I have been considering a trip to India sometime in my future, but in order to plan ahead, I really need to decide the places to visit. I would love to see the natural beauty and character of the country, as well as any man made things that are not to be missed. Can anyone give any advice on places to go and things to see?
Krystal: If it's your first time, I'd definitely consider New Delhi. There is so much life and architecture there that I always found my somewhat new camera out of memory. It's absolutely beautiful, especially when you visit a number of their famous sites. My personal favorite what the Akshardham, a Hindu temple based in the eastern burbs of ND. I thought Catholic churches were beautiful after my trip to Deutschland, but architecture-wise, Hindu temples definitely win the round. They're absolutely beautiful, and you'll find yourself in awe over the most simplest designs. There is so much life in New Delhi - and there's so many places to eat! It seriously is the place to go if it's your first time. And there are so many conservation sites that make this wonderful city even show it's original natural beauty. I spent a month in central New Delhi and just living there was under the $800 range, definitely a huge bang for my buck. And the people there are absolutely wonderful, other people have different experiences, but most of the local residents there loved to converse with me just because I was American. I've talked about movies and video games, mostly, which surprisingly a lot have shared that common interest. Well, wish you luck - and when you get back let everyone know how it went! --BB
I've visited Hyderabad, Darjeeling, Kolkata, Amritsar, Agra, and Allahabad. Mostly because my grandfather is in poor health and he sometimes requests us to visit his former ancestral homes to make sure everything is in order (former civil servant, and so was his own father, they were posted to a these places). The best city by far in my opinion has to be Amritsar. Going to the Golden Temple, and slicing onions for 80,000 people was a spiritual experience like no other. It is a beautiful sight. Also as a half-Punjabi I loved the feeling of being in Eastern Punjab and seeing its slight differences with the Pakistani side. I loved Kolkata as well. A lot of the colonial-era architecture shone through and I have a soft spot for Bengal. The food was amazing; I'd go again just for the Chingri. On my Allahabad visit I visited the University of Allahabad as it was my great-grandfather's alma mater and adored the buildings there too. To be fair, all these connections our family has left behind makes me wonder what exactly partition was - but its too late to alter history.
That experience you spoke of sounded beautiful indeed. What a lovely connection to have with a place. I feel like it's those experiences more than anything else that will stick with you for a lifetime.
India is so beautiful, rich in culture and has so many things to do, that you won't be able to see everything in one trip. When you go, you should definitely try to visit New Delhi, Goa (has amazing beaches) and the Andaman Islands.
I love all the great suggestions here! I am sure I am not the only person benefiting from this list of places.
I think if your travelling to a certain destination, your better off visiting sites like this to get some real advice from people, rather than just the generic advice you can find on review sites like tripadvisor. In those sites you rarely get an impartial view in a place and its either all good or all bad. At least in here you get to find out the positives and negatives of certain areas, so you can make well informed decisions.
I reckon it can be Kurukshetra. which is where the great battle of Mahabharata took place where good prevailed over evil and it is now a place where people can visit, and even a university is over there and has historic areas and a vegetarian area and religious as well. I think one of the places to visit is the Bhishma Kund which is dedicated to the grandfather of the Paandavs and the Kauravas, and the large water reservoir is based on the incident of Arjuna striking the ground with the arrow so water came out for Bhishma. One more place in the city is Joytisar which is where Krishna told Arjuna the Bhagwat Gita and also a statue of Arjuna and Krishna are made and look silver like and white as Arjuna was known to be the white horsed one and Dhanajay who was a welder of the bow.
I'm intrigued by the places you have mentioned, vetigo12! I have only been to northern India and agree about Amritsar. The Golden Temple is amazing- we went in the morning and again after dark and the atmosphere is wonderful. Amritsar is also handy for visiting the border closing ceremony between India and Pakistan. Well worth seeing for the singing and chanting and flag waving alone! Although I loved Jaipur, Agra and Delhi, I completely fell in love with McLeod Ganj. It's a tiny village higher than Dharamsala and it's where the Dalai Lama lives! I visited his temple and was lucky enough to see him twice. There is a very moving Tibetan museum and there are cafes and restaurants where you can get Indian, Western or Tibetan food. My favourite is a cafe called Carpe Diem- They have a rooftop are where you can sit and watch the eagles and the mountains. I wish I was there now!
All I can say is you have never been to Kurukshetra and my friendly advise to you and others reading my post is to keep it that way To put it mildly, Its a dump. Trust me, you dont want to go there either.
A cool topic. I read about several places people recommend and i would like to hear some opinions. Varanasi is one of them. I read about it being one of the seven sacred towns of India and that i had quite lot of history in it. Haridwar is another that according to pictures i like more than Varanasi.I do not know the distance i would have to cover in between these sights because i would like to visit more of them. The third on the list would be Amritsar which looked so peaceful and calm and again a very old town with a lot of history which is what i look from a place. Please add some suggestions and give me some comments on these three.
Udaipur is one of the places that you would want to visit during your stay in India. It is a city that's situated around shimmering lakes. Beautiful during evening hours, has many forts and palaces of interest.
How long do you anticipate travelling for Krystal? I'm at a similar stage of trip planning (so glad I found this forum!) and will be visiting for about a month.
The traveling guide forums and blogs are full of the places which are big and famous. But, in my opinion, if you want to get the feel of real India then you must visit small villages. This is where the soul of India reside. These small and unexplored destinations contain purity and serenity.
I'm putting together a list of must-see places and one I've decided on visiting if possible is the Shreemant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapati Temple in Pune. It's dedicated to the Hindu God Ganesh and from pictures posted online, it looks absolutely breathtaking.
Tah Mahal probably ranks pretty high up there in terms of places to see. Its a national wonder and known all over the world.
This is a great information for a trip we are planning next year. I will have to mark down some of these places and suggestions and see if any of the tours have these included.
Also if you're young and have plenty of energy and want to see a lot of nightlife Goa is the place to go. Its got everything you need to have fun and it's pretty affordable too.
QUOTE="MichelleVL, post: 4264, member: 955"]India is so beautiful, rich in culture and has so many things to do, that you won't be able to see everything in one trip. When you go, you should definitely try to visit New Delhi, Goa (has amazing beaches) and the Andaman Islands.[/QUOTE] When do you think is the best time to travel to India? Its a fascinating looking destination, almost mystical. I love the Indian culture especially Indian cuisine.
The Taj Mahal ranks pretty high on my personal list of Indian sites, too... I can only imagine how breathtaking it must be to see it in real life when it's already so beautiful in pictures.
