BootsnAll Travel Community

My boyfriend and I are planning to be in India next March and April. I know this is not enough time to explore the entire country in depth, but we'd really love to get a feel for the different areas within our time frame if at all possible.

Right now on our itinerary, we have New Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Mumbai, Goa, Calcutta and Varanasi. Do these places hit the highlights, or should we be exploring more areas such as in southern India (which I've heard positive feedback about in general, but don't know which specific cities to visit.) I've also heard transportation can be long and unreliable, so I'm trying to be realistic about what we can see and do in 2 months time.

Hey,

I spent 4 months there. Its great... It will be pretty got when you get there but manageable. If I was you I would forget about Goa and just stick to the north. Spend your time in rajasthan and himachael. Agra you can do in a day trip from dehli which despite what you might have heard has lots of interesting stuff to see (dehli that is) be sure to stay in the tibetan colony while you are there. Cheap, clean and a nice break from crazy india.
With rgds to rajasthan, I found that jaipur was my least favourite place there. Check out a town called bundi, its off the beaten track but its so cool. Udaipur is a must - call in on your way up from mumbai. Mount abu is a hill station on the gujarati border, its nice and cool there with some really nice trekking to be done. After that I would head towards jodhpur and jaisalmer for a camel safari. Then take yourself up north to the magnificent mountains. Manali is lovely but Mccleod Ganj is my personal favourite. Head to dehli then, day trip to agra before heading east to varanasi and calcutta...

More details are in my blog - so check that out if you'd like. Drop me a line if you need to know anything else...

Transport can be long, but the trains are fairly reliable. You could do all of the places you have listed (apart from Goa) in 12 hour overnight trips easily.
Two months should be enough time, where are you flying into and out of?
Southern India is far less interesting than the North and can get abit dull in comparison.
You have to go to Calcutta, nowhere else in India compares to Calli and maybe leave yourself enough time there to run off to Sikkim or Darjeeling for a few days, juts to escape the madness....enjoy.