21 Days Across Northern India

Here's exactly how I structured 21 days across Northern India. This isn't the only way to do it, but it's a route that works and allows enough breathing room that you don't burn out by week two.

Days 1-2: Delhi

Day 1: Arrive Delhi 11 PM via Singapore. Pre-booked guesthouse in Paharganj ($18 AUD/night). Collapse. Don't try to do anything on arrival night except get to your room safely.

Day 2: Old Delhi exploration. Walk to Chandni Chowk (the main bazaar, 10 minutes from Paharganj). Spend the morning getting lost in the lanes: spice sellers, fabric stalls, jewellery, street food. Eat butter chicken for lunch at a recommended local spot (150 INR, $2.30). Afternoon: visit Jama Masjid (one of India's largest mosques, free entry, shoes off). Walk back through the old city. Evening: rest and plan your train departure. Pick up an Airtel SIM card if you didn't get one at the airport (500 INR, $7.50 for 3 weeks of data).

Honest time assessment: Delhi deserves 3-4 days if you have them. I gave it 2 because I was eager to start Rajasthan. I'd add a day for New Delhi (India Gate, Humayun's Tomb, Lotus Temple) if I had time.

Days 3-5: Jaipur

Day 3: Overnight sleeper train from Delhi to Jaipur (booked via Cleartrip, $18 AUD, 3AC class). Depart Delhi around 9 PM, arrive Jaipur around 5 AM. Grab an auto-rickshaw to your hotel ($2). Check in, shower, sleep for a few hours. Afternoon: explore the Pink City on foot. Hawa Mahal for photos (20 minutes is enough), then wander the bazaars. Henna done at a street stall (50 INR). Evening: rooftop dinner at your hotel watching the city light up.

Day 4: Amber Fort day. Auto-rickshaw to the base (100 INR). Elephant ride to the top (250 INR) or walk (free, 30-40 minutes uphill). Explore the fort for 2-3 hours: mirror palace, courtyards, views over the valley. Lunch at a restaurant near the fort (cheap, tourist-priced but still reasonable). Afternoon: back to Jaipur for the City Palace museum or more bazaar wandering.

Day 5: Flexible day. Options: day trip to Samode Palace (90 minutes from Jaipur), monkey temple (Galtaji), or simply more time in Jaipur's old city. I used this as a rest day after the early morning Amber Fort trip, doing laundry and journaling. Sometimes the best travel days are the ones where you do nothing planned.

Days 6-8: Jodhpur

Day 6: Bus from Jaipur to Jodhpur (5-6 hours, $8 AUD). The bus is fine for this route: frequent departures, reasonable comfort. Arrive early afternoon. Check into your heritage palace stay ($28 AUD/night, worth every dollar). Evening: wander the Blue City lanes near Mehrangarh Fort. Find a rooftop restaurant with fort views for dinner (200 INR for a full thali).

Day 7: Mehrangarh Fort morning (entry 600 INR, includes excellent audio guide). Spend 2 hours exploring the museum and ramparts. Then the main event: Flying Fox zipline. Book in advance if possible, but walk-ups are usually available. Seven lines, 90 minutes total, 1,700 INR ($26 AUD). Your afternoon will be spent grinning about the zipline. Evening: explore the Sardar Market and clock tower area.

Day 8: Buffer day. Jodhpur has enough to fill it: Jaswant Thada (marble memorial, stunning at sunset), Mandore Gardens, or simply more old city exploration. I used this day to recover from zipline adrenaline and write in my journal about the experience while it was fresh.

Days 9-10: Bikaner

Day 9: Bus to Bikaner (4 hours from Jodhpur, $5 AUD). Bikaner is small and low-key compared to Jodhpur. Check into a basic guesthouse ($15 AUD). Afternoon: Junagarh Fort (an underrated fort that's actually better preserved than many famous ones). Evening: Bikaner street food, specifically kachori and namkeen (the city is famous for snacks).

Day 10: Karni Mata Temple day trip. Auto-rickshaw or local bus to Deshnoke (30 minutes, 50 INR). The rat temple experience takes about an hour. You'll want some time to sit and process what you just saw afterward. It's unlike anything else on this trip. Return to Bikaner for lunch (try the local kachori, they're famous here and cost almost nothing). Afternoon: prepare for the Jaisalmer journey the next morning. Exchange cash if needed as Jaisalmer ATMs can be unreliable.

Days 11-12: Jaisalmer

Day 11: Bus to Jaisalmer (5 hours from Bikaner, $6 AUD). Arrive early afternoon. Check into your desert-adjacent guesthouse ($16 AUD). Walk to Jaisalmer Fort (one of the few "living forts" in India, people still live inside it). Explore the fort lanes, eat at a rooftop restaurant inside the fort walls. Book your camel safari for tomorrow through your guesthouse ($35 AUD overnight package).

Day 12: Desert day. Pickup from guesthouse around 9 AM. Drive to the desert edge (1 hour). Mount your camel. Ride through the Thar Desert dunes for the day, stopping for chai and lunch (included). Arrive at the overnight camp site by late afternoon. Watch the sunset from a sand dune. Dinner around a campfire. Sleep under the stars. Wake at 3 AM to the Milky Way. Sunrise camel ride back to the vehicles. Return to Jaisalmer by noon.

