Discovering India in 30 Days
In october 2025 I spent three weeks in India with my brother and his girlfriend.
I love India and I feel like we organized a really good trip together. Yes, India can be loud and overwhelming and it might seem a little scary at first but I‘m here to tell you everything we did before and during our trip that made it as easy and unproblematic as it was.
Before I start, I just want to say, that if you‘re thinking about traveling to India, please do it. Social media has created such a horrible image of this place but you can only understand what it really has to offer if you actually go there.
I‘m a person that loves to plan trips and I understand some people prefer to be spontaneous but for India I would really recommend to at least plan your accommodations and transportation because it just makes things so much easier.
Our Itinerary:
- Delhi 4 nights
- Daytrip to Agra
- Jaipur 3 nights
- Daytrip to Pushkar
- Jodhpur 2 nights
- Osian 1 night
- Jodhpur 2 nights
- Bangalore 2 nights
- Cherai beach 4 nights
Our goal for this trip was to make it as diverse as possible, since we knew we‘d only have a maximum of three weeks, we knew we wouldn‘t be able to spend a long time at each place but we still wanted to see different sides of India.
Before the trip
The first thing I did was to plan our itinerary. I collected different places that we wanted to see and then connected them. We knew that we wanted to see the main attractions like the Taj Mahal and different cities in Rajasthan, but I also wanted to visit my friend in Bangalore. We decided to start in Delhi because we thought it‘d be the biggest culture shock for us and it‘d be best to start right in. We were basically planning to do the famous golden triangle in an adapted version.
If you want to visit Agra, especially the Taj Mahal, you have different options.
You can book a tour which will take you there, you can take an uber, use public transport, hire a private driver or stay a night in Agra. We decided to take an uber to save money.
After Delhi we wanted to go to Jaipur, which is probably Rajasthans most famous city and we wanted to see ourselves what the hype was about.
Around Jaipur you have various national parks and tiger resorts and we still had some time left over so we stayed one night at the Sariska tiger reserve.
After Jaipur we had to choose between Jodhpur and Udaipur because we knew we didn‘t have enough time for both. I‘m really glad that we ended up choosing Jodhpur because we loved it.
One of India‘s most famous holidays was about to start so we headed to Bangalore to celebrate Diwali.
After staying for only two nights we took another flight to Kochi where our trip ended.
Once we had our itinerary planned it was time to look for accommodation.
I usually use Booking.com which really helped us a lot. In every city we chose a place with breakfast included, that was in our price range. The prices vary greatly all around India, we paid 8€ per person per night in Delhi where we shared a triple room and 50€ per person per night at the Sariska tiger reserve where we had 2 suites with private pool. We always made sure to check out the location on google street view if possible to make sure we can also walk around comfortably once it‘s dark.
We tried to make the most of our time so after we had booked the main things, we wanted to look into tours or special activities. As already mentioned, after Delhi, we visited the Sariska tiger reserve where we did a Safari. We unfortunately didn‘t see any tigers but it was still a very beautiful experience. I believe for better chances of tiger sighting you should visit Ranthambore park. We saw that Jodhpur is right at the beginning of the Thar desert, so we looked into getyourguide to find some overnight trip there and we chose one that would pick us up in Jodhpur and bring us to a village family‘s home near Osian where we stayed one night.
These were the main things we booked in advance and if you’re planning on doing any tours etc. I’d recommend booking them in advance to avoid stress.
If you‘re planning to visit more places close to eachother (so like 4hrs in India) I would book a private driver but I‘ll write more about that later on.
The last thing we did in our planning process was to look into transportation, this is something you can do pretty spontaneously to be honest but we did some of the planning before getting to India.
We knew we had to take a plane from Jodhpur to Bangalore, which we booked some days before reaching India and we wanted to take either a train or a car between the other places.
If you want to book a train use https://www.irctc.co.in/nget/train-search which is the official website of the Indian railway.
We booked the flight to Kochi very spontaneously because we had originally planned to take a 10hr train but then chose the 1.5hr flight instead.
The last thing we did was to get the e-Visa. Just check online what Visa you need, according to your country of origin. The process itself is quite simple but the Indian government website is a bit difficult, so bring time and patience.
We also did get a bunch of vaccines to minimize the risk of any infection.
Accommodation
Let‘s talk hotels. Coming from a european country, the prices in India are of course cheaper but when it comes to hotels you have a huge price range. If you‘re staying at the top international chains you‘ll pay close to the price you‘d pay in Europe (we did not do that).
