Day 1- arrival at Delhi 8PM Meet and stay with host family
Day 2- Train for Amritsar at 7AM will reach there at 2 PM Wagah Border and other sites
Have not selected a hotel yet. Any recommendations? I was hoping to acquire points but only Best Western and Country Inn are there and it doesn�t appear they�re very close to the Golden Temple.
Day 3 - Golden Temple and Jalia wala Bagh - sound and light show? Night train to Del
Day 4- Hired a car with driver day 4-8 -head towards Agra ( will take 3-4 hrs ) then Sikandara , Red fort and Taj Mahal ( so that we can get the view of night time ) I have not booked yet, but from reading other threads I think I�m staying at ITC Mughal unless I receive a better suggestion. I�m only gold with SPG but have lots of points to use.
Day 5- Drive to Jaipur. On the way "FatehPur Sikri". Booked at Sheraton Rajputana Palace.
Day 6 - Delhi tour - Kutub Minar , Bahai Temple , ISKON Temple , Red Fort , Jama Masjid , Chandani Chowk , Cannaught Place, etc. (stay with host in DEL)
Day 7- More of DEL or Rest up in DEL . Its Diwali so evening Pooja and celebrations

Ok, so the rest of the trip is where I need suggestions.
Day 8, 9 and 10. I was hoping to fly Del to Varanasi on day 8, spend the day and night there, then on to Pune the following afternoon (I have friends to meet with in Pune so must get there ) Would it be too rushed to go Del to Varanasi via plane..both kingfisher and spicejet flights would arrive 11 am and are inexpensive. I haven't found a good flight VSN to PNQ on Day 9 tho'. The best I found to Pune leaves @ 11 am and arrives 6 pm. So it seems to foil my plan-spending most of the day traveling and missing out on sites somewhere.
Day 10- Flight to US departs @ 10 PM so I have all day to reach BOM if the flights are reliable.
So, should I try for Varansi or spend more time in Pune and/or Mumbai?

Thanks for any info.

Your plan looks reasonable to me. There's not much to see in Varanasi itself besides the temple and the river, which you can easily do on Day 9 (early morning). It looks like you might even have time to hire a car+driver and see the Sanchi Stupa (historical Buddhist buildings) in the latter half of Day 8. I don't think there are direct flights from Varanasi to Pune. My guess is that you have found the best one possible.

PS: Are you the frugaltravelguy? If so, I love your blog. Thanks for all the tips and advice!

seems like a good itinerary....if you want to spend time with your friends in pune then i would suggest you skip varanasi....

Good itinerary! Few suggestions below:

1. In Agra, you could consider staying at the Jaypee Palace Hotel instead of ITC Mughal. It's a bit dated IMHO

2. Amritsar - depending on your budget, I would suggest staying at The Grand Hotel(close to station) - budget hotel, or The Ista Hotel(boutique) - close to the temple. Either-ways, Amritsar is a small city, and any rickshaw will take you to the temple in a few minutes.

3. In Jaipur - Rajputana is good, but so is the Marriott.

4. Personally I think Varanasi is worth a visit, and do-able in a day. The Ramada Hotel and Radisson Varanasi are good places to stay. However, you will have just under 24 hours to spend with your friends in Pune if you fly VNS-DEL-PNQ on Day 9. So its entirely up to you.

If you need help with booking any of the above, give me a shout. I'm based in Delhi and would be happy to help.

Cheers

the op claims to have lots of spg points to use so the itc is a good value as a cat 3 property....even better if the op uses cash & points....

same thing with the rajputana here, its a cat 3 so again very good value for points & better for c&p....

Based on our experience and other FTer reports, 3-4 hours Delhi-Agra is pretty optimistic. It took us 5 hours. You'll understand when you get your first taste of Indian traffic.

@hyderago Good idea on the car and driver to see additional sites. Would I book the driver through the hotel?
PS. No I am not the frugaltravelguy. I do live in the same town and do know him�I got into frugal travel only 3 yrs ago due to reading an article where a local interviewed him. I then started reading his blog. It�s because of him, his great tips and his blog with links to the �community, I�m traveling to India and lots of other places around the world.
@ privygel Thanks on the hotel ideas, but I will be using SPG points or C&P as Keyser notes.
@ Keyser I ended up booking with points only, as I need 2 rooms/day and the website would not let me book c & p for two rooms. So I booked 1 room with c & p and then called the 800#. The rep. was able to upgrade both rooms but only if I did it with points. I think it is worth it 
@ Chapel Hill Guy I am prepared to roll with the punches-I�ve read much about India and realize there are many glitches with transportation. I am excited that I�ve booked trains too, and look forward to rickshaw, pedicab rides and cows in the streets!

If I can find an earlier flight from DEL to PNQ it would be easier to decide. I�m still waiting to hear what will work best for my friends in Pune. Quite possibly arriving @ 6 pm might work out due to their work schedules. I�ve looked at flights on Air India, Jet Airways, Spice Jet, Orbitz and Vayama. Is there any other website I should look at for flights?

it all depends on traffic & the weather....i have done this trip in 3 hours a number of times & it has even taken me upto 7 hours a few times....

7 hrs ? Auch! Well, it will be what it will be. I will try to enjoy the journey however long it ends up. Maybe I'll post a recap

I'm sure the hotel would be able to do this for you, although not at the cheapest rate possible. Try asking your travel agent /driver in Delhi if he has any contacts in Varanasi.

yaatra.com and makemytrip.com (make sure you go to the Indian sites of these websites - I've bought tickets from these websites in INR using a USD credit before). Looks like if you combine airlines, you might be able to get to Pune slightly earlier

Cool. The next time you run into him, let him know hyderago is a huge fan of his.

Thought I'd update this plan as my friend in Pune suggests I skip Vns and head to Aurangabad to see the Ajanta and Ellora caves. Distance wise this seems to make sense. At least I'll be heading in pregressive direction. What do you all think of this idea? The whole area looks like a wonderful thing to see! I didn't find any SPG or IHG's there, so I can't snag a free room, but I did find a Lemon Tree, which someone mentioned before.It gets good reviews for tripadvisor.

I'll be spending a lot more time researching this idea over the weekend and as always, appreciate the suggestions of those of you who have been here.

The Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays, so check the calendar before you make plans.

I've been trying to book an award night at the ITC Mughal for days and a standard room is not available. I've reserved a luxury room-just in case- but would rather not pay the premium price. I did look at the Jaypee Palace but that has no availability either but the Radisson does. Also the Hotel Siddartha. Anyone have any thoughts about these two or another suggestion?

In case anyone is interested....
Day 7- 9w to Aurangabad. Lemon Tree and Tour Ajanta and Ellora Caves
Day 8- 9w to Pune. Meet friends; see a few sites, 4 Pts or Westin.
Day 9- Car to BOM. Site see along the way. Arrive in BOM in plenty of time..hope to do a meet up in the Lounge if it works for anyone, and as always I am hoping for a bump.

I have 1 kurtha packed and a saree waiting for me but I doubt I�ll lose the American tourist look�one can always hope 

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but Lahore is having a major Dengue fever outbreak.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/270443/a...battle-dengue/

If you are going to Amritsar/Punjab atm you may want to think about some good DEET based repellent and use permethrin treated mosquito nets.