India

India is one of the most amazing and also challenging places in the world. The people, the colors, the smells, the land, the religion – they all pluck you from your cozy reality and dropped you into a world that you never dreamed existed. The diversity in India is astounding and the rewards for the hearty traveler are plentiful.

Being a solo female traveler, especially in northern India where foreign women are seen as “easy lays” by the local men, is frightening at times. The most difficult parts are the heat, the poverty, the dirt, the scams, and figuring out how to be open and kind while maintaining common sense and caution.

India is for anyone who is interested in religion, nature, culture, volunteering, and/or trekking. You should prepare yourself beforehand, though.  Preparation is the key to maintaining sanity in India! Good luck: if you have a strong body, an open mind, and a kind soul, India will treat you well. Bon Voyage!

Advice/Tips/Facts

*Don’t speak to anyone who claims he’s trying to “help” you. Most people who approach you are just trying to help themselves; there are few exceptions.

*Just know that the power cuts out in most cities about once every two hours or so. Most hotels have generators, but some don't. Carry a fan with you.

*Around all major monuments and temples, you will be accosted by men who want to be your guide and follow you around, telling you information about the place. Don’t listen to them and tell them to go away! They are unofficial, uninformative, they speak broken English, and they will ask you for a tip at the end of it. Best off looking around yourself.

*Most auto-rickshaw rides around any city are between Rs. 10-100, mostly 50. Don’t let the drivers charge you more!

*Auto drivers are paid commission by hotels, restaurants and shop owners to take you to their places of business – adamantly refuse, otherwise you will end up sipping on a Pepsi while some fake, smooth-talking man has his workers unroll 20-30 carpets or bands of silk for you to buy.

*Never drink tap water, this includes brushing your teeth.

*Never drink liquor in India, it’s usually Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and it’s gross!

*There are no payphones. Men own landlines and telephones on the streets and you pay them for using the phone. Look for STD (Standard Trunk Dialing) and ISD (International Standard Dialing) signs.

*The post office is a nightmare in India. Not air-conditioned, full of men waiting in nameless lines, prepare for the whole transaction to take at least ½ hour, with people staring at you the entire time if you’re a woman.

*There will be dirt in your fingernails at all times. Just accept it.

*You won’t be able to buy “Diet” anything.

*You can’t wear tank tops or shorts, if you try and you’re a woman, good luck to you getting past the men.

*If you’re unmarried, you might want to wear a wedding band and pretend that you are.

*Carry Purell hand sanitizer at all times.

*Carry a ROLL OF TOILET PAPER with you at all times. Some hotels don’t even provide it.

*Driving in India is like nowhere else in the world. No one follows the road rules, animals roam the streets, and people honk their horns for no reason. It’s chaos!  It's often very difficult to refuse someone who appears to be genuinely offering you help, but in most cases, they will help you and then demand that you give them money for their services. People who approach you out of the blue offering help would generally not be trusted. There are, of course, many very kind and genuine people there who will assist you as far as their English permits.

Varanasi is particularly bad for power cuts, and navigating around dark (packed) streets at night can be fun if you don't have a torch.

Saying that, India is one of the most wonderful places in the world to visit.

Learning
It's always good to read up on the history a bit, especially when traveling to someplace like India. Here's a start.

Getting the Visa
Everyone needs a visa. I had to go to the embassy in Washington DC to have them put a stamp in my passport. For more information, go here: Visa info

For India, you actually need to have the visa placed in your passport. Therefore, best to check the Indian Embassy website closest to you in order to download application form/figure out if you should send it in or go there in person. 

Flying there
Air India has really cheap flights from JFK-Delhi. They weren’t great, but they aren't horrible.

Vaccines/Health Update
I was up-to-date on all vaccines, plus I got Hepatitis A, Typhoid Fever, and took malaria tablets. Here is the CDC website it has more details.

*As a side note, make sure to take Immodium, Tums, and Pepto Bismol with you. You won’t regret it.

Traveling around India
Air travel isn't too safe, though many people still take flights on Indian Airlines. If you have limited time, this is a good idea. If you have more time, try the railway system!

Book well in advance (you can always change it) and get either the A/C 2nd or A/C 1st class berths. It’s really not that expensive, especially for long trips, and it’s worth it. If you’re female, do NOT mess around with the unreserved stuff. Some trains are nice, others are gross.  Men run around selling mangos, bananas, chai.  Families sleep at stations waiting for trains. It is an experience in itself to travel the railway! Don’t miss out!

