India is an amazing country with so many rich cultures and traditions, and if you’re from the UK, your first visit can be a true learning curve.
Following my first visit a couple of years ago, here are 9 things you should know before going to India – that I think will really help you out before your next trip.
And many of these tips will actually serve you well on any holiday – no matter what the destination!
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9 Things You Should Know Before Going To India
These are my top things that will help you plan and budget for your first-time trip to India.
Have cash on you
As you head away from the major cities in India, cash is used a lot more. Places will also accept cash apps but you’ll often need an Indian phone number to set that up!
As the Indian rupee is a closed currency, you’ll have to exchange your money on arrival or use an ATM.
We just used ATMs and used a card with a 0% foreign transaction fee. Whilst we did get charged £2-3 to withdraw in India, it always worked much better than going to a currency exchange. There is a 10k rupee limit though per withdrawal – which is about £95.
Not all ATMs will accept foreign cards – we used ICIC a lot – and remember that the cash comes out before the card. So don’t leave your card in the machine like we did!! And bring a back up card just in case.
Pack a diarrhoea kit
We’ve all heard of Delhi belly – this is basically travellers’ diarrhoea. You’re susceptible to it if you do things like drink unfiltered water (or brush your teeth with it), forget to wash your hands regularly or eat food that’s spoiled or contaminated.
There’s no guarantee that you’ll get it during your trip. But it’s nice to know you’ve got a kit to help you should it happen.
I packed Immodium (other brands are available!), tissues, hand sanitiser, some rehydration sachets and here’s the key thing: I kept it on me for the entire trip!
Try the street food
This may seem ROGUE given the previous tip but there is a caveat… Try street food with a tour guide!
They know tourists have delicate bellies and will know the places that use filtered water in their cooking.
If you’re still wary, stick to veggie dishes, say no to ice cubes and use hand sanitiser before every dish. And look into taking probiotics before your trip, as they can give a helpful boost to your gut bacteria.
Book your trains in advance
Trains book up QUICK in India so you want to be getting them sorted 2-3 months before your trip.
I used the IRCTC (Indian Railways) website which is where you’ll find the cheapest fares, but 12go.asia works too if you’re struggling to get AIRCTC to work.
There’s a lot of know about train fares but the main thing to flag is that if it shows WL it means ‘waitlist’ which whilst you can book it – you don’t actually have a ticket until other people have cancelled theirs!
If WL shows, my top tip is to go to the IRCTC menu, click on ‘trains’ and look for ‘foreign tourist booking’. There’s sometimes some extra tickets held there, and seats also get released one day before.
@cheapholidayexpert What are Indian sleeper trains ACTUALLY like? 😴🚆🤯 💾 Save this for the future and tag someone who this may help! ⬇️ OUR TRAIN JOURNEY ⬇️ Jodhpur to Jaipur Marudhar Express 0815 - 1325 5 hours 10 minutes ⬇️ TRAIN CLASSES AVAILABLE ⬇️ Sleeper 🚆 3 tier beds but with no AC 💰 £2.05 AC 3 Tier (3A) - yes I called it 3 AC in the video 🙈 🚆 3 tier beds with AC 💰 £5.48 AC 2 Tier (2A) 🚆 2 tier beds with AC 💰 £7.77 There is also an AC 3 Economy which is slightly cheaper than 3A but without the beds. Some trains in India will also have AC First Class (1A) which are private compartments - normally shared between 2 or 4 people - and they would cost you around £14 each. ⬇️ BOOKING OUR TICKETS ⬇️ 👩💻 I booked using the Indian Railways website: irctc.co.in 👩💻 It would not let me register whilst using Chrome - but did when I moved over to Safari. If you have any issues, you can try using 12go.asia instead 👩💻The search is easy enough to use but make sure you’re putting in correct station names - blogs and The Man in Seat 61 is really helpful for this 👩💻 Book your tickets 2/3 months in advance! They sell out fast. The reason we ended up on this train was because the later train was sold out, but this still had availability 3 weeks before. 👩💻 If you’re struggling to find tickets, make sure you check the standard way using the homepage, but then go to ‘trains’ at the top, and you’ll see ‘foreign tourist booking’. This is because they will hold a number of tickets back for tourists and so there may be some available there still. 👩💻When paying, I used RazoryPay but I SHIT THE BED because our 2 train tickets cost 1630 INR (£15.54) but the pending payment page flashed up with £1630 🤣🤣🤣 It updated to reflect that it was INR a few seconds later but I really thought I’d been scammed for a good 5 seconds ha ha haaaaa ⬇️ OUR SEATS / BEDS ⬇️ We opted for AC 2 Tier and got the top and bottom bunk! ⚠️ ANY QUESTIONS? ⚠️ Drop them in the comments! And let me know if you’d ever go by Indian sleeper train- or would you rather fly? #sleepertrain #indiansleepertrain #indantrain #india #jodhpur #jaipur #MarudharExpress ♬ original sound - Holiday Expert
Have a plan for your phone
e-SIMs are so helpful – they’re a form of SIM card that’s already embedded in most modern devices meaning you can just purchase the phone plan you want online and activate it on your phone!
