One month itinerary backpacking India
What can we say about India… It’s a crazy country. It definitely cannot be missing from your list of places to visit once in your life. The chaos, the smells, flavors, the temples, its people, in short everything.
India is a different planet that does not understand comparisons until one lives it. As my friend said, it’s like when in Star Wars you land on Tatooine.
Everything you need to know for your trip to India:
- Best time of year to visit India
- Best tips for India
- One month itinerary for India
- Daily backpacking budget for India
- Where to stay in India
- What to do in India if you have more time
Official exchange rate 1EUR = 90 INR (Indian Rupee)
Best time of year to visit India
It is difficult to generalize with a country of India’s size and geography. Think that the Kashmir area is in the Himalayas, Uttar Pradesh and Rajashtan have an extreme continental climate and further south it is a more tropical climate.
If you want to combine most of the festivities, definitely try to make your trip coincide between November and March, which is also when the climate is more moderate in the northern part and does not have the suffocating summer heat that is close to 40ºC. I was between February and March until Holi and I think that almost no day, except for the desert, was it over 25ºC and practically without rain.
Best tips for India
This is probably the most extensive list of basic travel tips you’ve ever done:
- Visa: You cannot obtain a visa on arrival, nor to transit. You cannot enter the country via land border either. You will have to manage everything online. Most visas take about 3 business days.
- ATM: Most ATMs are empty or you cannot withdraw amounts greater than the equivalent of €100. On weekends you will not find money in any ATM. Always use bank ATMs if you don’t want your cards to be hacked. Always carry some cash with you, euros or dollars.
- Local SIM card: It took me 3 days to get one, you need a local person to “sponsor” you. Many people on the street will try to scam you by selling you only the SIM. Go to an official telephone store or do it via your hostel.
- Airport: Do not use the airport tuktuks in Delhi, from Delhi you can take the very fast metro to the city center.
- Transportation (trains and buses): Download the IRCTC application to buy train tickets, although many times everything is sold out, and online payments do not support international cards. Your hostels can buy your tickets and you pay them in cash.
- Trains and their classes: There are infinite classes, what you should know is that if you have a reserved seat, you have the right to kick out whoever is there… ideally try to get a bed in the upper parts so that people are not all over you the while. The lowest sleeper class is not reserved and is as many people as can fit…
- Time between cities: Everything takes a long time in this country, everything is late and you don’t know when it will happen or where. So plan all your trips in advance and assuming that a trip longer than 2 hours will be delayed between 20% and 30% on average.
- Food poisoning: No matter how careful you are, 90% of travelers get sick from food poisoning at some point (a statistic that I made up but it is quite true)
- Festivities and Holi: The festivities in this country are crazy and are lived with passion. If there is one near you, don’t hesitate to come.
- Tourist license hostels: Many hostels do not have a license to accommodate foreigners so check it carefully or you may arrive at your hostel at night and they will not accept you and you will have to make a living.
- Tuktuk application: Download an app if you don’t want to be scammed on trips, no matter how cheap it may seem, you will always be paying more. Uber or Bolt work.
- Physical contact and selfies: Everyone is going to look at you, stop on the street and try to take selfies with you. Not only this, but they are going to grab you, touch you by the arm, by the hand. Set aside with complete confidence. Save your space. Especially the women.
- Yes, yes, means no, no: They will never tell you that they don’t know something, that is for directions and any other question. No one ever knows where anything is or how to get there, so you guide them.
One month itinerary for India
If you still want to go to India, I congratulate you! Keep reading!
Days 1 to 4: New Delhi
From Delhi International Airport you can take the metro to the center for about 70 INR, almost nothing. Our hostel was in Laxmi Nagar and in just under an hour we were there.
Delhi is gigantic and you could spend a week there, plus the city is crazy and you will need to find your minutes of peace so don’t try to see everything at once.
The first day you can dedicate to seeing the Red Fort in Lal Quila and from there continue to the Spice Market, you will quickly identify it when you see people holding their noses, coughing and crying while the locals move without flinching on the way back, you can stop by to visit the Jama Masjid.
The second day would be dedicated to seeing the southern area of Old Delhi, the Khan Market, the Lodi Garden and from there you have about 40 minutes walk to the palace and Humayun’s tomb. A spectacular palace in the middle of the madness of Delhi.
