Must-see places in Northern India (3 weeks in October)?

Harmandir Sahib, Red Fort and Taj Mahal

If you are the crazy adventurous type (like I am) I can recommend going up to Jammu & Kashmir.  Most western nation's foreign affairs departments warn against going there due to the religious and ethnic tensions between the Muslim population and the Indian army. Notwithstanding that I bought a discount GoIndia flight from DelhiDelhi to SrinagarI visited the famous floating village and stayed on a houseboat of Srinagar Lake, booked some multi-day mountain trekking expeditions to see amazing ancient Hindu Temples (which inspired the themes of the American Hollywood movie "Indiana Jones Temple of Doom"), then took a crazy (almost suicidal) 20-hour shared-jeep taxi drive from Srinagar through Kargil, ending in the spectacular and amazing Tibetan Buddhist temples and more 10,000 ft altitude Himalayan mountain city of Leh (you can see them in the movie "Seven Years in Tibet" starring Leonardo Dicaprio) and taking the famous moonscape-like 22 hour, 475 km drive across the Himalaya Mountains over the "Highest Motorable Road in the World" stopping at places like 15,782 ft Taglang La pass and ultimately18,400 altitude  Khardungla pass on the way to Indian honeymoon resort town of Manali. Note that those high altitude roads are only passable between about May to October. Tip: Bring enough US or Euro cash as the Indian bank ATM's don't work there although credit cards are widely accepted. Internet access is slow and limited. Be aware of altitude sickness.

Hi Simon,

Delhi is the perfect place to start, there's lots to see and do and you could easily spend a 7 days looking around, a few days at the beginning and few at the end. Delhi's ideally located to travel to all parts of North India. Depending on whether you're a slow traveller or not, you could decide between going to all the places I'll mention or not. Although one country, every region of India differs from the other in many ways. 

1. Delhi; lots of historical monuments with beautiful architecture and great food and handicrafts from all over India

2. Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Udaipur which are all situated in the state of Rajasthan October's the time for the Rajasthan International Folk Festival. A very colourful and warm culture in the most arid part of India.

3. Agra, Varanasi, Vrindavan, all in the State of Uttar Pradesh. Varanasi is one of the oldest city's in the World and is steeped in religion/temples/ceremonies and some other very entertaining elements that pass off in the name of religion. 

4. McLeod Ganj, Lahaul And Spiti, Sangla, in the state of Himachal Pradesh which is scenically beautiful and you'll also get a taste of Buddhist culture.

600 euros is a decent budget for 20 days as you'll be able to get a decent hostel or airbnb accomodation and food. Travelling by interstate buses is pretty affordable too, but I feel you may need to budget for more if you want to save on time and use public transport instead of walking all around every place and shopping for knick-knacks.

Hope this is helpful and you have a wonderful trip.

Hello Simon,

If you travel to Rajasthan, you will witness the nice colors and culture of this state that is very different from other states in India. The three weeks can be spent over Jaisalmer, Ajmer, Bundi, Pushkar, Jaipur. Rajasthan is usually not hot during October. There will be a great weather as winter starts setting in this month. Try to google about Pushkar cattle fair. It is the held somewhere in the mid of October. It is the largest cattle fair in India.

If you want to witness hills and nature walks, you can travel to Himachal. There are places like Kasol, Old Manali, McLeod Ganj. You will feel that three weeks are less over these places.

If you want to do some yoga stuff near the Holy river Ganges, you can travel to Haridwar, Rishikesh, Uttarkashi. You can also visit Varanasi. You will witness the rituals of Hinduism there.

Jaislamer is little expensive rest places fall under your budget. Still, if you start finding places from now, you can get good deals.

For three weeks you can follow this itienerary:-

Delhi - Alsisar - Bikaner - Jaisalmer - Jodhpur - Ranakpur - Udaipur - Chittorgarh - Pushkar - Jaipur - Bundi - Ranthambhore National Park - Agra - Orchha - Khajuraho - Varanasi - Delhi 

For tour programs you can contact www.indijourneys.com