However, India recently banned eSIMs! There are still plenty of options:
- Buy your eSIM before your trip and activate it before you depart for India
- Buy a Lebara SIM which comes with free roaming in India
- Use a VPN to buy your eSIM in India (I use Nord VPN)
- Buy an Indian SIM on arrival
The last one is more effort, but you’ll get an Indian phone number which can be very helpful during your trip. Many Indians do use Whatsapp though!
Pack light
If you’re moving around and particularly if you’re taking public transport, you’re going to LOVE the fact you’ve packed light.
The great thing about this is that laundry services in India are fast and cheap. Even at our hostel, we dropped our clothes off on arrival and they were clean and ready by the next day.
In India, they tend to charge by the number of items rather than the weight, but it balances out. I got 15 items washed in Jodphur for around £2.50.
@cheapholidayexpert LET’S PACK FOR INDIA IN A BACKPACK 🎒 okay fine two backpacks 😂 💾 Save this as packing inspiration for your next big trip - you don’t need to take away loads!!! Or tag someone who needs to cut down on their luggage for their next trip 😆 For once, I don’t have to worry about luggage limits but as we are visiting SIX different places on our 2 week India trip, I really don’t want any excess weight to lug around 🏋️♂️ ⬇️ How I cut down the weight of my luggage ⬇️ 🧴Decant, decant, decant! Toiletries can really add weight and so I poured out exactly what I’d need for a 2 week trip into mini bottles. Primark have got a great set for £1 at the moment! 👗 I actually swapped out my trusty roll by hand vac bags as I wanted to test out some compressible packing cubes - will let you know how I find them but would love to hear your thoughts too! 👚 I also opted to pack fresh clothes for around 7 days instead of 14, knowing that I’d have quick and cheap access to laundry services in India to keep me going. 💁♀️ And finally, I made sure to wear my heavier items and layer up for the flight itself to save on space too. I’ll have to make sure to do this on my travel days too though actually, I do have a bit of space to play with! ⚖️ At the final weigh in, my orange check in bag came in at 6.9kg so I was super happy with my cutting back efforts! As it can also be carried as a duffel, I can carry it in my hands as well as on my front as a backpack 👍 ⬇️ Other packing tips ⬇️ 👩💻 As always, I had my packing checklist at my side to make sure I had everything - I use this for every single trip! You can find it on the homepage of cheapholidayexpert.com if you wanna use it! It even has tickabke boxes ☑️ So how do you think I did? 🤔 Do you reckon you could do 2 weeks in India in a backpack?! 🎒 #packwithme #packing #india #travel ♬ original sound - Holiday Expert
Use Uber as a guide for taxi prices
Uber worked great in Mumbai, but everywhere else it was more hassle than it was worth!
However, it was still helpful at telling us how much we should be aiming for when we were haggling for all our rickshaw and taxi journeys.
If you look like you aren’t from India, most drivers will boost the price (often by A LOT) and so get ready to barter and remember the power of walking away – many will call you back!
If they mention a friend’s shop you should see on the way, just say no.
Also, we had a few Uber drivers call us and say they only took cash, but on arrival they still asked for our Uber PIN for our journey. Be careful about disclosing this as it can mean they get paid from the Uber app too.
Dress appropriately
The general rule is to cover up but what you should and shouldn’t wear will also be based on where you are in the country. Basically, the more cosmopolitan the area, the less you have to worry.
Also, what’s important to understand is how you dress will impact how much people stare. Yes, if you look foreign they’ll look no matter what (this can happen in any country anywhere!) but you can keep that down by sticking to the local dress code of generally covering up.
From our trip, I found that you don’t have to go OTT and cover every inch. In the hot weather, plenty of locals – both men and women – had short sleeve t-shirts on. We were in tourist areas though!
If you are a woman, I do recommend having a big scarf on you should you need to cover up – especially for temples!
Get ready for an adventure!
India is a wonderful country and you should definitely expect a bit of an adventure while you’re here!
If you’re travelling about, and even more so if you’re on a budget, it may not be the smoothest holiday you’ve ever been on. But as long as you anticipate this – and acknowledge it as part of the fun – then you’ll be fine.
Even as seasoned travellers, James and I had PLENTY of hiccups but thinking ‘this will be a great story when we’re home’ was a good way of laughing through it!
Be Prepared For Your India Trip With Our Things To Know Before You Go
Wherever you’re travelling to, preparing yourself well in advance is never a bad thing. It can help you with everything from lower prices and saving money to giving you more options and helping you stay organised.
With our 9 things to know before you go, as well as the official India travel advice for visitors, you’ll be super-prepared for your India adventure.
