Two week trip to India in October - Rajasthan or south?

My husband and I are planning a trip in late October, incorporating a few days at the Pushkar Camel Fair. My friend who travels to India several times a year is insistent that Rajasthan is the logical first visit to India. I am wondering if anyone can help us with an itinerary that would be suitable for a trip that spans two weeks... I would be most grateful for any help you can provide. We are thinking of staying in mid-range priced accommodations - places that are clean and special with ';heart';, i.e. no chain hotels. The palaces seem to be out of our price range but we%26#39;d love to find places that have character and history! (Samode Haveli in Jaipur?) Is Varanasi an essential stop on any trip to India? Would we be better off heading south and avoiding the hyper-tourist environment of Rajasthan or is it as special as it is reputed to be?

Two week trip to India in October - Rajasthan or south?

The weather in October is very nice in Rajasthan. The camel fair at Pushkar is Oct 25 - Nov 2. At the minimum, you can do Delhi (2 nights) - Agra (1) - Jaipur / Pushkar (3). After that, it is really up to you.

Udaipur is a good idea in October. The monsoons end in September, and the lake will have the benefit of recent rain. It is best to fly to Udaipur. If you%26#39;re adding Udaipur, I would recommend Delhi (1) - Udaipur (2) - Jaipur / Pushkar (3) - Agra (1).

If you like the idea of going to Varanasi, there are overnight trains from Agra. Alternatively you could come back to Delhi, and then go to Varanasi by plane.

Rajasthan is ';hyper-tourist'; in some places and utterly charming in others. It is a stunning state with a lot of spectacle and colour, so I would definitely spend at least a little time there. To add the less touristy destinations, you should ideally convert your entire itinerary into a Delhi - Rajasthan - Agra schedule.

- Deepa

Two week trip to India in October - Rajasthan or south?

Hi Pruitt!

The price for mid range hotels (2 star or 3 star)

starts from USD 50 App and there is a variety of id range budget hotels in India, so it will be not a big problem for reservation, following are there name and numbers or website:

For hotel reccomendation

';Agra';

Hotel Pushp Villa- 3 star

www.hotelpuspvilla.com

HOTEL AMAR- 3 star

0091-562-2231884 - 89

KANT HOTEL

www.hotelkantagra.com

';Jaipur';

MANDWA HAVELI HERITAGE

0091-141-237114 / 2374130

SAJJAN NIWAS-Budget

www.sajjanniwas.com

';Delhi';

ASIAN GUEST HOUSE - Budget

www.asianguesthouse.com

SWARAJ DELUX

0091-11-28759453 / 9709

';Pushkar';

SAJJAN BAGH NIWAS

www.sajjanbagh.com

PUSHKAR PALACE

PRICE WILL INCRESE DURING FARE

JAGAT PALACE

Tel0091-0145-272001 / 2772401 / 2

';Udaipur';

HOTEL SAROVAR

WWW.HOTELSAROVAR.COM

HOTEL RAMPRATAP PALACE

NICE ON FATHESAGAR LAKE

Tel-0091-0294-2431701 / 2432961 / 2432700

';Varanasi';

PALACE ON GANGES

0091-542-2315050 / 4304-5

HOTEL SIDDHARTH

0091-542-2223358

';Rishikesh';

www.tapovanresort.com

Varanasi is one of the most holy place for Hindus and people do pilgramage there, boat ride in morning there would be great ,I think, but it is far from the usel itinerary ,so u can go for Rishikesh it`s near from Delhi and as good as Varanasi.

';The Rough Itinerary following';:

day

1 Arrival Delhi

2.Delhi

3.Delhi To Varanasi (By Train,Overnight in Train)

4. Arrival Varanasi

5. Varanasi

6.Varanasi to Agra (Take a train ).

7.Agra (Hire a cab on disposal basis upto Udaipur)

8.Agra to Jaipur

9.Jaipur

10.Pushkar

11.Pushkar

12.Udaipur

13.Udaipur

14.Tour END (Catch a flight for onward destination)

All the best

Paul Gopal

Samode Haveli is more expensive than mid-range but worry about the hotels later. Set your programme first

Your issues are -

1 - Is Rajasthan ';hyper-touristy';? - Are you saying you want to go where there are no tourists? Then Im afraid there ar every few places left in this world. Yes Rajasthan is special and very few people go away disappointed.

