[predatorwheelz]

Originally Posted by us.dash

The brief itinerary

Day 1 - Reach Mathura at 4:15 PM by train, Golden Temple Mail from Mumbai
Sight seeing in Mathura and Vrindavan- Krishna Janmabhoomi and Prem Mandir

Day 2 - Day trip to Bharatpur Bird Sancturary. There are a number of amazing threads on the same. Have noted the name of the guide recommended by WAG7(sic).

Day 3 - Leave for Agra after breakfast. Visit Sikandra on the way to hotel. Visit Taj Mahal in the evening. Shopping

Day 4 - Taj Mahal closed. Visit Fatehpur Sikri and Agra Fort. Shopping.

Day 5 - Visit Taj Mahal in the morning at 6:30 AM. Leave for Mumbai at 12:15 by Mangla Lakhswadeep.

Would appreciate your valuable comments on the itinerary.

Hi,

My comments on your itinerary.

Day 1 - Unless you're the deeply religious type who goes gaga over visiting Gaushalas, one day is enough for visiting Mathura and Vrindavan. The monkeys (trying to steal from you anything carried in plain sight) and the human monkeys (trying to steal from you money in the name of religion) give you a hard time.

Day 2 - Good idea. Bharatpur is very close to Mathura. This is the best time to go there, as the eggs have hatched, and you can see the migratory birds in plain sight with their young. The Rickshaw wallas there are trained guides. If you know someone, good enough. Or PM me and I'll send you contact of the person I usually use.

I don't think Bharatpur is worth a whole day - at best 6-7 hours. Suggest you reach the park as close to Sunrise as possible, spend half a day there, have lunch at the RTDC property (200 mtrs from the park gate) and push off to see Deeg palace (32 kms). A unique (and relatively unknown) destination. More information can be found here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deeg_Palace

Day 3 - Good itinerary. Besides shoes, shop for exquisite Marble Inlay work and Pethas (Panchhi Petha is strongly suggested) at Agra. But beware of touts, and bargain hard.

Day 4 - Do Agra fort in the morning. Have lunch at Agra. Don't plan to have lunch en route to Fatehpur Sikri - very few restaurants, unnecessarily expensive and food is not great. Keep Fatehpur Sikri for the afternoon.

Day 5 - Unless you really want to see Taj Mahal twice, I'd suggest Itmad-ud-Daulah in the morning. Its a relatively unknown monument. Some say Shah Jahan's idea of building a cenotaph of white marble (though on a much grander scale) was borrowed from Itmad-ud-Daulah.

[us.dash]

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

Hi,

My comments on your itinerary.

Day 1 - Unless you're the deeply religious type who goes gaga over visiting Gaushalas, one day is enough for visiting Mathura and Vrindavan. The monkeys (trying to steal from you anything carried in plain sight) and the human monkeys (trying to steal from you money in the name of religion) give you a hard time.

Day 2 - Good idea. Bharatpur is very close to Mathura. This is the best time to go there, as the eggs have hatched, and you can see the migratory birds in plain sight with their young. The Rickshaw wallas there are trained guides. If you know someone, good enough. Or PM me and I'll send you contact of the person I usually use.

I don't think Bharatpur is worth a whole day - at best 6-7 hours. Suggest you reach the park as close to Sunrise as possible, spend half a day there, have lunch at the RTDC property (200 mtrs from the park gate) and push off to see Deeg palace (32 kms). A unique (and relatively unknown) destination. More information can be found here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deeg_Palace

Day 3 - Good itinerary. Besides shoes, shop for exquisite Marble Inlay work and Pethas (Panchhi Petha is strongly suggested) at Agra. But beware of touts, and bargain hard.

Day 4 - Do Agra fort in the morning. Have lunch at Agra. Don't plan to have lunch en route to Fatehpur Sikri - very few restaurants, unnecessarily expensive and food is not great. Keep Fatehpur Sikri for the afternoon.

Day 5 - Unless you really want to see Taj Mahal twice, I'd suggest Itmad-ud-Daulah in the morning. Its a relatively unknown monument. Some say Shah Jahan's idea of building a cenotaph of white marble (though on a much grander scale) was borrowed from Itmad-ud-Daulah.

Thank you!
Will definitely include Deeg.

The idea of Fatehpur Sikri in the afternoon is interesting. Would there be adequate time to visit all the monuments? and is it advisable to travel back to Agra after sundown?

Will try and include Itmad-ud-Daulah.

Thanks again

[predatorwheelz]

Originally Posted by us.dash

The idea of Fatehpur Sikri in the afternoon is interesting. Would there be adequate time to visit all the monuments? and is it advisable to travel back to Agra after sundown?

