I'm not going there again,,,,,,,,

freenote

aw,c'mone guys & galls,all these negative vibes I havent been to most of these places yet!!!!!

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Jeroen

Delhi's Red fort - even before I saw all the fortresses of Rajastan I felt let down.
Fatehpur Sikri - OK, a nice bunch of empty buildings... but missable if you have time to see some really *good* Mughal architecture elsewhere - and save you the hassles.
Varanasi - huge cows butting me, chaos, flies, stench, touts, shit hotel full of the kind of tourists you don't want to meet... I wasn't in the mood for all that.

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bijapuri

OK, Puri . . .
It might be I haven't been to the good part of the beach, but I've been there 3X over the years, and every time the beach is full of shit and sewage. On top of that, you can't get into the temple, so what's the point? I'm pretty good at talking my way into most temples, including Madurai, but Puri I don't even wanna try!
If I return to that area, I'll just stay in Konarak, until they finally build that turtle-killing luxury joint there

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lookit me!!!: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bijapuri/

Utube fuzzy logic:
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indiamike

Places like people always have something good about them and you sometimes have to search it out.

What may appeal to one person may not appeal to another. Lots of times it's just your worn out hopping off a long journey and something happens and you hate it from the get go.

I hated Dharamsala with a passion the first time around, since then I have tried to revisit places and give them another go. The more time you spend in a place and get to know it the better it can be.

People hate Delhi, I hated it to. The more time I spent there the better it got. Now if I walk down the main bazaar it's like Norm from Cheers and everybody knows my name (and not from this site btw).

That being said ----the old part of Ahmedebad I cannot stand. That's the section that the LP tells you to stay in. Across the river it's pretty nice and the pizza hut is just fine

Although there have been cities that I had such a great time in I will not go back to them because I know I could never repeat that experience again.

albaruni

THAT being said, rani-no- hajoro and the old textile market are the best places to find bargains on this side of lahore, ...and the star hotel (forget it's name) has the best fish curry and rice positively in the middle of nowhere near any seawater fish....(auntie bella's restaurant also offers some of the greatest goan food outside of freemanx's diu in the next five hundred km...)

Bombay sometimes scares me, though.

volga_volga

i was waiting for someone to say they hated Delhi. but it is almost impossible to say "i am not going there again" is it? all roads lead to Delhi.

i agree with indiamike, give yourself time to get to know Delhi. i think most travellers regard it as a necessary stopover, hence the standard route Indira Gandhi airport - Paharganj - New Delhi train station and back (or, and a visit to Janpath/Central Cottages Emporium). but there is so much MORE to Delhi than Paharganj!! and even more than Old Delhi (if you read City of Djinns).

i think the problem with visiting large metros is that they are so impersonal. it is more difficult to establish personal links with a large city than with a small village. if you stay there for longer, develop work/private relationship, the city will open to you its human side.

few Paharganj travellers have any idea how middle class Indians live in Delhi. where they shop. how their bathrooms look like! they think Delhi is Pahargang. It is NOT! there is South, West, North and East! then there is Gurgaon and other suburbs.

and India of the metros is as much India as the rest of the country.

Jeroen, I know that the Red Fort seems empty when compared to any of the forts of Rajastan. But next time when i stand in front of it, i will think of the day when India was declared an independent country, right at that spot.

Delhi is one of the principal places where Indian history was made. how can you ignore it???

sillylilly

I don't think all roads to Delhi - I'm Indian and I've never been north of Bombay.....leave alone Delhi. If you want to do the Golden Triangle or Quadrilateral of Agra, Jaipur and Delhi, yes, you need to go to Delhi. I avoid all North Indian international airports. Given half a chance, I would avoid Mumbai airport too - its a god-awful place. These days I try to fly into Chennai, Bangalore or Hyderabad without stops in Mumbai, Delhi, etc. Air India, British Air, Air France, Singapore, Malaysian, and Lufthansa fly directly to Chennai, many middle eastern airlines fly to Hyderabad, Lufthansa flies to B'lore from Franfurt directly;Singapore and Malaysian also connect to B'lore directly. Air Lanka is also an option into Bangalore and Chennai.

wonderwomanusa

I dunno what it was about Allahabad. It was on my first visit to India, and I got off the train there. Stayed in a hotel that someone had told me about, on the cantonment side. Woke up the next morning with a huge feeling of DREAD and went straight to the train station, and sat there until the next train to Varanasi pulled in. Got off at Lucknow and had a couple of great days there, then went on and on and on.

I've never had any desire to go back to Allahabad and find out what it's all about...

I don't like Mumbai much, either; I love Calcutta and Puri. Go figure!

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The map is not the territory. --Alfred Korzybski

Merchant

There have been places I thought I didn't like, only to find them quite wonderful later. The big cities are like this. If you just breeze through Mumbai or Delhi, you might not find them appealing. But when you read more about them, meet people who live there (very important), and see different neighborhoods and different communities, their scale becomes manageable.

DianeN.

Well, all my roads lead to Delhi...I would never go to INdia without Delhi since my closest friends live there. I hardly ventured out in Delhi when I was there...but next time I want to wander about a bit more. I spent most of my time in the suburbs (which was adventure enough for me, a first time India goer). Just leaving the front door was an adventure, and leaning out over the balcony filled my senses with India.

I liked everywhere we visited...but I don't know if I would go back to any of them. Basically because I want to see other sights and go other places. Someday I'd like to go back...but probably the place I liked least was Pushkar....don't know if I'd go there again...but maybe if I timed it at the time of the camel fair.
I could also give Agra a miss. The TM was wonderful...but maybe once was enough.......

Dr Funkenstein

Hyderabad.

The only place where I've had tout hassle inside a mosque. Never again. Golconda Fort's nice, mind.

I hear what everyone's saying about Goa but Arambol's still pretty good, imo. I was there a couple of months back and it was just fine.

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Out There Somewhere : My Travel Blog.

cyberhippie

Jaipur
Udaipur
Pushkar
Khajuraho
Fatehpur Sikri
The touts here score too high on the richter scale for my liking!!
Pushkar should be renamed "pushykar" very little of the magic left I'm afraid.

I console myself with all the places I haven't yet visited, magic around every corner, that's India!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

butterball

Looks like Agra City is winning it... Although I have to agree, I HATED Pushkar too...

I think Goa is getting as lot of bad press.. I've managed to find some wonderful spots all over ( apart from the big resorts ) and think there's more to the State than meets the eye. Some great places to eat ( Panaji ) & some lovely old churches & houses. Don't dismiss some of the beaches ( esp. South Goa ) where you can really relax away from it all..

Only my opinion !

Bryan

Yeah ...Always enjoy Goa and always enjoy Delhi and Calcutta I love
Pushkar ...Makbe its my memories of Pushkar and spending the monsoon with books in a hammock ...
Like anywhere beauty is in the eye of the beholder

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Then let us pray that come it may
(As come it will for a' that),
That Sense and Worth o'er a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree an a' that.
For a' that, an a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That man to man, the world, o'er
Shall brithers be for a' that.
- Burns

Jeroen

Volga - I actually quite enjoyed Delhi, even in the 44°heat two weeks ago. I love the Mughul architecture, read up about it beforehand, and spent my time mostly romping around South Delhi. Saw the impressive Ghandi and Nehru museums and watched Manmohan Singh drive by on the first day he was PM.
I saw middle-class India in the New Friends Colony and the lovely Khan Market area, and liked meeting like-minded youngsters here. Looking forward to visiting Delhi again on the way out.