Days 13-15: Udaipur

Day 13: Overnight train from Jaisalmer to Udaipur (10 hours, sleeper class, $15 AUD). This is one of the longer train journeys but the overnight format means you sleep through most of it. Arrive morning, check into your lakeside guesthouse ($20 AUD). Spend the day decompressing after the desert. Walk to Lake Pichola, find a restaurant with water views, eat slowly.

Day 14: Lake exploration day. Morning boat tour of Lake Pichola (200 INR, 45 minutes). Visit Jagdish Temple (free, beautiful carved stone). Explore the City Palace complex (300 INR entry). Afternoon: wander the old city lanes, find art galleries and craft shops. Evening: rooftop dinner watching the sunset.

Day 15: Flexible Udaipur day. Options: drive to Kumbhalgarh Fort (mountain fort, 90 minutes, the second-longest wall in the world after the Great Wall of China), explore Saheliyon ki Bari (Garden of Maidens), or simply more Udaipur relaxation. I chose to stay in Udaipur and just exist: reading, eating, watching the lake. This was the trip's emotional midpoint and the rest was needed before the intensity of Varanasi.

Days 16-18: Varanasi

Day 16: Overnight train from Udaipur to Varanasi (13-15 hours, the longest journey of the trip, $22 AUD sleeper class). This is a proper overnight: depart late afternoon, arrive next morning. Bring snacks, water, a book, and earplugs. The journey passes through some of the most rural parts of central India. You'll see fields stretching to the horizon, tiny villages, rivers. It's hypnotic from a train window.

Day 17: Arrive Varanasi morning. Check into hotel near Dashashwamedh Ghat ($12 AUD). Morning: walk the ghats along the river. Watch the bathing rituals, the washing, the morning prayers. Don't photograph cremations without permission (most people prefer you don't). Afternoon: explore the old city lanes (Varanasi's lanes are the narrowest and most maze-like of any city on this trip). Evening: the Aarti ceremony. Arrive 30 minutes early for a good spot on the steps.

Day 18: More Varanasi. Morning: sunrise boat ride on the Ganga (300 INR, 1 hour, absolutely worth it for seeing the ghats from the water at dawn). Visit Sarnath (Buddhist site 10km from Varanasi, where Buddha gave his first sermon, auto-rickshaw $4 return). Afternoon: final wandering, souvenir shopping (silk scarves from Varanasi are excellent, 200-500 INR), last chai.

Days 19-21: Agra and Return

Day 19: Train from Varanasi to Agra (8 hours, $16 AUD). Arrive afternoon. Check into your hotel near the Taj ($18 AUD). Rest and prepare for the early morning.

Day 20: Taj Mahal at sunrise. Queue opens at 6 AM, arrive by 5:30 for a good position. Buy tickets online in advance (saves money and skips the main queue). Spend 2-3 hours at the Taj: the light at sunrise is extraordinary, the marble shifts through pink, gold, and white as the sun climbs. Take your time. Walk around the back where fewer tourists go. Afternoon: Agra Fort (40 minutes from the Taj by auto, 550 INR entry, excellent Mughal architecture and views back to the Taj across the river). Evening: final Indian dinner at a rooftop restaurant with Taj views (several exist near the monument), pack your bag.

Day 21: Train to Delhi (3-4 hours, express train, $12 AUD). Arrive Delhi. If your flight is evening, you have time for last-minute Delhi exploration or souvenir shopping at Dilli Haat (a fixed-price craft market, much less stressful than bargaining in bazaars). Flight home via Singapore.

If You Only Have 10 Days

You skip the desert, Varanasi, Udaipur, and Bikaner. That's a lot of loss. But you still get the core Rajasthan experience that changes your perspective. If you have 14 days, add Varanasi and Agra. Varanasi is the one you'd regret missing most.

Transport Summary Table

Total internal transport: $102 AUD for the entire loop. Add $680 for international flights. Transport within cities (auto-rickshaws, Uber/Ola): roughly $110 over 21 days.

Pace and Rest Days

The itinerary above includes buffer days in Jodhpur (Day 8), Jaipur (Day 5), and Udaipur (Day 15). These aren't wasted days. They're the difference between a sustainable trip and burning out by week two. India is mentally exhausting: the noise, the heat, the attention, the constant decision-making in unfamiliar environments. Building in rest days where you do nothing planned (laundry, journaling, sitting in a cafe, sleeping in) keeps the whole trip enjoyable rather than a survival exercise.

If you're the type who needs to "see everything," resist the urge. The best India experiences come from slowing down, not speeding up. My most memorable meal was an unplanned dhal at a family-run restaurant I stumbled into on a rest day in Udaipur. My best conversation was with a guesthouse owner in Jodhpur when I had nowhere to be. Leave room for India to surprise you. The itinerary is a framework, not a contract. Some of the best days happened when I threw the plan away and followed a recommendation from a fellow traveller or a guesthouse host who said "you should go here instead."

Last updated: March 2026. All costs from November 2017. The Wild Logs Team.