Trip to Rajasthan - The Itinerary

In 2015 we travelled to Ladakh, definitely the most brilliant trip of our lifetime. The following year didn’t involve any major travel and now we are all set to embark on our next big journey.

This time we are headed to the land of the Rajputs – Rajasthan. We have planned an 11-day trip to India’s largest state and intend to cover four major cities – Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. I like to plan a lot before we travel, and while some may think that I overdo this, in my opinion it adds to the excitement and also ensures that we have all things sorted and waste little to no time once we reach the destination.

First things first. The planned itinerary. I am sharing the brief version here. Hope we'll be able to stick to it.

Friday, 1 September	5.45am Indigo flight from Kolkata to Jaipur Checkin at Hotel Kalyan Sightseeing in Jaipur 11.45pm Train to Jaisalmer (DLI-JSM Express)
Saturday, 2 September	Check in at Hotel Helsinki House Desert Safari in the afternoon Local sightseeing in the evening Overnight at hotel
Sunday, 3 September	Visit Jaisalmer fort Local sightseeing
Monday, 4 September	12.45am Train to Jodhpur (Ranikhet Express) Check in at Singhvi’s Haveli Visit Mehrangarh Fort Local sightseeing Overnight at hotel
Tuesday, 5 September	Visit UmaidBhawan Palace Local sightseeing Overnight at hotel
Wednesday, 6 September	6.30am RSRTC bus to Udaipur Check in at Hotel Jagat Niwas Palace Boat ride at Lake Pichola Local sightseeing Overnight at hotel
Thursday, 7 September	Day trip to Dilwara temple Overnight at hotel
Friday, 8 September	Visit to City Palace Local sightseeing 10.20pm Train to Jaipur (Khajuraho Express)
Saturday, 9 September	Check in at Hotel WelcomHeritage Traditional Haveli Local sightseeing
Sunday, 10 September	Visit to Amber Fort Local sightseeing Overnight at hotel
Monday, 11 September	Local shopping 8.45pm Indigo flight to Kolkata

As you can see, we have tried to ensure that we waste as little time as possible on travelling during the day. So we catch a very early flight to Jaipur and return to Kolkata pretty late. All our train journeys are overnight. Only the bus ride is early in the morning, but I hear the drive is pretty nice.

I have booked all the hotel rooms through Booking.com; our flight and train tickets through Cleartrip and IRCTC website, respectively; and the bus ride from RSRTC’s portal. The train tickets can be bought 4 months in advance while the bus ticket is only available a month before the journey. Hotels and flights can be booked at your convenience.

Now while booking the flight ticket what I didn’t notice was that the ticket to Jaipur allows only for carry-on luggage. Although we could have later booked for additional luggage allowance, I thought this was a great opportunity to actually experiment the concept of travelling light. With some convincing, my wife agreed to the plan. So we will be travelling with only one carry-on luggage each for the entire visit. And my next post will be on how I plan to pack for the trip. See you soon!