What we would skip in India, and what we book instead
This article costs us bookings and we publish it anyway, because the alternative is selling you a day you will resent.
Three categories below. Things we refuse to book at all. Things that are simply not worth your days, where reasonable people disagree and we will build them if you ask. And structural mistakes, which do more damage than any single bad stop.
Things we refuse to book
Elephant rides, anywhere, including Amber Fort
The ride up to Amber Fort in Jaipur is the most requested animal experience in India and we do not arrange it. The working conditions, the hours in the sun on stone ramps, the loads and the veterinary oversight have been the subject of official criticism and campaigning for years, and the alternative takes the same amount of time.
What we book instead: the jeep to the same gate, which costs less and arrives at the same courtyard. If elephants are the point of the trip, we send you to a properly run observation project where the animals are watched and fed rather than ridden or bathed on a queue, and we name it in your proposal so you can research it yourself.
Snake charmers, dancing bears and roadside monkey shows
Illegal in most forms, cruel in all of them, and still visible on tourist routes because visitors pay. Your driver will not stop for them.
Any attraction where a large animal is sedated for a photograph
No exceptions, under any description, including places that use the words rescue or conservation on the signage.
Orphanage visits and slum tours sold as experiences
We do not book visits to children’s homes, and we are careful with the slum tour question, which is genuinely contested. The versions we would consider are the small number run by organisations based in the community, employing residents as guides, with no photography, where the fee visibly funds work in the neighbourhood. The bus version with a camera stop is not that, and we will say so.
Camel and horse safaris with operators we have not checked
Jaisalmer’s camel trade includes some good operators and some very poor ones, and you cannot tell from a website. We use two we know and we will not book an unknown one to save a hundred dollars.
Things that are simply not worth the days
The Delhi to Agra day trip
The most commonly sold day in India and the worst-value one. Eight hours in a car, the Taj Mahal at eleven in the morning at its hottest and most crowded, no Agra Fort, and a return to Delhi in the dark.
What we book instead: the fast train, about two hours city centre to city centre, and a night in Agra. The Taj at opening is a different building from the Taj at eleven, and the extra night is the best value decision in a Golden Triangle itinerary. The Taj is closed to visitors on Fridays, which catches people out constantly. See Delhi in three days.
The full-day Delhi city tour
Eight monuments, one day, and a client who cannot name three of them at dinner. Old and New Delhi are different cities at different scales and they need two half days at the right hours, not one long one in the middle of the day.
Akshardham
Enormous, modern, no phones or cameras, long security queues, half a day gone. Some people are glad they went. Most would rather have had Qutub Minar and an afternoon off.
The fourth Rajasthani city
The stop we remove first, in almost every brief. Three cities in fourteen days is right, five is not, and the fifth costs two half days of driving to deliver a fort you will later confuse with the second one. The full argument is in Rajasthan in twelve days.
One safari drive bolted onto a Rajasthan route
A single drive is a lottery ticket. If a tiger matters, two nights and three or four drives is the minimum, and if it does not matter, leave the park out entirely and spend the day in Udaipur. Which tiger park has the honest odds.
Varanasi on a road leg
Varanasi is one of the most extraordinary places on earth and it deserves two nights, a sunrise on the water and a guide who can explain what you are looking at, including the public cremations, which are not a sight and should not be photographed. What it does not deserve is being reached by a twelve-hour road journey from Agra because the itinerary was built to avoid a flight. Fly, or leave it for the next trip.
The Ganges cruise sold as a highlight
The boat ride at sunrise is genuinely worth doing and lasts about ninety minutes. The all-day river cruise is a long time on a wide brown river.
Bollywood studio tours
Almost never the film set you are imagining. If Mumbai’s film industry interests you, a good guide and an evening at a single-screen cinema with an actual audience is a better three hours.
Shopping stops built into a driving day
The emporium, the gem showroom, the marble inlay demonstration and the carpet factory are commission stops, and on a lot of itineraries they are why the driving day is nine hours instead of six. Our drivers are paid a proper day rate precisely so that they are not relying on the alternative, and there are no shopping stops in our itineraries unless you ask for one. If you do want to buy carpets or textiles, say so and we will take you to the person we would use ourselves.
The stepwell that is now a queue
Some of Rajasthan’s stepwells are extraordinary and one of them is now a photograph queue with a barrier. We will tell you which is which for your dates, because it changes faster than any guidebook.
The structural mistakes, which cost more than any stop
Four holidays in ten days. Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Varanasi, Kerala and a tiger, which is close to the most common brief we receive. Every stop gets its minimum and nothing gets its best. Two regions need a flight day and three spare days on top, or they are airports. How many days do you need in India has the arithmetic.
Distances instead of driving hours. A brochure that says 208 miles (335 km) is telling you six hours. Indian main roads average 30 to 35 miles an hour (50 to 55 km/h). Ask any operator, including us, for hours.
A long drive on day two. Delhi to Agra by road on the morning after a red-eye is the single most reliable way to sour a first trip to India.
Rajasthan in May or June. We do not build it. Temperatures regularly pass 104°F (40°C), sightseeing is unpleasant and in the worst weeks unsafe, and we would rather lose the booking.
Ladakh as an add-on. It has its own season and its own acclimatisation days at 11,500 feet (3,500 m), the passes close by late October, and it is a separate trip.
Kerala in October, sold as dry season. Kerala has two monsoons: the heavy southwest one from June to September and a gentler northeast one bringing afternoon rain through October into November. December to March is the reliable window.
The things people expect us to skip and we do not
Old Delhi. Some operators leave it out as too much for a first day. It is the best introduction to India there is, at eight in the morning, with a guide.
The Taj Mahal. It is as good as its reputation, which almost nothing is. Go at opening.
Trains. Sold as unreliable, which they are, and which does not stop them being one of the great travel experiences. We book them and we build slack around them, particularly in the winter fog.
Street food. The busy stall cooking in front of you is usually safer than the hotel buffet. We put a guided food walk on day two.
Amritsar. Frequently cut for being off the route. The Golden Temple and its kitchen is one of the most moving places in India and it is a short flight from Delhi.
Plan this trip
Send us the itinerary you have been quoted, from us or anyone else, and we will tell you which day we would remove and what we would put in its place. Free, and with no obligation.
Keep reading
- India: the complete guide to planning your trip
- Rajasthan in twelve days, and what to leave out
- How many days do you need in India?
- Which tiger park, and what your odds actually are
- Kerala and the south, 14 days
- India, planned by people who are actually there
Frequently asked questions
Will you build these if we insist?
Is the Taj Mahal overrated?
Is Jaipur worth it?
What do you cut first when the days do not fit?
Do you get paid by the shops?
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