India Travel Guide
Curated by Our Guild Explorers · Updated August 2026
India is not a country you visit so much as one you choose a piece of. It is roughly the size of Western Europe with more than four times the people, and the difference between Rajasthan and Kerala is greater than the difference between Portugal and Poland — different languages, different food, different architecture, a different climate and a noticeably different pace. The single most useful decision you will make is which region, and the second is to do less than you first planned. This chapter covers Delhi and the Golden Triangle, Rajasthan, Mumbai and the west, the south, and the east and the Himalaya — with the practical things that catch visitors out: the visa you must have before you fly, why you should not drive yourself, and what the monsoon actually does.
Where to stay — the Guild’s India guides
Three full “where to stay” guides, each with honest picks by style and a plain word about traffic, noise and how far you really are from the sights — plus our month-by-month guide to timing the trip.
Where to Stay in Delhi ›
Central New Delhi against the Aerocity hotels and the backpacker lanes of Paharganj — which base suits which traveller, and how close you really need to be to a metro station.
Where to Stay in Mumbai ›
Colaba and the Fort against Bandra and the northern suburbs — and an honest word about how long the drive from the airport actually takes.
Where to Stay in Jaipur ›
Inside the Pink City walls, the quieter Civil Lines, and the heritage havelis and palace hotels that make Rajasthan worth the trip.
Best Time to Visit India ›
Month by month, with the monsoon’s progress up the country, the north Indian winter smog, and the festivals that fill every hotel.
Two questions decide an Indian hotel and neither is about the room. First, how long is the drive — a hotel eight kilometres from the old city can be forty minutes away at five in the afternoon, and the map will not tell you that. Second, how quiet is it, because traffic noise, temple loudspeakers and wedding music are all real and all start early. Indian hotels are exceptional value by Western standards at every level, and the heritage properties — converted havelis and small palaces, particularly in Rajasthan — are the country’s great accommodation trick: genuinely characterful buildings at a price that would buy a chain room in Europe.
One diary note: the festival calendar moves every year because it follows lunar months. Diwali in October or November, Holi in March and the Pushkar camel fair in November all fill hotels and trains for a week either side, and domestic travel around Diwali is the busiest of the Indian year. Check the dates for your year before booking anything.
Elsewhere on this page, where we mention a city we have not yet written a full guide for, the link goes straight to that city’s hotels through our Trip.com partner.
India at a glance
The most populous country on earth, English widely spoken, and a visa you must arrange before you fly — the plain facts first.
The regions of India
Five parts of the country, each a different trip. Where the Guild has written a full guide the link goes to it; everywhere else it goes to that city’s hotels through our Trip.com partner.
Delhi & the north — the Golden Triangle
Almost every first trip starts here and it should. Delhi is two cities at once: the Mughal one of Old Delhi, with the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid and the lanes of Chandni Chowk, and the wide colonial grid of New Delhi laid out by Lutyens. From there the Golden Triangle runs to Agra for the Taj Mahal — go at sunrise, and note it closes on Fridays — and on to Jaipur. It is the best-organised route in India and about the only one where you can move between cities in a morning. Further north, Amritsar holds the Golden Temple, which serves free meals to tens of thousands a day, and Rishikesh sits where the Ganges leaves the Himalaya.
Rajasthan — forts, lakes and desert
The India of the imagination, and the easiest region to fall in love with. Jaipur is the gateway and the largest city. Beyond it, Udaipur spreads white palaces around two lakes and is the prettiest city in the country; Jodhpur is a blue-painted old town under the vast bulk of Mehrangarh fort; Jaisalmer is a living fort of golden sandstone at the edge of the Thar desert, with camel camps in the dunes beyond. Distances are long and the roads are slow — Jaipur to Jodhpur is a good six hours by car — so allow a week for three cities rather than four, and consider the overnight trains.
