jaipur/Delhi/Agra bit (my wife has already been to Delhi, and I have been to Lahore so we fancy something different).

So we have 10 days for a trip and are looking to fly to Varanasi from Delhi on the way from the UK (then fly down to Mumbai from Delhi for the wedding and home from there).

The question is, how long will we need and what's good to see in this area of India. We'll be arriving in Delhi on the 10th March, and fly down to Mumbai on the 19th (and will be there for Holi which should be excellent!).

As we are on a short trip our budget is at the higher end, probably £50-80 per day ($100-160.)per person. We're happy to take overnight or daytime train journeys too.

And any recommendations for accommodation? We would rather stay at nice small locally owned hotels/guest houses than faceless international ones.

Thanks
Jasper

jyotirmoy

10 days is a lot of time. You may include Lucknow in your itinerary.
From Varanasi visit Sarnath.
How about Delhi-Lucknow-Varanasi-Bodhgaya-Kolkata-Mumbai?

Jasper

Thanks, that's just the sort of info I'm looking for.....

Jasper

Are there any other suggestions? We don't want to be rushing around too much. Is Lucknow really worth seeing? We don't want to spend too much time in cities and was wondering if there are other alternatives in this area?

Jasper

I've already posted about going to Varanasi and Bodhgaya, but I'm now wondering if we would like a bit of mountains and countryside as well.

Would it be worth it to go to Srinigar for 4 days? We've always fancied going to Kashmir but it wasn't possible for so long. How's things now?

Would it be worth going there for 4 days, then flying down and doing Varanasi for 4 days? Is this reasonable?

As I've stated before, we've got a reasonable budget - £60-80 a day and are traveling in mid-March, We need to be in Mumbai for a wedding on the 20th March.
Thanks in anticipation
Jasper

Jasper

Just finalising a 9 days trip in the region before flying down to Mumbai. This is what we've got so far, starting on the 10th March. Any thoughts on the itinerary much appreciated:

10th-13th March - Varanssi - Hotel Ganges View?
13th - 15th - Fly to Khajuraho - 2 nights at Hotel Siddharth - visit temples etc
15th - 17th drive to Ken River Lodge - 2 nights/1 full day at National Park (is this too much time, is one night enough?)
17th - 19th drive (taxi?) to Orchha, stay two nights at Hotel Sheesh Mahal - visit temples.
19th - drive to Gwalior for evening flight to Delhi and on to Mumbai.

Thanks
Jasper

vonkla

We travelled Varanasi - Khajuraho in the opposite direction by car in two days. In between we stayed in Chitrakoot, a nice quiet place connected with the Ramayana.
Varanasi to Chitrakoot took 7 hours with a stop in Allahabad to visit the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna. Chitrakoot - Khajuraho is about 5 hours.
Personally I think that one full day to see the temples of Khajuraho is enough.
Next to Khajuraho is also the Ken Gharial Sanctuary also worth to see for half a day.

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rushie82

Which bollywood star's wedding are u attending?

Jasper

Sorry, no idea - it's the niece of my next-door neighbour and I've never met her - seen a few DVD's with her on the cover though..... I'll let you know once I've been if you're still interested