India for the First-timer

My husband and I have always wanted to go to India but have never got round to it. Finally, for our 25th wedding anniversary I have decided we shall go. BUT its such a huge country. I don%26#39;t want to hop around, day here, day there. So where shall we go? We are in our fifties and don%26#39;t much care for big cities.

Help!

India for the First-timer

I%26#39;m tempted to jump right in here and say %26#39;Rajasthan%26#39;.... this is, in my opinion, the best of India. Even Indians from other areas will tell you that Rajasthan is the ';real'; India.

However, your point about India being a huge country is an important one... because it also has a huge climate variation, and the time of year you are going should have some impact on your choice of area. So, if you can write back and tell us your travel dates, and also a little more about exactly what you want to do and how you%26#39;d like to spend your time (beaches? desert? tigers? ancient history? shopping?)I am sure that the advice you get will be just that more reliable and more tailor-made for yourselves.

Congratulations, by the way, on twenty-five years... quite an achievement. And what a great poresent you have planned for yourselves! This is the best place in the world for a visit, and you will have an unforgettable time.

India for the First-timer

I am an Indian fond of travelling. I can advise you provided you can answer the following qurries

1] how long you are going to stay?

2] which month you propose your trip/

3] what is your interest? Beaches? hill stations? historical places? wild life?

My first trip to India was in Rajasthan. I loved it.

No need to see big cities there. You arrive in Delhi and leave the next day or even the same night if you are not too tired. A trip to Neemrana is not that long after landing and you will be in heaven right away. On later trips I went to South India and liked it too. A spa in Keral is wonderful but it is a different type of trip. Then the Himalays area. I think I have covered most of India by now and Rajasthan is still my favorite place. Look at Clio.fr for ideas of itineraries even if you do not travel with them. Then have excellent itineraries that you can then adjust to your own interests/pace with a car and driver.

Thanks for your replies. We would be going in October or November. No beaches. No big cities. We would either drive or hire a driver spending a few nights wherever we stopped.

It%26#39;s generally not done, and not sensible, to drive yourself. Definitely don%26#39;t do it if you%26#39;ve never driven in India before. Hire a car and driver.

Hmm...no cities. Well, a Rajasthan tour takes in a number of large towns and cities and is very much on the ';tourist trail';. You could do it and stop at smaller places- Chandelao, Ranakpur, Bundi, Chittorgarh- these are much more low key than the main stops on your average Rajasthan tour.

Perhaps something like this Delhi - Vrindavan - Agra (for the Taj Mahal) - Gwalior - Orchha - Khajuraho - Varanasi and then back up to Delhi by train or flight. Orchha is a small village, Khajuraho a town.

Also suggest fitting in Ranthambhore or Bharatpur, smaller places with National Parks.

Or head up into the mountains- Himachal perhaps? What time of year will it be? Too may options really- I think a good guidebook is in order!

Doh, you said it%26#39;s Oct/Nov! Sorry. Well then, stick to Rajasthan or a Varanasi trip.

My one trip to India -- and wonderful Rajasthan -- was also in October-November, so I can now say with more confidence: yes, make it Rajastahan. Not many beaches there, but quite a bit of sand! It%26#39;s another world out there... difficult, maddening, unbelievably exotic, totally unforgettable

You can do Rajastahn by train, if you don%26#39;t want the expense of hiring a driver.It%26#39;s remarkably well-served by trains, and in most cases, you can find a train leaving Town A in the evening, arriving at Town B at around 5 the following morning. It will be very important for you to start your sightseeing early every day; by around 1 or 2 in the afternoon, you may feel that the best thing to do is just find a shady spot and wait out the next three hours.

The trains are really quite comfortable, especially if you go AC class, which means you get a sleeper for the two of you. On our trip, we adopted the general plan that we would spend one night overnight on the train, the next two nights in the town we arrived at, then another night on the train.

Delhi is the obvious starting point for such a circuit, and you could quite comfortably take in Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Jaipur and Bundi (ralhead is Kota) in a little over two weeks; a few extra days could see Udaipur and Agra added to these (Agra is NOT one of the places where you%26#39;d spend two days after the train arrived... just half a day to see the Taj would be a better plan; if you plan your day so that you arrive in Agra around sun-up (the best time to see the Taj, just as it%26#39;s opening and before anyone elsse has arrived on the day-trips from Delhi or the breakfast tables in Agra)on Sunday morning, there is a train (no. 9750) which leaves Agra Fort at 10:05 and arrives in Kota (for Bundi) at about 3 in the afternoon.... a very efficient way to get the Taj out of the way and get to somewhere special on the same day.

