Discover India’s Most Captivating Fall Destinations
WHERE TO GO FIRST & WHICH PLACES TO PICK IF PLANNING INDIA THIS FALL
The selection process – India has everything. Only you can decide what you want to see & how you want to see it. & when you are travelling. Preferred months for travel to India are September , October , November , December , January & February. Now question comes as which places should once visit in these months.
Best places to visit in India in September
– North India is recommended for travelers visiting India in September. Weather is pleasant except mercury is few degrees high during day time but manageable. Pitra Paksh is observed during this month. Pitru Paksha, also spelt Pitri Paksha, is a 16-lunar day period in the Hindu calendar when Hindus pay homage to their ancestors, especially through food offerings. Shrines of Badrinath & Bodhgaya , Varanasi etc are cities visited by hindus paying homage to their ancestors.
Best places to visit in India in October
– Most of the wild life parks open for visitors during October after routine closure from July till September. Due to a slight humid climate in coastal areas would recommend to avoid beach areas. But if you are fine with low humidity can plan to visit Goa & Kerala as well. Tamil Nadu should be avoided due to rains. North India , north east , east & central India are ideal places to be visited in October.
For tourist interested in fairs & festivals Deepawali & Dusherra are festivals celebrated in month of October. Hill Stations of Coorg , Kodaikanal, Ooty , Manali , Shimla & Darjeeling are hot selling cakes during month of October.
Best places to visit in India in November
– November is month of events, conference & fairs in India. Weather is pleasant & ideal to travel to any part of the country except places located in high altitude & mountains. It is recommended to book your hotels & other travel related arrangements in advance during November due to high demand & high occupancy at hotels due to the group bookings , marriages & corporate events. November is high demand month & most preferred month of year for travel.
Major fairs & festival observed in November are Pushkar & Sonepur cattle fair. Andaman & Nicobar island , Lakshdweep , Amritsar , Varanasi are a hit destination during November due to pleasant climate & religious reasons. Maldives in India Ocean , Goa & Kovalam in Arabian sea are all time hit for travel from November till March every year for beach & water sports lovers.
Best places to visit in India in December
– Ideal month to travel to any part of India except high altitude. However during end of the month fog covers some part of north India specially Delhi which results in delay of flights & trains. Post Dec 23rd December hotels & suppliers starts charging premium rates due to peak travel dates of X-Mas & New Year celebrations. If you don’t want to shed your pockets to go with the premium of hotels should plan your dates post New Year dates or before 20th Dec. All part of India is best suitable to travel in December month.
Your idea of dream holiday in India may be rushing Your idea of dream holiday in India may be rushing up mountains , palace – hopping in Rajasthan, drooling over Dravidian temple architecture , making long train journeys, watching the local craftsman or spotting wildlife from an elephant’s back.
With this article we have tried to give an idea of range of offer. But one man’s fascination is another’s absolute boredom. Recently one Indophile recommended Bijapur, one of his favourite cities to a friend. His friend drove through the night from Mumbai and arrived to find an unsympathetic atmosphere, no accommodation and buildings not to his taste at all.
There is far more to India than the golden triangle of Delhi , Agra , Jaipur and although the Taj and Fatehpur sikri are magical there is no compulsion to visit them first. They will be there still next time. In addition Indian Golden Triangle is much more enjoyable outside the tourist rush of November to January. There is so much else to see and do that it seems a shame to follow the western throng.
It is best to select one or two areas of the country & combine visit to monuments with wanders in town bazaars and outing to nearby villages by car & train. This way you can see how people live work and celebrate their festivals. This is far more rewarding than taking a plane every other day to a new set of isolate monuments. And a few days in game park , walking the hills or soaking in the sun always happily tags on the front or back of two or three weeks of sighting and travelling.
ARCHITECTURE – India is full of sublime architecture despite the ravages of countless marauders. There are Buddhist , Hindu , Muslim, Jain and colonial monuments of the highest quality throughout the country. But some are much easier to get to and better equipped for torist than others. The more isolated sits suggested in this article will , I hope repay the longish journeys to get to them and the more modest accommodation.
Old Delhi , Agra & fatehpur Sikri have the great Mughal architecture. Rajasthan is covered in hilltop fort and sumptuous , wedding cake palaces, many of which are now converted into hotels. All these are very easy to visit . So are the rock temples of Ajanta and Ellora, the hindu temples of Orissa and Khajuraho, the sacred city of Varanasi andnearby Buddhist Sarnath. All of these are served with airport and comfortable hotels.
The reward of the more hardly and intrepid traveler are sensational. In Karnataka the magnificent ruined city of Hampi and the Hoysala temples are a bit of efforts to reach, as are the some of the temple cities of Tamil Nadu. Karnataka’s other treasures are hardly ever visited – Bidar, Bijapur and the early Hindu Temples in and around Badami. Nor do many visitors reach the central Indian monuments at Sanchi , Mandu and Bhopal or ruined palaces of Datia and Orchha , south of Gwalior.
WILDLIFE SANCTUARIES – The parks of India and Nepal cover thousand of square kilometers and give sanctuary to a wide range of threatened species of mammal, reptile and bird, as well as flowers and trees. India is an important area for animal conservation work. Vistors explore the parks by jeep and on elephant. However few are yet as well run as African park and accommodation may be quite simple.
BEACHES – Considering the length and beauty of its coastline, India has few good beach resorts. Goa is best , then Kovalam followed by coast south of Chennai (Mahabalipuram). But the choice extends to smart beaches of Sri Lanka , the escapist island of Maldives and remote Andaman and Nicolbar island. All are very beautiful and perfect places for switching off.
BIG CITIES – India’s big cities are much more difficult to visit than their equivalents in Europe & America. They are huge sprawling and over populated. But Delhi , Mumbai , Kolkata , Chennai, Bangalore & Hyderabad have fine colonial buildings and offer range opportunities to see India’s great musicians and dancers.
Delhi & Mumbai have best restaurants in the country and something almost approaching the western idea of night life. Both cities are essential for stocking up on information bookings and literature on the way into india and have the best hopping on the way out.A full two days in either city at the beginning and end of the trip makes things run much more smoothly in between.
MOVING AROUND – Just as important and amusing as deciding which places to visit is deciding how best to get them. For instance, few journeys are as enjoyable as the flight up from Srinagar to Leh, cruise from Goa to Mumbai. Train from near Coimbatore to Ooty, backwater cruise in Kerala or drive from Jammu to Srinagar.