Delhi
Our Delhi hotel was hotel Ajanta, which gave us a great first impression of the trip. We had one room with 3 beds for 100€ for 4 nights. Our room did not have a window which was the only downside I’d say, but I don’t think we would’ve opened a window in Delhi anyways. The hotel had a restaurant which we ate at almost every day of our Delhi stay. They had quite a big variety of dishes and all the employees were super nice. I‘d even say this was the best hotel food we had on our whole trip, I still dream about the breakfast buffet. It‘s located in a nice street with lots of hotels and restaurants close to the Railway station.
Sariska
The Grand Sariska Baagh was a whole other experience, it was pretty expensive but we had to choose one that was close to the national park. After our 9 hour!? drive from Delhi we arrived late at around 8pm and were greeted by a whole lot of employees and flowerchains.
It was opened in January 2025, so by the time we visited in October it had not even been open for a year and you could tell that everything was super new. During our stay we were the only guests and all the employees (20 maybe?) were just waiting for us to do something which was a very interesting scenario. We usually don‘t go to hotels like that so we were not used to this.
We had two suites which were huge, one with a private pool and one with a small garden for 150€ for one night. For dinner we just ate at the hotel because there was nothing nearby and it was pretty good. After dinner they invited us to watch a traditional dance, the dance was really nice but we were quite tired from the driving and I was a little sick so we weren’t able to watch the whole performance.
In the morning we had our safari at 6:30 and afterwards we were supposed to have a breakfast buffet, but instead, we were able to just order anything off the menu.
Jaipur
And again, a whole different vibe, I think each of our hotels really reflected the vibe of their city perfectly. Umaid Bhawan was a traditional rajasthani building and probably the prettiest hotel building i‘ve ever seen.
We had dinner at the hotel restaurant on our first evening and I had one of my favorite dishes (chili paneer). The breakfast buffet was also pretty good but a little too adapted to the foreign tourists in my opinion.
Here we had a triple room again for 300€ for three nights, this time with window and balcony, from which we could watch a lot of monkeys.
Jodhpur
The blue city of Rajasthan is known for its old city and we were right in it. We stayed at Bristows Haveli which is a traditional homestay. It’s owned by George, who renovated the whole building to bring it back to life. It‘s mainly operated by a local family who will make an every day changing breakfast, either traditional Indian, european or a fusion. You can get dinner on request, which we did once and it was really good.
We had two small seperate rooms but we shared one bathroom. My room had direct stairs to one of the only gardens in Jodhpurs old city. Another great advantage of this place was the befriended auto (rikshaw/tuktuk) driver, who was always ready to bring us to our daily destinations or recommended new places. He even invited us to have dinner at his house on our second last day, which gave us a great view into a local home and showed us the famous indian hospitality.
Keep in mind that they only take cash, so be prepared for that.
Bangalore
This was for sure my least favorite hotel of the trip. We stayed at the Bloom hotel in Indiranagar, which is a pretty modern/ western hotel chain. It was 160€ for 2 nights for 2 rooms, they were pretty big and clean, I just wasn‘t a fan of the breakfast buffet. The food was just not that great but overall it was a nice hotel.
Cherai beach
This was probably my favourite hotel of the trip, I just loved the whole vibe, we stayed at Vala house, which is right at the backwaters and it‘s surrounded by nature. Everything is open so we could hear the birds and enjoy the silence after visiting so many big cities.
They made us a different south indian breakfast every day and helped us anytime we needed anything. We paid 250€ for 3 nights for 2 rooms which were really big and had views over the water. Just know that there‘s nothing really closeby so we always had to walk around 20mins to the nearest restaurant and to the beach.
Itinerary
Delhi
This city is everything, it‘s loud, chaotic, overwhelming but it‘s also super diverse, interesting and rich in history. We spent 4 nights in Delhi but did one daytrip to Agra so we had 2.5 days in the city.
Day 1
I planned a few stops in southern Delhi that we could all connect because we knew the traffic would be crazy and we didn‘t want to waste too much time on the road. Before we headed out we had a delicious breakfast at our hotel buffet which I could literally eat every day and then took an auto to Lodi garden which was probably my favourite attraction in Delhi. It‘s a park with different small temples and buildings that you can all visit for free. There are different birds to spot, monkeys and dogs and it‘s super quiet, you can not hear any of the surrounding traffic. After strolling around for some time we walked over to the Safdarjung tomb but we found the entrance fee a bit high so we didn‘t enter. Based on the pictures I would definitely recommend it tho, I don‘t remember the price they asked for but it was for sure not high (we just didn‘t want to spend money). We took an auto to the Hauz Khas village which I believe is essentially like a big gated community designed like a village within Delhi with restaurants and all and it‘s all located inside a big park. We didn‘t enter the actual village because we came for the park with it‘s ruins. I believe there would‘ve been more to see but we were not sure what areas were open to the public and there were a lot of people talking to us at the entrance of the village so it was not a place where we wanted to stay and look at our phones to check the map. The park was nice and there were a lot of monkeys running around but we were already quite tired from the heat so we probably didn‘t see everything that the place had to offer.
