First time ti India - Suggestions

[pds2008]

Hi

Planning my first trip to India next year for about a month - have complete flexibility as to where and when. I would welcome suggested itineries or suggestions of places to visit. I don't mind flying around but I do want to experience at least a couple of train journeys on the sub-continent.

Thanks in advance

[ahenry]

I lasted visited in 2007, but I found the forums at http://www.indiamike.com/india/ really helpful.

[dionaeamuscipula]

I've only been to New Delhi and Agra, both of which I would highly recommend.

Several friends have taken some time out in Goa and have enjoyed it.

DM

[tea42]

Went on this, Shimla, the golden triangle etc https://www.greatrail.com/tours/indias- ... on-wheels/ Most hotels and even lunch places were Dotchester standard. But it was about 60% of that price? Going independently I am sure you could do it for a lot less.

[Sobraon]

I have done a few business trips to India over the years staying mainly in business cities but a place I recently visited and really enjoyed was Ahmedabad.

I managed to get a couple of days off in Ahmedabad ( staying at the The Ummed Ahmedabad) and I booked a hotel driver and car and asked him to show me around *. The Ashram at Sabarmati was great and the staff were very helpful and friendly - a very interesting place if you have any interest in Gandhi at all. The Ahmedabad Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial is worth a few hours but watch out for the monkeys at the exit. I also spent a couple of hours at the Akshardham Temple with its fantastic carvings, beautifully dressed hijra and a very good chai cart at the gates serving lovely adrak chai.

* As a general principle for safety I always use a hotel car for local transport and pick up and drop off at the airport.

[tjh290633]

I've been to India a few times on business. I regard it as more of an experience than a holiday. There are obvious tourist traps, like Agra and Goa.

The main thing is to stay in a decent hotel, although a local one may work OK. I've been to Goa three times, staying first in the Taj Holiday Village and twice in the Hotel Mandovi in Panjim. I've also eaten in the Taj Fort Aguada Hotel. In general, if you avoid their attempts at western food, you should be OK. One small culture shock at the Mandovi was to find that the breakfast tea urn contained both milk and sugar. You may also find that the vegetarian option on Indian Airlines is the best choice.

In Calcutta I stayed at the Oberoi Grand, which is very nice, although a colleague went down with Delhi Belly and had to stay for a fortninght before he could travel home. I also ate at the Kenilworth Hotel, near our client's office, where the pomfret and chips was very acceptable.

In Delhi I stayed at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, near Connaught Circus. On a trip out to Allahbad, it was a local hotel, with lizards running round above my head in bed, and a very odd bathroon.

I've also stayed at a local hotel in Bombay, near the airport, but the Shilla Hotel at the airport was much better. Transport provided by the hotel is definitely preferable, and if you hire a car with driver, don't send him away too soon. Driving on rural roads can be a bit of a culture shock.

No experience of trains in India, I'm afraid. China and Russia, yes. Go for the highest class that you can find.

TJH

[77ss]

Hi

Planning my first trip to India next year for about a month - have complete flexibility as to where and when. I would welcome suggested itineries or suggestions of places to visit. I don't mind flying around but I do want to experience at least a couple of train journeys on the sub-continent.

Thanks in advance

A wonderful and hugely varied country! I really don't think you can go too far wrong - with the exception of Goa, which I didn't care for at all.

Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Ladakh..... Depends what you enjoy most. I think I liked Kerala the best, but I have loved all my holidays in the country. Mumbai-Nasik-Aurungabad-Hampi-Mysore-Kochi-Madurai-Tiruchirapalli-Pondicherry-Mahabalipuram-Chenai would give you a good taste of the south (spelling not guaranteed!).

Train journeys can be very slow and long - and overnight. I did enjoy a ride from Calcutta to Bishnupur - day trippable. In fact, Calcutta is not a bad starting point at all. Interesting in itself, and an easy short flight to Bhubaneswar in Orissa - then to Puri, and the remarkable Sun Temple at Konark etc. Too many options.

