Rajasthan tour in October

Javi25

Hi friends,

I would like to get some tips about our futur tour of Rajhastan.

We (my girfriend and me) are planning to visit Delhi, Agra, Rajhastan, Varanesi and Nepal.

As we want to travel by train, we are wondering wich itinerary will save us more time for the Rjahastan tour.

Our intentions is to travel in 2AC or 3AC if it will be possible.

I don t know from where it will be better to start after Delhi.

I was considering this option:
DELHI-BIKANER-JAISALMER-JODPHUR-UDAIPUR-PUSKAR-JAIPUR-AGRA and then to take train to Varanesi.

The problem is that the train to bikaner goes trough Jaipur and probably we would travel innecesary km.

Could someone advise us about wich itinerary will be the shortest one according the places we want to visit?

Thank you,

Javi

Mickey S

You could make a couple of changes.

Visit Jaipur on the way to Bikaner, to avoid retracing your steps.

Then I'd suggest you miss Pushkar (which I personally think is a vile tourist trap) and visiting beautiful Bundi instead. You can go from Udaipur to Bundi fairly easily (although the trains are not very conveniently-timed so you will probably have to take a bus some or all of the way) and then take a train from Bundi to Agra.

So your itinerary would become:
DELHI-JAIPUR-BIKANER-JAISALMER-JODPHUR-UDAIPUR-BUNDI-AGRA and then to take train to Varanesi.

bigjed

I'll be there in October also - sounds exactly like our plans, we're landing in Amritsar October 3, going to Himachal to get used to being in India again, before going to Rajasthan via Delhi.

Amritsar-Dalhousie-McLeod Ganj-Shimla-DELHI-JAIPUR-BIKANER-JAISALMER-JODPHUR-UDAIPUR-BUNDI-AGRA-Varanasi-Nepal-Delhi-Singapore-Langkawi

zoltan

Consider this route:

Delhi (train to) => Bikaner (bus to) => Jaisalmer (train to) => Jodhpur (train to) => Udaipur (train to) => Jaipur (train/bus to) => Agra (train to) => Varanasi.

I've heard equally bad things about Pushkar and that it's not worth the time or effort (but then we all have different opinions).

As for taking 2A/3A, you're going to miss some of the joys of train travel by not going in SL. That is my preferred train option - you get to meet interesting people and have access to good views through the windows (better for taking photos).

You haven't indicated how long you are going for, this could also have an impact on the locations you want to visit.

Cheers
Zoltan

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Javi25

Hello everybody,

First of all to thank you for your usefull information.

We are thinking to dont go to Bikaner as we want to manage Rajhastan, Agra and Varanesi in 18 days and maybe it is not enough time. What do you think? Or it worth to go there?

In this case we would visit Delhi, Jaipur, Pushkar or Bundi, Udaipur, Jodpur, Jaisalmer, Agra and Varanesi.

How it will be the best way to do this tour.

Bigjed it could be nice to meet if we will coincide in the same city.

Thank you very much again and sorry for my poor english.

bigjed

would be nice to bump into you also.

We arrive on Oct 3 in Amritsar and then down through Himachal to Delhi - since I posted on this thread - I've also thought that I'm trying to bite off too much of Rajasthan - considering we've also got to spend a week or so in Nepal and then 4 days in Langkawi on the way home - we might just end up going Delhi/Jaipur/Bikaner/Jodphur/Udaipur/Agra/Varanasi

when do you arrive??

zoltan

The bottom line here is that with only 18 days, you are pushing yourself too hard to see too much and you would probably not enjoy the areas.

It's just a whirlwind tour of places, tick the box, seen that city, move on.

You'd be better (with the number of days you have), to consider dropping Varanasi and either Pushkar or Bundi.

Cheers
Zoltan

n kumar

Hi,
It is advisible to travel by car to rajasthan as you can save a lot of time by travelling by train/bus.

bigjed

if I could afford a car and driver for all my travel in India - I would. We plan to use a combination of all of these, but mainly trains, although trains that arrive very late in the day might not suit us - although booking hotels ahead negate that concern for me.

My preference would be trains, buses only if they were quicker, which they can be and taxis for short hops.

Mickey S

But if saving time is a necessity then I would suggest that you should be scaling back your itinerary rather than trying to find the fastest way to speed between places. Travelling in India, whether by leisurely train or overcrowded, dusty bus, is part of the experience. Only once have I ever had to resort to hiring a car and driver, and that was because there was no public transport between the place I was and the place I wanted to be.

bruce3404

I did a similar journey 5 years ago, but the train to Bikaner did not involve going thru Jaipur (maybe they've changed routing?). Anyways, as Zoltan suggested, you could train it to Bikaner, bus to Jaisalmer (6 hours if I remember right), then take trains the rest of the way. You might even consider dropping Udaipur, since it's a bit out of the way. I wouldn't drop Jaisalmer, as you've suggested. It's a really cool place. Some might also argue to drop Bikaner, but I liked Bikaner a lot~much less touristy than some of the other places you'll see. I've been to Pushkar and unless you're going during the Camel Fair, it's not that fascinating a place, though it is easily accessible on the train from Jodhpur to Jaipur, so maybe half a day there would suffice.

Bhaswaran

Now, there is train service between Bikaner and Jaisalmer also. I have heard of two express (one in the morning and one overnight). There may be other passenger trains.

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