Mumbai & the west
Mumbai is India’s commercial capital and its most immediately legible city to a Western visitor: Victorian Gothic and Art Deco along the waterfront, the Gateway of India, the Colaba causeway, and a restaurant scene that is the best in the country. It is also enormous and slow — the drive from the international airport to Colaba can take well over an hour, and considerably more in the evening. South of it, Goa is a former Portuguese colony of beaches, churches and the most relaxed pace in India, busiest from November to February. Inland, Aurangabad is the base for the rock-cut caves at Ajanta and Ellora, which are among the great sights of Asia and see a fraction of the Taj’s crowds.
- Mumbai Guild guide
- Panaji, Goa
- Aurangabad
- Ahmedabad
The south — Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka
A different country in almost every respect: different languages, different food, a different climate and a gentler pace. Kerala is the usual entry point — the Portuguese-Dutch-British harbour town of Kochi, the backwater houseboats out of Alappuzha, and the tea hills at Munnar. In Tamil Nadu, Madurai’s Meenakshi temple is a working religious complex on a scale that is hard to prepare for. In Karnataka, the boulder-strewn ruins of Hampi are the finest historical site in India that most visitors have never heard of. The south is also the easiest region for a first-time traveller: calmer, cleaner and less insistent than the north.
The east & the Himalaya
Varanasi on the Ganges is the oldest continuously inhabited city in India and the most intense place most visitors will ever stand: cremation ghats, dawn boat rides and an unbroken religious life that has nothing to do with tourism. Kolkata is the old imperial capital, crumbling and literary and the best value of the big cities. North of it the land rises fast: Darjeeling for tea gardens and the toy railway, Sikkim for the Kanchenjunga views. Far to the northwest, Leh in Ladakh is high-altitude Tibetan Buddhist desert, reachable only from about June to September and requiring two full days of acclimatisation before you do anything at all.
Getting around — planes, trains and a driver
Moving around India is cheap and generally well organised. The mistake visitors make is trying to do too much of it.
Fly the long distances
India is big enough that internal flights are the sensible default for anything over about 500 kilometres, and they are inexpensive by Western standards — Delhi to Mumbai, Delhi to Kochi or Mumbai to Varanasi are commonly ₹3,500 to ₹8,000 booked a few weeks ahead. IndiGo and Air India carry most of the domestic traffic. Two practical notes: several cities have separate domestic and international terminals that are a shuttle ride apart, so leave real time for a connection, and winter fog in the north can delay Delhi departures significantly in December and January.
The trains are wonderful, and need booking
Indian Railways is one of the great travel experiences and the best way to cover a few hundred kilometres. The classes that suit most visitors are AC 2-tier and AC 3-tier for overnight journeys, with bedding provided, and AC Chair Car on daytime express services such as Delhi to Agra, which takes under two hours. Popular routes sell out weeks ahead and the booking system is its own small world, so reserve early through the official IRCTC site or a reputable agent, and expect to need a little patience with the registration. Stations are enormous and chaotic; allow far more time than the departure board suggests.
A car with a driver, not a rental
This is the single most useful thing to know about Indian logistics. Hiring a car with a driver is completely normal, widely available and cheap — commonly ₹3,500 to ₹6,000 a day including fuel and the driver on a typical Rajasthan route — and it removes every difficulty of driving yourself: the traffic, the horn-based signalling system, the unlit night roads and the parking. Book through your hotel or a reputable agency rather than off the street, agree the itinerary and what is included in writing, and budget a modest daily tip. A good driver becomes half the trip.
In the cities: metro, apps and rickshaws
Delhi’s metro is excellent — clean, cheap, air-conditioned and far faster than the roads — and Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata all have useful systems too. Above ground, app-based cabs work in every large city and take the argument out of the fare. The auto-rickshaw is the workhorse for short hops: insist on the meter where one exists, or agree the fare before you get in, and be aware that a driver who offers to take you to a ‘better shop’ or tells you your hotel has closed down is running a commission scheme. Politely decline and go where you intended.
The weather and the monsoon
Three seasons rather than four, and they arrive at different times in different parts of the country.
