india travel and budget

tony 2 eyes

i am thinking of going to india for a few months in mid march. i have been looking into and just want to hear it from anybody who has been there. i would like to know about a minimum daily budget, the price of trains, food, drink, hostals and any other thing relevant to travel in india. what vaccanations would i need. good places to visit. will also go to nepal as well. things to aviod and scams.
any info would be greatfull.

Ideo

hey, there have been a fair few threads on both india and nepal in the forum in the past. have a search, it'l answer all your questions

whattodo?

Hi,
when i went there i got vaccinations for Hep A Hep B and Typhoid. (dont know if the Hep B one is strictly necessary) You will also probably need anti-malarial medication. This medication need to be bought on prescription here, but if you want to save some money you could only get enough to do you for a few weeks and then you could buy the rest very cheaply in India (except for malerone which is not available there and is very expensive).

Difficult to say how much daily spending will be without knowing what sort of traveller you are, whether you are going as a group/couple/lone traveller and whether you would like to sleep in dorms or single rooms. In fact, there arent as many dorm rooms in India as there are in other asian countries so you will most likely be staying in a private room. A good gauge or pricing can be found by going onto hostelbookers.com and typing in the city and see whats on offer (bear in mind that Delhi is more expensive than most places) Generally I never paid more that a fiver for a nights accommodation, and I always had a private room.

Google indian rail and they have a website that tells you all the train timetables and prices. Train travel in India is brilliant, there is a great network of trains and they are very cheap. Second class sleeper is very comfortable. Also, i recommend ebookers.ie for a flight to india, you should be able to get return fights for under 600euro there.

you will need to get an indian visa in advance of going. as you say you want to go to Nepal you will need a double entry visa, this should be no problem. The visa costs 50 euro.

I would recommend travelling around Rajahastan as it is a really beautiful part of the country. For example a route of Delhi-Agra(Taj Mahal)-Jaipur-Pushar-Jaisalmer(Camel Safari)-Jadphur, might be worth looking into, you could then get a train to Varanasi or over to the north east to head into Nepal. You should pick up a lonely planet and investigate for yourself-well worth the investment if you plan on visiting the country. (I would recommend lonely planet over the Rough guide for india as i found it had a lot more practical advice and cheap accommodation) 20-25 euro a day should be enough to live on if you are doing things cheaply. bear in mind that Goa is significantly more expensive and tourist orientated than the rest of india.


Hope this helps, India is wonderful-go for it!

tony 2 eyes

thanks for the advice, much appreciated.
i will be travelling alone and will be going for the cheapest options for most of the time. i have backpacked a good bit a few years back and getting itchy feet again. cant seem to shake it off. well used of roughing it out in cheap and rough hostels and so on. all part of adventure.
roughly how much did the vaccinations cost you. any problem with getting dehli belly or any sickness.

Gaz

You are guaranteed delly belly ... I got dysentry and lost over a stone in 2 weeks. All part of the fun :cool:

dory

Gaz wrote: »

You are guaranteed delly belly ... I got dysentry and lost over a stone in 2 weeks. All part of the fun :cool:

Ah well now I never got anything like that.

Just be very careful, drink more water than you want. Although, that said, you can be freakishly careful and still get sick.

There have been a fair few threads on where to go, quick search should pop them up. Lot of people saying a little north, little south. If you're going in the hot months the northern mountains are a must.

For a budget, I'd bring €30 a day to be comfortable. You may bring some home, but it's good to be safe. For example, Taj Mahal is €15, plus you'll be ripped off on transport/food within a few miles of the place (that's why I always suggest going there last so you have your wits about you). An A/C room in Kolkata is around 600 Rupees, can't remember how much in other cities.

Oscar K

Went to India a couple of years ago for about 6 weeks and I can tell you you are in for a treat if you do go. It's an absolutely amazing country. You aren't necessarily guaranteed to get delhi belly but if you don't get that there are chances you will get food poisoning so be prepared! If you do medical treatment and medicines are so reasonable over there anyway!

You should definitely go to Dharmasala. It's where the Dalai Lama lives. He does a procession once every 2weeks so you should look into that before you go. Can be a bit scary getting there though because the train brings you right near the border of Pakistan so lots of military presence around there. Of all places I ever been to though Dharmasala has got to be the best.

You should also go to Delhi just to see it. There is a place just outside Delhi called Akshardam (spelling maybe wrong there!) but that is fantastic aswell!

Go to Agra for the Taj Mahal and Red Fort. Go to the Taj Mahal at sunrise if you can. Less busy! Go to Udaipar (great for shopping) It was where Octopussy was filmed also. I'd nearly give Jaipur a miss if I were to go again. We had been warned beforehand that it wasn't a particularly safe place for female travellers to be going and unfortunately we did have a bad experience there but I suppose that could happen anywhere.

If you have time you should also go to Goa. Amazing beaches and a lot more relaxed than the rest of India. Baga beach was where we went.

As for budget you can do it really cheap but I would advise to splash out a little bit extra on accomodation and trains if you want a bit more comfort.

For domestic flights spice jet and indigo are really cheap.

Hope the above is of help.

You'll have a great time!!