I am not a vegetarian, but when in India I go totally veggy - its just so good.

Wherever you go, have a great time.

[Nimrod103]

Lived there for 6 years. Came back to the UK 7 years ago, so possibly things have changed a little, but I doubt it.
The country is vast, with a huge variety of things to see and do, so the following is based on my personal experiences and preferences. As a general comment, the south is safer for the lone traveller than the north, and Delhi can be a bit edgy in places. When travelling I always ate vegetarian, as the meat is usually the source of stomach troubles. Water from bottles should be OK, but taking some immodium, water purification tablets, and extra underwear is an excellent idea. Being in India for a festival is superb - Holi is Friday 2nd March 2018, everyone gets covered in paint. March-May and Sept-Nov are the best times to go, avoiding the monsoon, and the winter in the north. There are better times to visit the Himalayas because of the visibility issues - check in a guide book.

The best things in the south are the Hindu temples (Madurai is very good, you can wander around in the evening when it is so atmospheric) and renting a houseboat on the Kerala backwaters. Re the latter, you can go for one with air conditioning, but there will be the throb of a generator all night to put up with.
Goa, you either like or don't. I thought it was a cross between the Mediterranean and India. The north of Goa is better as it was less dominated by big hotels. The beaches are excellent, but the waves/currents very strong.

Rajasthan is a must, as long as you like deserts. Start in Jaipur, got out to Jodphur, and Jaisalmeer if you can. We spent a Holi in Jaisalmeer, and it was fantastic fun. Try to visit a Jain temple such as Ranakpur near Udaipur, they are made of shining white marble, covered in carvings.
Varanasi is very interesting (for the burning ghatts) if you want an insight into Hinduism. Visit Khajuraho if you like carved temples and have an open mind.

The Taj Mahal is really unmissable, but the rest of Agra is a dump. None of the other tombs compare with the Taj.
If you like steam railways, there are the Nilgiri rack railway, and the Darjeeling Himalayan. There are nothing like them in the World. But I found the hill stations disappointing - noisy transport hubs full of middle class Indian tourists with holiday homes. They are not havens of peace and quiet.

If you are desperate to see Tigers, go to Ranthembore National Park (much easier by train than car), though I think most of them there have transmitter collars, so the rangers know exactly where they were. The parks do not abound in wildlife like the African waterholes. I would have liked to see the rhinos in Kaziranga National Park, but never got there. However, I did get to see the Asiatic lions in Gir National Park.
A final suggestion is take a flight to Leh or Ladakh in Indian Buddhist Kashmir. The flight crosses part of the Himalays with an exciting landing at about 11000 feet, and an entirely different culture. Before April it can be very cold.

[BrummieDave]

If it's your first time, then all the above is good info as is most other sources on the web. It's only when you are going for the tenth plus time you need to stray off the well documented tourist path. The classic north Indian triangle routes are best for first timers IMHO, then venture further afield if you enjoy that (Kerala etc.). Note the recent law change about alcohol in hotels too, as that may influence where you go.

Not sure on your budget but first time visitors can't go wrong with Taj or Oberoi hotels, with the Oberoi at Udaipur being my favourite. I'm not a fan of Leela Palace hotels, but others like them. If you go to (New) Delhi stay at The Imperial and drink in the history of the place. I like New Delhi on a Sunday when it's deserted, and make sure you visit Akshardam Temple (rarely mentioned on tourist sites but is almost unbelievable) for the evening performance of the history of India/Hinduism (better than any Disney live show by a mile). You'll have Ghandi's house to yourselves too on a Sunday. Jantar Mantar will blow your mind away (New Delhi or Jaipur) as will the tower at Qubt Minar (difficult to believe how old it is).

Varanasi is fast becoming a tourist hot spot. Take it or leave it, but book a good hotel as you'll want to escape from the intensity of the experience, and don't stay more than two days.

And the Taj Mahal is truly a one off and must be seen. Don't hang around in Agra though.

