Delhi to Kerala and the palaces in between: money, trains, when to go, traveler tips, and the easiest mobile data via eSIM.
Secure, effective and private eSIMs across the globe
India does not ease you in. Delhi's air, a railway platform at dawn, a thali that arrives like a festival, and a street that is a market, a temple and a traffic jam at once — that is the opening scene. Then it gets you. The color, the kindness, the food, the sheer life of it.
It is not one country in practice. Rajasthan is palaces and desert light. Kerala is backwaters and coconut. Himachal is hills and apples. Goa is a beach with a Portuguese accent. Pick a region, not a greatest-hits tour of a subcontinent.
Trains are the romance and the logistics. Book on IRCTC or a trusted agency, travel in a class you will actually sleep in, and fly the brutal hops. Eat everywhere: street chaat in the right stall, a railway breakfast, a Kerala fish curry, a Tibetan momo in a hill town.
India rewards travelers who stay curious and keep their sense of humor. It will not be smooth. It will be better than smooth.
Essentials
Traveler tips
Real advice from people who have been to India, curated by our team with links to the original sources.
Sleeper class is an experience. 3A or 2A is how you still like trains at the end of the week. Tatkal quotas open the day before; everything else should be booked as soon as your dates exist.
High turnover, food cooked in front of you, a crowd of locals. That stall is safer and better than the empty one with a laminated menu. Carry oral rehydration salts anyway. India and first-time stomachs are an old story.
Delhi–Agra–Jaipur is easy and crowded for a reason. If you have two weeks, add a quieter Rajasthan town, Varanasi, or fly south. The India people fall in love with is usually the third place, not the first monument.
Cover shoulders and knees at religious sites, take the shoes off, and carry a scarf. In the street, light cotton beats clever fashion. You will be stared at a little either way. Confidence and kindness are the dress code that matters.
Official tickets, official guides if you want one. The person who found you in the parking lot has a cousin with a shop. You already knew that. Walk to the ticket window.
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June rain arrives in the south first and stays heaviest on the coasts and in the hills, where landslides wipe road days. The same weeks in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Agra and Varanasi are often short showers that cool the afternoon. If your dates are July or August, aim at the northern plains and treat Kerala or a Himalayan road as a different season. One forecast does not cover the subcontinent.
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PhonePe and Google Pay in India hook to an Indian bank and an Indian mobile number. A foreign SIM and a home debit card will not suddenly scan every QR at a Mumbai juice cart. Hotels and mall restaurants take cards; Uber and small counters often do not. Withdraw rupees from a bank ATM and keep them for the stall, the tuk-tuk, and the place whose machine shrugs at a foreign chip.
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Prepaid SIMs need in-person identity verification (e-KYC) with your passport, and activation is not always instant. A travel eSIM is bought and installed before you fly, with no shop visit and no afternoon in a plastic chair.
Prepaid needs in-person e-KYC with your passport. A travel eSIM skips the shop. Unlocked iPhone XS / Pixel 3 / Galaxy S20+ run Uber, Ola and IRCTC on data from the airport.
Maps, Uber, translation and a lot of photos: 2 GB a day is a comfortable budget, so 20–30 GB for two weeks. Unlimited is cheap enough to stop thinking about it.
Cities and the main rail corridors are good. Long train stretches and the high Himalaya drop in and out. Download offline maps and tickets before a mountain or overnight leg.
Yes — verify with your home number, then the apps run on data. That is exactly why a data eSIM covers the first airport ride and every auto after it.
eSIM plans
Indian prepaid SIMs require in-person e-KYC with your passport and can take hours. An eSIM skips the shop, the forms and the 'come back in the afternoon.' You land in Delhi or Mumbai and Uber is already a tap.
Translation, IRCTC messages and Google Maps in a city that does not believe in street numbers: this is a data country. Get more than you think. It is still cheap.