There would be adequate time. Fatehpur Sikri consists of 2 parts. Salim Chishti's Dargah on one side, and the old city on the other. Should be doable in 6-7 hours. Even if you are a history buff (I am).

It is absolutely safe to travel back to Agra after Sundown. Its not a desolate road if you're thinking so.

[us.dash]

At the beginning, let me thank predatorwheelz for his excellent advice on our proposed itinerary. But for his advice, we would have missed out on the exceptional palace complex of Deeg.

It is a ritual for us to plan our annual holiday calendar within a few days of receiving the holiday list for the year. Being a banker helps as our organizations are compelled by the NI Act to grant us holidays in accordance with the gazette notification, the so-called Bank Holidays. As a banker who works for a foreign bank, I get Saturdays off too. As this list is released around November in Maharashtra (around August in Delhi), we have the trips for the next year completely scheduled by mid-November the previous year.

The dates being decided, the second decision is the location. As a married man, the decision on the location has to be on the basis of mutual consultation. Agra was always on top of the list of places my wife used to recommend whenever we prepared our yearly travel plan. This year we decided to go there, even though I had visited Agra years earlier.

To make the best out of a bad situation, I looked around for locations that I could club together so that the trip would not be a complete repeat for me. As usual, I looked in the travelogues and decided that Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary/ Keoladeo National Park would be a good option. predatorwheelz recommended Deeg which I promptly added to the itinerary.

Agra has terrible connectivity by air to Mumbai with no direct flights. We decided to take a train as we had not travelled that way for a long time and the timings suited us. Bad decision. Should have taken the flight to Delhi and travelled from there.

ITINERARY
Day 1 – Reach Mathura at 4:00 PM, check-in and visit Temples
Day 2 – Early start to visit Bharatpur Bird sanctuary. After lunch, visit Deeg Palace. Visit Vrindavan temples in evening
Day 3 – Agra by train, visit Sikandra and Agra Fort
Day 4 – Fatehpur Sikri
Day 5 – Taj Mahal and return to Mumbai
This itinerary was sufficiently relaxed for my 2 year old and gave us as much time as we wanted at the monuments as we did not want to be rushed.

TRIP REPORT
Train Journey: Golden Temple Mail started sharp on time and stayed on time till Surat. Due to an OHE fault, the train was delayed for more than an hour. The delay increased along the way and we reached Mathura at 8 PM. It was then too late for any temple visit.

Day 2: We had booked an air-conditioned taxi with a local taxi guy, but he sent us a non-ac cab at 7:30 AM. I had to hire a taxi from the hotel but the driver lost his way. Finally I had to guide him using Google Maps and reached Bharatpur at 9:00 AM.
The road to Bharatpur is in great shape and the journey should not take more than 45 minutes. The sanctuary is right on the highway and is easy to spot.
This was our first time in a bird sanctuary and we loved the experience.
As you enter the sanctuary, the ticket window is to the left and the tickets are priced economically for Indians. The rickshaw guys are allocated their sequence number through lots every day. I liked the person we had been allocated and quickly took off. I did not hire a guide as I had read the rickshaw guys are good spotters.
Our guy was knowledgeable, as far as we could tell. We had seen only sparrows, crows and pigeons till that day 
We spent around 4 hours and had a good time. We missed not coming there early enough as the birds had moved away from the shoreline, however thankfully the weather was quite pleasant. We saw a number of deer, nilgais and a large number of birds including magpie robin, grey heron, egrets, and many others.
A few pics are attached.

I would recommend the Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary to everyone who has even the slightest interest in nature tourism. It is clean, well-organised, and affordable and offers a chance to see something beyond the normal. I had not imagined that I would like these ‘birds’ as much as I did.

After the sanctuary, we had lunch at SunBird restaurant. Decent food but over-priced for Bharatpur. The Saras hotel (RTDC) was offering only thalis, which I was not keen on.

Post lunch, we drove on the excellent Alwar road to reach Deeg.
Continued...

[car-go]

AN OFT-BEATEN TRACK TO AGRA AND DELHI

We went on a week's trip to Delhi and Agra mid last month. It was on the beaten tracks, and more so as it was a "long" family trip after 2 years of COVID-triggered staying at home most of the time except for office, school and weekend getaways.

The trip was more for my 7 years' old daughter, who wanted to see the 'Taj Mahal' and 'Qutub Minar' that she had seen numerous times in her GK books. We also needed a break together. Family consisted of myself, my wife, my daughter and my mother-in-law.

