How much does two weeks in India really cost?

Everything below is land only, per person, based on two people sharing. It excludes international flights, which depend on where you fly from and which we quote separately. It includes accommodation, food, a private car and driver, internal flights where they save a day, guides on the days that need them, entries and safari costs.

The four anchors we price against

These are the same numbers used in our complete India guide, because the guide and the magazine should not contradict each other.

Above the luxury column sit the famous palace hotels, which are their own category. The Taj Lake Palace in Udaipur, Umaid Bhawan in Jodhpur and the Taj-facing rooms in Agra can cost two or three times an excellent hotel a mile away. Some of them are worth it. We will tell you which ones we think are better photographed than slept in.

The important structural point about India: food, drivers, guides and entries barely move between the careful trip and the boutique one. The hotel is close to the entire difference. That is unusual, and it is good news, because it means the parts of the trip you will remember are affordable at every tier.

Accommodation, night by night

Rates are per room per night for two sharing, as planning guidance rather than a quote. Indian hotel pricing swings hard with the season, and Christmas and New Year in the heritage properties are the highest rates of the year by a distance. We confirm live rates for your dates before anything is held.

The middle of that table is where India is most generous. A heritage haveli in Jodhpur at $150 a night, with eighteen rooms, a courtyard, a family that has run it for three generations and a cook who is better than the five star kitchen down the road, is a genuinely better night than a $400 international chain box. We build a lot of trips out of exactly that.

Food, which is cheaper than anyone expects

• Street food, per item, on a guided walk: under $1
• A thali that will defeat you, at a good local restaurant: $4 to $7
• Lunch for two at a busy mid-range place: $10 to $18
• Dinner at a serious restaurant, per person: $15 to $25
• Dinner at a top hotel restaurant, per person: $40 to $70
• A large bottle of water, everywhere: under $0.50
• Beer, where the state sells it: $3 to $6

A realistic daily food budget for someone eating well and eating widely is $20 to $30 outside hotels. At $45 you are eating in hotel restaurants most nights, which is the least interesting food in India. Our standing advice is to eat at least half your dinners outside the hotel, and we put a guided food walk early in the trip so that eating confidently stops being a decision and starts being a habit. There is more on that, including how not to get ill, in what to eat in India.

Transport, which is the second line

Private car and driver is the default on the Rajasthan, Kerala and Tamil Nadu legs, and it is not a luxury. Budget roughly $60 to $110 per day for the car, the driver, fuel and tolls, split between two people. It covers the driver’s own accommodation and food, which is arranged and paid by us rather than by you at the roadside.

Internal flights are cheap and frequently the right call. Delhi to Varanasi, Delhi to Leh or Delhi to Kochi typically run $60 to $140 per person when booked a few weeks out. A flight that saves a twelve-hour train or two driving days is almost always worth it.

Trains are the best value in the country. Delhi to Agra in a reserved air-conditioned chair car is a few dollars and about two hours, against three and a half to four hours by road. Ask any operator for driving hours rather than distances: Indian main roads average 30 to 35 miles an hour (50 to 55 km/h), so a 208 mile (335 km) leg like Jaipur to Jodhpur is about six hours, not four. The reasoning behind the whole road plan sits in Rajasthan in twelve days.

Safaris are a real line. Park entry, the vehicle and a tracker in Ranthambore, Bandhavgarh or Kanha come to roughly $45 to $80 per person per drive in a shared jeep, more in a private one. Fees are set by each state and change, so we quote your actual park and your actual number of drives. Three or four drives is the right number, and which tiger park you choose moves both the cost and the odds.

Three complete fourteen-day budgets

Each is fourteen days, per person, two sharing, land only, on a Delhi, Agra, tiger park and Rajasthan route.

The careful trip, about $1,680

Good simple hotels, one train leg, a private car on the road days, guides on four days, three safaris, and most meals outside the hotel.

Nothing here is a compromise on what you see. The compromise is the size of the room and the absence of a pool.

The comfortable trip, about $2,800

Strong four star hotels in the cities, two heritage properties, a private car throughout, two internal flights, a guide on six days, three safaris and a food walk.

This is the most common shape of trip we build for a first visit, and it maps onto the Golden Triangle and Rajasthan in 14 days.

The boutique trip, about $4,760

Small heritage and design properties, one night that is genuinely special rather than four, private guiding on eight days, a good tiger lodge and private jeeps.

Boutique India in 12 days shows what this looks like day by day.

What actually moves the number

1. The hotels. Everything else is noise by comparison.
2. Christmas and New Year. Heritage and palace rates in Rajasthan peak hard across those two weeks, and the good rooms are gone six to nine months ahead.
3. How many safari drives. Each drive is a real cost, and three or four is the number that gives you a decent chance rather than one.
4. The number of cities. Every extra stop adds a hotel change, a long road leg and a half day lost. It costs money and it costs the trip.
5. The month. May and June are cheap in Rajasthan for a reason, and we do not build Rajasthan itineraries then. See India month by month.

Plan this trip

Tell us your dates, your rough budget and the shape of trip you have in mind, and your named India specialist will build you a first outline with real hotels and real numbers. Free, and with no obligation.

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Keep reading

• India: the complete guide to planning your trip
• India for the first time: a realistic first itinerary
• Rajasthan in twelve days, and what to leave out
• Which tiger park, and what your odds actually are
• The Golden Triangle and Rajasthan, 14 days
• India, planned by people who are actually there

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