Travel Forum / Destinations / Asia / April 2008

Also - would travel to Goa in May be a dumb

Yes.

It's far too hot,  35 in the shade is normal, the charter flights have
stopped so half the places that cater to tourists are shut, the beach hut
licenses all end in late May so they may be closed and there's a lot of
sickness about because the water levels are very low (the monsoon will be
less than a month away)

The itinerary is far too ambitious..

168 hours to cover three disparate points, on backpacker money? No.

You will spend 60 hours of your trip in taxis, airports, buses,
autorickshaws and queues. Another 50 hours will be spent sleeping. Allow 20
hours for eating, showering and finding and using a decent toilet, and
another very conservative 20 hours for the "India factor" (unexpected
delays, mixed-up bookings, traffic jams, bungled meal orders) and you have
18 hours left to see the "real India." That's assuming your two teenage kids
can be relied upon to be in the right place, properly organised, ready to go
and keen to experience a foreign culture at every step along the way,
without arguing, either with you or each other.

Everything in India is bigger, more crowded, further away and less efficient
than you can possibly imagine.

You must go. It's great. But in one week, you can go to one place, maybe
with a side trip to somewhere not far away, or fly into one city, and out of
another, covering the distance between overland or by plane.

Very little time to visit so many places, also its the hottest time of
the year. It would be far more enjoyable to visit cooler places such
as Darjeeling, Nainital or Simla in the north or Ooty and Bangalore in
the south which are fairly close .... about 270 km or so... if i
remember correctly and can be covered in a short trip ... just a
suggestion.
I have grown up in that country and those were the kind of places we
chose to visit during school summer holidays. The one time we didn't
it was a nightmare.
I am making a short trip to Bangalore in May to see my relatives and
attend a wedding. My first trip to the city ....they tell me there's
much to see there.

I hate to be negative, but I do think that going to India in May is a
bad idea. That, plus your ambitious itinerary would make this trip a
memorable torture. Save your money for a better day. I would try in
September-March, Oct-Feb would be great.

Agra and Varanasi are near Delhi. Goa is far away, near Mumbai
(formerly Bombay).

Therefore you should buy an open-jaw ticket. Go to Mumbai (visit Goa);
return from Delhi. Or go to Delhi and return from Mumbai. This will
save one flight within India.

Still, one week is not enough and don't go in May.