Cramming too much india in 21 days?

laneelee

Here is my itinerary and need your help to determine if its too much; also would love to hear if Im missing some must see city or if I can cut out some of my destinations due to lack of sights. Unfortunately, some of the destinations have no flight passage with Jet. My boyfriend and I are high energy people, but are we crazy?
I am buying a jet airway india pass for 3 weeks, the other days we will travel by train:
Arrive Kolkata,Varanasi,Khajuraho,Deh li,(train to) Agra,(train to) Dehli,Jaipur
Jodhpur, (train to) Jaisalmer, (train to) Jodpur, Udiapur, Mumbai, Mysore, Chochin, leave from Chennai to U.S.
Arriving in India October 3rd, leaving October 25th
Our main objective is religious temples, festivals, india arts, one ashram(yoga practice), and a boat tour in kerala. Not a big fan of going all the way over there for a pretty beach when I live at one in Cali. Thank you much for anyone with insights and opinions. Can't wait to go!!

Maheswara_shishya

Sorry i cannot tell you if it is too much to fit into a 21 day trip but I am curious of which temples you will be visiting? Any particular Diety?

Thanks!

om namoh bhagavate rudrahhhhh


Daniel

Paagla Dashu

Too much in too little time.

Unless you intend to make it a "tick in the box" trip and enjoy the experience, I would suggest reducing the number of destinations to about half and keep to one part of the country.

Suggest you try to work on:

Delhi / Hardwar / Hrishikesh / Varanasi / Calcutta / Khajuraho / Agra / Jaipur / Jpdhpur / Jaisalmer / Udaipur / Mumbai.

Given what your interests are - specially festivals - you should plan to be in Calcutta during Durgapuja ( around 9th - 12th October - Bengali members here please help) - arguably one of the biggest festival in India.

iyou

Welcome to IndiaMike laneelee. Your itinerary is possible, but if you look at it on a day-by-day basis, I think you'll see that you're talking about travelling nearly two out of every three days. Even on days when you fly you're still talking about a minimum six hour undertaking (timed from checkout from hotel in one city to checkin in the next). It's tiring. And things in India always go wrong, frequently in the most unexpected and hilariously memorable ways. Trains are occasionally late, flights sometimes cancelled, roads get washed out. A delay could be hugely disruptive, especially if you arrive late in day somewhere where you're only staying overnight. Paagla Dashu has the right idea, of cutting back on the number of destinations. Given that you're arriving in Kolkata and departing from Chennai, a wide loop itinerary would work nicely. Kolkata-Varanasi-Agra-Rajasthan-Mumbai-Chennai, for instance. Durga Puja is indeed a not-to-be-missed festival, but if seeing it means being back in Kolkata from October 11 to 14 (http://festivals.iloveindia.com/durga-puja/) you're going to have think of a different plan (although I suppose with the flying pass this might not be the case).

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--May a moody baby doom a yam.

laneelee

Is the Durja Puga celebrated only in Kolkata? Can we see it somewhere else? Now we have changed our itinerary due to your gracious inputs. We are flying into Mumbai, Ellora/Ajanta,
Kochin, Mysore, Varanasi, Khajoratan, Agra, Jalismer and leaving from Dehli in 27 days not 21. Any other not to missed places along the way since we have an air pass?