1

Inside? You going for some record on how many times you can link to your blog in one day?

2

The places you have mentioned are on the well beaten tourist trail, so infrastructure like hotels and buses to get from place to place etc will be easily available. However, India can be full on, ie once a bus arrives at a destination, expect to be swarmed by 10000 touts offering accommodation and taxis etc. Being single won’t be a problem, but being a single female, sometimes can be a bit daunting in India, but many before you have absolutely enjoyed India, some not so.
India is a wonderful fascinating place, put your head down and go there, but go with the flow, enjoy the odd scam, enjoy the attempts to not take you to the right place ie "your Hotel burnt down" Your level of enjoyment will depend on your frame of mind. But most of all just go.

3

Great, Pirate - I had already flagged him up on another post, so it can work.
Jon has got it absolutely right.
I lived and worked in Latin America for 15 years and there is no comparison.
On the negative side India is unclean, the lavvies are disguating except in half-decent hotels, hassling by lying touts is at least tedious and at worst infuriating. More attention needs to be paid to personal hygiene,
On the positive side, India is very safe, Indians are good talkers particularly in the AC classes on trains, tis cheap. hassling starts on ths site and you could well receive approaches on the private messaging system - please report these to the moderator.
There is a wealth of info on this site re itineraries, may I suggest the following
DEL - fly to
VAR - overnite train to
AGR - dont forget fatehpur Sukri as a side trip - train to
JAIP - bling city - train back to
DEL - do your sightseeing here at the end.
Jaipur is despised by many of us who find it rather horrendous - a large city full of both Indian tourists shopping and foreigners getting screwed by eveyone starting with the lowly tuktuk drivers.
BUT importantly get the latest guidebook both LP and Rough Guide are good value - Amazon may be the cheapest.

4

I had already flagged him up on another post

They popped him finally. Reminds me of chowderhead from Nepal that thought he had every answer ever to be asked in HIS blog. Hope the door hit both of them in the ass on the way out.

5

time frame, if by train:
Delhi to Jaipur = http://erail.in?T=NDLS::JP:
Jaipur to Agra = http://erail.in?T=JP::AF:
Agra to Varanasi = http://erail.in?T=AF::BSB:

6

OK, thanks!!

What about the trains, do I need to arrange this in advance? What about accomodation? I can't spend a lot on this, but don't want to sleep with cockroaches either. Any recommendations?

When I take this route; any idea how long to stay anywhere:

DEL - fly to
VAR - overnite train to
AGR - dont forget fatehpur Sukri as a side trip - train to
JAIP - bling city - train back to
DEL - do your sightseeing here at the end

Is there any nightlife on the route?

Pirate, I don't seem to understand your messages?

7

Totally subjective,BB.
On the question of booking tickets in advance - I have never done this successfully but others have - jst scroll down and look at advice from others.
If you have no luck, then your first visit to a historic monument in Delhi should be the tourist Ticket office in New Delhi station - immediately above the main ticket hall. Almost certainly a representative of Indian pond-life will lie to you by telling you it's closed. A good idea to stay in Pahar Ganj close by.
You could save time however if your flight arrives in the morning is to transfer from International to national terminal and buy a ticket on the next flight to Varanasi.
The following is certainly not cast in tablets of stone from Mount Sinai:-
Maybe 3 days/2 nites in VAR
overnite train to AGRA
Maybe 2 full days and nites in Agra, doing Fatehpur Sukri first day so as to be at the Taj as early as possible on the second day. Taj closed on Fridays - the Red Fort is a good choice for the afternoon
1 day travelling to Jaipur
2 days/ 3 nites JAI
back to Delhi.
I repeat though - consult your guidebook which though imperfect is reasonably objective.

8

Re Accommodation, Most of the places you want to visit usually have a cluster of backpacker hotels in an neighbourhood ie Pahar Ganj in Delhi. So when you get your Lonely Planet guide book, pick a hotel in the middle of the cluster (but not the one you would prefer to stay in) and then tell taxi/rickshaw you have booked the Hotel (he then won’t say it's fully booked, although burnt down last night will still be on the cards) and then get dropped there. Rickshaw will follow you in, so try to hang around until he goes or pop into a cafe. Then wander around and find suitable accommodation, (although carting big backpack around will be a giveaway to the touts). Inspect room, tell Innkeeper that you found place by yourself and that the tout near the door didn’t help, then negotiate price, then walk out, price should drop some more, if not, no harm in doing U-turn at front door and take final offer.

9

You can compare India and South America only in terms of hardships or comfort and discomfort of travel. It's on similar level, but that's a great generalisation.
What you'll be seeing everyday is that sanitary conditions in India may be appalling, on the other hand, food, even if simple, will be better in India than in SA.