India
A civilisation in motion — the Taj at dawn, Rajasthan’s forts, Kerala’s backwaters and the Himalaya, all in one country.
Why India
India is not a destination you complete. It is a subcontinent of 28 states and 8 union territories, six major climate zones and more than twenty official languages — and the single most common planning mistake is treating it as one place with one best season and one itinerary.
Choose a region and a purpose first; the country follows from that. The traveller who spends a fortnight in Rajasthan and Kerala sees India. The one who spends the same fortnight crossing five states sees departure lounges and highways. Distances here are continental — Delhi to Kochi is further than London to Athens — and the map flatters what the roads and the railways actually do.
What India offers in return for that discipline is range that almost no other country can match within a single visa: Himalayan high desert and tropical backwater, forty-three UNESCO sites, four religions still practised at the places they began, and food that changes completely every few hundred kilometres.
Which part of India?
India is twenty-eight states and eight union territories, which is far too many to choose between one at a time — and choosing badly is what makes an India trip exhausting rather than memorable. These are the seven groupings that genuinely travel differently: different seasons, different distances, different reasons to go. Pick one, give it the time it needs, and leave the rest for another trip.
The cities most India trips are built around
What India is actually famous for
Every place named on this page is real and none of it is linked yet: India’s state, city and attraction guides are still being written. They will become links here as they publish, without this section being re-authored.
India has no single best season
The most useful thing to understand about India is that the ideal month depends on the route, not the country. When Rajasthan is at its best the Himalaya is closed by snow; when Ladakh opens the plains are at 45°C. Choose the region first, then the month.
How long does India need
India is a subcontinent, and the most common mistake is trying to cross it. A realistic first visit covers one or two adjacent regions properly. Ten days is one region; a fortnight is two; three weeks lets you add the Himalaya or the far south without rushing.
How to Explore India
India is not a destination you cover — it is a country you choose a part of. Delhi to Kochi is further than London to Athens, and the season that suits Rajasthan has the Himalaya under snow. Almost every disappointing India trip is the same mistake: too many places, too far apart, in one booking. Pick a region, go deep, come back for another.
Twenty-eight states and eight union territories, which is far too many to choose between one at a time. Start with the seven groupings that actually travel differently.
See the regions →Heritage, mountains, wildlife, backwaters, beaches, crafts and Ayurveda each point at a different part of the map. The experience is usually a better starting point than the state.
Find your India →There is no single best time to visit India, because the country runs from the Himalaya to the tropics. Ladakh opens as the plains become unbearable; Kerala’s Ayurvedic season is deliberately the monsoon.
When to go →Flights across regions, trains where a Vande Bharat runs or the overnight sleeper saves a day, and a car with a driver inside a region — where 250 km can still take six hours.
How to get around →A long weekend works for one city and nothing more. Most regions want six to eight nights; Rajasthan or the south in any depth wants ten to fourteen. One long transfer every three days is the honest ceiling.
See the routes →A first trip is usually the Golden Triangle or one southern state, kept short and comfortable. A second or third goes to Spiti, the Northeast, Hampi or Kutch — further from the standard route and better for it.
What it costs →Do you need a visa or a permit?
No visa is required to travel anywhere within India on an Indian passport. A small number of destinations do require a permit — those are the ones worth checking before you book.
Carry original government photo ID for every traveller including children: hotels are required to record it, domestic airlines will not board without it, and permit checkposts ask for the original rather than a photograph. Everything else below is geographic — parts of the Northeast, the high-altitude belt, both island groups and the national parks are permit-controlled, for conservation or because they sit near an international border.
Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur require an Inner Line Permit for Indian citizens. Increasingly available online, checked on arrival, and there is no way around them.
Ladakh’s Nubra Valley, Pangong Tso and Tso Moriri, and high-altitude Sikkim such as Nathu La and Gurudongmar, need permits arranged locally — usually the day before, and often not issued to solo travellers. Lakshadweep requires an entry permit for every visitor; the Andamans restrict travel beyond the main islands.
National parks and tiger reserves run on booked entry permits with capped daily numbers and fixed safari slots, and several close for the monsoon. Designated tribal areas and stretches near the international borders are restricted regardless of nationality. The permit is tied to a date and a zone rather than to you.