The cool season is the season
October to March is when most of India is at its best, and November to February is the heart of it in the north: Delhi, Agra and Rajasthan run pleasant days of 20 to 27°C with genuinely cold desert nights in December and January — Jaisalmer can approach freezing after dark, which surprises people who packed for the tropics. Bring a proper warm layer. This is also peak season for prices and crowds at the major monuments, so start early in the day.
The hot season, and why April to June is hard
From late March the plains heat up fast and by May and June Delhi, Agra and Rajasthan regularly exceed 40°C, with the occasional 45°C. It is genuinely dangerous for the unprepared and it flattens a sightseeing day. Rates fall accordingly. If you must travel in this window, go to the hills instead — Ladakh, Himachal, Darjeeling and the Nilgiris are all at their best precisely when the plains are unbearable.
The monsoon, region by region
The southwest monsoon reaches Kerala around the start of June and works its way north over the following six weeks, reaching Delhi around the end of June or early July and withdrawing through September. It is not continuous rain: it is heavy downpours, dramatic skies and a landscape that turns green, with real disruption to roads and rural travel in the worst weeks. Kerala in the monsoon has its own following, and Ladakh sits in the rain shadow and is barely affected. A separate northeast monsoon brings Tamil Nadu and the southeast coast their main rain in October and November, which is why Chennai and Madurai do not follow the same calendar as the rest of the country.
One honest note that has nothing to do with rain: air quality in Delhi and much of the northern plain is at its worst from November to January, when cooler air traps smoke and dust. It does not spoil a trip for most people, but if you have asthma or a respiratory condition, plan the northern leg for October or February instead. Our month-by-month guide to visiting India goes through all of it properly.
Food, water and eating well
The best reason to come, and the thing most likely to interrupt a trip. Both are true.
There is no such thing as Indian food
There are a dozen regional cuisines with very little in common. The north is wheat country: breads, tandoor cooking, dairy, cream and the dishes most Westerners think of as Indian. The south is rice, coconut, tamarind and chilli — dosa and idli for breakfast, banana-leaf thalis at lunch, and food that is generally hotter. Gujarat is largely vegetarian and faintly sweet; Bengal is fish, mustard oil and the best sweets in the country; Goa keeps a Portuguese accent of vinegar and pork. A thali — a tray of small dishes, usually refilled until you stop — is the cheapest way to taste a region properly.
Water, ice and the honest rules
The stomach upset that ruins a week is avoidable with three habits. Drink sealed bottled or properly filtered water only, and use it for brushing your teeth; check the seal is intact. Skip ice and raw salads outside good hotels, along with pre-cut fruit from a stall. And eat hot food that is cooked in front of you at a stall with a queue — turnover is the best safety signal there is, and a busy street vendor is often safer than a half-empty tourist restaurant. Give yourself two or three days to adjust before the most ambitious meal of the trip, and carry rehydration salts.
Vegetarians and the drinking rules
India is the easiest country on earth to be vegetarian in: a large share of restaurants are entirely vegetarian, menus are clearly marked with a green dot for vegetarian and a red or brown one for non-vegetarian, and nobody finds the request unusual. Vegans should watch for ghee, paneer and cream, which are everywhere in the north. On alcohol, rules vary by state and change: Gujarat and Bihar are dry, some states have dry days around particular dates, and elsewhere beer and spirits are readily available in licensed hotels and bars. Do not assume the rules in one state apply in the next.
What India costs in 2026
India is inexpensive by any Western measure, and the gap between travelling simply and travelling in real comfort is smaller here than almost anywhere. Rupee figures with rough US dollar equivalents.
What a bed costs
A clean, comfortable mid-range double in a city runs roughly ₹4,000 to ₹9,000 ($48 to $108) a night, and that buys rather more than the same money would in Europe. A good four-star or a heritage haveli is commonly ₹7,000 to ₹14,000, and the famous palace hotels of Rajasthan and the top city properties run from ₹25,000 upward. At the other end, perfectly decent simple rooms exist at ₹1,500 to ₹3,000. Rates are highest from November to February and fall sharply in the heat and the monsoon; GST of 12 to 18 per cent applies depending on the room rate.
