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In March 2024 I visited India for the first time. I spent exactly 19 days in this most populous country of the world. And the main reason for visiting India was its most colourful festival Holi in the presence of my travel buddy Peter from Cestuj po Svete.
You can read more about HOLI festival HERE. But in today´s post I will focus mainly on our 3-week itinerary and budget for India.
3-week itinerary for India
We planned our possible itinerary already before arriving to India, however, we usually booked our accommodation and means of transportation one day in advance.
DAY n. 1 NEW DELHI
DAY n. 2 & 3 – JAIPUR
DAY n. 4 – AGRA/TAJ MAHAL
DAY n. 5 & 6 – VRINDAVAN/HOLI FESTIVAL
DAY n. 7,8 & 9 – RISHIKESH
DAY n. 10,11 & 12 – MC LEOD/DHARAMSALA area
DAY n. 13 & 14 – JARI & MALANA
DAY n. 15, 16,17 & 18 – KASOL area
DAY n. 19 – NEW DELHI
Day by day itinerary for India
Let me give you more details about our stay in the specific Indian cities, towns or remoted Himalayan villages.
DAY n. 1 NEW DELHI
We arrived to New Delhi Airport early in the morning and were picked up by our couchsurfing host who also helped us get our AirTel sim cards (for €3 with daily 1.5GB of data).
On the first day we experience real Indian noisy and chaotic traffic vibes trying metro, uber, tuk-tuk and riksha. We explored few sights such as Red Fort (€6,60 entrance fee), Jama Masjid mosque (€3,30 entrance fee), Humayun´s Tomb (€6 entrance fee).
DAY n. 2 & 3 – JAIPUR
We arrived to Jaipur with an uber taxi for around €50 (6-hour ride from New Delhi) and checked-in our accommodation Atithi Guesthouse (around €9 per person/night for a nice private room with bathroom).
On these two days spent in this pink city we explore the sights such as Hawa Mahal (€2 entrance fee), Amber Palace (€5,50 entrance fee), Jaigarh Fort (€5,50 entrance fee or Jal Mahal.
DAY n. 4 – AGRA/TAJ MAHAL
On this day we took a bus booked via the app RedBus to Agra. The journey took around 6 hours, cost us €12 and the company´s name was NueGo. We checked-in our new accommodation Sidhartha hotel for €15 per person/night. The hotel was located around 100m from the main entrance to Taj Mahal which was super convenient for our early morning visit of this modern wonder of the world.
Taj Mahal was a mesmerizing, gorgeous, astonishing place which took my breath away in spite of its popularity and crowds of people.
We booked the ticket for Taj Mahal one day in advance online for around €12.
DAY n. 5 & 6 – VRINDAVAN/HOLI FESTIVAL
I wrote one separate article only about Holi so feel free to have a look at it HERE. But I am going to repeat myself by saying that this most colourful festival of India was the most intense experience I had ever had in my life.
For some visual idea, look at the following pictures and decide for yourself if this kind of festival is something for you.
DAY n. 7,8 & 9 – RISHIKESH
After two intense days we managed to take a local train from Mathura to Delhi and another RedBus bus from Delhi to Rishikesh where we would arrive late night and checked-in our Kalakriti homestay for €10 per person/night.
The main reason for visiting Rishikesh was to experience the traditional fire rituals at the river Ganga and visit a meditation centre Irina Naam where my new couchsurfing host would give me a lesson of yoga, meditation, breathing exercises and full body ayurveda massage.
DAY n. 10,11 & 12 – MC LEOD area
After 11 hours of terrible night bus journey (terrible because of crazy unstable roads, people puking, bus constantly honking) we arrived to Dharamsala – the home of Dalai Lama and Indian Buddhism.
The bus cost us around €14 and we booked it again via RedBus app. After arriving very early in the morning we immediately took a taxi to the village McLeod and did an early check-in in our new hotel Akash (€10 per person/night).
On those three days spent in this Himalayan village of McLeod we managed to walk around a lot and do some beautiful hikes. We visited Himalayan villages such as Bhagsu (I had a sound healing therapy there), Dharamkot, Flag Hill Temple, Naddi, Baal (that was my highlight!), Gallu temple, …
The best hike we managed to do in the surrounding of Dharamsala was a marvellous ascend to Triund hill which offers ineffable views over higher Himalayan peaks.
DAY n. 13 & 14 – JARI & MALANA
On the day n. 13 we spent most of the day travelling from Dharamsala to another Himalayan village called Jari by a local bus (price was super cheap – around €5 per 9 hours of journey). In the late afternoon we checked-in our Kasol hostel (€6 per person/night for a private room with views over the mountains).
The main reason for choosing this location was a visit of a remote, unique village called Malana where people CANNOT be touched by anyone outside of the village. You also can´t touch their temples, enter their shops, etc … It was the biggest cultural shock I had ever experienced.
The only downside of this peculiar visit was the rubbish. Rubbish was simply EVERYWHERE and people simply do not care about their environment.
DAY n. 15, 16,17 & 18 – KASOL area
While sharing a taxi to the Himalayan area of Kasol we asked locals what is their purpose of visit. They replied without any hesitation: “To smoke hashish”. After my initial shock I admitted that I don´t smoke at all and they surprisingly asked:” Then why are you travelling to Kasol?”.
That was the introduction to Kasol Area. We checked-in our last accommodation Delight Homestay in Kasol village (€10 per person/night with a balcony with wonderful views over snowy peaks of Himalayas).
In those four days we managed to rent a scooter and explore the surrounding villages such as Tosh and Pulga. I also hiked to the village Rasol and most of the time we simply chilled at Parvati river relaxing as much as we could after those hectic few weeks spent in India.
DAY n. 19 – NEW DELHI
On our last day after arriving by another horrible night bus ride to New Delhi, Peto and I said goodbye to each other as he continued to Mumbai and I spent the rest of my last day with another local person thanks to couchsurfing.
I managed to do some souvenir shopping at local markets while Abhi was negotiating all the prices for me. We ate some local food, drank local Masala chai, fought with local street monkeys, …
A typical day spent in New Delhi!
Budget for 3 weeks in India
Flight tickets: €460
Accommodation: €165 per person
Buses & train: €80 per person
Food, taxi, entrances: €180
My extras: €125 (massage, yoga, gifts, …)TOTAL: €550 per 19 days excluding flight tickets
SUMMARY
I would recommend to visit India for more experienced travellers who are used to the chaos, noise and rush of insane traffic “rules” from other countries, too. India is a beautiful country full of wonderful kind-hearted people, spectacular architecture, specific traditions and rituals, mesmerizing nature BUT it is also a very exhausting and intense country.
India is not meant to be travelled by everyone!!
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