Essential Tips for Traveling to India: A Comprehensive Guide
Traveling to India is always a real challenge to all the travelers as there’s huge cultural differences with the occidental world. India has everything that can despair a traveler: high temperatures, lots of people, intensity, different smells, mosquitos, crowded traffic… That’s the reason why we want to present this list of tips for traveling to India, that we are sure they will help you in your trip to India and that will make it an unforgettable trip.
We stayed 6 days in Kerala and 6 days in the Golden Triangle and Varanasi.
With that being said, read below our tips for traveling to india and enjoy this amazing country!
1. Mentality
Maybe it’s something evident, but our first point in this list of tips for traveling to India is that before starting your trip, you must do a mental exercise to be open-minded and have lots of patience because India will challenge you at some point and it will take you to your limit.
If you do this exercise, when you start feeling angry, think and focus. It is the best way of enjoying the country, with a smile and good attitude. Think that their culture is completely opposite to ours, and they don’t have the same concepts in terms of proximity of people, being discrete/ intrusive and that can be a shock, but they don’t do that with a bad intention, it is their culture and way of behaving, so you must respect and understand it. Due to that, be conscious of those differences and have an open and prepared mind to welcome all India is going to offer you.
2. Indian visa
You need a visa to visit the country. This is the official website to ask for the digital visa. We strongly recommend not to use other websites as they charge you more due to their taxes. This touristic request allows you to be in the country for a month (check that is still like that, it can change).
3. Travel insurance
This is an obvious item on the list of tips for traveling to India and even more in this country. Always that you visit a foreign country (and even more when it’s far from home) it is almost mandatory to book a travel insurance. We always trust in IATI Seguros, the best Spanish insurances for travelers with strong insurance coverage for a very reasonable cost. That’s why, if you don’t want to ruin your trip, you must book an insurance to cover you in case of any problem. If you want to book this insurance, we have a 5% of discount in IATI Seguros.
4. Vaccination
It is not mandatory to get vaccinated to go to India, but it is recommended. There are different vaccines that you must have, but the most important for Europeans is Thyfoid Fever that can be administrated by pills or vaccine. It is also recommended to have the Hepatitis vaccines.
The best way to know which vaccines and medical recommendations are needed to go to India is to go to a medical center specialized in trips to get the best assessment.
5. First aid kit
The 5th tip for traveling to India is to prepare a complete first aid kit. As we said, it is a country of contrasts and differences and two of them are in terms of hygiene and food. It is very likely that you can suffer the famous Delhi Belly, the stomach ache of occidental travelers in India. In our case, and even though we took lots of prevention, we had it during one day, but we managed to stop it as we were very prepared and we had lots of medication.
Our recommendation is to visit your nearest pharmacy days before to get some help. They recommended us:
- Stomach protectors like Omeoprazol
- Probiotics.
- Oral rehydration solution
- Basics for wound care (band-aids, bandage)
- Mosquito repellent
- Anti-inflammatory medication.
- Motion sickness prevention
- Blister care products.
- Thermometer.
6. Hotel selection
Obviously that’s a very subjective topic, but we will try to give you the best objective view we can have. A 3-stars hotel in India is not as a 3-stars hotel in Europe. Be careful with the bookings you do, look carefully to the reviews and the comments of people of your country in order to avoid bad experiences with hygiene or conditions.
To select the best hotels in India it’s important to use a good searcher and use the filters. In our case, we always use Booking.com, the best hotel searcher and we use the region filters and the ratings filter, looking for 9 or higher in all hotels. From that value, we go down if we can’t afford any, but it’s basic for us to have this minimum of quality. In this case, we wanted a 3-stars or higher, as we were said that a hotel of less stars in India can be a very bad experience. Use our Booking.com link to search for your perfect stay.
7. Read about the culture before going
This is something that you must do in all the trips you do, but in this case it’s even more importan due to the differences. There’s a book called The Holy Cow and other Indian stories that explains history about culture and traditions of this big country.
Here you have some examples of things to have in mind:
- Spirituality and religion: The religion and spirituality are integral parts of the Indian culture. The hinduism is the main religion but they also have Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism and Christianity. The great majority of hindus believe in reincarnation and Karma, so inform about them as you will understand some situations a little bit more
Food: Indian food is rich and varied, with a great variety of spices, herbs and vegetables used in their cuisine. Some of the well-known dishes are tikka-masala chicken, curry and naan. BE CAREFUL WITH THE SPICY ;).
Clothing: The traditional Indian clothing changes depending on the region and religion. A common clothe that all India uses is Sari, a long and fluid dress that is used with an adjusted blouse and a shawl.
Family: Family is very important in Indian culture and they expect the family members to be loyal and generous between them. The arranged marriage is still common in some parts of India, even though the trend is changing with the increase in education standards and urbanization.
Yoga and Ayurveda: India is know by their wellness activities as yoga and Ayurveda. Yoga is an old discipline that combine postures, breathing and meditation to achieve health and wellness, while Ayurveda is a traditional medicine that is focused on balancing the body and mind to obtain the optimal health.
8. Prepare for the heat
It is very important to prepare for the suffocating heat of India. Because of that:
- Bring a cap, fresh clothes and hydrate.
- Carry always sun cream to maintain your skin safe.
9. Prepare for the rain
This second tip for traveling to India is applicable mainly in monsoon period (July-October). During this period:
- It is basic to carry waterproof clothes. In our case, we wore waterproof that were stored a a sack in our bags and they occupy a few space. It is not a cold country, so with some thin waterproof garment it’s enough.