We had a quick stop at the Hyatt hotel where we met a family friend who was coincidentally staying in Delhi at the same time as we did. We had some drinks to cool down and relax from the rush of the city. After our lunch break we headed to our last stop, the Lotus temple. We arrived just as it started to rain so our visit was quite short. The temple building itself is quite impressive with its unique shape and if you get the chance, you can enter it (we did not do that). It started raining pretty heavily so everyone was trying to leave at the same time and we had to wait almost 45 mins until we got an auto to pick us up. We ended the day with dinner at our hotel restaurant (I’ll make a seperate section about all the foodspots we tried) and then went to sleep after a day full of impressions.
Day 2/ Daytrip to Agra
Most tours that you can book will start around 6am but we thought it‘d be enough to leave around 9am and I would definitely recommend leaving as early as possible, not only to avoid the most heat but also because the drive will take longer than you expect, so if you do a daytrip from Delhi and want to see more than the Taj Mahal, you will want to leave before 7. We took an uber to Agra which cost us around 40€ (the toll prices are not included in the uber price) and the driver took a break mid drive to have some chai and relax (they will all do that, so plan accordingly).
As we arrived in Agra it took us way too much time to tell our driver not to drop us off at his friends house who appearently was the best guide in the city and at that point we were already a little annoyed. At the end he brought us to one of the gates and we had to walk the rest to the entrance. We had bought the tickets online without an issue and could just enter. Don‘t listen to all the people outside telling you you won‘t be able to enter without a guide or need an extra ticket. As the main tourist attraction of india, of course, the people are more focused on tourists and on selling them things so it can be quite exhausting walking through the streets around the Taj Mahal.
Eventho we decided to plan everything on our own, I would definitely recommend booking some sort of guide/private driver either online or at a tourist office in Delhi. Most tours that you can book online will provide you with a driver, a guide, lunch and tickets to the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and the Baby Taj. The way we did it was a little cheaper (that‘s why we did it) but it was for sure more stressful.
The Taj Mahal is for sure worth a vist and it was such a bucketlist moment but I‘d say there are more impressive sites in India. The heat in Agra was killing us because there was barely any shadow so we actually just stayed around 2 hours at the Taj Mahal. We thought we had enough time to visit Agra Fort but I‘m glad we decided to head back to Delhi at around 2pm because that drive took us around 6-7hrs due to the traffic and we arrived pretty late back at our hotel.
Day 3
After starting our day with a delicious breakfast as usual, we planned to visit the main attractions of Delhi. This day did bring us out of our comfort zone, which started when we were not able to get an auto to the Red Fort and originally decided to walk the 3km but on our way some hotel employee/ man i don‘t know? stopped us and asked if we wanted an auto, we really didn‘t want to walk, so we agreed. He also told us we had to get the Red Fort tickets at a tourist office in the city (not true) so the driver brought us there. The people there told us that we could just go to the Red Fort and buy our tickets there so that‘s what we did. When we left this office on Connaught place, another man talked to us and we were chatting a little with him until he recommended hiring a private driver for our next destinations (thank you so much for that). He brought us to the S&C tours and travels office and eventho we probably didn‘t pay the best price I‘m still super thankful that we met these people that made our next days so much easier. After we hired the driver for the following day we made our way to the Delhi metro. We wanted to experience different forms of transportation and the metro system was surprisingly easy to handle. The tickets from Connaught place to chandi chowk were around 50 rupees and all the platforms were labeled so it was quite easy to find the right train. It took us around 15mins with the yellow line from Connaught place to chandi chowk, off the train and into what‘s probably Delhi‘s most crowded area. This is probably what most people picture when they imagine indian cities but there‘s truly so much more to it. We didn‘t spend much time in chandni chowk because it was just super full and we didn‘t want to get pickpocketed or seperated from each other so we headed straight to the Red Fort. It took us some time to find the main entrance but if you‘re coming from the metro you‘re basically walking straight to the entrance. We got the tickets at the ticket counter (so no need to buy them anywhere else) and they were 600 rupees for foreigners. We spent some time walking around the fort, it‘s a pretty big area as you have the surrounding wall that you see from the outside, a small market right when you enter and several smaller buildings all around. Overall there‘s basically a small park inside (some parts are a little wilder than others) and in less drier times you‘ll have water basins and fountains. We didn‘t get the tickets for the museum so we skipped that but I believe it‘s about the army and Indias history.
