Trains, planes or automobiles in Rajasthan

Can someone help us please. It's our first time to India and although we have an idea of where we want to visit and what hotels we want to stay in, we are struggling to organise travel between cities. We arrive in Delhi 19th Dec but want to visit Arga, but just to see Taj Mahal, maybe not stay in this city. We would like to visit Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jalsalmer, Udaipur and then wildlife reserve and Shimla for hiking and chillin in the Himalayas. We are only in India 14 days, so perhaps flying is quicker, although we would like to experience train travel, if only for the shorter journeys. It sounds like a brilliant travel experience. We don't care what order we do the trip. I find the train website quite confusing. We don't mind travelling overnight, but not if we have to share a cabin with strangers. Is it possible to reserve cabins for just the two of us. sorry, we must sound like wimps !! We want to fit in as many of the places as possible. Where would be good for Christmas and New Year, although it's not celebrated there, we realise this?? If we have to miss out on wildlife visit then it's not the end of the world. What is driving like in India? we hear it's a bit crazy. When we finally get to all these amazing cities, is it worth getting a guide to show us around, or are you better to do that yourself? Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Although we have travelled quite a bit, we are pampered 40 somethings and have always gone on organised tours !! But we are finally branching out and attempting to be a BIT adventurous......yippee !! But we need a wee bit of hand holding


All advice greatfully received

Trezkillen, welcome to Indiamike

Some places for you to start

Rajasthan
http://www.indiamike.com/india/rajasthan-f26/

Trains, please read the sticky threads on top first.
http://www.indiamike.com/india/indian-railways-f10/

also
Train information

and, finally
How to get the most out of the Itinerary section.

I honestly don't think it is possible to fit in all those places in 14 days, no matter how you travel. And certainly no time for hiking.

Thanks for the tip ! some advice would be useful .........! you are obviously familiar with Indian travel, so maybe you could give us the benefit of your knowledge PLEASE !!

Unless you're prepared to share a cabin on a train, you need to forget at least 2 of your chosen destinations.

You'll have to consider using 2-tier air con (2A) on the train (open plan) as First Class air con (1A) is only available on some trains, and even then, you cant guarentee getting a 2-berth coupe rather than a 4-berth cabin.

Have a look at the different classes in the following website.

http://www.seat61.com/India.htm

No matter what way you decide to travel, you'll likely spoil your holiday by including Shimla, you'll just end up travelling too much.

Dear pampered 40 something.It will be difficult to do India for the first time on your own.
I suggest you get organised tour for the first visit and next time you can take the adventourous route.
Driving on the indian roads is a nightmare, and my advise would be to avoid if you want to have a stress free time and enjoy.
I am arranging to visit in November and arranging with the help of an excellent agent introduced through a friend.
I will be back on 20th of November and will be glad to recommend this agent if I find satisfaction.You can contact me through IndiaMike if you wish.
Best wishes.

We're all more than happy to help here, but may I suggest that maybe you're being just a little unreasonable in expecting others to organise your entire holiday for you?

Check out Lonely Planet and Rough Guide to get an idea of where you want to go and how much time you want to spend in each place.
Download a railway map from indianrail.gov.in and then look at the timetables to further tweak your itinerary (on many routes trains run only once or twice a day, and it takes a lot longer to get anywhere than you would think). Planning a trip is part of the fun!

And then ask for advice on specifics. Yes, there are a lot of people here who have a wealth of information to share but you are more likely to get it if you ask specific, targeted questions. Posts such as your original one tend to discourage replies.

What I can say, though, is that if you haven't already arranged trains and accommodation for the Christmas period then you might have a problem. Trains to and from Jaisalmer are already waitlisted in the air-conditioned classes during that period. Start reserving accommodation and booking trains as soon as you can.

Getting back to your original places to visit - my friends did all this in 14 days including a trip to Simla on the toy railway. BUT they did it by hiring a car for the Rajasthan tour - it is possible to work out your itinerary here within that time frame by hiring a car. It is very difficult by train and buses - you could try for the Jaisalmer - Delhi overnight train and then work your way back towards Agra - Delhi - Simla by trains, and hire a car in Jaisalmer for your Rajasthan tour. Easier for you to hire in Delhi and do the whole tour as a round route from there.
As for reserving accommodation - yes,yes, yes! Mickey S is quite correct, this is the busiest season for most of Rajasthan and for accommodation of choice, booking ahead is essential.

I disagree, but I'm not getting into the daytime car travel Vs overnight train travel debate again.

There are 2 very different ways to tour Rajasthan, if I had a month and loads of money, I'd find myself a great driver and tour by car, it would be a great way to travel.

But most people have less time, and whilst a car & driver can be good value for money for 2 or more people, I'd worry more about the time lost in driving between places.

An overnight train gets you to a new destination in the time that you would have been sleeping in a hotel, and as you can't drive at night, it will take 5 - 8 hours out of your next day if you drive between the same places.

Overnight trains are a great option if you have limited time, but they're not without problems, if you do 2 overnight train journeys in a row, you'll feel worn out and not in the mood for having a proper look around, even an overnight train every 2nd night can leave you feeling tired, and I sleep well on the trains.

There is another problem with overnight trains that rarely gets mentioned, you arrive at a place early in the morning, and depart by another overnight train late at night, this can cause problems with hotels, they often have a 24 hour policy, so the time you arrive is the time you're expected to depart, leaving you with a large part of the day and no hotel to go to (even though most hotels are happy to look after your luggage), there are also hotels that don't want to see you before 10 or 11 in the morning, not much fun when you arrive in the city at 06:30.

But there's no doubt that you'll see more of your chosen destinations if you take the overnight train option, on the other hand, you'll see more village life and have fascinating (if tiring) journeys if you go by car.

We just can't win, both have their advantages and disadvantages.

I think Shimla will be very very cold at that time of year!

Hi Trezkillen,

I kind of agree with Mickey here. There's such a lot of info required and so many possible options it's really difficult to help you.

You could head out via Agra and Jaipur to Jaisalmer or Udaipur, fly back to Delhi (assuming the Jaisalmer flights have started), and get the train to Shimla from there. That could work by car or train.

Actually the more I read your post, and given the relatively short time between now and your trip, I think you're best off contacting a car tour operator, or someone like SD Enterprises in Wembley who deal with train tours. They can help you sort out what's possible by train or car or a combination.

I second Mickey (and Aishah) with the pre-booking hotels and trains- you're talking peak season here.

HTH.

Thanks everyone for the various advice. We do have hotels reserved in the various cities. How were would get to them is our problem. We realise it's the busiest time of year, and have been a bit nieve in our planning process. Looks like hiring a car and taking flights is probably our best option . We will go back to the drawing board taking on your various suggestions. Many many thanks

Yes.

But don't write off trains. There are tourist quotas and not all classes of all trains will be full.

Since you have hotels booked, you must have an idea of your schedule/itinerary. If you post that, members here may give you some ideas.

Wow, a different approach .

It looks like you need some good advice and you need it quick, but we really need a load more info.

When are you arriving and departing India?

What dates have you got hotels booked for and in what cities?

What other places do you want to see? (where you don't have hotels booked)

Will you consider 2-tier air con on trains?


You've had enough advise to help you make decisions, it's up to you now to give more info, we don't want to know what hotels or any personal details, just enough to advise you of the best way to get around.

(It’s too late for SD Enterprises to help you, I bet he gets a long stream of people leaving things too late then thinking SD Enterprises can somehow make extra berths appear, AFTER bookings have opened for the busy Xmas period.)