First Trip to India: 4 weeks, north and south, August

Hello all,

After spending a few weeks lurking on India Mike and planning my itinerary, I have a few plans and a lot of room for recommendations!

Background info: I am traveling with my friend and we are both 22 -- looking for more "off-the-beaten-track" places, but still hitting the must-see tourist attractions along the way. Our budget is not too small that we have to penny-pinch, but we'll be looking to stay on the cheaper side.

Partial Itinerary (trekking in the North)
Arrive in Dehli Aug 9, stay 2 nights
Bus or Cab to Manali: Arrive Aug 11, stay 1 night
Shared or Private jeep to Leh: Arrive Aug 12, stay 14 nights (backpacking and day trips)

At this point our plans open up -- I was thinking we could go via Dehli to Jaipur for a few days (will it be crazy hot?), but after I'm a bit overwhelmed with the options. We would like to spend some time on the beach in Goa if that makes sense with the rest of our travels. We fly out of Mumbai on September 8th, giving us about 13 days to get from Leh to Mumbai.

Any advice for how to spend those 13 days are welcome! Thanks in advance.

Cheers,

Matt

It'll be hot, and humid, just about everywhere except the mountains. You could poke around Rajasthan for a while. I'd suggest Varanasi to Jaipur. There is a Varanasi-Mumbai train, @ 28 hours, should you decide to stay in the north/Ganges valley. Not sure how Goa is in August, but someone will be along, shortly . . .

The weather will definitely make most of India really hard going. I would try to avoid big cities in particular, don't stay in Delhi any longer than you have to, August is not the time to be getting to know this place.
I'd agree with the above post on Rajasthan, it will be really hot but maybe less humid than other parts, laid back places like Bundi, Pushkar, maybe Jaisalmer. Varanasi in the monsoon may be challenging.
There's lots of talk about not swimming in monsoon season, which might make Goa less fun (I've only been to the beach once in August in Tamil Nadu-it didn't look inviting)
On the whole, if you can stay longer in the mountains then consider doing that, leave the other stuff to a more appropriate season.