When we were done with the Red Fort we walked the Jama Masjid mosque. I really wanted to visit this because it‘s a really beautiful mosque but the entrance fee was higher than we expected so we ended up not entering. After this, our day kept not going as planned, as we didn‘t manage to call an auto to Jama Masjid and ended up walking all the way through old Delhi back to our hotel. There were a lot of people everywhere and we were the only tourists so we felt quite watched. Delhi is generally not a really touristy place and I honestly didn‘t care but at that point we had to navigate with our phone since we had no clue where to go but with all the people around, we didn‘t want to have our phones out too much. We ended up at our hotel without any problems, just very exhausted from the walk in Delhis heat and smog.
We relaxed for some time and then headed back to Connaught place to have dinner.
Sariska
Day 1
The driver that we had booked the day prior, picked us up at our hotel around 9am so we had enough time to eat breakfast and checkout. Not gonna lie we were a little nervous that it would be a scam but we loved our driver Vinod and it really showed me that not everything has to go as planned, sometimes the spontaneous things are the best ones.
Google maps originally showed us that it‘d be around 4hrs to our next hotel but we ended up taking much longer. We took one break after 3 or 4 hours to drink some chai and have some small lunch and then we kept driving another 5 hours because google maps wanted our driver to drive straight through the national park, which of course, was not possible, so we had to go all the way around it which took us pretty long. We arrived late at around 8pm where we were traditionally welcomed by the hotel staff and brought to our rooms. We layed down for some time and then ended our day with dinner at the hotel.
Day 2
This was our main day at Sariska as we had booked a morning tiger safari. We thought about booking it for our arrival day but I‘m so glad we didn‘t do that. The safari started at 6:30am and after some confusion we were able to organize a pick up at our hotel at 6am. We booked a gypsy which was the smaller option and it was us three and 4 other people I believe. The park itself is really beautiful with its hills covered in trees and different plants and small lakes. I would definitely recommend doing the morning tour because it was the perfect temperature before it started getting hot. We unfortunately didn‘t see any tigers but we did see a lot of monkeys, turtles, deer and more. I believe for better chances to spot tigers you should check out Ranthambore but I really liked Sariska because it felt more authentic and not really like a spot for foreign tourists.
After the safari we got dropped at our hotel where we had a delicious breakfast. As I mentioned above, it was supposed to be a buffet but since we were the only guests, they just let us order anything off the menu instead. They brought us a huge amount of food (everything that we ordered came out in 2-3 portions) and it seemed like they didn’t want us to stop hahah. It was a really fun experience for us because we were not used to this level of service but at the end we were not able to finish all because it was just too much.
After breakfast we got ready and our driver picked us up to bring us to our next stop.
Jaipur
Day 1
On our way from Sariska we stopped at a restaurant in Jaipur to have some drinks after a surprisingly easy ride that took exactly as long as googlemaps told us and then headed over to our hotel.
After we arrived, we relaxed in our room and just went out for a few minutes to walk around the neighborhood before having dinner at our hotel.
Day 2
This was our main day in Jaipur, so we visited most of the main tourist attractions that the city has to offer. Of course we started with a delicious breakfast before our driver and our guide for the day picked us up at our hotel. The guide was included when we booked the driver and it was really convenient for us since we knew we can trust him and didn‘t have to haggle about any price.
Our first stop was Amber fort which is a little outside of the city but 100% worth a visit.
Our driver droppd us off in the city of Amer because the traffic up to the fort was too much so we had time to visit the Shri Jagat Shiromani ji Temple and the Amer stairwell which are both quite impressive buildings. After we learnt some about the history of these places we walked up to the fort, which is actually not a long walk and our guide organized the tickets for us. We walked around the fort, took a lot of pictures, enjoyed the view and learned a lot about the the region, the fort and the people who have lived there. The fort itself is already impressive from the outside but when you enter you‘ll see its true beauty. There is a small garden with a fountain and different smaller buildings and courtyards. They have a very unique mirror wall which was made out of a lot of small pieces of mirrors. If you want you can also ride elephants up to the fort but we did not want to do that so we just took some pictures of them and walked back down. We met our driver and he took us to the Jal Mahal which is a palace built into a lake but it is not open to the public so we just took some pictures from the road and continued our way back into the city. Our guide brought us to different traditional handicraft shops that are typical for the city, like blockprinting or jewelry, but we were pretty sure those were the stores where every guide brought their clients. It was super hard to tell them that we didn‘t want to buy anything and they just kept on trying to sell their stuff. It was for sure interesting to see the techniques but I wish we would’ve visited some more authentic „hidden“ spots.