Route [train journey]: Kolkata (Sealdah station; Ajmer exp.) -> Agra (arriving at Fort station; departure from Cantt. by Kerala exp.) -> Delhi (NDLS) -> Kolkata (Sealdah; Rajdhani)

Day 1 to Day 2
We went to a railway station after a long gap. Found Sealdah station to be really upgraded, at least from a food options perspective! (and this was with several other stations, I presume, in these two years) KFC, Dominos, et al had set up their shops, with other numerous good outlets including Comesum by IRCTC. Cleanliness was average to good, given a plethora of trash bins that seemed to be well utilised.

It was an overnight trip to Agra. Ajmer exp. cleanliness was average. Food (pantry car) was average; we found that the bathroom was not well cleaned up during the whole trip. But the train reached Agra late by 4.5 hours (11pm instead of 6:30pm). This seemed to be usual for the train specially during the festive season. Auto charges to/from stations to homestay is ~Rs.200.

Arrived at our accommodation; Coral Tree Homestay, very near to the Taj complex near to the east gate side. The owner was very cordial and made us comfortable at 11:30pm when we reached. However, there was no food arrangements as it was already so late (the owner informed us that food is made fresh and early, and they don't store it that late), so we ordered by Zomato. This made a difference to otherwise a great experience at the homestay, as I was travelling with my family having a kid and a 70-yrs old woman. It was good that restaurants were open in Agra at that time, possibly because it was around Diwali.



All too tired, slept off.

Day 3
Breakfast was arranged; it was wholesome indeed, with aloo parathas, curd, toasts and egg, corn flakes, tea/coffee and juice. Went around the homestay before getting ready for the Taj.

More about the homestay: Coral Tree is run by Mr. Gopal Singh, Mrs. Vandna Singh and family. Very cordial people, who themselves seem to travel a lot. It houses a very nice garden, and the entire premises is tastefully decorated with painting reprints, sculptures and artefacts, with influences of both British colonial history and Indian ethnicity. Seemed to be mostly frequented by foreigners; the meal times are adjusted accordingly (early lunch and dinner) and made fresh. Accommodation was spic and span, and we took a large family room. Amenities included were TV, geyser, AC and complimentary tea/ coffee with e-kettle.




Now off to Taj!

The two options of going to the east gate for Taj Mahal
a. Walk down; it is a nice paved walk, or alternatively take a tonga (horse cart), e-bus or camel cart ride till the gate. Fuel-run vehicles, in case you are taking (say, auto rickshaws or cars), are not allowed till the east gate entrance.
b. Walk up a few metres to the government conveyance facility, where govt. run e-golf carts take groups of people to the east gate (Rs.20 per person).



While visiting the Taj Mahal: Tickets can be either bought online or at the counter. I found the online option to be convenient (no queues!); in case you don't know, all ASI heritage site tickets can be bought online and showed at the entry of such sites.
Link: https://asi.payumoney.com/



The homestay has an instruction sheet kept in the room about what should not be carried with you to Taj; make sure you read it before commencing. We found out at the entrance though; no outside food or books (fortunately left them at the homestay though my daughter insisted; later showed her that notice). Just in case for you to know, umbrellas are allowed (saves you from rain or the Sun).

In case you have bought tickets to enter the main mausoleum, you need to cover your feet/ shoes/ slippers; local vendors in the Taj complex itself sell disposable covers (Rs.10 a pair). Also, wheelchair facility is available by local vendors in case you have old people (my mother-in-law took one); charges range from Rs.450-550. Recommended: Mr. Virender Chowdhry (6395417783); a very dependable old person, extremely enthusiastic and smiling, and loves to take photographs!

We visited Taj in the morning itself, had a sumptuous lunch and left for the rest of sight seeing by an auto. Other places included Itmad-ud-Daulah ("Baby Taj") and the Agra Fort. It was a Rs.400 affair by auto round trip back to the homestay by afternoon. The auto wallah/ driver whom we took is highly recommended; Mr. Mahmood (9557986078); an old smiling guy with lots of stories, reasonable trip costs, and who knows great local eateries and food that Agra is famous for (pethas, parathas, chaat, et al). However, he is from Bihar so he may be off to his hometown once or twice a year. Also, he informed us that a round trip by auto to Fatehpur Sikri comes to Rs.1500 (though we did not take this trip this time; however, given the distance and I having visited it in my earlier travels, a taxi is recommended).

Rest of the time we were at the homestay.

Day 4:
Off to Delhi after having breakfast. Left for the station by Mr. Mahmood's auto (you can take a taxi/ Uber/ Ola/ cab in case you have a lot of luggage or for convenience). Witnessed shops with Diwali items, world of pethas and lots and lots of flowers!



