Hi First Trip to Great India, any good suggestion for North India?

I so thanks god to give me an opportunity travel in India. I will attending a conference in India and i am planning to spent about 10 days to travel around at North India (after 10th Dec). Travelling period: 10~22th Dec.

Do anyone have any suggestion or recommended itinerary for me? The tourism center here is higly recommended me to go for Kashmir to experence the boat house. People also said Leh is a great place to go. And i found Shimla also an interesting place to visit.

I would very appreciate if anyone can give me some suggestion. Of course, i will spend few days on the golden triangle trip.

Thanks!
muthukee

You may get more useful info if you answer the following.....

When will you be in India?

Where is the conference being held?

Is flying an option?

I will fisrt attend the conference at Chennai, 1st Dec to 6th Dec. Following that, a workshop at Jaipur, 8th to 10th Dec. Then, i will free to go around for 10 days

As i got to pay a very high registration fee for the conference, my budget actually quite tight.

In Srinigar, found a great houseboat company, Chicago Houseboats. Search the Kashmir thread for their website address.

You are quite right, Shimla is indeed a very interesting place.

From Jaipur take the 2413 Jammu Tawi Express upto Delhi, then the Howrah -Kalka Mail from Delhi to Kalka and finally the ultimate in Indian railway experience- the narrow gauge mountain train, the Shivalik Deluxe express from Kalka to Shimla. This total journey from Jaipur to Shimla will take approx. 18 hours.

Shimla- a charming hill station- is the former summer capital of India under British rule and the current capital of the state of Himachal Pradesh. The town has numerous hotels, restaurants, dhabas, bazaars, walks and shady pines. Many British period buildings also remain, of which the magnificent Viceregal Lodge where the decision to partition India was taken, is the chief attraction.

The climate in mid-December will be pleasantly cold and just starting to chill, so carry warm clothing.

If you love the hills, you'll surely love Shimla.

Thanks Laneelee for introducing me the Kashmir houseboat.
Thanks Shimla also, the very in depth info and i found it very useful. I love hill so much...

People also said Leh is a great place to go. And i found Shimla also an interesting place to visit.



Leh will be really cold. Shimla is really commercialized, and most people who go there who I have heard experiences from say that it is too crowded, and like Delhi in the Himalayas. But then again, it is the capital of Himachal Pradesh, so what would one expect. You could go to Kullu/Manali, those places would be nice.. Even though tourism is increasing in Kashmir, it is still dangerous, and even though people who have been there are like 'NOOOO IT IS A VERY GOOD PLACE, VERY SAFE', it has been proven at times to be the most dangerous place in the world according to terrorism statistics, but you can go, it would be a nice experience.