Best way to reserve:
BUY ONLINE! Great website: Indian Rail

**Don’t take night buses in northern India if you can help it, especially around Dharamsala, Manali, Shimla, etc. Mountain roads are treacherous by day, practically lethal by night. Take day buses. The drivers aren’t all that reliable.

**Use the GOVERNMENT TOURIST OFFICES, listed in Let’s Go and Lonely Planet for each city. Don’t go to private companies, they’re all scams, esp around the train stations and airports!

Hopes Webshots of India
Hopes Journal (Blog) of IndiaDelhi

Delhi

I pre-booked online my accommodation through a company called Nomad Excursions. I stayed in a 4-star hotel for $45 USD per night called Hotel Connaught.

Remember to go through a tour company to book your hotel. Although this is anti-backpacker, it's recommended. At Hotel Connaught it was $45 through Nomad, but $110 if I booked it through the hotel. SO STRANGE!

For your first night in India, you should probably pre-book and stay in a nice hotel and then decide where to go from there. This lessens the culture shock and it makes a big difference!

Backpackers in Delhi tend to stay in Paharganj, near the railway station. This is a good website to help orient you in Delhi:

About Paharganj and Delhi

**By the way, Paharganj is a dusty dump; I stayed in the Lord’s Hotel and would never go back. The only reason to stay there is if you have an early morning train! 

Dharamsala

I stayed at the Loseling Guest House ($5 USD per night), which I thought was great. There are many options, though! Book ahead in March-May.

In order to really appreciate Dharamsala, you might want to read up on Buddhism and Tibetans. Here are the websites I used to read about McLeod Ganj. Being informed about McLeod Ganj and the philosophy there is a necessity for really enjoying the place.

What IS Dharamsala?
Map and Layout of McLeod Ganj
Memoirs of Dharamsala and Great Pictures!
McLeod Ganj

Agra

The scams in Agra are horrific, but the Taj is terrific, so you can’t do much about it! Do a day trip from Delhi; take the Express Train that leaves in the morning around 6am. That’s all you’ll need. You won’t want to stay longer!!

Great e-opinions Review on Agra Scams
Advice on scams in India in General

Varanasi

Gorgeous, crowded, cramped, disgusting, amazing – Varanasi is all of these. I read up on Hinduism and Indian history before I went. It’s one of the oldest, most interesting, and most crowded cities in all of India. It’s not for everyone. But it spoke to me.
About Hinduism

When you get off the train, you will be attacked (literally) by auto-rickshaw drivers. Maintain your cool and know beforehand where you will be staying. Try to find the auto-rickshaw driver VINOD at the train station!! This is a must!

I stayed at the Best Western Hindustan my first night there ($40 USD) because I was so sick when I arrived. It was appalling considering that it’s called a 4-star hotel.

Switched to Hotel Gautam ($10 USD) which ended up being really nice for the amount that you pay. Both are listed here.

Varanasi Accomodations

Calcutta

Kolkatta is very dirty.

Maharashtra and Mumbai have changed their names - went back to precolonial

Calcutta=Kolkatta
Bombay=Mumbai
Madras=Chennai

Mumbai is a pretty good gateway to the North AND the South so it's convenient as a starting point. If you start off in Calcutta you are going to have a much harder time maneuvering around to the South-which is a little bit less travelled by Western tourists, much cleaner and somewhat more palatable to the olfactory senses. If you start off in Mumbai you will have access to the Konkan railway which will take you down Goa, Bangalore & Kerala side.  You can get easy and cheap flights out to Delhi. And of course, there is the fact that Maharashtra had a lot of stuff going on so there is much to do there as well.

Calcutta is indeed very dirty and very crowded but that it embodies a great amount of LIFE and SPIRIT.

The Lonely Planet website is pretty good and as far as guide books so far the new "Let's Go India" is better than the lonely planet one.

Manali

The only way to get to Manali really is by bus - it's too high up in the mountains for a train.

Book your bus through the Delhi GOVERNMENT tourist office (makes sure it's legit, there are so many scams around the Old Delhi train station!) and then just find a place to stay when you get there. Basically everywhere is guesthouses and very cheap.