- Rain in India can be torrential and block some activities of the route, so be farsighted and have a B plan. In our case, rain ruined the Allepey’s backwaters, one of the activities that we wanted to do more :(
10. Transportation in India
Here we can divide the tips in two, depending on the time you want to spend in the country:
- If you will go for a few days (like us) it is impossible to do it on your own. For that, we recommend to have a driver (it’s not the same as a guide) to drive and help you with this part of the trip. It is not very expensive, so we thing it is worth it. We had two experiences: J&J Taxi Services in Kerala and Mahendra Shyam Tours in the golden Triangle and Varanasi and we were very happy with them.
- If you go lots of days and you will visit the country without any rush, it will be very cheap to use the train and bus services of the country. You will be able to reach almost any place of India with this transportation. We recommend to take the night train as it’s a great experience (see tip number 20).
Another good option of long journeys that will apply even to short journeys to long ones are planes. There’s a good plane network in the country that will allow you to move easily between regions and with good prices (50€-100€ depending on the length).
11. Indian Food and spicy
We really enjoyed Indian gastronomy! It’s a gastronomy of great flavors, contrasts and, yes, SPICY. As you can feel in other countries like Mexico, they are used to eat with lots of spices and spicy sauces. If you don’y like spicy, order always less spicy or no spicy. SPOILER: It’s going to be spicy anyway, but more acceptable for non-used people :)
12. Indian water
Another key tip for traveling to India and that has also relationship with the previous one is water. Water in one of the main sources of stomach aches in India so you must be aware:
- Don’t drink not bottled wated.
- Check when you buy a bottle (look that it’s not opened).
- It can be a nonsense but… Don’t open your mouth while having a shower! The same water can go inside you body and generate this ache.
13. Tips
India is a country with tips culture. They will ask you tips for everything (carrying your baggage, showing your room, taxis, restaurants…). We gave lots of tips during the first days but it was a spending we were not aware of, so our advice is to have it in mind when preparing the trip budget. As an approximation, the normal thing is to pay a 10% in tips, as this article indicates.
14. Tuk-tuk
If you don’t have a private driver, it is likely that you will take a tuk tuk at some point, as it’s one of the most used transportation.
You are foreigners, so probably you will pay more than local people and it can be around 4-5 times the price an Indian would pay. As a trick, as first in the hotel or someone local which is the price that you should pay and, knowing that, haggle. You are not going to achieve the exact price of an Indian, but all the money you can save it’s good!
15. Touristic guides
Another key tip for traveling to India is about touristic guides.
In the main attractions of the country (specially the Golden Triangle), you will find lots of guides that will offer you to guide you through the monuments for a very low price. Those guides most of the times are not reliable as they will ask you for more money at the end of the tour or they can even cheat on you.
Our tip here is that each time you go to visit a new attraction, inform about it in the official pages about which is the entry price, how you can go inside and in case of wanting, pay a guide through Internet.
If you have all of this covered or you don’t want a guide, our advice is to just smile and don’t look at the huge amount of people that is going to try to help you. For us in some places as Fatehpur Sikri we were completely overwhelmed, we even lose our patience because we had like 20 guidance suggestions in 10 minutes. So take the 1st tip of this list, smile and walk with decision.
16. Photos
Indian people is going to ask you for many many many photos. And that’s not a bad thing, it’s in their culture. Indian people is very curious and they would like to know about you so it’s normal to have a queue of people to take some photos with you. Don’t panic.
Our only advice here was given by an Indian friend that lives in our city (so he is nearer to our culture) and it’s that if you are a woman be careful with the contact with Indian man, and if you can, better take group pictures, not individual ones. It’s not happening that often, but sometimes they are using this photos in their social media and, at least for us, it was not a good thing.
17. Monkeys in India
Another important aspect of this list of tips for traveling to India is the presence of monkeys. We include that in the list as we saw two situations with tourist related with monkeys. We saw that they tried to get very very close to them and they were not kind with people and the monkeys tried to steal thinks from them. So be careful and take photos from the distance as you can be stolen or even assaulted to try to be too much close to them.
18. Temples entrance
Another important tip for traveling to India is to carry an accessory that can cover women heads as there are places that you must do it to go inside. It is also recommended to carry some long pants, both for women or men, as there are places where it is completely mandatory and, in case of not carrying it, they will give you directly their clothes to go inside. Another point to be aware of it that you must not carry your shoes inside the temples.
19. Visit the Taj Mahal
This tip is only applicable to those that want to visit this monument, but as it’s the most visited monument of India and one of the most visited in the world, we think that it’s good to include it in the list. Taj Mahal will always be crowded. The good thing is that it opens with the sunrise, so our recommendation is to go at first hour (5.30 normally) as you will be able to take better photos and see this incredible monument without so many people there. Have in mind that this monument is closed on Fridays, so adapt your trip to be able to go inside!.
20. Sleeper train
The last tip for traveling to India is about sleeper trains. If you are going to go on your own and you want to take a sleeper train, we strongly recommend to take the tickets in Internet before going. There’s lots of people in India and they use to take this train to move through the country.
Have in mind that there’s 3 seat classes:
- SL-Sleeper class. (3rd class without AC and normal train seat)
- 3AC (3rd class with AC and normal train seat)
- 2AC (2nd class with AC and bed in shared rooms divided with curtines)
- 1 AC (1st class with AC, bed and a private room where you have a door).
We recommend you to take 1st or 2nd class where you will have access to a bed, AC and charger. The hygienic conditions are not the best, but we consider it a great experience that you must try in India.
As you can see, there are lots of topics to have in mind when visiting india as it’s a very complicated country, one of the most in the world. It’s said that if you achieve to get over a India trip, you are a true traveler and that you can travel anywhere in the world. And we can now understand why, as we realized that is a country that challenges to each day and each moment. But it’s also very grateful to get over all the problems that you face and see how you grow as a person and traveler.
We hope that this guide is useful for you and remember that you can contact us whenever you want to get more information or our vision on some questions you can have :)
