An honest,
slightly obsessive guide
Okay I've rewritten this thing three times. Every version
sounded like a hotel brochure. So I'm scrapping all of that and just talking to
you like I would if we were getting chai together. India is a lot. It's also
the most alive place I've ever been. Here is the list where to go.
Taj Mahal, Agra
Go: October – March
I know. Bear with me. You have seen it a thousand times
online and you think you know what it looks like. You do not. Not really, I can
bet you. There is something genuinely disorienting about walking through that
red sandstone gate. And then just having it... appear in front of you. Photos
flatten it. In person it does something weird to your brain.
Sunrise is not optional. Set your alarm, go, don't argue
with me about it. The marble looks almost liquid in that light. And while
you're there — Agra Fort. Everyone skips it. It's incredible. Don't be
everyone.
Sunrise is everythingAgra Fort nearbyArrive early
Goa
Go: November – February
Goa is a trap in the best way. This is second highest most
developed state of India. A very beautiful place for having trip (specially in
summers). You think you're staying three days. You stay ten. The place has this
completely irrational hold on people.
North Goa (Baga and Calangute). Go to both. And please,
please eat the fish curry rice. I'm not doing a bit. It will change something
in you.
North vs South GoaFish curry riceBeach sunsets
Jaipur — the Pink City
Go: October – March
Jaipur committed hard to the whole "historical
city" thing and the result is genuinely spectacular. The forts are
enormous. The palaces are enormous. The whole city is painted terracotta pink,
which sounds tacky until you're standing in it going "oh, yeah, that's
actually it."
Amber Fort is the main event. Walk up rather than taking the
elephant — better views, better conscience. Then get completely lost in the
bazaars. Jaipur is one of those places where you'll buy things you had no
intention of buying and feel zero regret.
Amber FortHawa Mahal stopBazaar shopping
Kerala
Go: September – March
If you're burnt out — and you probably are, let's be honest
— go to Kerala first. The whole state operates at a different frequency. Green,
slow, quiet. You will find the backwaters of Alleppey where you rent a
houseboat and do absolutely nothing, which is harder than it sounds. And better
than anything else you could be doing.
Munnar is the hill station counterpart — misty tea
plantations, cool air, and at some point your phone has no signal and you
realise that's fine actually. Kerala is the most calming place I've ever been
and it's not even trying.
Himachal Pradesh
Go: March – June or December
Mountains, chai, nowhere to be. That's the pitch and it
holds up. Manali in December has proper snow and a kind of cozy chaos that's
hard to explain. Shimla has this odd colonial-era charm — walking Mall Road
feels like someone froze the 1900s and just left it there.
Go in winter for snow, spring for flowers that carpet the
entire hillside. Both are worth the trip. This is also where you do the kind of
trekking that makes you feel like you've earned something, and then immediately
find a café and cancel out all that effort.
Snow in ManaliShimla Mall RoadMountain trekking
For Nepal, visit here:
https://www.theglobaltraveltips.com/2026/03/top-places-to-visit-in-nepal.html
Varanasi
Go: October – March
Varanasi is oldest city. It is heavy. And it is chaotic.
Things happen here that do not happen anywhere else on earth. Openly, right in
front of you. It will make you feel stuff you did not expect to feel any other
place.
The ghats at dawn. The Ganga Aarti at dusk — priests, fire,
bells, hundreds of people completely absorbed in something ancient. You stand
there and the word that comes up is "grateful." Go slow. Don't pack
your schedule. Varanasi punishes rushing.
Evening Ganga AartiDawn walk on ghatsNo rush
Udaipur — City of Lakes
Go: October – March
Udaipur is slightly unfair in how beautiful it is. The City
Palace sits right on the lake like someone put it there for a photo. The
rooftop restaurants have views that look photoshopped but actually these are not.
These are real places. You will take more photos here than anywhere else on the
trip.
Boat ride on Lake Pichola at sunset. Do it. If you can
stretch to one night in a heritage hotel here, do that too. The view in the
morning will make you deeply critical of every other hotel you stay in, but
that's a price worth paying.
Lake Pichola boat rideCity PalaceSunset rooftop
Mumbai
Go: November – February
Mumbai doesn't stop. 2am, 6am, noon — same speed. It is loud
and crowded and it gets in your face a bit, and somehow that is exactly the
appeal. No other city in India has this specific electricity where everyone is
chasing something and the whole place vibrates because of it.
Eat a vada pav from a street stall. Walk Marine Drive at
dusk when the city softens a little. Stand at the Gateway of India and just
absorb the chaos of it. Mumbai isn't really about the sights — it's about being
inside the thing and letting it happen to you.
Vada pav — mandatoryMarine Drive eveningsGateway of India
Ladakh
Go: May – September
People either do not know Ladakh exists or they would not
shut up about it. There is genuinely no middle ground. And once you go, you
become one of the people who won't shut up about it. The landscape is just
wrong in the best way — huge empty mountains, a sky that blue, lakes that
mirror everything so perfectly you lose track of which direction is real.
Pangong Lake is the image you've already seen and yes it
actually looks like that. One non-negotiable heads up: the altitude is real.
Take two days easy when you arrive, drink water constantly, don't be a hero.
Let your body adjust before you start doing anything ambitious.
Pangong LakeAcclimatize firstStar-gazing at night
Delhi
Go: October – March
Delhi is an old and very beautifully designed city. Then you
step into New Delhi and it's wide roads and coffee shops and the whole thing
feels designed by someone else entirely.
The food alone could be its own guide. Butter chicken, chole
bhature, parathas with way too much ghee, kebabs from Karim's — pick anything,
it's probably the best version of that thing you've ever had. Go to Chandni
Chowk early. Hit Red Fort before the afternoon heat decides to end you.
Chandni Chowk foodRed FortOld Delhi lanes
Stuff I wish someone had told me
1.Book early. October to February is peak season and it
fills up faster than you'd think. Leave it a month out and you're paying triple
or sleeping somewhere you'd rather not.
2.Eat the street food. Busy stalls mean fresh food.
Your stomach might need a day to recalibrate, but don't play it safe and eat
hotel buffets the whole time. You'll come home annoyed at yourself.
3.Cover up at temples. Shoulders and knees. It takes
two seconds and some places will actually turn you away. Just do it.
4.Carry cash. UPI works great in cities. Outside cities
— not always. Rural ATMs exist but aren't guaranteed. Keep rupees on you.
5.Slow down. Six cities in ten days sounds like a plan.
It's not. You'll see nothing properly and come home confu
If you want information about Pakistan, you can visit here:
https://www.theglobaltraveltips.com/2026/03/top-10-places-to-visit-in-pakistan.html
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