Visiting India

[Cathyhuns]

I am planning a trip to India in the next few months, primarily to see my elder son who is working in Bangalore. I know that India's a very big place but do ABers have any suggestions / recommendations of what else we should try and see?

[LDC134]

Hi I have been to Bangalore and it's not very nice (very industrialised) so I would try and get out to coast - Kerala would be great and you can go by train for a few days - you can hire a beautiful boat with driver & chef for about £ 50 per 24 hours and tour all the backwaters, stunning and very relaxing and the food is fantastic. (you stay on board too)

[237SJ]

You`ve got to do the Taj Mahal if you can.

[MarkRae]

Bit of a trek from Bangalore, though - getting on for 1,000 miles.

I think the OP would need to fly to Delhi and then take the train to Agra...

[MarkRae]

No argument about that. Internal flights in India are pretty good, I'm reliably informed, and a rail journey in India is apparently an experience in itself... :-)

[coccinelle]

Yes, definitely a visit to the Taj Mahal; you can't go to India without seeing it. I'd love to go too pixi, it's on my have to do list.

[LDC134]

Ignore the prices quoted, but this will give you an idea what Kerala is like http://www.keralahous...a-backwater-tour.html we didn;t book in advance, just turned up and had a boat to ourselves the next day.
Alternatively if you want to be away longer, you are not far from Goa either - that offers you a very cheap beach holiday and some good markets.

[237SJ]

No problem getting around India. There are quite a few reputable airlines around now such as Jet Airways. They don`t have such a tendency to crash like they used to.

[trt]

Try and find the repeat of Paul Merton's TV series of his trips around India, he visited some fascinating places. Think it was on Ch4.

[Dee Sa]

whilst in Bangalore go to Whitfields to see Saed Baba, its free and quite an experience, he has a lot of followers in the UK and our local newsagent is in awe of him because I have seen Baba and he has not.He "appears" to his followers twice a dayand gives an overall blessing.Not much else to do unless you up sticks to a hill station, Bangalore "shopping malls" are a joke, but leather items good.
Take a flight to Goa from Bangalore,takes about 1 hour, their internal flights are not expensive, taxi to Candolim or Clangut and stay in that area lots of Brits but the holiday season ends in April and beware because after that is monsoon season and not worth going anywhere. I havent been to Kerela but I understand its worth going to.I dont use their coaches because their pit stops the toilets are awful, same reason I dont use their trains.

[Dee Sa]

excuse my typing - newsagent is in awe of me !and its Calangut if you like a lot of noise and Candolim if you like everyday hussle &bussle but not noisy nights.If you do go visit the spice fields your taxi driver will take you rather than go on a coach trip.I would recommend the Victor Exotica hotel in Candolim.

[Cathyhuns]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll let you know what we decide. Unfortunately due to other people visiting we'll be going in May so I'll remmeber to pack the waterproofs.