What should i do? 17 days to travel

ricgabriel

Hello friends!

First of all i should say that it is going to be my first trip to india, and i'am already in love with it by the descriptions i read in the forums...

I'm going to india on late september and i will stay until mid november. Still, i'm going as a voluntary to work in a clinic in Kolkatta and i'm expected to stay there for 3 weeks which gives me more or less 15-17 days to travel around.
What I would like you to help me in is to decide what i can visit in with this timetable. It should be important to say that i'm planningto travel by train so time "waste" in travel will be long!
How soo should i book train tickets!!

Thank you!
Ricardo

iyou

Welcome to IndiaMike, ricgabriel! Your plan already sounds great. What I'd suggest you do is plan a trip to Darjeeling and Sikkim, in the himalayas. The weather should be nice, and you'll welcome the peaceful atmosphere after the crush and chaos of Kolkata. You can make reservations once you arrive. You'll find plenty of train seats available, and having two weeks will be about the right amount of time to visit 3 or 4 places. Get a train to New Jalpaguri, then a bus, or if it's running, take the toy train.

If time permits, like if you have a 5 day break in the middle of your volunteer time, you could take an overnight train to Varanasi (probably stepping down at Mulghalserai [MGS] and then getting a taxi--not as many trains will go directly to Varanasi. It's a really cool place to check out.

.
.
.
.

__________________
.
.
.
--May a moody baby doom a yam.

SHIMLA

Welcome to IM, ricgabriel !

I second iyou's suggestions. You'll certainly enjoy the hills.

__________________
Whoever said money can't buy happiness didn't know where to shop !

ricgabriel

Hello! again...

I've been studying my rough guide to india and i guess that there is no way of making kolkata-varanasi-darjeeling-sikim in a nice time effective trip.
So, what do you think of this option.
7 days is a trip to agra 1 day travel and one day staying, one night travel to varanasi and 4 days staying in varanasi includind sarnath (is it worth visiting), and then come back to kolkata. when arriving kolkatta prepare things to leave to Darjeeling on one of the night trains to NJP in time to catch the toy train.
There i would spend 8 days or so. do you think it won't be enough time to enjoy the hymalayas?

What do you think of this plan?

Thanks again by the tremendous patience!

Regards
Ricardo

wonderwomanusa

A visit to Sarnath will take half a day; I enjoyed it very much, especially after the noisy chaos of Varanasi.

iyou

Actually you could do this, and there's a better way to go than going back to Kolkata. The NJP Express goes from Delhi to NJP, stopping at Mughalserai about 15 miles or so outside of Varanasi. We did this exact route in 2001, and other than the train being about 6 hours late getting to MGS (and even latter arriving at NJP), it all ran nicely.