First trip to India - advice needed

michaelb77

Hello !

I’ve been reading this travel forum for a while, and I allow myself to post this first message to ask for the advice of the very knowledgeable other members…

I’ll make my very first trip to India next January and I’m currently preparing it. This trip will last approximately one month and my aim would be to discover the uniqueness and the diversity of India, of its culture, its nature and its people.

I’ve read many books on this fascinating country, I’ve read many of the messages of this travel forum and others, and I’m still full of hesitations when it comes to deciding on my itinerary…
I would really like to discover several very different parts of India, to have a more complete idea of the diversity of this country, but at the same time, I wouldn’t want to try and visit too many places, which would prevent me from discovering the actual “soul” of India…

So, here is the list of places that is currently on my draft itinerary… I would be extremely grateful if you could comment on it, tell me which of these places aren’t so special and unique to India (which I should therefore maybe skip) and tell me which places I had forgotten and which would really be wonderful to explore on a first trip to India…

- Delhi
- Udaipur
- Jaipur / Amber
- Mumbai
- Kochi
- Kerala backwaters (cruise from Alappuzha to Kollam)
- Madurai
- Chennai
- Kolkata
- Darjeeling
- Varanasi
- Agra / Fatehpur Sikri

Thank you in advance.

Michael

wonderwomanusa

The "least special" is probably Delhi, and even then, there are some wonderful sites to visit -- and it's a great place to leave India from.

Chennai itself isn't very interesting, but there are neat things surrounding it, so if you pass through, two full-day tours by the tourist development folks will give you a look at some cool temples, a silk factory, a film studio, alligator farm, and the shore temple at Mammalipuram. I find Chennai a very restful town.

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-m2-

That's a lot of travelling and the 'highpoints' appear to be the big 4 cities and a few of the major tourist attractions in between. Is this what really interests you? You are basically planning a counter-clockwise circuit of India in one month -- do-able if you are buying an air pass, I suppose, but seems to counter your objective of actually seeing or experiencing anything worthwhile.

Why not assume that you will enjoy the experience so much that you will return one day and see some of the things you missed the first time. Set up a general itinerary that gives you time to meander and follow your interests a bit. For instance, you could arrange an open-jaw ticket so that you could arrive in Delhi, travel through Rajasthan, continuing on through the south and depart through Chennai -- apart from some fog in Delhi, you'd probably have excellent weather for the whole trip. Why would you even think about going to Darjeeling in January?

but maybe that's just me

Baisab

In my opinion.
Basically I agree with m2.
I think you should plan for no more than 7-8 items on your itinerary per one month, and I think it is preferable that you stick to 2 (or so) main areas so that you spend more time "in places" rather than time "between places".
It is tempting to try and see as many different places as possible in a given period of time, since India has so much to offer, but...
It is my experience that if you want to let anything sink in, and truely want to experiece a taste of the different culture, you should give a few days chance for each 'item' to "do it" for you, otherwise it is a race against time, trying to see more sights.
Most of the cases of poor equality of time spent in trips in India, which I have seen, started with trying too hard to do too much, and to make the indian system work with an uptight plan.
It's a tradeoff of depth vs. diversity.
Concentrating on Rajastan and the deep south seems like a good idea - meaning leaving Kolkata, Darjeeling and Varanassi out of your plans. Your plan must not be too rigid though, in my opinion. You do not have to make all decisions in advance. It is always good to leave just enough room for change in your plan, so tradeoff decisions can be made during the trip, on-spot. I always found these last minute decisions to be the best ones.

michaelb77

Hello !

