First time in India: 10 things to know before you go

Digital payments (UPI) are accepted at a huge range of shops, restaurants and even street stalls in cities and tourist towns. That said, rural areas, small vendors and some plantation or homestay regions still expect cash — keep a modest reserve, especially heading somewhere remote.

Coverage is excellent in cities but genuinely patchy in mountains, forests and some coastal stretches. A local SIM (available at the airport or in most towns, with ID) or an eSIM set up before you leave makes maps, translation and ride-hailing apps far more reliable.

Cover shoulders and knees when visiting temples, mosques and gurdwaras; you'll usually need to remove your shoes at the entrance. Ask before photographing people, particularly at religious ceremonies. The right hand is customarily used for eating and giving/receiving items.

Safety varies meaningfully by destination and isn't something to generalise about the whole country. Every destination guide on this site includes a researched safety score and a separate women's-safety score — check both, and see our Safety Hub for India-wide emergency numbers and general guidance.

India's rail network is extensive and usually the most comfortable way to cover long distances. Book ahead where you can — quotas for popular routes and festival-season travel fill up fast. For hill routes without rail access, a hired car with driver is often more practical (and safer) than self-driving unfamiliar mountain roads.

Some of the best meals of a trip come from street stalls and local thali joints, not hotel restaurants. If you have a sensitive stomach, go where there's a steady local crowd (a sign of fast turnover and fresh food), start cautiously, and stick to bottled or filtered water.

Haggling is normal in open markets and with unmetered transport, but not in fixed-price stores, malls or restaurants. A friendly, unhurried negotiation goes further than an aggressive one.

The bulk of mainland India is coolest and driest from roughly October to March — that's also when it's busiest and pricier. The high Himalaya (Ladakh, for example) is the opposite: only accessible in summer, when roads and passes are open. See our best-time-to-visit guide for the regional breakdown.

Visa requirements and e-Visa eligibility depend entirely on your nationality and change over time — check directly with the official Indian government visa portal or your nearest embassy well before booking flights, rather than relying on a blog post's numbers.

The single most common first-timer mistake is over-scheduling: trying to hit five cities in ten days. Journeys between regions eat more time than they look like on a map. Three to four nights per stop, with genuine downtime, tends to make for a much better trip than a string of one-night hops.