Train was 30 min. late (commendable, as it was coming from Kerala), which made up for the lost time by the time it reached Delhi. Coaches were very clean. Auto charges from station to homestay was Rs.150 (very good auto driver we got; more on him later). Taxis can ask anywhere in Rs.400-600 range, and other autos for Rs.200-250.

Our accommodation was at Bajaj India Homestay, in the mainstream area of Karol Bagh - a shopper's paradise.
More about the homestay: Bajaj India is a residence converted to homestay, run by Mr. Raj and Mrs. Rani Bajaj and family. They run parallel tourism companies in tie up with some international agency. Majorly foreign tourists here, as told to us by the manager, Mr. Sanjay. Rooms are well appointed, spic and span. Room amenities included complimentary tea/coffee with an e-kettle, AC, geyser, locker and a mini refrigerator. The owners were staying in the second floor, and guests in first floor having a common kitchen, overlooking a balcony. The homestay did not arrange for lunch or dinner for guests (since COVID times, as informed by Mr. Sanjay), however basic breakfast with bread toasts, egg, juice, corn flakes, et al, are arranged. You may cook your own food if you want (though we opted for Zomato or Swiggy for the meals).



Very cordial family, including their son Aditya. We (all guests) celebrated Diwali together including firecrackers and the Ganesha puja (ground floor has an in-house temple).

Minor niggles that we overlooked, given that the owner's family has a serious health emergency and the staff had to divide their time between two sides: No provision of lunch or dinner was something that made a difference to us (though we got used to Zomato since the Agra experience on first night there). Rest, a tap was leaking (we reported upfront) which was attended to, and a plug point was broken. The AC kept off every morning we stayed, and we had to inform the manager to fix it. He did something in the ground floor and the AC started, which led us to believe that the AC is kept off using some control panel at the ground floor in the mornings for a while.

It was already evening, and I and my wife were at the Karol Bagh main market. My wallet got lighter as the bags in my hands made my wife's smiles brighter! We also saw a Kali Puja being organised by the Bengali community at a park there.

Day 5:
This was our Delhi trip day! Had breakfast, called for the auto that had earlier taken us from the station to the homestay. The auto wallah/ driver is highly recommended: Mr. Kanchan (9990445272); a soft spoken guy, very reasonable costs, and very flexible in going around the city.

First we visited my old school (spent my school days at New Rajendra Nagar, quite near to Karol Bagh area), the park where I played, and the house where I stayed some 35 years back! Took photographs from outside with curious onlookers in that residential area.

We covered the Qutub Minar and the Humayun's Tomb "in detail", mostly with my wife and daughter while my mother-in-law took intermittent rests. About the rest of the sites - Lotus Temple had a H-U-G-E queue probably due to Diwali holiday, hence I alone went in for a few minutes to take a few photographs. Same for Red Fort and Chandni Chowk which we saw from far, and my daughter was happy with that. It was too crowded that day, and my wife did not want to enter and walk for miles in another fort.



Travelled through the alleys and broken streets of Old Delhi, back to the homestay. Spent the evening there and at the market (more bags, lighter wallet).

Day 6:
Had breakfast; our train was at 4:30pm (Sealdah Rajdhani exp. to Kolkata). Talked to the homestay if we can somehow stay there for around an hour more till lunch (check out was before 12pm). They asked us to keep the luggage in their store as we were free to sit around in the common area. Later the owner offered to make an alternate arrangement for us to stay in a second floor room for sometime, but by that time we had decided to leave for the station. Called our auto, and was back at the station.

Took our lunch at the station itself, from the govt. run eatery. Well packed, we had dal makhani and fried rice to keep it simple, and as my daughter insisted upon.

Kept waiting from platform to platform, roaming around, sleeping a bit, eating and having tea/ coffee a bit, and chatting a lot. Good to have the elevators instead of up-and-down staircases to the platforms.

Rajdhani Express was, as expected, spic and span, well attended to, including the bathrooms. Food from pantry that came in was simple, wholesome and good. Nothing special, but serves the purpose. Included snacks, dinner, and next day breakfast, and then "makeshift" lunch (as the train got delayed by 3 hours due to an unfortunate accident on the line somewhere around Dhanbad/Gaya.





And we landed at our hometown. Haggling with the taxi drivers and we settled for Rs.550 from station to my home in New Town, Kolkata. Back at home by around 5pm. A GREAT TRIP INDEED, SPECIALLY FOR MY DAUGHTER!

MODS: Please move it to any suitable thread as I was not sure if this is the right one.