We went on to visit the Jantar Mantar which is an observatory with lots of different instruments to tell the time etc. It was quite interesting to learn how old these practices are in India but the sun was quite strong at that point so we didn‘t stay too long.
We didn‘t stop at the Hawa Mahal eventho it‘s probably one of Indias most famous buildings but there‘s no parking closeby so our driver only drove by and we were able to take photos from the car.
We picked up some very delicious samosas for lunch and then headed back to the hotel to relax for a bit. Before dinner we decided to try some traditional ayurvedic massage at Kerala Ayurveda Kendra, that we could book through our hotel. I‘m personally not the biggest fan of massages in general but this one was really good.
We went out to have some traditional rajasthani Thali which was good but not super flavorful to be honest.
Day 3/ daytrip to Pushkar
After breakfast our driver picked us up to drive us to Pushkar where he organized a guide for us (not included in our booking) who showed us around the city. Pushkar is one of India’s holiest places (mainly for Hindus but you’ll see all kinds of religions unite there) which you’ll see by the over 500 templs all around the city. We started by visiting the Gurudwara Sahib temple which was the first Sikh temple I ever visited and it was really nice to see it from the inside. We then walked through the main street over to Pushkars most important tample, the Brahma temple. Thousand of pilgrims come to Pushkar each year to visit Pushkar lake and the Beahma temple. Mythologicaly it is said that lord Brahma dropped a lotus flower on the ground and the Pushkar lake was built. The temple dates back to the 14th century and is full of culture, worship and tradition. Our guide told us a lot about Hinduism and the meaning of the temple. After watching the worship at the temple we headed to the Pushkar lake and this is where I should warn you. Our guide brought us to a place where you can receive a prayer from a local priest and it‘s all very nice, he‘s gonna ask you some questions and then adjust his prayer on that. We knew from the beginning that they will expect a donation afterwards but we didn‘t know how much it‘d be (I know we should‘ve asked that), turns out the minimum donation tha they were expecting was 75€ per person?! We wanted to donate something but that was definitely too much and the people kept getting pushier when they saw that we didn‘t really want to pay it. We‘re all a little too nice so we even tried to pay by card but it declined, so we saw that as a sign that it was not meant to be and left. I‘m sure if you‘re a religious person and this really means something to you, you might be willing to pay that much but we‘re all not religious and just did it because our guide brought us there. (we were really relieved that we didn‘t pay it)
After this experience, we had our first streetfood of the trip which were pakoras with different chutneys and they were super delicious. We were still careful with what we ate but deep fried food is usually on the safe side.
This was already the end of our Pushkar trip and we headed back to Jaipur.
Our driver told us about a jewlery shop that he would recommend, called artgem in Jaipur and we trusted him more than the guide from the day before, so we went there. (He probably still got a commission for bringing us there but it was really worth it). They first showed us how the jewelry was actually made in house and then we were looking around the store through the beautiful indian pieces. I looove indian jewelry and their collection was exactly my taste, eventho it was a little pricey. I ended up buying a silver bracelet with green gems (I don‘t know the name of the stone) and also a pair of earrings for my mom.
For dinner we went to a restaurant that our driver had recommended and it did not disappoint. I had a chana masala which is a chickpea curry and it was amazing (and very spicy) and my brother and his girlfriend had biryani.
Day 4
This day started early because we had a train to catch. Our hotel had packed us some breakfast to go the day before because we had to check out at around 5am. We walked to the train station (we had already checked it out the day before to know where we have to go) which was pretty unproblematic but I think we were all a little nervous because it was dark and not many people were around. We reached the station around 30mins early to have enough time to find the right train. There was a schedule, showing us what platform we had to go to, the only problem was finding the right prt of the platform. Our tickets somehow didn‘t show that so we asked the staff if they could help us. The whole system was pretty confusing for a first time user but everyone was super helpful. After some struggles we finally found the right compartment that we shared with one other man but other than that it was pretty private. We had booked first class which meant a bed for each of us with a blanket and pillow. For a longer ride I would definitely recommend that, I actually got some sleep in. There are people walking through the train offering chai and small meals (we didn‘t get any but I‘m sure it‘s good) and overall we really had a positive experience.
