A tour to India is about exploring the wealth of nature and history besides carrying snapshots of precious moments that add to your pleasant memories. At the same time, you must also count upon a few expenses that you can’t evade. Since, there are many places in India that can be visited on a pocket friendly budget, while there are others curated for luxury experience. That’s one reason why you need to work on an initial budget before being ecstatic. Also, India has such a varied landscape. It gets really difficult to decide where all to visit. If this is the first time you are going to visit India, here’s a great list of places to visit in India for starters. And you want some more inspirations, here’s an interesting list of books set in India to further fuel your wanderlust and help you pick destinations within India.
Once you have zeroed down on the places, plan for a minimum of 2 weeks Itinerary covering India, since less than this will not do justice. Next, consider a few important budgeting steps before you set out on your tour. Here we list some for you.
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Compare transportation methods
There are a few tourist hotspots that prove to be expensive in terms of transportation cost. Like, you may need to board a plane or rent a car or book your seat on a cruise ship. So that you will be the last person to face any hassle while you’re on vacation. And return empty handed. You must determine the cost of renting cars, boarding a plane or traveling in a ship depending on your requirement. You must remember that traveling by air is often more expensive although it saves much time. So, you ought to choose your transportation options according to your budget.
Even after you’ve reached your destination, you may need to spend a good amount over local transportation both to and fro. You may even need to set some money aside for sight-seeing purposes. So, you’ll need to do some research on the cost of local transportation within and around your destination in advance. You may check the rates by calling any car rental agency that operates over your chosen vacation spot or you may check the rates online.
Consider lodging expenses on your tour to India
Lodging cost is another important factor that you need to consider in advance. You must determine your exact needs when it comes to lodging options as they tend to vary both in terms of quality and cost. You’re likely to come across a wide range of resorts and hotels if your destination invites large masses of tourists. You must choose a hotel that’s closer to your place of attraction and within the vicinity of all modes of transport. You’ll end up saving much in terms of travel costs.
Count the cost of meals on your tour to India
You must create a budget for your meals and that includes meals while you’re on the move. The cost of food items may vary between different places, so you must do your research on the local foods and their costs. You may choose to book a room with a hotel that has a kitchenette attached to it. It would certainly help you save much if you can manage to buy raw stuff from the local market and do a bit of cooking.
Determine the cost of sightseeing on your tour to India
If you’re traveling to a far off place, it’s natural for you to visit a few nearby sights of tourist interest. Many of these trips take a number of costs into account e.g. admittance, transportation etc. Try doing some research on your sight-seeing options. Take into account all costs pertaining to a visit to your favorite tourist spot. You must include them in your budget. It might help you save more when you opt for package tour options. These packages often include visiting the best sites and prove to be very cost-efficient.
It’s truly a nice idea for you to develop some comprehensive budget on traveling before your tour to India. You may consider the tourist reviews that you come across in search engines like Yelp and Google. By doing your research, you’re bound to get a fair idea of quality and quantity for your specific budget when you set out on a tour to India. This is truly important when you need to consider all daily expenses that you ought to fend for during your tour to India.
These days, you’re likely to come across a few websites that tend to provide you with great discounts on flight and hotel booking. You may choose to compare all Ixigo coupons on hotel stays and flight bookings and find out the best options. Also, use some of these proven tricks to book cheap flights. It will be of great help if you work towards setting aside some money every month prior to your visit. Also, if you are planning to tour India, you might want to checkout how to get a tourist visa for India specifically from USA on arrival. It’s always good to be prepared with all your documents for a hassle free travel.
PS: This is a guest post by Sheena. Sheena has her presence felt across a number of online fashion blogs and beauty magazines. She has thrown much light upon the latest trends and has brought forward attires that are in vogue. Her followers would never give up sharing her posts on buying fashion accessories.
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Usually I clear lodging and transport for when I’m travelling Asia. Because then that covers most of it – with sightseeing being discretionary. Hopefully India will be the same since I’m intending to go to Uttar Pradesh next month…!
Definitely, you have it shorted. If you have the lodging and transport done, then rest all is super easy.
I somehow find there are very few websites that help you plan most of these things. Travel should really be like shopping on Amazon. That would make it mechanical, but at least the basic headaches of managing connections and food and transport should be easier to manage. What do you think?
Thats right. The easier the planning and organization part becomes the more people will love to travel. Already lots of forums and websites are coming in this quest. Hopefully your dream will soon come true 🙂
Thanks for these guidelines for developing a budget… I found it useful, not only for India but even in traveling to other countries as well,
Thanks Louiela
This is a really useful post. I’m planning a trip to Mysore to do yoga for a few weeks but I want to do some traveling after. I know this is going to coming in very handy for when I’m planning my trip!
Thanks Claire. This is great to know. There are many places around Mysore that you can visit on a budget.
Great post! I have just been researching a trip to India this morning actually so this post is great timing for me! Will be looking on your blog for many more tips over the coming weeks!
you.theworld.wandering
Wow..thats a coincidence!! I will be so happy if it helps you plan your trip
Very comprehensive guide on how to budget for india. So many things to consider but it would be good if you included some average costs for people to have a rough idea of price. Thanks for sharing and happy travels.
So many readers requested for the same. We will definitely try and do that
These are really great travel tips to help tourists when coming to India. Tourist hot spots make everything more expensive and the transport like flying, taking a train or a bus can really add up. I’m sure there are a lot of cheap local and vegetarian options that keep food costs low.
You are right Gina. India has loads of vegetarian options and most of the places, particularly tourist places have good connectivity by bus and trains
Thanks for sharing great tips on budgeting before trip to India. I haven’t been there yet but I’ll definitely use your tips before I go 🙂
You are welcome Anna
Really great tips for developing a budget before travelling. Nothing worse than running out of money while on vacation, but you also don’t want to be left with a bunch of foreign currency that you can’t use 🙂
Thanks..thats so rightly said
It’s very important to make a budget for every trip. I haven’t been to India yet, so your tips might be very useful in future. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Anita!
These are really good travel tips. I have not been to India yet. I am considering to communicate with a travel agency to ask for tour recommendations. I am not good in planning a budget for my travels. I will also try my best to do my research first.
Iza, Fill My Passport
Thanks Iza. In case you need help, we can help you out with planning your trip. Do feel free to reach out to us at [email protected]
Good thoughts!! Bookmarking this as a reference for my future trip to India. Also, I love the photo of Amer Fort!!
Thanks dear!!
Good advice no matter where your destination. Budgeting is really important as well as planning so you aren’t stuck in a situation where you spend more than you can afford.
Thank you!
yay! Great tips never fail! That photo above tho, that’s so amazing! Never have seen something like that before. I wondered if only India has this kind of transportation? The coolest! x
I guess you are referring to the backwaters of Kerala. They are definitely a unique experience. What you see in the pic is a houseboat in which you can stay over as well as explore the backwaters. You can check our post on backwaters of kerala for further details
A great post with great insights. It is going to be a great help for anyone planing their trip to any part of the world not only India. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks a lot Suruchi
I generally do not make a budget before heading out for a domestic tour. But will keep your points in mind lest i feel guilty about the expenses like i generally do.
Thanks ambuj!