You will need at least a day to withdraw money, get a SIM and figure out how to get your trains and buses to your next destination, don’t underestimate it.
That fourth or third day can be dedicated to seeing other points of interest in the city, Little Tibet or the Akhsardham temple.
From there a night bus (without a bed) awaited us for about 9 hours to Varanasi.
Days 5 to 8: Varanasi
The buses cannot enter the center of Varanasi so the driver left us stranded at 9 in the morning 45 minutes from the city (very typical in India), without explanations.
Varanasi is a holy city for Hindus, many of them come to die here or ask to be brought back once they have died so that they can burn them and throw them into the Ganges, their sacred river.
I personally believe that there is nothing in the world that can prepare you for what you are going to see in this city, New Delhi is a beginner’s game compared to Varanasi.
Due to the important religious relevance of the city and the large number of people it attracts, the city is full of children begging, mothers with babies lying on the ground asking for money, animals eating garbage in every corner of the old city, traffic, dirt… Everything raised to an extreme level…
Meanwhile, on the banks of the Ganges River, for 24 hours, they are burning corpses of people, singing religious songs, throwing bodies and ashes into the river, and at night tens of thousands of people gather in the Ghats to see such a religious spectacle.
Days 9 to 12: Jaipur
Varanasi was where my friend and I fell ill and as we saw that we were not feeling up we decided to continue with the trip to Jaipur on a 15-hour train in the lowest class, although we paid only 600 INR. If you are not very fit, avoid eating or drinking water during the journey at all costs, you don’t want to go to the bathroom on that train.
As a European blows my mind when they tell you that Jaipur is a medium-sized city since from the photos it seems like a calm and relaxed place but it is nothing more than another city of 4 and a half million inhabitants with crazy traffic.
A visit to Jaipur is well worth a couple of days to visit the beautiful pink Jawa Mahal palace, the Isarlat Sargassooli, Tripolia Gate and the Albert Hall museum.
While the second day can be dedicated to visiting the Amber Fort about 30 minutes by tuk tuk from the center, go early as there is a lot to see and the visit will easily take up more than one morning. On the way to the fort, ask your driver to stop for 5 minutes at the lake to see the Jal Mahal. In the afternoon I recommend that you go to see the sunset from Nahargarh Fort. The tuk tuks will most likely try to trick you back to Jaipur so take the stairs down to the city and take a tuk tuk from there.
Days 13 to 16: Udaipur
Udaipur was the pleasant and quiet surprise of the trip, by far the quietest city of all. We found a hostel with spectacular views of Lake Pichola and spent a couple of days exploring the city slowly but surely and taking advantage of this oasis of tranquility absent of traffic.
You must visit the City Palace, the Jagdish temple and the Ghantaghar clocktower. Since we were short on time, we rented some scooters and took a day trip to Sajjangarh Monsoon Palace to see the Bahuballi Hills and went up to the city’s viewpoint, Shaharkot, to visit the Karni Mata temple.
You can rent scooters for around 600 INR. From here we took another wonderful bus of about 5-6 hours to go to Jodhpur.
Days 17 to 19: Jodhpur
Jodhpur, from my point of view, does not have much to offer and in fact it is not worth deviating excessively from the established route to go here, for this reason we did not dedicate more than a couple of days to it.
It is known as the blue city, a Chefchaouen style but in an Indian version and I want to and I can’t. It is worth strolling through its historic center, seeing its markets and getting lost in its blue streets in the center.
Another day can be spent visiting the Mehrangarh Fort and the Jaswant Thada palace, on one of the hills adjacent to the city.
Days 20 to 24: Jaisalmer
Without a doubt, Jaisalmer was one of the pleasant surprises of the trip to India: For two reasons, the tranquility that was experienced in this city on the border with Pakistan and the experience in the desert with Wonbin.
Jaisalmer is a small fortress city in western India. In my point of view, it is one of the best preserved and has the most intact structure of all those we visited. A positive point is also that the city center is not a museum but a city, which allows you to experience the fortress in a different way.
On the other hand, if you go to Jaisalmer it is to take a one-night tour in the desert that most guesthouses offer. In Wonbin we paid about €20 per person for travel in jeeps, camel ride, dinner and a night outdoors in the desert. Plus the owner is the horniest Indian we met and he started touring the dunes on a motorcycle and took each of us.
