Just wanted to know if anyone could help me out with how long is advisable to travel to India for on a first trip.
I've pretty much explained everything in the sections above but my party are planning to either travel the "Golden Triangle" or across country from Goa to Culcutta and were wondering if anyone could suggest a time frime that would ensure we didn't have to rush and miss things of interest but is also short enough to keep us sane.
Any information would be jubilantly received, Thanks.
Reply to this I think its a hard question to give a concrete answer to. You could spend one week or years in India and probably still not see everything to your heart's content. If you are just doing the golden triangle you could probably spend 2-3 days in Delhi, 1 day in Agra (its a dump other than the Taj Mahal!) and 2 days in Jaipur. To do this efficiently though, you do have to plan your trains and book them ahead either on the internet, or brave the crowds at the train station and hope that whichever class of train you want (1st class, 3tierAC, 3tier no AC etc) isn't booked. I know it sounds anal, but the trains are pretty full in India so if you're on a tight schedule... its better to book in advance. Otherwise, you could wing it by taking your chances on the train schedule and/or bus but you'd want to allow yourself more time.
As for Goa to Calcutta - you're putting a lot of mileage in. Even from Goa to Delhi its 40 hours on a train... which is basically two days of your life spent on your little bunk on the train. Though, my friend Jo-ann recommends going up to Delhi and then over and stopping in Varanasi along the way. If you want to do this route, I'd suggest flying into Mumbai/Bombay and then going that route though you'll have to backtrack to go down to Goa and then back up.
Theres so many things of interest in India - cultural (historical and archaeological), nature-based, etc. I guess your time spent in India depends what interests you there.
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