Jodhpur day 1
We arrived in Jodhpur after our 5hr train ride where we were waiting for our pickup. We felt a little uncomfortable outside the train station since we were the only tourists and just standing there, a lot of people came to try to talk to us. Our train actually arrived a little early so our driver was not there yet and we didn’t know what he looked like so we had to check every tuktuk driver that came to us. Our homestay arranged that pickup for us, since they had a tuktuk driver who basically works with them (He drove us everywhere in Jodhpur)
We got picked up and made our way to our accommodation. We were welcomed by the family, had some chai and then settled in in our rooms. We didn’t really know what to do with the rest of our day so our tuktuk driver took us to Panchkund Chatariya which is such a hidden gem. This is a place dedicated to the women of the Marwar dynasty. We were the only visitors so it was super peaceful and we spent our time walking around and learning about the places history. If you visit I‘d definitely recommend wearing sandals or slippers since you have to take your shoes off whenever you enter one of the buildings. On our way back our driver thaught us how to drive his tuktuk which was so much fun 🙂
We had asked our homestay for dinner that evening and they prepared a variety of rajasthani dishes. After a delicious dinner we went to sleep after a long travel and exploring.
Jodhpur day 2:
After a delicious breakfast we visited Jodhpurs main tourist attraction, the Mehrangarh fort. We bought the tickets when we got there and also got a free audio guide for each of us. The fort is really beautiful with so much detail in everything. There‘s a big area outside where you can look over the different parts of Jodhpur. And you can also enter the main building which is presented like a museum so you can see different objects like weapons, kitchen utensils or jewelry. It is really interesting to see all that but to be honest I was more interested in the building itself. We watched a military band play for a bit before walking back down into the city. For the way up I‘d definitely recommend getting a driver but down it‘s really easy to walk. It got pretty hot around 2pm so we had some chai and then stayed in our rooms for a bit to cool down. In the evening we drove to Mandore gardens which is another popular spot in the city. It‘s basically the same as the Panchkund Chatariya just for the men of the Marwar dynasty and therefore way more popular of course. It is for sure better maintained and you also have to pay some entrance fee but it‘s a really nice place with the same style of buildings, just a bit bigger and you got a whole park style terrain with areas to sit and small restaurants. There are also some rock formations you can walk on and most importantly, there are incredibly many monkeys. We watched the sun set between the temples and then headed back to our hotel. Our host recommended a restaurant closeby and it did not disappoint.
Osian day 1
We started our day with a traditional rajasthani breakfast which I preferred over the more western breakfast on the day before. We had booked an overnight stay near Osian so we walked to the Clock tower to meet our driver. He picked us up around 2pm and drove us to the center of Osian where we had some time to visit the Osian mataji mandir temple. It is a really nice temple but unfortunately there were so many barricades everywhere to stop stampedes in case a lot of visitors would come, that we were not really able to see any of the temple properly. Our driver drove us as far as he could witb his car and then a family member came to pick is up in their jeep. We wanted to see what the people live like on the countryside and this was a great chance to do so. We were tradionally welcomed with headscarves and chai and had some time to relax and settle in. The family was living in one house and then they had these seperate small huts for the guests, we stayed in 2 of them and each had a bed and a bathroom. As it got closer to sunset we started our camel ride around the area. This was for sure fun but if you want to do this in the actual Thar desert in the dunes, do it closer to Jaisalmer because where we were was more like farmland with trees and some sand. I‘m also not 100% sure if the animals were treated that well but I have no proof for that. After our camel ride we were invited into the house and helped breparing the roti for dinner. It was really interesting to talk to the family and see how they live because countryside in India is still such a huge difference to countryside in germany. Eventho I don‘t think I could live this far away from everything I have to say it was probably the most peaceful life i‘ve ever seen. The kids were playing with the animals or helping their parents and the whole family lived together. Of course I can‘t really tell how the life there actually is since we only stayed for one night but I‘m sure by hosting tourists they‘re in a better financial situation than most families around them. For dinner they made a variety of different dishes which were all super delicious. Be aware that if you‘re a guest at and Indian‘s family home, they usually want you to eat first before any of them starts eating (yes, it was a little awkward). We had the option to sleep putside or in our huts, if you want to watch the stars, I‘d recommend staying outside but we were a little worried about any animals out there so we slept inside.
Jodhpur day 3
In the morning we had a traditional breakfast in the house amd then our driver came to pick us up and bring us back to Jodhpur. Before returning to our hotel, he brought us to some „outlet warehouse“ andthey told us tha they get all the leftovers pieces from designer brands who produce in India. If we‘re being real it was probably all fake but we still looked around and let the guys present their things. They had all kinds of clothes and also wood and stone figures and basically anything else. This is one thing that did bother me in India, you never know who‘s actually honest about what he sells and who‘s just trying to take advantage of tourists. If you don‘t want to regret anything, just think to yourself if the price would be worth it for you, fake or not, so you don‘t regret your purchases. After this little shopping trip, our driver brought us back to the clock tower from which we walked to our hotel. If you‘re staying in the old town of Jodhpur, no car will drive in there, so this will be your drop off point if you‘re not in a tuktuk.