Thank you so much to each of you for your interesting and useful replies… I’ve been reading so much about India over the past few months that it can be really useful to discuss with fellow travellers who have already explored this fascinating country…

In my first post, I did actually only list the places without actually mentioning how much time I was thinking of spending in each of them… So, to reply to m2, I must say that, if I follow the aforementioned itinerary on my trip, I wouldn’t, in any case, make the four big cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata) the highpoints of my trip. I would definitely spend much more time in the smaller towns/places that I mentioned… The fact is that, if I follow this itinerary, it would only be feasible if I choose to travel by plane (such an itinerary in one month would be completely crazy by using only trains). If I choose to travel by plane, I know that I would need to travel through some of the travel hubs which are actually those four big Indian cities… There’s simply no other way to go (except getting back to Delhi airport each time, but this would be stupid). So, I was thinking that, if I have to go through Mumbai, Chennai or Kolkata airports on my way to one place to another, then why not spending one or two days (approximately) in those places, to get a feel of them ? I know that I wouldn’t be able to discover them very deeply in just one or two days, but at the same time, I think that it would be a shame to be in Mumbai or Kolkata and only see its airport… I know it wouldn’t be perfect, but I’m sure that you can understand why I’m hesitating on these points…

Baisab, you mentioned that I should leave the eastern part of India out of my plans. I totally understand and agree with the very good reasons you mentioned for that… But, at the same time, I’m still having some hesitations on that point… Why ? Well, I’ve asked the very same questions about my itinerary on another travel forum, and travellers there have been telling me that I should absolutely visit Varanasi, that this is a “must”, and that if I only visit one place in India, then Varanasi should be this one… Now, I’m sure you can understand why I’m hesitating so much… So many great places, so little time…

Baisab, I totally understand and agree with you that it’s definitely all about depth vs diversity… My problem is that I was both… What I need (I think) is to find the right equilibrium between depth and diversity… Over the past few weeks, there had been days when I thought that I should, in fact, spend my whole month in one place only… A friend of mine spent a whole month in Delhi only and she loved it there, especially as she could discover this city in depth… This is definitely an option…
But, at the same time, I know that I couldn’t spend every year one month in India for the rest of my life, to explore one place at a time… So I also feel the need to discover several places during this trip, now the question is obviously how many and which ones ?
I would also really like to discover the diversity of India and therefore limit the number of places that I would visit, but possibly choose these places in very different parts of India… This choice would be questionable too, as I’m aware that India is extremely different from Europe and as I don’t underestimate the cultural shock…

Wonderwomanusa, thank you for sharing your impressions with me… I appreciate it… Concerning Chennai, I was indeed thinking about staying two days or so there, and discovering the kind of places that you mentioned…

A last question for m2, you asked “why would you even think about going to Darjeeling in January ?”… Well, is that really a bad idea ? I don’t fully realize how Darjeeling is at this time of the year, but I’ve read some books mentioning that this is a pleasant place to spend Christmas at… I’m aware that it’s a bit cold there at this time of the year, but this isn’t a major problem for me… Could you tell me the reasons why I shouldn’t go to Darjeeling in January ? By the way, if you want to know, my main reason for wanting to go there during my trip is to get a taste of each part of India… As I was thinking of discovering the cultural, architectural, religious and natural facets of India in the other places I mentioned, I was also thinking about seeing some of the beautiful Indian mountains at the same time…

Michael

Adam18au

madurai isd a great place to go to, definately go to the Gandhi museum and in chennai there are some good markets in the city and also on the beach as well

michaelb77

Hello Adam !

Thank you for giving me your advice on Maudrai and Chennai... These are surely two very interesting places, even though I'm not yet sure to be able to include them in a first trip...

Anyway, may I ask you (and the other travellers) what you/they think of Bangalore and Mysore ? I'm interested in those places (not necessarily for a first trip though), and I would enjoy getting some opinions about them...

Michael

-m2-

sorry if I sounded too negative, Michael, but it is a lot of travel and a lot of energy going into logistics -- travel in India is not always straightforward and some aspects can be a bit daunting and frustrating particularly on a first trip. I don't think it's a great idea to plan on covering so much ground in a month, even flying. The Darjeeling comment was as much to do with the additional several days of travel this would take from your limited time as it was with the colder temperatures you would encounter. My advice would be to save it for another trip when you have more time and can see some more of the north at a better time of year. but it's your trip, not mine

michaelb77

Hello m2 !