Train 'experiences' are not that easy to come by actually. Tourist trains offering a taste of India want you to stay on them for a week (not worth it) and other rides can be relatively dull. I'd fly between most places.

If you've any specific questions, post them and someone on here will know the answer!

[Nimrod103]

If it's your first time, then all the above is good info as is most other sources on the web. It's only when you are going for the tenth plus time you need to stray off the well documented tourist path. The classic north Indian triangle routes are best for first timers IMHO, then venture further afield if you enjoy that (Kerala etc.). Note the recent law change about alcohol in hotels too, as that may influence where you go.

Not sure on your budget but first time visitors can't go wrong with Taj or Oberoi hotels, with the Oberoi at Udaipur being my favourite. I'm not a fan of Leela Palace hotels, but others like them. If you go to (New) Delhi stay at The Imperial and drink in the history of the place. I like New Delhi on a Sunday when it's deserted, and make sure you visit Akshardam Temple (rarely mentioned on tourist sites but is almost unbelievable) for the evening performance of the history of India/Hinduism (better than any Disney live show by a mile). You'll have Ghandi's house to yourselves too on a Sunday. Jantar Mantar will blow your mind away (New Delhi or Jaipur) as will the tower at Qubt Minar (difficult to believe how old it is).

Varanasi is fast becoming a tourist hot spot. Take it or leave it, but book a good hotel as you'll want to escape from the intensity of the experience, and don't stay more than two days.

And the Taj Mahal is truly a one off and must be seen. Don't hang around in Agra though.

Train 'experiences' are not that easy to come by actually. Tourist trains offering a taste of India want you to stay on them for a week (not worth it) and other rides can be relatively dull. I'd fly between most places.

If you've any specific questions, post them and someone on here will know the answer!

If you stay in these high end hotels, you will not experience the real India, and it will cost you a packet. Better to stay in the mid range hotels, which tend to be a great deal cheaper, though not so luxurious. I'm not sure what you mean by 'train experiences'. The fast daytime trains, the Shatabdis, are excellent, but for the best, use a sleeper train, 2nd class (AC or non AC depending on availability and time of year), as you will quickly get talking to other passengers, or even swept up to join their family groups. 1st class train travel, I found, tended to be dominated by foreign tourists and chain smoking Indian Govt officials on business.

[Lootman]

No experience of trains in India, I'm afraid. China and Russia, yes. Go for the highest class that you can find.

Be careful. At least when I was there, trains had 4 classes: the usual 3rd, 2nd and 1st, but 1st was not the best class - that honour is reserved for Air Conditioned class. First Class may sound great but, without AC, it can be miserable.

The AC class also has sleeping berths (won't call them beds) which are invaluable on, say, the 48 hour trip from Kerala to Agra that we took.

Funny thing there - the train stopped all over the place but wasn't actually scheduled to stop at Agra, although it went through it. But the guy on the train told us that it goes through Agra station very slowly, so "just jump off"! So we did, with our bags and all. You have to love India.

Loved Goa, Kerala and Mysore.

[BrummieDave]

If you stay in these high end hotels, you will not experience the real India, and it will cost you a packet. Better to stay in the mid range hotels, which tend to be a great deal cheaper, though not so luxurious. I'm not sure what you mean by 'train experiences'. The fast daytime trains, the Shatabdis, are excellent, but for the best, use a sleeper train, 2nd class (AC or non AC depending on availability and time of year), as you will quickly get talking to other passengers, or even swept up to join their family groups. 1st class train travel, I found, tended to be dominated by foreign tourists and chain smoking Indian Govt officials on business.

I think we're veering into classic Lemonfool territory here Nimrod, where an OP is pretty vague and we all try to help, but our interpretations vary somewhat. I was picking up on the 'first time in India' aspect and thus suggesting hotels that are a joy to stay at, yet in many ways, as you point out, could equally be described as not 'the real India'.

For someone going for the first time, this can be ideal combination. A wonderful holiday, lots to see (including the real India), with the comfort blanket of the extreme levels of comfort and service that Taj and Oberoi provide. And for many travelers, India is one the the very few places offering such luxury at affordable levels.

