Trip Length

As much as you can give it, honestly. India is so vast and varied that it richly rewards time, and the more you have, the more it gives back. As a rough guide, if you can only spare around ten days you can still have a wonderful first taste of one region. Many people take two to three weeks, either combining regions such as Rajasthan and Kerala, or digging deep into a single region like Rajasthan on a first trip of three weeks or so. To combine very different parts of the country, for example tigers with Rajasthan, or the north with the south, you will want longer still. The one golden rule is not to try to see all of India in a single trip.

Two weeks is plenty for a really rewarding journey through one or two regions, such as classic Rajasthan, or Kerala and the south, or a wildlife focused trip through central India. India is a country to enjoy in chapters, and we find most of our clients return two or three times, if not more. It is a place people fall in love with, and its sheer scale genuinely merits several trips.

A popular first trip combines Delhi, Agra and the highlights of Rajasthan, often with a tiger reserve added on. From there people branch out: Kerala and the south, the wildlife parks of central India, the east and the Northeast, or the high Himalaya of Ladakh. We shape the route around your interests and the season. For inspiration, you can browse our sample India itineraries, and we will tailor any of them, or start from a blank page, around you.

Entirely up to you. India can be as full or as gentle as you like. Two or three nights in each place is quite common on a Red Dot trip and works well, but if you have the time, staying longer and travelling more slowly can make a real difference, deepening your connection to a place and letting you see beneath the surface. Our honest advice is not to rush. Because every trip is bespoke, we design the pace around you.

It means lingering: more nights in fewer places, unhurried days, and time to wander back to a market, a temple or a favourite corner rather than ticking everything off a list. India rewards this enormously, with richer local immersion and a deeper sense of the country and its people. Where your time allows, we will always gently encourage it.

Some can be long, as distances are large, which is exactly why the planning matters. Encouragingly, the roads have improved a great deal in recent years, with new highways and expressways cutting journey times and making travel noticeably smoother and more comfortable. We break journeys sensibly, use comfortable air-conditioned vehicles, and bring in domestic flights or trains where they save you time and tiredness. We will always tell you honestly how long a leg really takes.

With everything arranged and a private driver, India is far easier than it first appears. The combination of your own vehicle, expert guides, internal flights where useful and 24 hour support on the ground takes the effort out of a complex country, leaving you free to enjoy it.