Please, don’t be sorry about anything ! I appreciate immensely your help and will definitely take into account all your comments, as well as those of the other travellers…
As I’ve never been in India yet, I have everything to learn about this country, so I’m definitely delighted to benefit from the experiences of knowledgeable fellow travellers…

You mentioned that some aspects of travel in India can be a bit daunting and frustrating… Could you please tell me more on this point ?

Michael

-m2-

by that I meant that the travel infrastructure is heavily used and booked -- inevitably things take longer to arrange than you would expect and attempting to keep to an overly ambitious schedule could be frustrating.

If you haven't run across the thread 'first time arrival experiences', suggest you take a look -- fun reading, but also educational in that helps show the gap between expectations from research and the reality on the ground.

here's the link:

First time arrival experiences.

radz

I am reading this thread ,as everyone saying ,India you cant cover onemonth.
I think North India ,Delhi ,Agra is must see place.You cant miss Taj ,
while you are in India. If its Agra you can combined Fatehpure Sikri.
If you interested more seeing Palace,Forts then Udhaipur ,Jaipur is must..
As far as important places,the unique of India,i think each place
has there own unquiness&important in there own.
I think Chennai you can spend 2 days,Mahabalipuram is must see place near Chennai,if you want to spend moredays many more places to see.
Kanchipuram,the temple city,and Pondicherry ,all one day trip from Chennai.

Madurai is famous for Meenakshi temple,for less time you can skip Madurai.
Bangalore,city is good place to live ,but to sighseeing only Botanical Gardens,
around Bengalore, Tippus sultan summer palace,Bulls temple are there.
Mysore city of Jasmine,sandelwood,tourist places, Palace ,Chamundi Hills,Srirengapatnam,Bridavan Garden.
To see these places many more near by you need min 1 week..

Happy travelling!

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michaelb77

Hello !

Thank you for the link, m2... This discussion about first time experiences is really very interesting and useful for me... I enjoyed reading it very much...

Radz, thank you very much for your suggestions... These are definitely some truly fascinating places to explore...

May you (or any other forum member) suggest what could be some nice places to relax on a trip in India ? Explorations are surely nice, in whichever part of India they take place, but I would also like to include in my itinerary one or two places where I would be able to relax a little, to enable me to take everything in, and find a second breath after the initial culture shock and to prevent the physical/psychological fatigue ?

Michael

wonderwomanusa

Michael, I think the best places to relax are in small mountain towns or on the beach. So if you go to Kolkata, try to spend a couple of days on the beach at Puri, or go to Mamalipuram (outside Chennai). There you can relax, watch the tide come in and go out, eat fish & chips, catch up on your journal, and build up some energy to throw yourself back into India. (Watch out for rip tides in both those places).

If you're flying around India, there are plenty of other airports besides Delhi/Mumbai/Chennai and Dum Dum; you can, for example, fly into Bagdogra and take a jeep to Darjeeling. There are small airports at Bangalore, Trivandurum, Varanasi, Patna ...

You asked about Bangalore and Mysore: it's years since I've been to either, but I like Mysore because it's much smaller and not so "busy." The major sights can be seen in one long day-trip on the tourist office's bus ... and then it's nice to just hang out, walk around the town, find the shops that sell sandalwood and explore the bazaar.

Transport in India is s.l.o.w. -- even the fastest trains don't average much more than 35km/hour. If you take night buses, you take your life in your hands -- I will only take buses if there is no other way to get somewhere.

radz

Michael as ww said you can relax Mahabalipuram,thy have many resorts with private beaches..you can just relax..

By the way ,to feel physically rejunvating expericence,you going to Kerala,you must try one of the Ayurveda messaging there.
There may be many around,but i suggest ask for good massage center,your hotel,usually hotels will have attached messaging centre.

Adam18au

michael
mysore is great too, heaps to do and see, like tha mysore palace for instance is great and it has a few good rooftop resturaunts and a god emporium where you can buy really cheap silver jewellery and plenty of other stuff