Travelling in India in June help!!!!

I will be arriving in Delhi in June and would like advice about where to head to after a couple of days there. I think I want to travel to Shimla then Manali.Will the weather be OK there and will I need any warm clothes or just waterproof ones. Don't know enough about whether the monsoon washes roads away everywhere or just in certain parts of India,would hope to avoid the worst places as we only have 3weeks there this time and want to make the most of it.Any help appreciated Cheers Sam

hi
well ,in june , north india (the plains) will be burning , but once u reach the himalayas , its becomes cooler. shimla/manali need no light woolens in day time but definately at night.

yes , june onwards , himachal pradesh does become a bit cloudy but not that much.
check out www.tribuneindia.com and click the weather section for daily updates on himachal pradesh

i would say , head to shimla first.
u will get volvo A/C buses to shimla from delhi , which himachal pradesh tourism runs.
if u have time and are really adventurous and want to see the real beauty of himachal , takes buses and hit the NH-22 , which will take you deeper into himalayas from shimla towards sangla valley , one the best valleys in india. and then over to tabo/kaza area (definately cold at night , woolens needed)
from tabo/kaza , the ride is rough to manali thru rohtang pass

u may need upto 10 days to reach manali via this route after checking out all the places enroute but u will love it.

otherwise , u can head from shimla to manali by deluxe buses. explore manali. on way back , do hit dharamshala/mc leod ganj cities.

and not to forgot , the roof of the world - leh. the route is thru manali-rohtang pass.
from manali , u need atleast 10-12 days to explore leh. again it get very cold at night between manali-leh.

proper rains hit himachal july onwards only. so dont worry about that

just spend a day or two in delhi .meet people going north and try to tag along.

all the best

From Delhi there are two routes that you can take...or may be combine both of them. First is the Golden Triangle (Delhi-Agra-Jaipur-Delhi) and the second is Hills (Delhi-Mussoorie-Rishikesh-Haridwar-Delhi) alternate to the second option is Delhi-Shimla-Manali-McLeod Ganj-Dharamshala-Delhi...

Golden triangle is a warm route...if you want to get a good tan..take this route first. It will take you around 6 days to complete this. Then after the heat head for the cooler areas in the hills. The hills will take you around 7-10 days...

The hills would cool you down to a temprature more suitable to you...and once you are back in your kind of temprature...it will be time to head back home in England...

I would recommend plains followed by hills...

Hi hsharma, how many days would allow me to comfortably travel on the former route and how many days on the alternate latter route?

Thankssss

6 days are good enough for Delhi-Mussoorie-Rishikesh-Haridwar-Delhi route...
2 days in Mussoorie...
2.5 days in Rishikesh & Haridwar. You can do white water rafting while in Rishikesh...
1 day each at Delhi...starting and ending the journey.

The alternate route can be explored comfortably in around 10 days.

Thanks for all the info it's very useful in order for me to plan ahead. I have travelled extensively in other countries and haven't had to do too much planning but I understand that in India you can't just hop on a train ,particularlly in Delhi in June as there may be many people wanting to go somewhere cooler.
I thought I might try and book a 1/2 day ticket here in UK for the train to Shimla,not quite sure then how to travel on to Manali as I believe the bus takes a long time.Then when I have finished travelling in the hills I would like to do the golden triangle , do I need to book for the train to Agra etc. before I leave Delhi for the hills and is there anyway of speeding up the process of purchasing a ticket other than buying in the UK. I have heard horror stories about trying to book on-line. thanks again for all the help
PS forgot to mention I will be meeting up in Delhi with my daughter and some friends so maybe renting an air/con Limo may be an option if it isn't too expensive (although I would like to use the train whilst I am in India so which would be the preferred route by train journey and which by Bus or Limo)

The best option for you would be hire a Airconditioned SUV (Toyota Qualis, Cheverolet Trevera, Ford Endevour etc)...and keep on going where ever you want. Usually they will charge (i may be extremely wrong) around Rs.10 per km (in India we have Kilometers unlike UK where they have miles). This way you can team up with your friends and family and go where ever you want to. Travelling train is a bit of a hassel of you are not travelling just one place...imagine get off the train...take a taxi and run around...it is a bit of a pain...the taxi drivers usually double up as Guides as well and get you good deals all along.

Another option would be go to a travel agent and ask him to plan your itenary. Options are endless...you just have to take the plunge.

What stories have you heard, if I may ask?

I assure you from personal experience that there is no danger in on-line booking provided you have a firm address at any of the designated cities in India where your ticket can be couriered.

Sorry to have put it that way, I didn't mean anything fraudulent just think I read on this site somewhere that you can spend a long time entering details then it can all get deleted if you press the wrong button etc.
Air-con car sounds a more comfortable form of transport than the train so may have a go at pricing an itenary up but would still like to travel somewhere by train so will check on buying tickets here Thanks

http://www.irctc.co.in/ is the only place to book the train tickets...have them delivered to some Indian address...may be the hotel that you book.

Yep the last I looked the online booking form still had it's bugs shimla!! Setting up an account is difficult especially the bit where they insist you enter a Indian pin number!!
Time sombody got that one sorted out!

Hey, sorry if the answer is posted somewhere else on the forum, but is it possible to book online and collect your ticket at any train station (like have it issued on ths spot) as opposed to having the ticket delivered to an Indian address?

Thanks

No kanbe for whatever reason IR decided to do away with the pick up service. Though I remember Steven Ber mentioning that a few people had E-mailed IR and as a curtisy they were allowed to pick their tickets up.
Officially though they don't have to do this, the pick up service is officialy discontinued!

dayam, pick-up service would have been good.
i would have preferred to check out the GHs/hotels when I get there, not when Im over here at home.
ohh wells