What a day costs
Two people travelling comfortably — a good mid-range hotel, three meals with one of them somewhere nice, a car with a driver for the day, and entry to a major monument — should budget ₹9,000 to ₹14,000 a day for the couple, about $105 to $165. Travelling simply, on trains and in small hotels and eating locally, brings that to ₹3,500 to ₹6,000, about $40 to $70. The car and driver is usually the largest single line, and it is also the one most worth paying for.
Entry fees, and the two-tier ticket
Almost every major monument charges foreign visitors substantially more than Indian nationals — this is standard, published policy rather than anything irregular. The Taj Mahal is the headline example at around ₹1,300 for a foreign visitor including the mausoleum, against a small fraction of that for an Indian citizen; the Red Fort, Amber Fort and the Qutub Minar follow the same pattern at ₹500 to ₹600. Book online where you can to skip a queue, carry your passport, and remember the Taj is closed on Fridays.
India travel FAQ
Do I need a visa for India?
Yes — almost every visitor does, and you must arrange it before you fly. India offers an e-Visa to nationals of most countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, applied for online in advance with a photograph and a scan of your passport; approval usually takes a few days but can take longer, so do not leave it to the last week. There is no visa on arrival for most nationalities. Rules, fees and eligible entry points change, so apply only through the official Indian government portal and check the current requirements there rather than relying on any third-party site.
How many days do you need in India?
Ten days to two weeks for a first trip, and pick one region rather than sampling the country. The classic ten-day shape is the Golden Triangle — three or four nights in Delhi, one or two in Agra, three in Jaipur — with a couple of days spare. Two weeks lets you add Udaipur and Jodhpur, or fly south to Kerala for a completely different week. What does not work is Delhi, Rajasthan, Varanasi, Mumbai and Kerala in a fortnight: India is roughly the size of Western Europe and moving between regions means internal flights and lost days.
When is the best time to visit India?
For most of the country, October to March, and within that November to February is the sweet spot in the north. April to June is punishingly hot across the plains — Delhi and Rajasthan regularly exceed 40°C — and the southwest monsoon arrives in Kerala around the start of June and works north through July. Two important exceptions: Kerala and the deep south are pleasant from November right through to March and hot but manageable outside that, and Ladakh and the high Himalaya are only really open from June to September, which is the worst time to be on the plains. North Indian air quality is at its poorest from November to January.
Should I hire a car and drive myself in India?
No. Almost nobody recommends it and there is a far better option: hire a car with a driver, which is a completely normal way to travel here and costs less than a self-drive rental would in Europe — commonly around ₹3,500 to ₹6,000 a day including the driver, for a car and the fuel on a typical Rajasthan route. Traffic is dense, lane discipline is not what you are used to, and road signage outside cities is limited. For long distances take an internal flight or a train; within cities use the metro in Delhi, app-based cabs, or an auto-rickshaw with the fare agreed before you set off.
Is it safe, and what about the food and water?
India is broadly safe for visitors in the practical sense — the common problems are overcharging and persistent touts around major monuments rather than anything worse — and normal city precautions apply, with women travellers generally advised to dress modestly and avoid travelling alone late at night. The genuine risk to a trip is your stomach. Drink only sealed bottled or properly filtered water, including for brushing teeth; avoid ice and raw salads outside good hotels; eat street food that is cooked hot in front of you at a busy stall rather than sitting out; and give yourself a few days to adjust before the most ambitious meal of the trip. Vegetarians eat better in India than almost anywhere on earth.
How much cash should I carry, and do cards work?
Cards work in hotels, larger restaurants and shops in the cities, but India runs on two other things: cash for small purchases, auto-rickshaws, tips and rural travel, and UPI, the instant phone-to-phone payment system that is genuinely everywhere — though it normally requires an Indian bank account, so most visitors cannot use it. Draw rupees from bank ATMs rather than changing money at the airport, keep a supply of small notes because change is often scarce, and be aware that the rupee cannot legally be taken in or out of the country in quantity. Tipping runs to roughly ten per cent in restaurants where no service charge is applied.
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