Wanted to poll you on your Top 5 Favourite places in India. Teju, Maith and Raji, don't let me down, would love to hear your choices. In case any others that read the blog have inputs please let me know.
Here's my list in no particular order based on where we've been so far:
1) Kulu Manali - We went there for our honeymoon, we really enjoyed staying at a resort on the Beas riverbank. We hope to visit again during our stay here.
2) Taj Mahal- Always hot and uncomfortable but worth a visit at least once in a lifetime.
3) Araku Valley (Prasad's favourite place) I haven't been there yet.
4) Munnar, the drive to Alleppey and the boat house.
5) Jaipur, although hot and uncomfortable is a great shopping place and I would go there again in a heartbeat. I have not been to Udaipur or Jaiselmer but we did go to Ranthambore National Park which was a memorable visit.
5 comments:
I have not done much sightseeing in India. We go to visit family and have done very few trips
away from home base.
I just wanted to write a little "ha!" that I am reading today's post before Maith, for once. She's here in Austin now, wish you were here too, Myli.
I typed up a HUGE comment and I think Blogger ate it :(
OK, again:
1) Coorg. I've only stated at friends' estates and while that particular brand of luxury as a lifestyle would be tedious, it was just right for a holiday! I hear the new resorts in Coorg are very good.
2) Madras in music season. (pre-marriage, so no worries about anyone's health!)
2a) If not into music, the Chola temples of Kumbakonam/Thanjavur - amazing architecture, beautiful temples, several of which are under ASI control now, so are clean. The towns themselves are small, crowded and HOT, but worth a visit. Good traditional shopping as well (silks, paintings, jewellery etc.) If have time, visit Swamimalai and see the traditional cast bronze work.
3) Goa - larger resort, for full tourist experience. As good as being in the Caribbean, with better food choices (for us) and lovely shopping outside the resorts (We bargained as usual). Cleanest beaches in India as they are private. I recommend the Taj group, but others are good too I hear.
4) Badrinath-Kedarnath. This was a pilgrimage but so beautiful and you places so serene - felt more at ease mentally here than anywhere else I've been I think.
5) Golden triange (Delhi-Agra-Jaipur) for the shopping :-D (Delhi was my second home growing up, so the sightseeing grew too familiar for me)
Other places, not as favourite but well worth a trip:
6) Calcutta - Darjeeling - Orissa. Uncomfortable places, but I have fond memories of trips there - some lovely architectural stuff to see.
7) Ahmedabad - Baroda - Dwaraka - also a pilgrimage, but one of my best memories of one (my parents took us on many temple trips).
8) Amritsar - The Golden Temple - very serene.
M
Hi Mythili,
This is a tough one because India, like the US is a country of contrasts and experiences - from nature,adventure, culture, history to just plain culinary..
I have a number of spots that I remember and liked growing up. I have not been to 3 of your top 5 at all - can you believe it. Our travels have been very limited in terms of "top destinations" I have not been to the top destinations in India (Kerala, Eastern India, Jammu and Kashmir and most of the Himalayas)
I would like to fondly recall my fav places/trips based on my travels in India pre kids (most of them if not all were road trips)which is why I am such a huge road trip fan.
From Mumbai/Pune
- Lonavala/Matheran/Konkan coast/ Mahabaleshwar/Aurangabad/Ajanta/Ellora Caves in Maharashtra
From Bangalore
Mysore/Srirangapatna/Ooty/Belur/Halebid/Sravanbelgola
From Delhi
Agra/Fatehpur Sikri, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur and esp Sariska, Shimla, Mussouri, Nainital
Longer road trips
- East Coast - esp Orissa (the stretch from Vishakapatnam to Puri/Konark is spectacular and the Konark temple is totally worth a visit)
- Drive from Delhi to Varanasi - true cultural immersion - very friendly if not conservative people - you get a totally different flavor (Mathura, Agra, Aligarh, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi)
In terms of top 10 I would like to take my kids to the following places - many of which I have not been to.
- Delhi/Agra/Fatehpur Sikri
- Rajasthan (Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Ajmer)
- Temples of South India (Tamil nadu)
- Himachal Pradesh (Manali, Dharamsala, trekking in the regions around there)
- Uttaranchal (Hardwar, Rishikesh, Jim Corbett national park etc..)
- Sikkim
- Konkan Coast (take the train and stop along the ocean)
- Kerala (Need I say more)
- Around Mumbai and Pune (Lonavala, Mahabaleshwar, Matheran etc)
- Coorg/Kodaikanal
Thanks for the great travel ideas!
My dad was a big history buff and hence we landed up going to all sorts of forts and battlegrounds in India :)
He would make us read up about the history of the period before we visited which was excrutiatingly painful.
I find myself with a renewed interest in history these days and trying to inculcate the same habits in my kids.
Strange!!
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