Not everyone feels called to travel to India, but those who do feel it strongly and tend to have a huge desire to explore India. Traveling to India can be incredibly life-changing (I know it was for me) but it doesn’t come without its struggles. While there are travelers who feel called to India, there are others who feel it’s too difficult to travel; it’s true – India travel can be intense. I first traveled to India five years ago, and have been living here for four and a half. I am going to just sum up everything from start to finish in this travel to India guide to just simplify it all for you.
Step by Step Guide: Travel To India Made Easy
If you took the time to read my 400+ posts about India, you’ll find a lot of information, but I wanted one big whopper of an article that just tells you how to start planning your India trip from scratch.
I’m going to break this article down into the following sections. I’ll often link back to articles where I have written more in depth on the subjects below.
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- Before You Come
- When to Come
- How Long to Stay
- Flight
- Visa
- Health & Wellness
- Safety & Culture
- Packing
- Currency & Budget
- What Lodging is Like
- What Food is Like
- Transportation
- Trains
- Buses
- Taxis and Rickshaws
- Itinerary Considerations
- Top Towns Tourists Love
- Sample Itinerary for 10 Weeks
- Tours I Recommend
- Experiences to Try
- Yoga Retreats and Yoga Teacher Training
- How to Meet People
- Shopping
- What to Buy in Which Areas
- How to Negotiate
- Traveling With Kids
- Volunteering Considerations
- Additional Reading
1. Travel to India: Planning for Your Trip to India, What to know before you come to India
1.1) When to Come to India
When to come to India should be your first consideration before you start planning. Peak season in India is October to March. For MOST, peak season is going to be when you want to come. Although there are more tourists at this time, India is a crowded country in general and it’s going to feel crowded no matter when you come.
In the off-season the weather is not as nice (it gets very hot in May then June brings the monsoon), and in areas where the monsoon hits hard like Goa and Kerala, pretty much everything is shut from restaurants to hostels. Another downside of traveling off-season is that there will be fewer tourists to meet along the way which could be potential travel buddies.
There are some places you should avoid in the most “peak” times of peak season, which are around Christmas and New Year, and that would be Goa (partiers come in droves) and Agra (people using time off work do a Taj Mahal day trip).
If you can only come in the off-season, don’t fret. A fantastic place to go in the off-season is the mountains, like Manali, Rishikesh, McLeod Ganj, and Leh where the monsoon doesn’t hit and the weather is fantastic! In fact, during peak season you can’t really visit those places at all as they close the roads due to snow. I stay in Goa in the monsoon, and you can read more about what it’s like here.
If you want to see the mountains and still come in peak season then plan to see the mountains at the end or beginning of the season (October or March).
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1. 2) How Long to Stay in India
Most people who come on tourists visas get the six-month visa. You can get longer than that but you will have to exit and come back in as you cannot stay in India longer than 180 days on any type of visa no matter how long it is.
Six months is ideal for a backpacking trip in Indiaalthough it could be hard to get that much time away, and if you need to condense it (but want to see a lot) you really do need at least 10-12 weeks.
Later on, in the itinerary section, you’ll see more about what there is to see and do so you can plan your itinerary and see how many days will work best.
India has a lot from the Himalayas to the Thar desert, and the beaches of Goa to the busy cities of Calcutta, you have tribals in permit zones of Northeast India and jungles hidden in the dense jungles. It’s taken me years to see so much of India, so you have to make some tough choices!
If you have less time, it’s cool – still come! My parents came just for two weeks and we toured Mumbai, Goa, and Hampi. It was great and they still talk about how cool the trip was. You can visit about 3 places in two weeks. If it’s your first time to India and you have 1-2 weeks, consider a “Golden Triangle Tour” which I’ll talk about later.
1.3) Flights
Flights are the first thing you might want to start looking into once you when you want to come and how long you want to stay. You’ll likely fly into Mumbai or Delhi as that is where many good priced international flights come in from. Then you can start your trip from there or interconnect to where you’d like to start.
India’s airports have been revamped and it’s quite modern, but you do need to have an idea what to expect when you arrive. On your first day arriving, it’s best to have a hotel booked and ask them to send a driver. It’s worth it to avoid the culture shock and chaos. But, if you are up for it, it’s also easy to get a pre-paid Government taxi, or if it’s a city with Uber, that’s a great choice. Make sure you have the exact address of where you are staying, not just for the taxi driver but for immigration.
When it comes to booking flights, I use https://realestatedekho.com/ and wrote a review about why I always get the best deals from them, which you can read here. I also wrote about how you can fly around India for just $200 with Kiwi’s anywhere tool, which you can read here.
If you want to fly domestically in India, I have a list of good airlines here.
1.4) Visa
You have to have one! There are a few ways to get one and I have massively detailed posts on my blog about it, which I’ll link to below.
When the e-visa first came out in 2014, it was for 30 days with double-entry allowed. They increased it to 60 days in 2017 and in 2019, they have increased it even more. It is now a year-long visa with multiple entries. This does NOT mean you can stay in India for one year. If you are from the UK, USA, Japan, and Canada you can stay for 180 days maximum. You can then exit and re-enter. If you are from other countries that are able to get the e-visa, you can stay for 90 days.
Visas are valid from the date of arrival but you cannot apply for this visa too far in advance. The maximum is 120 days before the date you plan to arrive in India.
It is a multiple entry visa. This means you can go to somewhere like Nepal or Sri Lanka (anywhere, really) and come back within the validity of the visa.
Here is exactly how to apply for an e-visa.
If you are coming for longer than one year, you need to do the full visa application online which can be a little time-consuming and you either need to mail in your passport with the application or you can go to an embassy.
I wrote two full step by step guides with screenshots that show you how to get this tedious visa paperwork finished without making mistakes (if there is a mistake you have to do it all over again). I did the two guides one each for the USA and UK (well, Ben did the UK one).
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1.6) Health & Wellness
People always worry about the Delhi Belly, which to be fair, is a legit concern. It definitely has happened to me more than once. I wrote an article with tips for avoiding Delhi Belly, which I won’t re-type, so you can read it here.
You’ll also want to consider vaccinations, which I’ve also covered in a guide here.
India’s medication is inexpensive, but the hospitals are not and something like a UTI turning into a kidney infection will easily run you $2-3,000 so you MUST get travel insurance before you come. It’s so cheap and will give you a huge piece of mind. I spent time in the hospital twice my first trip to India, once with Dengue Fever and once with severe food poisoning. I only use World Nomads when I travel and it’s the only travel insurance I’ve ever recommended (it’s what Lonely Planet recommend to. Add getting travel insurance to your to do list, right up there with visas. You can check a quote in the box below and you can read this article about what is and is not covered with World Nomads.
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