North India: itinerary and budget

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Backpacking adventure around North India — Estelle’s bag: 5.1 Kg, Paul’s bag: 8 Kg

Last summer we travelled through North India during one month. We did the famous Rajasthan tour but not only. We also went all the way up to Punjab State, at the Pakistan border and also went down to Madhya Pradesh to see the most erotic temples ever: Khajuraho.

I’m going to share with you my itinerary and how much this travel cost us.

Google limits the itinerary to 10 stop-offs. Click on the colored markers on the map for extra activities and destinations that we did during our trip.

The itinerary was as followed:

New Delhi – Amritsar – New Delhi – Khajuraho – Agra – Fatehpur Sikri – Jaipur – Udaipur – Khumbhalgarh Fort – Ranakpur – Jodhpur – Jaisalmer – New Delhi

To go from one town to another, we used the trains and tried almost all classes in existence: AC 2 and 3 Tier, 2^nd class sitting unreserved, Sleeper class, AC Executive Chair. If you want to learn more about Indian trains, read about my journey in Sleeper Class and the comparison with other classes. We also used government buses in Rajasthan.

Budget

Now you might interested to know how much this trip cost us. In total, we spent 2,300€ for one month in India, 2 persons (plane included).

Below are the costs breakdown per category of expenses.

Other interesting costs:

1 day with elephants: 4,500 INR/person
Camel safari (non-touristic), 2 days/1 night: 1550 INR/person
Average price for attraction site (foreign tourist price): 250 INR/person, Taj Mahal: 750 INR
Cheapest hotel room: 400 INR / Most expensive room: 1,700 INR
Our favorite rooms: 700-800 INR/night, reasonable comfort, TV, AC sometimes, hot water (not always), perfect location and nice terrace or patio.
Water bottle: 15 to 30 INR
Fast-food franchises (McDonalds, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Subway): be aware that you will have to pay the VAT which is not included in the prices. VAT can reach up to 42-50%, it’s huge.
Books are more expensive than hotel rooms: from 400 INR (second hand) to over 1,000 INR

Now you have an idea of how much it will cost you to live in India for a month for 2 persons.

Attractions and visits expenses can be lowered by 13,000 INR if you don’t do the elephant day and camel safari. But it’s a once in a lifetime experience, so I highly recommend you do it. Choose your company wisely. Sometimes it’s better to spend a bigger amount of money for the BEST experience ever than paying a low price and being disappointed or realizing animals are abused.

Food expenses can also be lowered. We had so many Indian rupees left on the last 2 days of our trip, we didn’t know how to spend them. It was smarter to spend them though than to change them back into Euros (exchange rate + commission). So we went to a few American franchises. They are quite expensive: almost 1,000 INR a meal for 2 at Subway, around 500 INR for dessert at Starbucks). But if you stick to the Indian food (street food and restaurants) you can cut off 4,600 INR of my previous budget.

Do not hesitate to comment or send me an e-mail if you have any further questions regarding building your perfect itinerary in North India or regarding expenses.