Possible Itinerary Delhi-Agra-East/South Rajasthan

Hi: we are a family of 2 adults and 2 kids (9-12, but good hikers etc) hoping to visit August 10-21st. Here is a possible itineray i've constructed based on other threads and our own interests. We want to give the kids a taste of north india + also do some hiking/birding. We are hindu, and so some of the stuff seemed to make sense from the perspective of giving the kids a taste of legend/lore etc. We'd so much appreciate everyone's guidance and thoughts on it. At this point I am hoping to do the trip via a car/driver. that;s another piece we ahve to understand from a cost perspective. When we did our 2009 trip to Kerala, we took a train from blr-thrissur and then did it with car/driver and it helped to get off the beaten track.

So one circuit could be to immediately leave delhi from airport (road to jaipur near by). Do jaipur-ranakpur/kumbalgarh/mt abu – udaipur – chittorgarh/bundi – Bharatpur – Agra – Mathura (if possible) – Delhi (at which pt we release car maybe) – fly out?

August 10 Friday: arrive and leave delhi. Reach Amber fort. Walk up to Jaigarh or Nagargarh. Walk around, enjoy sunset. Find a local place to stay for night.

August 11 Saturday: Do Amber fort in morning (8-7p, last entry 5:30p) and leave for Bundi (2 hrs, 42 mns). Settle in hotel, and walk around Bundi.

August 12 Sunday: Complete Bundi. Leave for Bassi/Chittorgarh in the morning. Leave for Chittogarh. Stop around, then get to Udaipur. Walk around and experience. Bundi to Udaipur is 130 miles, 3 hrs 21 mns.

August 13, Monday: Do Udaipur. Leave for Kumbalgarh.

August 14, Tuesday: Trek to Kumbalgarh fort from the town. Should be nice. End up in Ranakpur if possible.

August 15, Wednesday is Independence day (public holiday)? : Do 4 hour trek to shiva temple cave?; visit Ranakpur temple worth a visit.

August 16, Thursday: Extra day, can use in Udaipur to do treks in surrounding areas, or in Kumbalgarh or Ranakpur to do some more trekking. End up at Jodhpur (Ranakpur to Jodhpur is 141 m/ 2 hr 46 mns)

August 17, Friday: Check out Jodhpur Fort, walk around and leave around 1p for Jaipur. Jodhpur to Jaipur is 209m or 4 hrs 49 mns. Stop at Ajmer to check out Sufi saint memorial. Might be an interesting visit. Breaks journey. End at Jaipur. Do city walking tour if possible.

August 18, Saturday: Visit city palace of Jaipur. Leave around 1p for Bharatpur bird sanctuary? Do a bird hike in the evening? Jaipur to Bharatpur 113 miles, 3 hrs 12 mns.

August 19, Sunday: Early morning bird hike at Bharatpur bird sanctuary. Leave around 11a for Fatehpur Sikri (16m/33 mns). Come back for boat ride in evening? Unwind?

August 20, Monday: Early morning start for Taj Mahal (opens 6am and closed on friday). Then do Red fort. End up at Mathura.


August 21, Tuesday: Visit Mathura/Vrindavan. Land up in Delhi around 1p. Start on Delhi. Do light and sound show at Lal Qila if worth it.

Thx so much. I had some more questions that i will list below:

a. Should we skip Jaipur altogether? seems sad to do so.
b. Any recommendations on non commercial dance/song performances in udaipur or anywhere else? we wont be staying at any big resorts so we dont expect to get to experience it that way.
c. Has anyone does any trekking/hiking around kumbalgarh/ranakpur/udaipur? It seemed the best place for it without going further west to Mt Abu thereabouts. Any contacts etc you can share with us so we can set ourselves up for that?


BEst Chitra

In your plan you go first to Amber which is very close to Jaipur and later you visit Jaipur itself.
Another option could be
Delhi-Mathura-Agra-Bharatpur-Bundi then your original idea and go back to Delhi from Jaipur.

Kumbalgarh and Ranakpur are both worth a visit, we did it on a day trip by car from Udaipur.
There are some older threads about trekking, this is one of them.

Hi All: Quick question: if we are doing Kumbalgarh fort is it worth doing Amber Fort in Jaipur as well? I thought of focusing on City Palace and the Lonely Planet walking tour in Jaipur.

Also based on various threads it feels like we shouldnt give Delhi short shrift. So we were planning 2 days in Delhi. Any thoughts?