2 - What shoudl your itinerary be? Your itinerary should cover the period October/November. Plan to be in Jaipur for Diwali on the 17th Oct and end with Pushkar around the 1st Nov. If you wish to enjoy these two festivals in Rajasthan, you will have no time for Varanasi which you can save for a North India/Nepal trip later

I would suggest as follows -

15 Oct - Arrive Delhi

16 - Delhi - Jaipur

17 - Jaipur - Diwali day

18 - Jaipur

19 - Jaipur - Shekhawati

20 - Shekhwati - Biknaer

21 - Bikaner - Jaisalmer

22 - Jaisalmer

23 - Jaisalmer - Jodhpur

24 - Jodhpur - Abu

25 - Abu - Ranakpur

26 - Ranakpur - Udaipur

27 - Udaipur

28 - Udaipur - Bundi

29 - Bundi - Ranthambore

30 - Ranthambore

31 - Ranthambore - Pushkar

1 - Pushkar

2 - Drive Pushkar to Delhi

Have a great trip. If youre loking for a tour operator specialising in Rajasthan, look up the Rajasthan Association of Tour Operators website - www.ratorajasthan.org

Thank you so much. I really appreciate the tip about Diwali too! Now I have a good idea what to do... How does one, generally, get from point A to B? Trains, cabs, driver??? Any tip would be helpful. We do have a friend/contact in Delhi who we would stay with and who, hopefully, can arrange our accommodations for us. I tried the link to the Tour operators but couldn%26#39;t connect! Best regards and thanks again for everyone%26#39;s help.

One more thing... it was recommended to me that the best time to visit Pushkar was the first two or three days of the festival. So, if we were to juggle this potential itinerary around to be in Pushkar from the 25th and to be in Jaipur for Diwali on the 17th, could we rearrange the other stops to work this out? Just curious if this works in a logical way.Thanks again!

Last two days of the fair are normally the best if you want to see animals+people. First few days there are only the animals

Where does the visit to Agra fit in?

Come a day earlier and fit Agra between Delhi %26amp; Jaipur. Just be careful its not a Friday

You know, I think a trip to India is like planning a trip to Europe. Each of our states is like a country on its own - different language, cuisine, architecture and terrain. You can choose to stay in one state or you can choose to do multiple states.

I did a Europe trip 4-5 years ago with multiple countries in it - and last year I did another one with just Greece in it. The two holidays were very different from each other. In the first one, I saw very many different cultures and heard different accents and loved the differences in the terrain, ranging from the Swiss mountains to the Belgian countryside to Amsterdam%26#39;s city scene. In the Greece holiday, we enjoyed the deep dive into one particular culture - but we made sure we had a lot of variety in the visit - from laid-back islands, to small Venetian-style towns, to trekking, to ruins and history.

In planning your two weeks in India, I would urge you to think about what exactly you are going to spend your time seeing. Rajasthan itself has a lot to offer, but unless you mix the camel safaris, desert camps, tiger sanctuaries etc with the cities and palaces and forts, you will find the going repetitive. There are only so many turbans you can count :D

The other thing to bear in mind is that Rajasthan itineraries, with their constant travel and dash from one city to another, are extremely tiring. You will begin to feel like you are on the road or train all the time, and then in-between you are in forts and palaces. My personal travel preference would be to go a bit slower, take in fewer cities, but relax and unwind as you go along. Alternatively, I would highly recommend leaving at least 3 days at the very end of the itinerary to actually RELAX somewhere. A beach perhaps. Or some quiet town. Or one of these backwater places in Kerala that are tranquil beyond belief.

- Deepa

A couple of days at Pushkar Fair are fine. One day you could visit the Cattle Fair, riding a beautifully caparisoned camel %26amp; one for the city. There are several tented accomodations available, some better than others %26amp; not necessarily coterminous with rates!

Doing Rajasthan %26amp; Varanasi in 2 weeks will be ruining the pleasures of travel. You will probabaly need about 18 days for such a trip.

Happy Travels!