After staying in our hotel for a bit, our tuktuk driver picked us up and we went to visit the new Swaminarayan Akshardham temple a little outside of the city, which had just opened one month prior and is build completely out of Jodhpurs sandstone. Eventho it‘s new, it still has its traditional look (unlike modern churches i‘d say) and it was super impressive to see all the details so freshly made. Afterwards we were a little hungry so we stopped somewhere to get Samosa. Our driver invited us to have dinner with his family so of course we said yes and he took us to his house. We were talking with him and his wife and then they made dinner which was really good (Honestly I‘ve never had bad homemade indian food), it consisted of daal, some paneer dish, bread, rice and halwa. (We ate before the family of course) Our driver actually drove us back before they had dinner.
Jodhpur day 4
This was the first actual day of Diwali so we could hear fireworks and crackers everywhere. After breakfast we had something planned that has been on my list ever since I first started my research. We drove back up to the fort, to ride the Flying fox, which is a zipline with 6 different ziplines starting on the walls of the fort and going over the surrounding lake and rocks. I had seen this in some video and it looked so fun so i knew i wanted to try it. They gave us a security briefing on how to use everything and it all seemed really secure and simple to use. I would definitely recommend doing this in the morning because the rock heat up a lot in the sun and there’s no shadow. It was a really fun experience to look over the city and really see the fort from a different perspective. There was always a guide in front often us to catch us and one behind and he made sure we got all the good videos!! (he even took my phone with him while he on the zipline (very scary moment).
I‘d definitely recommend this when you‘re in Jodhpur. We had some cold drinks down in the city and then went on a little shopping stroll through the old town where I found a beautiful pair of earrings and some clothing set. For dinner we went out with our homestay owner to some pretty fancy rooftop restaurant where we had a great view over the diwali fireworks (I didn‘t really like the food tho to be honest)
Bangalore day 1
After an early breakfast we packed our bags and our driver brought us to the airport. The Jodhpur airport is a military one but very small so we went through everything very fast and had no problems.
The flight was almost 3 hours so we arrived in Bangalore at 12:40. We had some food at the airport and then took an uber to our hotel (since it was a hotel chain I put the wrong location first but at in the end we made it to the right one). We freshened up after our flight before getting into the next uber to meet a friend of mine. We met at the Halsuru lake and then took an uber to Indiranagar where we had some pastries at a really trendy bakery before meeting for dinner with his family. I picked kinda like a modern indian restaurant and we all shared a few dishes.
Bangalore day 2
This was our main day in the city and after a not great breakfast we met my friend to go to the botanical garden. It’s actually a very nice park, you have to pay some entrance fee but it’s really big with lots of plants and dogs and a big rock that you can walk on. We bought some icecream and walked to the metro to take it to the ISKCON temple which unfortunately was super crowded and we didn‘t want to wait in line too long so we just looked at it from the outside. It was time for lunch so we walked to the orion mall nearby to escape the city for a bit and eat something. I also bought a new india outfit that I could wear for Diwali in the evening.
We had quite a program for the day so we took the metro back into the city to walk around commercial street and then to the Hard Rock cafe to get some merch and have some cool drinks. We walked around for a bit and then went back to our hotel.
In the evening we went to my friends family house to celebrate diwali with them. We fired crackers and fireworks and watched the other people on the street fire theirs. We had a really delicious dinner and spent time with the family before heading back to our hotel around midnight because we had a flight to catch in the morning.
Cherai beach day 1
Our flight left Bangalore at 10 and we arrived 1 hour later in Cochin.
Everything went super easy and we got an uber to our hotel which took around 1 hour.
We we’re welcomed with some fresh juices before checking into our rooms and relaxing for a bit. Cherai beach is a thin land strip between the ocean and the back waters and there‘s one man road along the water. We decided to walk around for a bit to see what the area is like and had some iced coffee at a really cute cafe/restaurant right at the ocean. The climate there was definitely the most humid of our trip and it took some time to get used to it. We headed back to our hotel and in the evening we returned to the same restaurant to have dinner. It was mainly western food like pizza and burgers but I‘d recommend it more as a cafe rather than a restaurant.
Cherai beach/ Kochi day 2
After a fresh south indian breakfast we took an uber to Kochi. If you are planning to do this from Cherai beach, just take the uber to the Port Vypin ferry terminal and then board the ferry by foot instead of taking the uber to Kochi. We didn‘t know this and ended up waiting around 3hrs in line to get on because there was only one working ship and it has very limited car space. When we finally got to Fort Kochi we got off the car right when we left the ferry so it was reall not worth the wait. Fortunately we still had enough time for Kochi and after buying a fresh coconut and walking along the seawall for a bit which is absolutely beautiful, we had some delicious lunch in one of the for Kochi typical colonian houses. The restaurant had a beautiful garden where we could enjoy the sunny weather without the humidity due to fans.