I would agree that smaller less expensive hotels, particularly in tourist areas such as Kerala, can be family owned (eg homestays) offering a truly wonderful experience. I hinted at this in my first paragraph.

If PDS wants our help, not only does he have plenty to read, but as I said in my post, he can pose questions and there's an abundance of folk on here happy and capable of answering.

[Nimrod103]

Perhaps I should have started my comments by saying that IMHO holidaying in India is hard work and often exhausting. There are the beggars in your face, the cows wandering everywhere, trucks driving up the wrong carriageway towards you, the deffecating on the streets and beaches, the heat, mosquitoes and food poisoning. Then there are the almost constant attempts to rip you off, which I always resisted as a matter of principle, even though I knew I might be arguing over (what were to me) trivial sums. But on the plus side, most of the people I encountered on all my travels were delightful, and worth the effort of being friendly with. And it is difficult to get that type of involvement, without genuinely mixing with them.
Don't go to India for a relaxing time.

[pds2008]

Many thanks to everyone who responded.

My post was deliberately vague to get as many suggestions as possible and you have not disappointed. Fortunately I am the sort of geek who loves planning vacations almost as much as taking them so I am currently nose deep in the Rough Guide to India reading about all the suggestions that have been made.

My preference for my first trip is leaning to a trip to the south of India - I don't want to try to do too much in the first trip. Most people I know who have been once immediately want to go back.

I particularly appreciate the suggestion to go veggie for the trip - sounds like a great idea.

Thanks again

pds

[77ss]

Many thanks to everyone who responded.

My post was deliberately vague to get as many suggestions as possible and you have not disappointed. Fortunately I am the sort of geek who loves planning vacations almost as much as taking them so I am currently nose deep in the Rough Guide to India reading about all the suggestions that have been made.

My preference for my first trip is leaning to a trip to the south of India - I don't want to try to do too much in the first trip. Most people I know who have been once immediately want to go back.

I particularly appreciate the suggestion to go veggie for the trip - sounds like a great idea.

Thanks again

pds

Just a point about guides. The Rough Guide will be useful for getting around, hotels etc, but I found the Blue Guide to Southern India invaluable for the sightseeing end of things. It may be a bit dated now, but I still found it extremely useful on my last trip. A keeper!

Have a great time!

[DiamondEcho]

Hi, Planning my first trip to India next year for about a month - have complete flexibility as to where and when. I would welcome suggested itineries or suggestions of places to visit. I don't mind flying around but I do want to experience at least a couple of train journeys on the sub-continent. Thanks in advance

I did a DIY circumnavigation overland c30 years ago now. To me the stand-out regions were Rajasthan + Kerala. In contrast I'd (still) have no wish to return to Delhi, Bombay, Madras or Calcutta, so don't suggest them unless you really want to pay a premium to get the good/bad of the whole mega-city thing right in your face every day.
The Taj Mahal is amazing, as I recall we arrived there one morning at c4am (for sunrise) and had left before evening, there was no reason to stick around.
Hill stations like Ootacamund, similar IME to hill stations in Malaysia are underwhelming. Tricky journeys to/fro, expensive to stay, and a climate like the UK in almost winter - why bother?

One thing with countries like India is it pays to take it slowly, do less, stay a while, relax and get the feel of a place. Enough random delay etc will probably happen anyway. If you fight the local pace hurrying around you might find it frustrating. This applies to most such countries.

[StepOne]

We went to Kerala about a decade ago and really enjoyed it. It's probably not typical of a lot of India - much greener and relatively less deprivation due to this. The food was amazing, but definitely avoid meat dishes. We are the opposite of you in terms of planning - we booked our flights before buying a guide book, and as a result we ended up going in June which is the rainy season. To be honest, though, this worked out fine. There was quite a bit of tropical rain while we were there, but it's not as though we were going there to sun-bathe so it was not a problem. And the upside was that there were hardly any tourists there - so we got our pick of hotels etc.

