Holiday in India

[IndiaDreamer]

I am booking a holiday in India, what tops tips does any one have?

We are visiting the North.

Has anyone been? What inoculations if any did you have?

www.nhs.uk/conditions/travel-vaccinations/

You can check up on vaccinations required @IndiaDreamer . Plenty of advice available. Plus you need a visa. They are not cheap. The Foreign Office had good advice on all travel to India so read it.

We have been to India 3 times. We always do a private tour with hotels and transport pre booked. India can be quite hard work and someone looking out for you is important. We use companies we can trust to work well with local agents and use good hotels. Hotels are a vital part of such a holiday. They can be heritage or glamorous!! Make sure you keep healthy and watch what you eat and where.

Where do you want to visit?!

OMG, I love India, I have been 7 times. Who is going (ages), have you been anywhere off main path before - how adventurous are you? It may be better first time to do a bit of a tour, but depends

What kind of things are you interested in? Delhi, Agra, Jaipur is a classic route but you could head down to Ranthambore to see if you can see the tigers, or go on and try and go up to Varanasi? Or go further into Rajasthan to Uidaipur etc also. Just depends on your interests.

One one of my trips we went up from Delhi to Leh, then over the mountains to Srinagar and then back down to Delhi. You can do the Srinagar bit easily by plane for a couple of days. Admittedly, this might now be out of foreign office advice but it was lovely.

I'm traveling India + Sri Lanka for a month in January with my three year old! Where are you planning to go in India? We're doing Delhi - Agra - Jaipur - Jodhpur/Osian Desert - Delhi :)

I really recommend a private tour, relatively cheap as India is hard work to figure out on your own! We did a great rail journey and all transport, hotels etc were booked and we just turned up.
We had an amazing time and saw LOADS because we had some really knowledgable guides.

I recommend shimla in the Himalayas if you’re going north.

I would advise a guided tour, there are a lot of potential pitfalls if you are travelling around for the first time.

Hints. Don't be tempted to drive! If you want to keep well don't believe anyone that says you can drink the water (it may actually be OK in really posh hotels now). Don't eat anything that isn't hot on your plate, and salad has been washed in the undrinkable water. The buffalo milk comes straight out of a buffalo. It's a fantastic country, but you need to keep well to enjoy it, particularly on a short trip. Agra is a must see. Chandni Chowk market in Delhi is an experience, incredibly crowded.

Seconded about the salad. I’m french speaking but was with my English speaking family and the number of french tourists I heard bitching about the being ill and the food, ordering salad! 🤦🏻‍♀️
Eat vegetarian Indian and you’ll be fine.

Trains are imo the best way to get around. The roads are hairy so even if you have a good driver it’s very noisy with honking and seatbelts aren’t always available.
I’m off to Sri Lanka for the first time next month @toddlermom99 - I’ll look out for top tips for you!

Maybe the OPs been or maybe never went.
Either way the OP started this mid February.

Just remembered 'The State Emporia Complex on Baba Kharak Singh Marg in Delhi' all/most of the Indian states have shops there so you can almost do a tour of India in one place, I think it is also 'properly priced' unlike everywhere else where you haggle.

The tourist evisa is back now so actually very simple and cheap to get visas

Anyone have recommendations of where to book private/guided tours, any recommended companies? Thanks!

Go to Jaisalmer if you can. Fascinating place! I love India, have a great time!

Depends how adventurous you are - we visited Kolcata (previously Calcutta), Darjeeling and Varanasi the first time we went to India. We booked accommodation online using booking.com and travelled the longer distance by internal flights as we didn't have much time to fit everything in (again easily bookable online).

You can't really drive yourself or rent a scooter/motorbike - it's just too manic/dangerous - but taxis are everywhere and inexpensive.

Obviously it's more alien than travelling in Europe but with the internet and smart phones it isn't that difficult to travel independently with more freedom than an organised tour if that's what you want.

Don’t eat in Western chain restaurants/takeouts, DH and I got sick from a dodgy McDonalds and another family member got sick from eating at subway. It was like no other food poisoning I’ve ever had. 😭 other than that I loved india! We went to Delhi, Agra, Ranthambhore and Jaipur. Loved Ranthambhore (we saw mama and baby tigers!!) but hated Agra. (Think we stayed in a bad area TBH, nothing nearby)

@pastaislife Why not book via a decent holiday company in the uk? Audley and others will arrange everything for you. It’s so much easier and reliable. You will definitely get a car with seat belts! Do use a company with high standards. Trains: you must go first class. They can be very frustrating though and very late. Terrible loos. It’s very easy to get caught up in a backpacking vibe and get ill or compromise your health. Stay healthy and stay safe.

Bespoke tours for you, going where you want, gives freedom and safety. Organized tours are ok (I’ve done one) but bespoke is better.

Seconded. A beautiful place.

I used these TA based in India. we had a private driver for the whole trip and they arranged local guides for the different places we visited. Amazing boutique hotels that I would be unlikely to have found myself. They booked any internal flights for us too. https://www.travelogyindia.com/packages/