Know before you go: India

Most travellers arrive on India’s e-Visa (e-Tourist visa), applied for entirely online through the official Bureau of Immigration portal, with no embassy visit needed. The e-Visa comes in three tiers for tourists: 30 days (from April to June) for $10, 30 days (from July to March) for $25, one year for $40, and five years for $200, with 1-year and 5-year visas capped at 180 days of stay per calendar year. Some nationalities pay different reciprocal rates for the 5-year option: UK passport holders pay US$484 for the 5-year visa, and US citizens pay US$160. A 3% bank transaction charge is added on top, so confirm the exact figure for your card and nationality on the portal.

Applications for e-Visas must be made between 4 and 120 days before arrival, and standard e-Tourist Visa processing takes 2 to 5 business days, so build in a buffer before booking flights. A new requirement to know: as of October 2025, all foreign travelers entering India have the option to submit an electronic arrival form instead of the traditional paper form, and this has since become mandatory for most visitors; as of April 1, 2026, all foreign travelers must submit a mandatory e-Arrival Card online within 72 hours before arriving in India, via the visa portal or the Su-Swagatam app.

Entry is restricted to designated points: e-Tourist Visa holders can enter through 37 designated airports, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Goa, Jaipur, Cochin, Varanasi, and Lucknow, plus 38 seaports for cruise arrivals and a short list of designated land ports such as Attari, Raxaul and Gede; most land border crossings are not on that list, so check your exact entry port on the portal before travelling. The e-Tourist visa is non-extendable, and overstaying can trigger fines and a formal regularisation process with immigration authorities. Passport rules commonly require at least 6 months’ validity from your date of travel and at least 2 blank pages; verify this on the portal, as it is not always stated in the same way for every nationality. Travellers arriving from a yellow-fever-risk country should also note that travelers arriving from an infected area must be vaccinated, so carry your certificate.

Always confirm current fees, eligible nationalities, entry ports and document requirements on the official e-Visa portal before booking flights, as rules, fees and the arrival-card process keep changing.

City transport: Metro systems (Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and others) remain the cheapest, most reliable way to beat traffic; Delhi Metro tickets can be booked in advance via IRCTC. App-based cabs and auto-rickshaws (Uber, Ola, Namma Yatri) are widely used in cities alongside traditional metered taxis.

Trains: Indian Railways is the backbone of long-distance travel. Foreigners can register on the official IRCTC site and use the Foreign Tourist Quota (FTQ), a separate berth allocation. Effective from November 1, 2024, the Ministry of Railways officially reduced the general Advance Reservation Period from 120 days to just 60 days for most domestic passengers, but NRIs and foreign tourists can still book Indian Railways tickets up to 365 days in advance under the FTQ. This quota is available only in 1A (First AC), 2A (Second AC) and EC (Executive Chair Car) classes and is especially useful on busy tourist routes like Delhi to Agra, Jaipur or Varanasi. Foreign card payments on IRCTC can be glitchy; if declined, a travel agent, your hotel’s travel desk, or an International Tourist Bureau (such as the one at New Delhi Railway Station) can help. Under recent anti-fraud rules, some fast-track and opening-day bookings increasingly require an Aadhaar-authenticated IRCTC account, which foreign visitors cannot set up, so lean on the FT Quota or an agent rather than trying to book at the last minute.

Domestic flights connect all major cities quickly and are often price-competitive with premium train classes on longer routes. Intercity buses (state-run and private) fill gaps where rail isn’t convenient, especially in hill regions.

India’s currency is the Indian Rupee (₹/INR); foreign currencies are not accepted for everyday transactions. Visa and Mastercard work well at most ATMs, hotels, larger restaurants and tourist-facing businesses in cities; American Express is accepted at far fewer places.

Digital QR payments via UPI dominate daily life, and NPCI’s UPI One World prepaid wallet lets some foreign visitors pay Indian merchants without an Indian bank account or local number. The facility lets travellers from more than 40 countries open a rupee-denominated prepaid wallet, load it with up to ₹50,000 using an international debit or credit card, and spend anywhere the ubiquitous UPI QR code is accepted. As of 2026 this has mainly been piloted at major events and select airports; NPCI’s stated goal is to make UPI One World a permanent feature for inbound tourists ahead of the 2026-27 winter season, so check current availability and sign-up points (it currently works through apps like CheqUPI) before relying on it. Cash is still essential outside big cities, since many smaller vendors and rural operators don’t take cards or digital payments.

A practical approach: get a little cash at the airport for immediate needs, then withdraw a larger amount from an ATM on day one for better rates. Carry two different card networks in case one is declined, tell your bank you’re travelling to India, and keep your bank’s customer service number written down separately from your phone. Tipping is customary though not mandatory: roughly 5 to 10% at restaurants (check if a service charge is already added), ₹50 to ₹100 per bag for bellboys, and ₹200 to ₹500 for guides.

For most travellers, October through March is the best window, with cooler, more comfortable temperatures across much of the country for sightseeing, wildlife viewing and cultural exploration. This is also peak season, especially from late November through February, so book flights, trains and hotels well ahead, particularly around Diwali, Christmas and New Year.

Regional nuance matters. Southern India is best visited from November onward once the monsoon ends, while Ladakh and the high Himalayas are best from May through September, when mountain roads reopen, overlapping with the rest of the country’s monsoon. Avoid the pre-monsoon build-up if you dislike extreme heat: April to June can exceed 45°C in the north, and June to September brings heavy monsoon rains nationwide, with flooding risk in low-lying delta regions like West Bengal.

India’s unified emergency number is 112, covering police, fire and medical services nationwide and reachable by voice call to ‘112’, email requests on the state ERSS website or the ‘112’ mobile app, free and available 24/7. Older single-service numbers still work in parallel: 112 (national emergency services number), 100 (police helpline number), 108 (ambulance number), and 101 (fire services). The national Women Helpline is 1091. For rail problems, the Railway Enquiry helpline 139 is useful. As with any destination, avoid unlicensed street “agents,” keep copies of your passport and visa/ETA separate from the originals, and share your live location with someone you trust when travelling solo or at night.