Short Trips in India

[parkender102]

Just returned from a 2 week Business Trip to Delhi which was mainly office based but we had the weekend off. I'd never been to India before and wanted to see something other than Delhi (managed to fit in a couple of trips in the evenings after work on the excellent Metro to Old Delhi, New Delhi, Red Fort and an IPL Cricket Match). So I registered with IRCTC Indian Railways a month or so before and booked some overnight sleepers 2AC (thanks for the advice Man in Seat 61) and had a whistle stop tour. Friday night taxi straight from office to Gurgaon station to pick up the Delhi to Udaipur Chetak Express. Was a bit apprehensive as I was waitlisted for a Berth so I'd booked the later train to Jodhpur as a bit of insurance in case I couldn't get on the Udaipur Train. When I checked I'd risen to RAC1 so would possibly only get a seat but no bed for the night. Turned out I ended up with a longitudinal berth made up of 2 seats with a whole window to myself with a bunk above and I had this to myself so sat there with a bottle of my favourite tipple watching the Indian countryside and villages and towns pass. Had a wonderful day in Udaipur despite the heat in the 40's - managed to have a walk round the city, a wonderful breakfast overlooking Lake Pichola and a visit to the City Palace. More food and refreshment at a nice hotel opposite the station and onto the Kurj Express for an upper bunk transverse no window and off to Jaipur. Arrived 07:00am in Jaipur and took a Tuk Tuk to Amber Fort for a couple of hours which was fantastic and serene as the tourist masses had not yet arrived. Mid Morning took a Tuk Tuk to Janter Manter Observatory and the had a lovely meal on the city walls and a walk round the Pink City before shower in AC First Class waiting room and All Jat Express back to Gurgaon and pick up by hotel driver. Back in hotel around 22:30 for well earned room service. Met lots of lovely people and the whole weekend cost me £44 in train/sleeper fares. I am returning on 11th June for another 2 week trip.

So the question is - what to do on the weekend off. I can maybe go to Amritsar but not sure of options after that for the Saturday night, would like to go to Jodhpur. I'm open to flying part legs (Shimla?). Any suggestions or advice greatly received.

 

[MarcVD]

If you have the opportunity, attend the closing cérémony at the indian-pakistani border ?

Envoyé de mon GT-I9505 en utilisant Tapatalk

 

[parkender102]

If you have the opportunity, attend the closing cérémony at the indian-pakistani border ?

Envoyé de mon GT-I9505 en utilisant Tapatalk

I believe that is very impressive - is it easy to reach? (I assume it's not too far from Amritsar). I met a French guy in our hotel who flew to Amritsar for the weekend and took the Night Sleeper back to Delhi.

 

[Railsigns]

You could take a trip to Agra and visit the Taj Mahal.

 

[WideRanger]

I believe that is very impressive - is it easy to reach? (I assume it's not too far from Amritsar). I met a French guy in our hotel who flew to Amritsar for the weekend and took the Night Sleeper back to Delhi.

It is around a 20 minute taxi ride from the centre of Amritsar. But check whether the ceremony is on - recently it has been cancelled a lot because of cross border tension. The ceremony itself is fun, if perhaps a little 'loud'. If you are going to Amritsar, the Golden Temple is really good.

 

[WideRanger]

You could take a trip to Agra and visit the Taj Mahal.

Watch out for the scams at both ends of this journey - in Delhi from people pretending to be railway staff and telling you that your train is cancelled and how they can book you a 'replacement car', and from taxi touts in Agra taking you the 'scenic' route to The Taj Mahal.

 

[mac]

Forgive me for using this thread to ask my own questions but me and the wife are going on a tour of India later in the year and are wondering about visa's and money.
We are going with a company who are recommending we get our visa's from another company but they want us to send our passports which we don't like to do, but when we look on the Indian website they can do them for half the fee so who do we use?
2nd we are going for 18 days with nearly all meals included so how much cash will we need? is there much to buy?

 

[WideRanger]

Forgive me for using this thread to ask my own questions but me and the wife are going on a tour of India later in the year and are wondering about visa's and money.
We are going with a company who are recommending we get our visa's from another company but they want us to send our passports which we don't like to do, but when we look on the Indian website they can do them for half the fee so who do we use?
2nd we are going for 18 days with nearly all meals included so how much cash will we need? is there much to buy?

Are you British passport holders? If so, you can use the India e-visa service, which will normally be the cheapest and quickest way, and you don't have to send off your passport. The site is https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa/tvoa.html - there are a number of other sites that provide exactly the same service but at a higher price, so ignore those.

When you are completing your application, it is worth doing it carefully and slowly - the site is sometimes not as logical and easy to use as it could be.

On money, I would advice taking money out from ATMs (there are plenty in most places). But be careful that any ATM you use doesn't have a scimming devise fitted by fraudsters - it it feels dodgy, use another one. There is one final danger - if you get a (frequent) power cut while your card is in the machine, you'll lose the card. So it is good to make sure you have a spare card. Or you could be careful to use only the machines where the card never goes completely insie the machine so you can pull it out if the power fails.

On buying stuff, there is lots of nice stuff - textiles are generally the best value in my view.

 

[stut]

Agree that Amritsar is well worth a trip - the golden temple is amazing, as is the border ceremony (I'd actually been in Pakistan, and managed to cross the border back just before it shut, so was very pleased to see it!) The Shatabdi Express makes for a good journey.

One option is to take the Kangra Valley railway up from Amritsar to Dharamsala (particularly if you have any interest in the Dalai Lama). There is a Kangra airport nearby for flights back to Delhi. We continued on to Jogindernagar and then by road to Shimla, for the ever impressive Shimla-Kalka railway, but I don't know if you'd have time for that.

 

[mac]

Thank you WideRanger that's just the information I needed.

 

[parkender102]

Ended up taking Sleeper 1AC to Varanasi - the Hindu Capital - fascinating. Then was booked on Night Sleeper to Agra but Waitlist 10 when I booked. Unfortunately I was still waitliat 4 before departure so ticket cancelled and CC refunded. So got a cab to airport and got on last flight of the day to Delhi (my hotel was booked still so had the night there). Sunday morning train to Agra was full but I managed to buy a ticket from another source) so got to see Agra Fort and Taj Mahal and met lots of interesting people!