Thanks Chitra

I would absolutely plan on 2 days in Delhi. There is a lot to see, but mainly, that will give you a buffer if trains, planes, or automobiles run late.

During my second trip I had planned two days in Delhi at the end of the trip. There were some travel issues that meant that I got back to Delhi a day later than planned. It was not a problem for me since I still got back in time to make my planned flight home.

Most tourists love Amber fort, it's very pretty. Amber is more reminiscent of a palace than a fort but still, I've never heard anyone complain here that they regretted visiting it.

The real fort (that saw battles) is in Chittorgarh. Kumbhalgarh has a fantastic thick wall and a good view from the outside (it is the second most important in Rajput history after Chittorgarh).

Overall, I'd say visit Amber since you're in Jaipur. I do not know about the walking tour but most of the walled city attractions (City Palace, Jantar Mantar, Gaitore, Galtaji) are easily doable in a day. Another three quarters of a day for the forts (Jaigarh, Amber). Shop a bit on both days and you're done.

We have developed our itinerary further (helped by the feedback on this thread!) We now are planning the following:

Aug 10: Arrive in Delhi. Evening train to Agra
Aug 11: Agra: Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Sikandra
Aug 12: Hire car; drive to Fatehpur Sikri then Bharatpur
Aug 13: Bharatpur at Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary. Overnight train to Udaipur
Aug 14: Udaipur City: Pichola Lake, City Palace, etc.
Aug 15: Hire Car. Drive to Kumbhalgarh and see Fort
Aug 16: Trek from Kumbhalgarh to Ranakpur through Kumbhalgarh Sanctuary. Arrive afternoon and see Ranakpur Temples
Aug 17: Possible quick trip to Narlai; then drive back to Udaipur, stopping off at Eklingji
Aug 18: Trek in Aravalli Hills near Udaipur. Overnight train to Jaipur
Aug 19: Hire car: visit Amber Fort and Shekhawati area
Aug 20: Explore Jaipur: City Palace, Pink City. Evening train to Delhi
Aug 21: Explore Delhi.

A few questions:
1. How long should we allow to see Fatehpur Sikri? We tend to linger at beautiful places, rather than rush through them.

2. On Aug 15, as we go to Kumbhalgarh, we would like to stop off at villages/places en route. Could anyone recommend interesting places?

3. Is it feasible to do Amber Fort and see the Shekhawati Havelis in a single day trip from Jaipur?

4. We would require 3 car hires (with drivers): (i) Aug 12 to go from Agra to Bharatpur via Fatehpur Sikri; (ii) Aug 15-17 to visit Kumbhalgarh/Ranakpur; and (iii) Aug 19 day trip from Jaipur.

Could anyone recommend a reliable but reasonably priced car service?

many thanks again for your advice!

Bump for this one -- any thoughts on our revised itinerary

Budget 2-3 hours for Fatehpur Sikri

Have you done anything about booking trains yet?

lol, yes we learnt the hard way on our last trip to India in 2009. So our train trips (Delhi-Agra; Bharatpur-Udaipur; Udaipur-Jaipur; and Jaipur-Delhi are all safely booked.

We are struggling a bit with car bookings. We need the following:

1. Car with driver around Udaipur:
- Day 1: Udaipur-Kumbhalgarh
- Day 2: Kumbhalgarh-Ranakpur (we will be trekking, but will need a taxi to bring our luggage to Ranakpur)
- Day 3: Ranakpur-Udaipur.

We have asked the hotel we were staying at, and were quoted Rs5500 for a 3 day car/driver hire in an AC Tata Indica. That sounded quite steep. So we wondered if booking 3 separate taxis for the specific journeys might be better.

2. Around Jaipur (1 day):
- Drive from Jaipur to Amber Fort and then on to the Shekhawati Haveli area; then back to Jaipur.

Question: what are reasonable prices for these trips and can you all recommend some reliable local taxi companies we could contact?

many thanks

Does anyone

Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. 3 days car+driver for just over $100.

Please do check the timings of the forts and palaces.. Also Amber/Amer Fort has a sound and light show in the evening which is interesting..
Amber fort is 11kn from Jaipur, we did it in a half a day, but I am not sure about Shekhawati Haveli ..

We hired a taxi from the hotel we were staying at, for the Amber Fort drive and local sight seeing, it costed us Rs.1200(last year October).. But later we realized the local sight seeing does not really require a taxi, you need one only to visit Amber Fort and back ...