[kavishra]

Hi!
A friend and I are traveling through Northern India for 3 weeks and China for 3 weeks. My family is from Jaipur, so we would definitely like to do Rajasthan. I'm having trouble deciding where to go for the week outside of Delhi, Rajasthan and Agra.

Other options include: Amritsar/Chandigarh/Simla region OR Simla/Manali/Ladakh region OR Varanasi/Khujaraho region.
In China, we will be visiting some of the provinces bordering Tibet.

Here is a rough itinerary:
Day 1 - Arrive in Delhi, o/n train to Jaisalmer
Day 2 - Jaisalmer
Day 3 - Jaisalmer
Day 4 - car to Jodhpur
Day 5 - Jodhpur
Day 6 - bus to Udaipur
Day 7 - Udaipur
Day 8 - Udaipur, bus to Jaipur
Day 9 - Jaipur and surrounding
Day 10 - Jaipur
Day 11 - Jaipur
Day 12 - Agra
Day 13 - ?
Day 14 - ?
Day 15 - ?
Day 16 - ?
Day 17 - ?
Day 18 - ?
Day 19 - ?
Day 20 - Delhi
Day 21 - Delhi

I would love your advice! I know the trip may be a little rushed, but we are both high-energy people expecting not to have any foreign travel for the next few years due to work. We will be in India during the month of February.

[jyotirmoy]

On the way to Udaipur you may visit Ranakpur for  the marvelous marble work in the Jain temple. Kumbhalgarh is another great place to visit and stay for one day. You can also consider visiting Bharatpur bird sanctuary after Agra.
In my opinion one full day is enough for Jaipur. Ranthambore tiger reserve is another destination.

[cyberhippie]

For your missing week try Madhya Pradesh, something like this Agra, Orchha, Jhansi, Indore, Mandu and Maheshwar and back to Delhi from Indore.

Orchha, Mandu and Maheshwar are three of the most beautuful places I've visited in India.

[torryquine]

Between Jaipur and Agra, stop off at Fatehpur Sikri - easily worth a day.  Better still, go Jaipur, Bharatpur, Fatepur Sikri, Agra.

Agra itsef isn't much of a place, but include the Fort and the Itmad-ud-Dullah tomb

[torryquine]

Varanasi - we were dissapointed in the place, it seemed rather commercial in it's religiousness.... but other people are blown away by it.

Kajuraho we found stiflingly touristy.  The temples themselves are rather lovely but we got a bit tired of the purile sniggering of a lot of visitors over the (not all that exciting) erotic sculptures.  (Any old Hindu temple will have some of these).  If you do go, take a trip out to the Ken River and Panna National park - really beautiful and unspoiled and a much better chance of seeing a tiger than Ranthambore.  Not guaranteed, there's only about 9 left in reality, but that's 9 more than Ranthambore.  It's only about 30km down the road from Kajuraho and most vistors for some reason just don't venture out that way.

[cyberhippie]

Taking a lead from Torry's post, you could also do the Orchha, Kajuraho, Chitrakoot, Bandavgarh, Delhi circuit with your free week.

Skipping Panna (sorry Torry) and instead taking in Bandavgarh, which is a great National Park with a big tiger population in a small, mountainous bit of Jungle.
We sighted 7 tigers in a day here,then none for the following two days, so it's always down to luck.
The park has many other attractions and one of the best guide networks I've seen in Indian National Parks.

The only reason I put this up as an idea in opposition to Torry's excellent suggestion of Panna is this.
Kalinjar fort, this chandela fort is also a great day trip out of Kajuraho, I've not been there myself YET but it's high on the list of to do's in India.
Lonely and not very frequented, this will be a new experience after the more frequented/touristy forts of Rajasthan.

Chitrakoot, is a mini Varanasi full of charm and colour. It's also a holy town, and is where Ram spent his years of exile.
The town has ghats just like Varanasi, but there's a more communual spiritualism here, get up early and watch the faithfull bathe, as the proprietors finish their morning puja, the little food stalls gradually open and the locals quaff chai and catch up with the news. Truly amazing place and very off the beaten track.

I ike Torry was underwhelmed by Varanasi during my short 5 day stay, this was 14 years ago and I've never been back.
For sure there's an element of spritualism, and people who know the place well say there are so many hidden temples and atmosphere's........
I found the burning ghat quite moving, no I'm not a ghoul, so not the cremation, but the ceremony behind it all.
I was moved to tears as the the family looking away from the river dropped the clay urn of ashes into the Ganges, the culmination of someones life, ended for now and the family moving on in this life.
Very moving.
Even back then as a newbie, the place had an air of touristy falsehood about it. The energy peopl speak of passed me by. Though one misty sunrise raised the hairs on the back of my neck.
In defence I understood little of what was happening on the Ghats so maybe I missed a lot. But I guess that would be the same for any new visitor to Varansi.

Undoubtably someone will be along with another look at Varanasi. So don't cross it off the list (from Bandavgarh you can also train iot to Varanasi or indeed from Chitrakoot if you so wish) these are just personal feelings, India is different for everyone.

Have fun whatever you do.

And keep the questions coming!

[cyberhippie]

Hmm I got it wrong there I think. Kalinjar Fort is nearer to Chitrakoot than Kajuraho, Perhaps you could hire a taxi between the two and Visit Kalinjar along the way.. Before heading to Bandavgarh.
So Panna NP could also be fitted in.

The roads are quite err exciting and bumpy, take a cushion.

[kavishra]

Wow, these are some great ideas. I think Varanasi might be out at this point. I like the idea of stopping by Ranakpur and Fatehpur Sikri. Any thoughts on Amritsar?

[cyberhippie]

Amritsar is great, the golden temple excellent.

[torryquine]

cyberhippie, on Jan 14 2009, 10:16 PM, said:

Amritsar is great, the golden temple excellent.

Fantastic, we're heading there in about two months   

I agree Bhandhavgargh and Kanha are better places to see a tiger than Panna, the advantage with the later is that it's a great mornings escape from Kajuraho (which we really didn't like that much).  

We didn't see any tigers, only thier pugmarks, but the scenery made up for it.  And just knowing the tigers are there is good.

[torryquine]

kavishra, on Jan 14 2009, 09:53 PM, said:

I think Varanasi might be out at this point.

In truth, it's a bit of a hike from where most of your trip will be.  Consider roaming down into Gujarat.  Or a favourite place of ours - Mandu, just inside Madhya Pradesh on the Western side.

Edited by torryquine, 15 January 2009 - 04:31 AM.