I wish I was going! Feel free to check out my travel journal from India
http://www.livejournal.com/users/jeninindia
Don’t go to Agra on your first weekend (and I do think flying might be a good plan- although in country airfares are steep for foreigners and you should take at least one ride on the world’s biggest train system). The Taj Mahal is awesome and worth it, but Agra is kind of a tough town for tourists- the hassles tourists will find everywhere in India are tripled there because it’s the first place people go when they step off the plane and have no idea what things should cost, what common scams are, etc.
Around Pune, I’d recommend going to the Ellora Caves. They are set of Buddhist monasteries (plus a few Jain and Hindu shrines) cut into caves dating from around the turn of the millennium. The Ajanta caves are also nearby and have some of the finest Buddhist cave paintings around (sadly, I didn’t make it there.) The nearest city Aranghabad doesn’t have much to recommend for itself though, and if time was tight I’d skip the caves.
If I had four weekends, and airfare was not a problem, first I’d visit Hampi- a relatively new city (1500’s I think) that was sacked by Muslims. Now it’s full of literally miles of ruins in one of the most surreal settings imaginable. It’s full of weird giant boulders and a strange river. It looks like another planet. The temple there is pretty cool and very active. It’s a relatively laid back town (though the food kind of sucks and you will run in to mostly tourists) and also offers some opportunities to take a look at village and tribal life.
Then I’d skip Agra for my trip north and go to Varanasi. It’s one of humanity’s oldest cities and the holist Hindu city…if you’ve seen those pictures of the Ganges with all these people on steps, that is probably Varanasi. The place is kind of chaotic, but it’s one heck of a city and such a trip to realize you are walking in the same city that Buddha walked in. If you are in to Buddha, the place where he gave his first sermon under the Bodhi tree is nearby.
Then I’d skip Goa and head to Kerela. The beaches there are beautiful, the backwaters are bewitching (although the famous “backwater tours” are a little embarrassing on your part) and the town of Kochi is my favorite place in India. It’s a charming colonial spice port (you can still go to the spice markets, where they ship spices just like they did hundreds of years ago) with awesome food. You can buy fish directly out of a fisherman’s net and take it to a shack where they will expertly cook it and serve it to you within minutes. The food in Kochi is amazing, the small arts scene is refreshing, and it’s a fascinating place just to walk around (stay in the fort, not the nearby city, which is more ecologically sound but loses so much of the charm). It has enough tourist amenities to be comfortable but it only takes a couple minutes of walking to get to places where the westerners never go.
Then I’d either spend my last weekend in Mumbai, which is fun but can feel too westernized to some people, Madurai if you like temples, or head up to Rajasthan and visit Jaisalmer (if you want the full on Arabian Nights desert experience) or Bikaner (if you want to see some of India’s wierder attractions like the rat temple and the government camel farm).
For general advice, the Culture Shock India book is surprising useful and accurate. I kind of liked the Lonely Planet better than the Rough Guide. All of the readings in the guide books are facinating and the Rough Guide recommended reading list is full of great recommendations (if you go to Kochi, you can pick up many of the recommended books at the fabulous Idiom Bookshop.
Be warned, travel in India is amazing. Every day you will see something absolutely amazing. But it can also be a pain in the butt. People will lie to you and try to scam you. People will beg in extremely aggressive ways (I’m talking like one beggar following you for two hours). People will harass you. People will try to extort you. It can be tough to get accurate information, things run at a much slower (or at least weirder) pace. Things are very different.
Even a simple bus ride can be difficult. Usually the bus waits until it is full before leaving, and if it doesn’t fill up, it won’t leave at all. Or maybe it will be smuggling whiskey and avoid traveling on the paved government roads- extending your trip by six hours. Or maybe it will just roll around the city for an hour and then make everyone get off and drive off into the sunset with your money. Or maybe your rickshaw driver will take you to an empty lot and say “there are no busses” and say “but my friend here is a taxi driver- he’ll take you!” Anything can happen and often it will be a big pain in the butt. All of those things happened to me- and more. Just be ready to go with the flow, be flexible, and try not to get too worked up about things or you’ll have a bad time. The key is to not worry. Twenty bucks is a fortune there and you can fix nearly anything for less than that. No need to freak out or worry.
General advice is make sure to take your malaria pills for a test week to see if you can tolerate them (I discovered I couldn’t a week in to my trip!), don’t drink the water, dress conservatively, eat as much varied food as possible and make sure to go to a ‘meals’ joint. Don’t let the touts get to you. Try out McDonald’s there- it’s really different. go see a movie and don’t worry if you can’t understand it- the plots are rarely all that hard to understand. Buy mosquito repellent (their “odomos” is excellent). take trains and avoid video busses at all costs. Avoid “multi-cusine” restaurants, which are always yukky. But do try the “chinese” food, which is very uniquely Indian. eat the yummy little potato chips they sell in plastic bags. buy lots of stuff to bring home (I redid my home like a sultan’s palace for like $50.00). Talk to everyone. Don’t hand out pens or money to kids or they’ll harass you and every white person they see forever.
And Have Fun! If you have any questions about travel or specific places, let me know.