Ever since we were in Jodhpur, me and my brother had the idea to get a tattoo on this trip and just as we were checking the map to see what to do next, we found a tattoo studio called man mashine tattoo really closeby. We went and had a look at the place and really liked it, so we made an appointment for the same day at 5pm. We had a few hours to spend so we just walked around the old town, had some drinks, bought some chai spice mix and took photos of this beautiful city. This city was probably my favorite of the ones we visited, there was not as much to see as in Rajasthan but it was overall really calm and you could feel that there were a lot of young people living there. It‘s definitely less traditional than the north (which I prefer) and it was the perfect environment to get a tattoo. Me and my brother chose one of the artists designs because I rather wanted some local art than some of the typical Indian symbols I found on pinterest. Both tattoos took under 20mins so we were done pretty fast. We took an uber back to our hotel but it was already dark so we did board the ferry with the car (this time we could just get on without waiting). We were still full from lunch so we didn‘t eat any dinner.
Cherai beach day 3
We wanted to make the most out of our last day of the trip so we askedour hotel to book a backwater tour for us. This is a really popular thing to do there and you should definitely try it. We did a tour for 1hour with Manjaly boat club which was enough for us but you can also go longer. You can also choose between different kond of boats and we had a small speed boat for just us and the driver. This cost us around 40€ which is quite a lot (it was supposed to be 30€ but they told us that our hotel told us the same price). I‘d probably go with another company because it was quite obvious that they scammed us.
We got back to the hotel for a bit and then decided to go to the beach and into the water. It‘s not actually possible to swim at cherai beach because the currents are quite strong and the lifeguards will tell everyone to come back if they go too far. Me and my borther just stayed in the water for some hours, enjoying the waves and it was amazing. The water was warm but the waves were still strong so it was the perfect mix. We both did leave some normal clothes on because no one around us was really in swimwear. For our last evening we wanted to eat some Kerala seafood so we headed to a nearby restaurant. (We were wet and sandy which was not ideal but the food was still great).
The next morning we had to leave quite early for the airport but our hotel still prepared some fresh fruit and bread for us.
After a one hour drive we made it to the airport, bought some more souvenirs and then boarded the flight back to Germany.
Talk of the town 8.5/10
Shree ram chat bhandar old shop (I think) for samosa 9/10
Jodhpur:
Jhankar Haveli 8.9/10
Indique restaurant 6/10
Parihar sweets for the best samosa 15/10
Raju Namkin Bhandar 9/10
Bangalore:
Bombay brasserie 8.7/10
Cherai beach:
Chilli out cafe, drinks and location 9/10, food 7/10
Kochi
Pandhal cafe & deli 9.2/10
General tips
Food:
Avoid any tap water and anything that could‘ve been washed and not cooked like salad or veggies. Also try to avoid ice cubes (we didn’t always do that but they might just be tap water). When we got street food we tried to buy deep fried things just to make sure everything was cooked.
Transportation:
In India it‘s generally quite popular to hire drivers, either over uber or similar apps or a private driver for longer distances. If you‘re planning a longer trip, I‘d definitely recommend hiring a driver, we only had one driver vinod +91 84489 71032 and he was really responsible and a nice person to have around.
Plan enough time for commutes, especially in the big cities where traffic is probably alsways gonna be there.
If you book train tickets and it doesn‘t show your seat number, you can check it on https://www.indianrail.gov.in/enquiry/PNR/PnrEnquiry.html?locale=en
Dayly life:
Basically everything that you pay for will be bargaining. If you want to make your life easier use apps for transportation to have a fixed price.
Think realistically if the price can be true or if it‘s a total scam but also be understanding that foreigners usually have more money than the locals so they‘re probably expectedto pay more.
Reviews is another thing we learned might not always be true. Indian business rely heavily on reviews and they always want you to leave one, some might try to force you a little. Doesn‘t matter if it‘s a restaurant, hotel or just a regular store, so most places you‘ll see will probably have 4 to 5 star ratings.
Always bring cash for the tuktuks, even if you book over uber you can only pay cash.
If you want to visit temples I‘d recommend wearing sandals or slippers and if you‘re carrying a camera you‘ll probably be asked to leave it outside or put away in your bag.
We did get vaccines, you should talk to your doctor about this, I will not recommend anything on here.
I was expecting the most mosquitoes in Kerala because of the backwaters but I actually got the most bites in Delhi (bring some mosquito spray to be safe)
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