Jaisalmer is, to my mind, the jewel of Rajasthan and the best place in India. Whatever else you decide to leave out, try not to miss it, and allow an extra day so that you can go on an overnight camel safari into the desert. Any hotel -- in fact, just about any local -- will happily organise a trip to the Sam Dunes for you; if you want something a little less-ordinary (a road seldom travelled) go to the Shahi Palace Hotel, just outside the fort (it has magnificent nmorning views of this amazing fort) and organise with the proprietors there to join Setan in his safari out past the tiny desert village where he was born (and where his family still lives). While this is mainly for guests of Shahi Palace, I can%26#39;t see any reason why you couldn%26#39;t join in even if you happened to be staying somewhere else (we, however, thought that Shahi Palace was so nice that we wouldn%26#39;t dream of staying anywhere else). I think this safari was the best experience we had in five weeks in India... not only was the desert clear, unpolluted, and as strange as the surface of the Moon, but the village itself was amazing... the type of place where the well is the centre of town, and the children smile shyly at the strange-looking foreigners. They have a school there which is probably the worst-equipped school you will ever see, so if you do go out that way, make sure you take a couple of books or similar to leave at the school (being Aussies, we gave them a cricket set).

If you have a couple of days to spare in October -- maybe first thing in your holiday after you land in Delhi -- consdier a flight (Jet Airways do a daily one) from delhi to Leh, and a couple of nights in a VERY different part of India (think Shangri-La in the old Frank Capra movie ';Lost Horizon';). If you wait till November it is starting to get too cold, but October would merely be bracing, and the experience is utterly unlike everywhere else in India... you%26#39;d never dream you were even IN India, except that the people buy and sell in rupees.... apart from that, you%26#39;d think maybe Tibet or Nepal.

I%26#39;m starting to rave on, but I envy you so much this trip, and I expect you will have the best 25th-wedding experience anyone is ever likely to have. You%26#39;ll probably start planning your thirtieth even before you%26#39;ve left India!

By the way, if you decide that you DO want to hire a car and driver, I can put you onto a man in Delhi who will take all the worry out of your trip, give you exceptional service, and treat you with scrupulous honesty. Just get back onto this thread -- or send me a private message -- and we can talk more.

I am planning my first trip to India for this August (which I hear to be a crazy time to go!!). I%26#39;m very excited by also very scared. As far as I%26#39;m concerned, I%26#39;m traveling by myself for a couple of days. I%26#39;m also a woman, so I have a very cautious outlook on that as well.

I will be flying into Mumbai first but I want so very badly to see the Bodhi Tree... is there any advice, suggestions, recommendations about this?

I definitely want an Indian spiritual journey for the short time that I%26#39;m allowed.. help?

You need to get to Gaya, which is between Varanasi and Kolkata, quite a long way from Mumbai.

However, the trains are fast, and there are many grades of seats, so that you can be as private as you want to be. Breaking the journey in Varanasi (or its nearby junction, Mughal Sarai) would probably make things a little easier for you: for instance, train 2322 leaves Mumbai daily at 2125, and arrives at Mughal Sarai the next night at midninght; train 8610 runs Saturday only from Mumbai, leaving at 1550, and arrives at Varanasi the next day at 20:30, a much nicer time to find accommodation.

There are tours from Varanasi to Gaya and the tree (we took one of these, so we really don%26#39;t know how far the railhead at Gaya is from the actual temple and the tree), but if you%26#39;re the independent type you can surely do it yourself, by train -- lots of them between Varanasi/Mughal Sarai and Gaya -- or bus.

Anyway, it would be hard to imagine a better place in India than Varanasi for a spiritual experience. Make sure you stay in the old town, on the banks of the Ganges, at one of the scores of guest houses there. We liked Scindhia Guest House, as it was right on the amazing Atlantis-like Scindhia Ghat (which was designed as the most elaborate and expensive of all the ghats, but actually fell down beofre it was finished, and never salvaged), which is right next to the main burning ghat... the smell of the funereal pyres which burn there continually wafts into your room and across your balcony.... an interesting experience, and, I assure you, not at all gruesome.

do you know what tour you went on?

%26amp; how long it lasted for?