For all India journeys we design, we prepare your complete visa documentation package — the forms, the supporting documents, the sequence of submission. Our visa specialists help travellers prepare complete applications with careful document guidance. Final visa decisions always remain with the relevant authorities.
Permit rules, fees, online availability and the list of restricted areas are revised regularly and can change at short notice. Treat this as the shape of the system rather than a current checklist, and confirm with the relevant state government or district administration before booking anything non-refundable.
Travellers who are not Indian citizens need a visa, and for most nationalities and most tourism the e-Visa is the route. Requirements depend on nationality and purpose, the permit rules above apply in addition, and entry is never guaranteed. Check the official Indian e-Visa portal or the Indian mission in your country.
What an India journey costs
India spans a very wide price range, and the difference between styles is larger here than in most destinations — the same route can be run modestly or in a palace hotel that was once a maharaja’s residence. The bands below are indicative planning ranges per person for land arrangements, excluding international flights, and depend heavily on season and hotel choice.
| Duration & Route | Style | Estimated Cost (per person) |
|---|---|---|
| Golden Triangle · 6–8 nights | Comfortable | Mid-range |
| Golden Triangle · 6–8 nights | Luxury / heritage hotels | Premium |
| Rajasthan in depth · 10–14 nights | Comfortable | Mid-range |
| Rajasthan in depth · 10–14 nights | Palace hotels | Premium |
| Kerala · 8–12 nights | Comfortable | Mid-range |
| Ladakh · 9–12 nights | Comfortable | Mid-range |
Season moves price more than anything else — Christmas, New Year and the festival weeks carry a substantial premium, and the shoulder months are materially cheaper for the same route. Heritage and palace properties are the other main variable: India’s top hotels compete internationally on price, and a single night in one can equal three in a good mid-range hotel. We quote each journey individually rather than from a fixed price list, because the same itinerary changes cost significantly with the dates.
Etiquette and practicalities
India is a forgiving place for visitors who make an effort and an uncomfortable one for those who do not notice they should. Almost all of the etiquette reduces to two ideas: religious spaces are in use, and the right hand is the clean one.
India, answered
The questions travellers actually ask before choosing India, answered directly.
Which India are you travelling for
India supports genuinely different holidays, and the region you choose should follow from the reason you are going rather than the other way round.
Forts, palaces, temple complexes and the cities built around them. Forty-three UNESCO sites, and the best of them are still in use.
Four world religions began here and their principal sites are working places of worship, not monuments. Approach them as such and they are extraordinary.
India holds roughly three-quarters of the world’s wild tigers, plus one-horned rhino and the last wild Asiatic lions. Sightings are never guaranteed and the parks are seasonal.
The Himalaya runs the length of India’s north, from Kashmir’s meadows to Ladakh’s high desert. This is the summer half of the country.
Ayurveda is a five-thousand-year-old system with a formal training path, and Kerala is its centre. A genuine programme runs two to three weeks; anything shorter is a spa treatment, which is fine as long as it is described honestly.
Two very different propositions: the developed west coast, and the islands, which are among the least developed beach destinations in Asia.
India has the largest living handloom and handicraft sector in the world, and most of it is still regional — the technique tells you where you are.
Tell us the season you can travel and what you want from the trip, and we will match the region to it rather than the other way round.
How far in advance
India rewards early planning more than most destinations, for three specific reasons: the best heritage hotels are small, the trains sell out weeks ahead, and the festival calendar moves every year.
Decide when you can travel first. That single constraint eliminates most of the map — the plains in June and the Himalaya in January are both wrong answers — and makes every later decision easier.
Settle how many regions and how many nights in each. One long transfer every three days is a sustainable rhythm; two consecutive travel days on a first visit is not.
Heritage properties and AC train berths are the two things that run out. Booking them in the same pass avoids the common failure of having the hotel and no way to reach it.
e-Visa two to three weeks ahead at minimum; Protected Area and island permits earlier still, because they gate the route rather than merely the entry.
What to take
India’s climate varies more than any packing list can cover, so pack for the region and the season rather than the country. The one constant is that religious sites expect covered shoulders and knees, of any nationality and any gender.
Clothes. India has excellent and inexpensive tailoring and clothing at every price level, laundry is fast and cheap at almost every hotel, and you will almost certainly buy something. Pack for a week regardless of trip length.