Travel Route in India?!

Gerbud

Hi All

Arrive in Delhi in March. WIll be spending about a month in India. Can anyone recommend a route?!

Thanks

cfitz

I recommend taking a connecting flight to Kerala without even leaving the airport in Delhi. In Kerala, I would recommend taking a private houseboat trip in the Allapuzzha area. Also there's a village near there with a lovely beach called Marari Beach. When you're tired of the south, you could take a flight or train back up north to Jaipur. There's cool forts there and a very hectic and polluted market in the city. Head over to Ranthambore then to see some tigers in the wild. Give yourself a few days just in case your unlucky - it's worth the wait to see them walk past your open-top jeep. Then on your way back towards Delhi you can go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. At this stage you should be accustomed enough to india to maybe enjoy Delhi. If you've more time there are loads more places to go, many probably a lot better than some of what I've mentioned. They're just most of the things I saw over there.

Lexe

From Delhi you could travel south to the state of Rajasthan. You can pick and chose which cities you'd like to see here, I'd recommend Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Udaipur and Pushkar as my favorites.
Bikaner is a smallish, dusty, sandy town, it has a cool retro feel to it. I thought it was beautiful to look around as an introduction to India, see the fort and the old walled city.
Jaisalmer is a must see in Rajasthan. The buildings here are breathtaking, there's a huge fort, a couple of havelis and Jain temples. It's known as the golden city because of the yellow sandstone. It's also a popular spot to go on camel safaris into the Thar desert.
Udaipur is quieter than the above 2, almost doesn't feel like India in terms of noise, pollution! which is a nice change for a night or two. I'd recommend Lalghad guesthouse, I kicked back here for a weekend and met lots of backpackers, including 2 Irish.
Pushkar is a real laid back town, not a whole lot to do, but the locals are young and friendly so you can easily pass the time hanging out with them. It attracts hippies for some reason and it's pretty good for shopping.
Otherwise the Taj Mahal in Agra is worth the pricey ticket, but be warned Agra is a pain in the a$$, I left asap. Varanasi is easily reached by train from here and it's so interesting, great place to observe Indian people, hinduism and life and death! It also drained me, possibly the noisiest and worst traffic i've ever seen in my life!
Good luck and enjoy, I hope you love it! Eat as much as you can!

Four of a kind

how cheap/expensive is India compared with the likes of Thailand/Loas/Vietnam?

Lexe

I think India is a little bit more expensive. Average room is 6-8euro for midrange, in comparison to around 3-5 in south east Asia. Street food in India is ridiculously cheap, so you can save money here. Restaurants are prob similar price to Thailand.
Beer is def not as cheap, a kingfisher in India prob cost up to 2euro in a restaurant, in comparison to the delicious Beer Lao coming in at 50cent in Laos.
Transport in India is super cheap too, trains are around 8euro for an overnight trip in third class where you'd have a bed with curtain.
If you're not drinking alot I'd budget 800/900 for a month.

kraggy

Lexe wrote: »

I think India is a little bit more expensive. Average room is 6-8euro for midrange, in comparison to around 3-5 in south east Asia. Street food in India is ridiculously cheap, so you can save money here. Restaurants are prob similar price to Thailand.
Beer is def not as cheap, a kingfisher in India prob cost up to 2euro in a restaurant, in comparison to the delicious Beer Lao coming in at 50cent in Laos.
Transport in India is super cheap too, trains are around 8euro for an overnight trip in third class where you'd have a bed with curtain.
If you're not drinking alot I'd budget 800/900 for a month.

When were you in India and when were you in Laos? There wasn't any 50c Beer Lao when I was there November 2009.

Regarding India guys, how much would you need per week? Just want to get a variety of figures from various people who have been to Indian in the last, say, 2 years. Would 200 euro cover accommodation, food for the week and beers a couple of nights?

Is there a north/south divide when it comes to prices or are they fairly universal throughout?

Finally, how much is it to see the Taj?

Thanks.

dory

kraggy wrote: »

When were you in India and when were you in Laos? There wasn't any 50c Beer Lao when I was there November 2009.

Regarding India guys, how much would you need per week? Just want to get a variety of figures from various people who have been to Indian in the last, say, 2 years. Would 200 euro cover accommodation, food for the week and beers a couple of nights?

Is there a north/south divide when it comes to prices or are they fairly universal throughout?

Finally, how much is it to see the Taj?

Thanks.

I would say €200 would be fine per week. A nice room could be 10 - 15 Euro, if you want AC. You could budget €10 a day for food. But I could not spend that much, I ate in fairly normal places not backpacker but not upper class. Then beers, in a nice bar a drink could be 120 Rupees. Which right now is is €1.90. These prices didn't change much in the times I've been to India ('05, '06, '08, '09)

To see the Taj, there is a 750 Rupee entrance fee (€11.80). This was the fee when I went there in 2005 and 2009. You may get ripped off with taxis though, Agra is rip off central in India because of the Taj. Don't buy any souvenirs there, you can get the exact same item in Delhi for a tenth of the price.
You can get the train to Agra, then taxi or something to the Taj. Taxis are not allowed go too close so you have to use camel, horse, electric motor thing or walk. We paid €1 for the camel.

shuffles03

This is a great thread. Cheers for posting it. I have a thread going about RTW and India is my first stop, looking to spend 4 weeks there too so all this info is great! It's looking like I'll be flying into Mumbai. Is it overly ambitious and expensive to think about travelling to Nepal. Seeing as I'm gonna be so close...ish.

dory

It's doable. I'm flying into Mumbai at the end of June and heading for a place called Darjeeling that is quite close to Nepal. But really, in four weeks there is so much to do in India! Are you going to Nepal to tick it off a list or to see something particular? All the mountain things you can do in Nepal you can do in Northern India too!

breadmonkey

dory wrote: »

It's doable. I'm flying into Mumbai at the end of June and heading for a place called Darjeeling that is quite close to Nepal. But really, in four weeks there is so much to do in India! Are you going to Nepal to tick it off a list or to see something particular? All the mountain things you can do in Nepal you can do in Northern India too!

Nepal is a totally different vibe though imo.

@shuffles03 - again, imo, it would be a waste of time and energy to include a jaunt to Nepal in a 4 week trip to India.

cfitz

dory wrote: »

I would say €200 would be fine per week. A nice room could be 10 - 15 Euro, if you want AC. You could budget €10 a day for food. But I could not spend that much, I ate in fairly normal places not backpacker but not upper class.

Which cities did you get those prices in and what do you mean by 'nice room'? I think in Cochin, Kerala you could probably get those prices. But in Delhi, we paid more for very miserable accommodation and from what I could gather, it was considered midrange. Also, for the most part, I think Indian accommodation in the touristy cities for that price would not be called a 'nice room' in any other country. The nicer places that we stayed in in India still had plenty of geckos and mosquitos. All that said, it's possible that we missed out on a lot of the bargains - we sometimes just took the easy options coz we found the country such hard work.

blorg

It does depend on what your comfort requirements are. I'm spending €300/month and living pretty comfortably. I am not a stickler for accomodation. We have paid between 150 and 600R (€2.50-10) for a double with bathroom, no A/C (A/C doubles the price). Indians like to haggle, bear in mind the first price is not the final price. And geckos in a room are a plus, they eat the mosquitos! Beer IS expensive but spirits are very cheap, as is bhang if that's your thing (legal in some states, not in others.) So far we have gone from Mumbai to a small town called Bundi in eastern Rajasthan, which is very nice to visit, much more relaxed than even Udaipur (which was also lovely.) Here two months now. Prices vary widely around the country, even within a state. Particularly for accomdation.