It can be overwhelming to plan an international trip to a far-off place like India. When I was planning my trip to India and helping my family plan theirs, it was helpful to have a complete timeline of when we should start doing important things like: Booking our flights, getting our visa, and more. Below you’ll see the checklist I use for myself and friends to plan our India trips… Want a free travel checklist PDF for India?Click the link to check it out and see if it will help you pack and plan.
If you want to be prepared, you can start taking care of things at this stage so preparing for India can be as smooth as possible. If you’d prefer to procrastinate, it’s not necessary to start now.
Can you get away from work for only two weeks? Or can you travel around India for 6 months?
It’s time to start figure out how long you can get away to explore beautiful India.
India is huge and there’s a lot to see. Are you going to do the most popular tour like the Golden Triangle?
Or do you want to explore the little-known destinations like Khajuraho’s Erotic Temples? Pondicherry’s chill beach culture?
What do you like to do?
Once you know where you are going then you can start researching how you’ll get there and around:
Visa: You can apply as much as 120 days before your trip for your visa. You don’t need to apply at this stage yet and I recommend you apply 1 month before you depart. If you don’t want the headaches, having to do this yourself, then get help from iVisa.
Make sure your passport is valid. Getting an Indian visa means your passport should NOT expire within 6 months of your trip. If it does, then you need to get a new passport and that can take 4-6 weeks for a US passport.
What type of coverage do you need?
At this stage, you want to have an idea of what travel insurance is and what you might need. You do NOT need to apply until you know where you are going, BUT the earlier you buy, then you can be covered for more things because you eliminate some pre-existing conditions. For instance, if you waited to buy, then broke your leg… you wouldn’t be covered for any treatment for that condition since it happened before you bought it.
World Nomads has been my travel insurance provider of choice for years. They’re great for travelers who want plenty of coverage for the important stuff like emergency medical and evacuation insurance. They also have good trip cancellation and interruption coverage which means if you have to cancel your trip you can get refunded for pre-paid expenses.
BUT they’re great because they cover a lot of adventurous activities like hiking, scuba diving and driving a scooter… which are NOT covered by most travel insurance policies.
You can also sign up in a few minutes on their site and they’re recommended by the Lonely Planet.
SafetyWing is my recent favorite travel insurance provider. I like that they also provide good coverage for important items like emergency medical and evacuation coverage. They will also cover you if you visit your home country, which most providers will NOT do. For instance, if I flew back to the US from India to visit family, I could get covered if the trip was less than 3 weeks.
The cost is also twice as inexpensive as World Nomads, AND I can pay each month instead of having to buy a 6-month policy in advance.
Their site is also very easy to navigate and understand, and you can check your price in a few minutes if you like their offer. [By clicking and purchasing through that link you also take a step towards supporting this website at no cost to yourself.]
India does NOT require any vaccinations for entry unless you have been to an area with Yellow Fever (like some countries in Africa).
You should be up to date on your routine vaccinations before going to India, such as measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, chickenpox, and your annual flu shot. But you need to decide if you want to get extra vaccinations before your trip.
The CDC recommends that MOST travelers get vaccinated for:
The CDC recommends that SOME travelers get vaccinated for:
IMPORTANT: Once you know where you are traveling to in India, then see your doctor and ask for recommendations on what would be best for your situation. You have time and could schedule this closer to 4 weeks before departure.
I couldn’t get enough books and novels about India. The novel Shantaram actually inspired my trip for the first time, as the main character lived in the Mumbai slums and worked as a doctor, then a gangster.
I’m also a film buff and have tracked over 2,000 films that I’ve watched. There are some great movies to inspire and educate you on Indian culture.
You can check out my 50 recommendations for India trip movies.
You should have progressed with your research, have a working draft of your itinerary and are ready to make some purchases.
CheapAir.com did an Airline Study looking at 917,000,00 airfares in +8,000 markets for the best time to buy airline tickets before an international flight and found that…
The best time to buy your flights is Tuesday around 3 pm EST. You’ll also want to fly on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday if you can.
At this point, you should have a concrete itinerary and know where you’re going. It’s time to buy!
Some items you want to bring with you on your India trip:
If you’ve prepared well, then you can be chilling at this time. But there are a few things to do:
Make 5 paper copies of your important documents:
I use these to give to hotels. This is not necessary but some will ask and smaller places may not have a copier.
Make 2 digital copies of your documents. Put them on your phone and also online in Google Driver or Evernote. Then if you lose your phone, you can still access them.
You can use this free travel checklist PDF for India to plan. The important thing is to get started early and have fun as you plan. India has so many beautiful destinations and things to do, this could be an adventure you’ll never forget!
Traveler, Filmmaker, and Lover of India. I've been living, writing and sharing what I've learned about traveling in India since 2018. Learn more about me here or Youtube.
Aizawl is a lesser-known hill station in India because it's over 1600 km (1000 miles) by air from Delhi and much more by bumpy roads. However, if you like off-the-beaten-path destinations and.
No one goes to Agartala and Tripura, so if you go, you will be in special company. I stayed in a homestay outside the city, and the people’s jaws dropped as I walked by. Surprisingly, I had.
I share travel tips about India, so you can have a trip you'll never forget.
I'm traveling to every state in India (12 states so far, plus 5 territories), and flew in from Austin, Texas in 2018.
Click here to learn more about how I can help you
This site is owned and operated by Ben Jenks. ChaiNomad.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This site also participates in other affiliate programs and is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies.