Days 25 to 27: Pushkar
From Jaisalmer we took a night bus to Pushkar where we arrived at 6 in the morning and where there was not a soul on the street. Pushkar is really a small town that does not even have a railway station. It is one of the main cities to celebrate the Holi Festival and a great place to relax for a few days.
It is one of the main tourist spots in the country for yoga retreats and where there are many Europeans living. Stroll through its center, buy some souvenirs and souvenirs and take your time to have your dose of European coffees and disconnect for the last leg of the trip.
Days 28 to 30: Agra
Surely the Taj Mahal is the main tourist attraction that you will want to see in India, we do not save Agra for last for no specific reason but to coincide the visit with the Holi Festival that is celebrated every year in February and is basically a war of paint dust and water in the streets.
We stayed at Joey’s which is literally 5 minutes from the doors of the Taj Mahal, the recommendation is that you go early in the day to visit it although you will find people all day. Buy the ticket online so you avoid the lines but when you go anywhere in India there are always people everywhere.
If you are looking for a good restaurant in Agra, do not hesitate to visit Joney’s Place, we went at least 9 times during the three days we were there. The food is great, very well priced and the place is impeccable.
Apart from the Taj Mahal, you can also visit the Agra Fort, although it is the least impressive of those we saw during the month we were in India.
Daily backpacking budget for India
Tell me how many countries you can travel for less than €20 a day? There aren’t many, right? Well, India is one of them. Although it has some buts, relevant…
Accommodation: Surprisingly more expensive than South East Asia but it is true that there are cheaper places that you don’t want to go to, so spend that extra euro.
Food: As I said before, it doesn’t matter where you eat, you’ll get sick anyway… Eating out of restaurants or street food every day, I ended up spending €4 a day. I also had diarrhea for 25 days…
Transportation: Tuk tuks are super cheap if you use them with the prices on the apps and they don’t rip you off. Beyond that, trains and buses from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. will cost you between €5 and €10… Less than 50 cents an hour, although you will understand why when you use them.
Leisure: Beers, tickets and tours… Most of the temples are paid but you see that not even the Taj Mahal cost more than €6 a day. That’s also because you won’t spend much on alcohol since it is quite limited and it is a country with little partying.
Where to stay in India
I have to say that all the hostels in this country have a very strange vibe, especially when there are many Indians staying in them. The rudeness borders on the ridiculous. Most places will not respect your sleep, they will turn on lights, talk, play music and make noise at any time. Logic does not apply in this country.
But these are the best hostels for solo travellers where you can stay in India:
- Joey’s Hostel // New Delhi: The best hostel to start your adventure in India, clean, social and with many plans. Ideal to create your little group and start the adventure.
- GoStops Varanasi // Varanasi: Very large and clean rooms, the downside is the bathroom and showers that are in the garden or on the terrace.
- Somit Guesthouse // Varanasi: A bit clunky and hard to find. Decently adequate for a guesthouse but the bed left a lot to be desired.
- Mantra Hostel // Udaipur: Intermittent Wifi with decent rooms, the bad thing is that only the bottom beds had curtains. Good restaurant at a good price. Clean bathroom.
- Mustache Jaipur // Jaipur: Super clean hostel, with a spectacular rooftop and pool. The European bathrooms are super clean and shower with hot water.
- Mustache Jodhpur // Jodhpur: We had to change rooms twice because the people in our room wouldn’t stop shouting at all hours. Very top staff and great rooftop to socialize.
- Wonbin Safari // Jaisalmer: A little empty but it is the most competitive hostel for trips to the desert, its owner is crazy but you will laugh constantly. What more can you ask for for €1 a night?
- Madpackers Pushkar // Pushkar: Very far from the center, but good vibe. Clean bathrooms and spacious rooms.
- Lucky Guest House // Agra: Joey’s was full that night and we had to find an alternative. To which I would not return…
- Joey’s Hostel Agra // Agra: A hostel for €7 with views of the Taj Mahal from its rooftop, take my money! Normal rooms but the rooftop is too much. 5 minutes from the doors of the Taj Mahal.
What to do if you have more time in India
I honestly don’t know if I would stay more days in India or if I would return… But if I did it would probably be to do a yoga retreat in Rishikesh.
