Do we "wing" it around Rajasthan?

camelgirl

Calm down! You definitely do NOT need to book everything in advance if you are getting there in October. Even with a 13 y.o. along.

We NEVER book our entire trip in advance and always have been able to find a nice place to stay. We bring a good guidebook and then about 3 days before we want to go to a new place we just start calling until we get a place. We did this in Rajasthan for a month Nov. to Dec. '06.

It's good to have an arrival hotel organized and if you plan on going to a festival like the Pushkar Camel Fair you must book in advance as the town is booked solid. Otherwise, just "wing it" and you will be fine. That goes for train tickets also. We booked as we went. And that goes for cars & drivers also. We booked them as we needed them a few days in advance. We did not have any problems in Rajasthan "winging it."

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Mary Poppins

Do you think there will be a problem booking as we go (trains and accomodation) in Rajasthan during December?

We are planning on booking our arrival accommodation and then everything over the Christmas period (15 December onwards) but wanted to leave the rest fairly loose. I'm not so worried about accommodation but a little bit nervous about the trains.

PeakXV

It's way more interesting to 'elephant' or 'camel' it around Rajasthan.

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Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

zoltan

It can depend on where you are travelling to/from. Some lines can book up and others can have very little traffic.

There's no need to book months in advance (unless it's a Hindu festival time and you're going to something that's a big crowd puller).

You can check the availability of seats on-line and gauge how likely it is that you'll get a seat.

Having said that, it doesn't hurt to have a contingency plan in place, for the "what if" moments.

As a final mention, I'd be suggesting that if you know you have to be back at a particular location for a flight home, I'd definitely book that seat, to ensure that you are guaranteed at least that leg of the journey (hope that makes sense).

Cheers
Zoltan

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bigjed

thanks all for you suggestions - I'm kind of decided on a bit of certainty with car hire (with driver) - not only is it kind of cheap, but we have the certainty we were after especially with a kid in tow who has never really traveled.

I'll try online for a number of train tickets, and if all else fails and I can't sort that sucker out, I'll try for tickets as soon as we arrive in Amritsar in October. I've been on waiting lists for trains in India before, and I guess it adds that uncertainty which makes India, India!

Our itinerary looks like this currently, dates are in October, the towns in brackets we'd visit on the way to the next town.

JAIPUR 12/13 (Amjer) Pushkar 14/15 JODPHUR 16/17 Jaisalmer 18/19/20 UDAIPUR 21/22 (Chittor) BUNDI 23/24 Jaipur

Thanks every one for your help and advice.

bigjed

kristinm

Don't forget the temples between Chittorgarth and Bundi if you are driving - I just can't remember the names, one is called the mini-Kajahuro and the other is on the edge of an amazing gorge...

bigjed

yes - over the next few months now that I've sured up the towns we want to go to, I'll make a detailed study of what to see in, around and between towns and cities.

We'll be going in one day from Udaipur to Bundi via Chittor, so I'm sure to make that a must see!

I'll be back here asking many questions.

thanks aussie!

kristinm

Sorry - one other suggestion, if you can manage to drive between Jodphur and Udaipur - maybe by swapping around a bit you can't miss Ranakpur and Kumbalgarth.

Also if you are going between Jaisalmer and Udaipur you might want to consider a flight? That's a hell of a distance.

bigjed

yeah, it's between 5 and 600 km - it really is the only flaw in the plan in terms of taking a car all the way around and the time in which we have to do the trip, we could break up the journey into two days, as we have an extra day in Jaisalmer, we could leave there a day earlier and stay somewhere in between.

kristinm

We did a 500 km drive Jaisalmer to Shekhawati - it took 11 hours! The roads are really really slow..

Why not use 2 drivers, keep your extra day in Jaisalmer fly to Udaipur pick up another driver there and do a daytrip to Ranakpur and Kumbalgarth. Also, just thinking about your dates above, you will only have 1 day 'on the ground' once you use a day to travel between places... even though there's lots to see along the way.. if you could add an extra day in between each place you'd be perfect! But then you'd have to pay the driver's way back to Jaipur - or he could drive and you could fly as you'd be paying his return costs anyway, then you'd have a whole day sightseeing in Udaipur if you managed to get an evening or early morning flight, and if flights are even flying from Jaisalmer (which they weren't when we were there!).

I did exactly the same thing - planned the itinerary and then when I began to factor in travelling times realised I had to put extra days in between, took some places out etc... turned out to be a good plan, even the shortest drive can end up taking forever.

bigjed

I've heard conflicting reports about flights out of Jaisalmer, we might end up going Jodhpur/Jaisalmer/Jodphhur/Udaipur/Bundi - problem is we have to get to Agra and Varansi before the 27th to get to Nepal.

Of course we could drop Jaisalmer altogether, but I don't want to!!