You would definitely want to spend a couple of days/nights on a houseboat touring the Keralan backwaters, and visit Kochi. The food on the houseboat was the best we experienced the whole time we were there, and all conjured up from a little gas stove at the back of the boat. From there we took taxis up to the tea plantations around Munnar and Periyar, then over the mountains and across to Madurai which is in Tamil Nadu - complete opposite to Kerala, flat dry and dusty, but the temples make it worth a visit. From there we got a train back to Trivandrum. The train is an absolute must, but you will spend hours queueing to buy a ticket, and the various classes etc are confusing, so a bit of advance research will be worth it. The train journeys will leave about 2 or 3 hours later than scheduled and take about double the expected time, so don't be in a rush to get anywhere! Once back in Trivandrum we booked ourselves into the nicest beach hotel we could find to relax for a couple of days before flying home.

Just writing about it makes me wish we could do the whole thing again!

StepOne

[Almalutz]

"Stay Alert" Near crowded tourist attractions in India, you might find a lot of hawkers, fixers, auto-drivers and other shady people who might show that they want to “assist” you. In reality, most of them just want to extort money from you even if it’s easier for you to undertake a task without any assistance.

[ReformedCharacter]

"Stay Alert" Near crowded tourist attractions in India, you might find a lot of hawkers, fixers, auto-drivers and other shady people who might show that they want to “assist” you. In reality, most of them just want to extort money from you even if it’s easier for you to undertake a task without any assistance.

True, many years ago I was wandering across Connaught Circus in Delhi when I was accosted by a raggedy chap touting for business. I eventually understood that he was an 'ear-cleaning wallah', I did decline...

RC

[DiamondEcho]

"Stay Alert" Near crowded tourist attractions in India, you might find a lot of hawkers, fixers, auto-drivers and other shady people who might show that they want to “assist” you. In reality, most of them just want to extort money from you even if it’s easier for you to undertake a task without any assistance.

True, many years ago I was wandering across Connaught Circus in Delhi when I was accosted by a raggedy chap touting for business. I eventually understood that he was an 'ear-cleaning wallah', I did decline... RC

Yes, you need to keep your eyes open and wits about you IME, esp. if travelling solo. IME it's not so much that me and my friend had much hassle at all, just when it happened it happened in unexpected ways.
- In Delhi being approached by a trashed/wrecked looking but very 'posh' speaking young Englishman in the centre of Delhi, and have him limping along beside me imploring that I help him by giving him some money. [He would have been a junkie]. I was young, I didn't give him money, but I can still picture him, the scene, and how it felt - harrowing.
- In Mumbai being approached by a chatty educated-looking man who wanted me to help him with some form of currency transaction for 'his company'. In short, just don't get involved in anything like that, at the least it'll just be a waste of your valuable holiday time.
- Somewhere in Rajesthan going for a haircut and shave at a open-fronted local barber shop. The barber had me in his chair, soaped-up, cut-throat razor doing it's work, when a man stopped on the pavement beside me, took the lid off his basket and a cobra emerged, waving in front of me A novel approach to aggressive-begging - amusing in retrospect.
- Check the FCO website now and register to receive e-mail updates if/when they issue updates. https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/india IME/O they tend towards the cautious side since they really don't like rescuing hapless visitors, but it'll give you a heads-up on potential issues to keep in mind.
- As far as national/local laws permit it keep your passport either in your room-safe, or the hotel's safety deposit boxes. Carry a photo-copy of the passport page with you in case anyone demands a spot-check of your ID. Passports are worth a lot of money, take care of it.
[- It will go without saying but don't get involved in any drugs. Odds-on the person who sells it you is likely to tip off the police who might then seek to extort money from you.]
- Try and make the effort to chat with fellow travellers at your hotel. Anyone who has been there a day or two can often give you useful tips/insights.

The bad bits above were in the course of 3 months, so please take them in that context. It was the most incredible experience, honestly life-changing for the then teenage me.