india is never a relaxing vacation, it is at best a sheltered adventure.

you can get drivers with air conditioning so you arent sweaty and smelly. most stores for heat sensitive foreigners are also air conditioned.

two, you can wear clothes that help you with the heat. as a guy i was taught that wearing a banain under my tshirt meant the banain absorbed any sweat, and the hot winds actually cooled my body when they hit the banain. it was neat, and my tshirt didnt get wet.

maybe go do some hot yoga to get used to +45 celsius. you will be drinking a lot of water, and if you can learn how not to get tapped energy wise, you will enjoy it a lot more. it was +42 in april when I went a few years ago, it "cooled" down to +28 in the evenings which is when i went out.

can't suggest anything about moths, bugs are a fact of life. maybe you can drape yourself in a bug screen burqa

july-august shouldn't be all that bad heat wise.....it rains in most parts of india during that time of the year if I am not wrong.....that brings its own problems......all kinds of bugs.....go in december.......

The best time to go is November - March. You're gonna be dying from the heat any other time!

I'm going at the end of October for a wedding



the BAAP "will bring toilet paper"

It will be as hot as hell, but hey thats life.

I agree, India is not a relaxing vacation unless you spend alot of money, most go to be thrifty. You can be treated like a Raj if you pay for it.

Most likely you will be visiting alot of family, drinking tea and eating alot of biscuits.

Don't drink the water or the sodas.

It's freakin hot in April and May - so I imagine July and August isn't going to be any better but I know several ppl who have gone at that time and yes they have survived, so will you. You will be eaten alive by mosquitos, they laugh at the repellents from here.

It's hot and dirty - smells like urine because you see people urinating right in the middle of road.

Shopping is another headache - you'll spending 1/2 day in one store while they pull out every freakin fabric they have while they serve you chai and pakoras.

You'll also be fighting w/ every tempo driver, shop keeper, etc because they will try to rip you off or take your some where else so they can "commission".

I agree, going to India is not a vacation, it's an adventure... an assault on the senses...love/hate relationship.

I'm going next month..hehe

The thread comments reminds me of the film adaptation of Lahiri's 'The Namesake'. Good film.

Back to the topic at hand - I have spent August in Chandigarh and it was fine. Also took the Kalka narrow gauge railway route upto Shimla which was divine. Shimla is wonderful - no wonder it was the summer capital during the Raj.

I'm hoping to go to Chandigarh/Shimla next month (from Jalendhar). How many days would you think is sufficient for travel time, etc?

0.5 day (Jalandhar - Chandigarh guesstimate as I am not from Doaba region) > 0.5 day (Chandigarh - Shimla with a day's contingency in case of rock falls blocking the rail track - I do not recommend the bus on the mountain passes - the drivers are psychos). 2 days (+1) round trip travel time.

I recommend 2 nights stay in Shimla - it is pedestrian friendly and you can see most of it walking about especially if you stay in the Mall area. Take a light jacket as the weather is fairly British.

Thanks for the tips! Much appreciated!

bug-repellant, sun block, and comfy clothes..oh and carry around a bottle of water and you're good!