India

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. ✅ Quick Answer Delhi, India’s capital, is best visited October to March, its cool, dry season with comfortable sightseeing days and chilly evenings, since April to June turns brutally hot above 40°C. The Airport Metro Express (Orange line) runs from Terminal 3 to New Delhi station in about 20 minutes, the cheapest way into the centre, and first-timers typically base themselves around Connaught Place for metro access, in budget-friendly Paharganj near New Delhi station, or in leafier South Delhi and Hauz Khas. The Taj Mahal in Agra, about 200 km away, makes a doable day trip since fast trains cover it in roughly 90 minutes to two hours each way. Delhi, Without the Overwhelm The first thing I got wrong in Delhi was the very first thing I did: I let a tout outside Arrivals talk me into a “fixed price” cab, and paid roughly three times what the metro would have cost, sat in traffic the whole way. A friend who’d done a semester here just laughed when I told her. “There’s a train from the terminal,” she said. “Twenty minutes, straight into the centre, and nobody can overcharge you on it.” ...

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. ✅ Quick Answer Goa, India’s beach state, is best visited November to February, when days are warm and dry, seas are calm and every beach shack is open, unlike the June-to-September monsoon that shuts most shacks and water sports. Goa has two airports — GOI Dabolim in the south-centre and GOX Manohar International at Mopa in the north — and since public transport is patchy, most visitors rent a scooter to get around. First-timers choose between lively North Goa (Anjuna, Vagator, Arambol) for markets and beach shacks, or the calmer South Goa (Palolem, Agonda) for quieter, wider sands. Goa, Without the Rookie Mistakes We landed in Goa in late July, because that’s when the flights were dirt cheap. The first thing we saw from the taxi was a wall of warm rain and a row of beach shacks with their shutters bolted shut. Our host just laughed: “Monsoon. You’ll have the beach to yourself — and nothing to eat on it.” She wasn’t wrong. The hills were impossibly green, the sea was wild, and half of what we’d come for simply wasn’t open. ...

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. ✅ Quick Answer Jaipur, India’s Pink City in Rajasthan, is best visited October to March, when dry, sunny days and cool evenings make sightseeing at the forts and bazaars comfortable, unlike April to June’s scorching heat above 40°C. Jaipur International (JAI) sits about 30 minutes from the centre, reachable by prepaid taxi or an Uber/Ola booking, and first-timers typically base themselves in the walled Pink City for the sights, on MI Road or Civil Lines for calm and transport, or in a heritage haveli for atmosphere. Jaipur also anchors the classic Golden Triangle with Delhi (roughly five to six hours by road or train) and Agra (about four to five hours) for the Taj Mahal. Jaipur, Without the Rookie Mistakes We climbed to the Amber Fort at noon on our first day, because that’s when the tour bus said to go, and we spent the visit hunting for shade and elbowing through the crowd instead of looking at the place. A guesthouse owner back in the Old City laughed when we told him: “Go at opening, before the buses and before the sun. You’ll have the ramparts almost to yourself.” The next morning we did, and Jaipur finally made sense. ...

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. ✅ Quick Answer Kerala, India’s backwaters-and-tea-hills state, is best visited September to March, when the monsoon has cleared and days stay warm and dry, with December and January the busiest peak. Most travelers fly into Kochi (COK) and run the classic loop — Kochi, then roughly a four-hour drive up to the Munnar tea hills, down to the Alleppey backwaters, and on to a beach — basing in two or three towns rather than racing between all of them. The signature experience is an overnight kettuvallam houseboat on the Alleppey backwaters, drifting past rice paddies and palm-lined canals with meals cooked on board. Kerala, Without the Rushed Itinerary Our first plan for Kerala was a sprint: five places in six days, a different bed every night, the lot. A friend from Kochi who’d grown up on the backwaters laughed at the spreadsheet. “You’ll spend the whole trip in a car watching Kerala go past the window,” she said. So we tore it up, picked three bases, gave the houseboat a full night, and slowed down. That’s the trip people remember. ...

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. ✅ Quick Answer Mumbai is best visited November to February, its cool, dry season that’s comfortable for walking the city and taking the ferry to Elephanta Caves, since the June-to-September monsoon brings heavy rain that can flood streets and halt trains. From Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International (BOM), the official prepaid taxi booth or an Uber/Ola booking gets you into the city, and first-timers typically base themselves in Colaba or Fort in South Mumbai for the Gateway of India and Marine Drive, or in leafier Bandra for a more local feel. Three to four days covers the headline sights: a day for Colaba, Fort and Marine Drive, a day for the Elephanta Caves by ferry, and a day for Bandra and the markets. Mumbai, Without the Rookie Mistakes We landed in Mumbai at the tail end of July, mid-monsoon, because the flights were cheap and we hadn’t done our homework. The rain didn’t fall so much as arrive — sideways, warm, in sheets — and the taxi crawled into a flooded South Mumbai while our shoes quietly gave up. A friend who grew up in Bandra just laughed: “Come back in December and you won’t recognise the place.” She was right. The next trip, in cool dry January, Mumbai felt like a completely different, walkable, golden-light city. ...

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. ✅ Quick Answer For most of the country, October to March is ideal: cool, dry, and comfortable for sightseeing across Rajasthan, Delhi, Agra, and the south. Avoid the April–June heat and the June–September monsoon unless you’re heading to the Himalayas or Ladakh. The Best Time to Visit India, in One Sentence The first time I planned India, I picked May because the flights were cheap. A seasoned traveler at my hostel in Delhi heard the plan, put down her chai, and said simply: “You’re going to melt.” She was right. Forty-three degrees in the shade of a Jaipur fort, the marble too hot to touch, every sane local indoors by noon. I’d accidentally booked the worst possible month — and learned the single most important rule about this enormous, glorious country. ...