The Taj Mahal is just one of a multitude of great sights in northern India. Photo / Jim Eagles

The Taj Mahal is just one of a multitude of great sights in northern India. Photo / Jim Eagles

Myself, husband and two children, 9 and 12, are travelling to India next year in the mid-year school holidays. Could you recommend a suggested itinerary? Is it feasible to do it on our own? - Yvette Korman

For the two weeks or so that you have, we suggest you head for north India and see some of the greatest sights in the country.

Starting with a few days in Delhi you'll want to see the National Museum and Humayun's Tomb before doing some serious shopping in the city's markets, bazaars and shopping emporiums. Also spend some time in Old Delhi's Red Fort and Jama Masjid.

Then get an early start for Agra where you'll take in the magnificent Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Akbar's Mausoleum. The nearby fortified ghost city of Fatehpur Sikri is worth exploring too.

Jaipur should be next on your itinerary with its dazzling dusky pink skyline and wonderful hill forts and palaces. Rajasthan's most romantic city, Udaipur, is serene and whimsical, surrounded by misty ochre-shaded hills, and it makes for a relaxing stop for a few days.

If you have time before returning to Delhi then you should indeed lose yourself in the breathtaking and fairy-tale fort at Jaisalmer (the Golden City) and perhaps ride a camel in the desert.

It's certainly very feasible to travel independently here. This is a well-trodden region of India and all the above-mentioned places can be easily reached by train or bus. Train is the preferred method of travel for tourists as it is more comfortable and doesn't involve scooting along some of those nerve-racking windy roads. Private buses are also an option: they're more luxurious, more reliable and quicker.

All you'll need is a good guidebook and a little bit of planning. Lonely Planet's guide to India includes all the information you'll need on places to stay, places to eat, what to see, how to get there and costs. You'll certainly save money this way and you'll get to see things and visit places that you wouldn't get to on a tour.

Before you go, read the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's advisory for India at www.safetravel.govt.nz.

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We plan to spend about five days in northern Sardinia, flying into Alghero, hiring a car and finishing up in Olbia on the east coast. We're hoping to catch a ferry to the Amalfi coast, our main holiday destination or, failing that, fly to Naples. If we flew, how would we travel from Naples airport to Sorrento? - S Barry

Most ferries heading regularly to Italy from Olbia sail to ports north of Rome: Civitavecchia (seven hours), Livorno (eight hours) and Genoa (10 hours). There are a couple of seasonal services to ports south of Rome: Medmar (www.medmargroup.it) sails from Palau (north of Olbia) to Naples; and Dimaiolines (www.dimaiolines.it; cabins from $70) sails from Olbia to Salerno (at the southern end of the Amalfi coast) twice weekly from June to September. Tirrenia (www.tirrenia.it) has a regular Wednesday service from Cagliari, in the south of Sardinia, to Naples ($147).