India Holidays

UK passport holders require a visa for India and you must obtain this visa before you travel to India. The easiest way to do this is to apply online – there is no need to involve a visa company or to go to the Indian Embassy in person. The application process takes four days and costs £52.50 for a single-entry tourist visa. The visas are valid for six months from its date of issue.The web address is https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/index.html

Please don’t hesitate to call our travel experts if you have any queries.

To experience the real India is to stay at ground level and take a train journey. No visit to India is complete without experiencing the bustle of an Indian railway station. We recommend express trains, which normally offer air-conditioned chair seats or first or second class sleeper cabins. All seats and berths are reserved for the ticket holder.

The reservation list is displayed on the train itself, your name and reserved berth clearly shown. Berths are numbered in classes, so AC1 AC2 AC3 and sleeper class cars. There are toilets on the trains. Don’t expect pristine western standards but if travelling on an air-conditioned express train then the service is reasonable. High-speed express trains link cities efficiently, such as Delhi to Agra, Jaipur to Jodhpur.

We recommend that you speak to your GP and visit the excellent travel-medicine website http://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/home.aspx

It strongly recommends you get vaccinations for typhoid, tetanus, poliomyelitis and hepatitis before travelling to and around India. The key for travel vaccinations is to start planning well in advance. Both diphtheria and tuberculosis require a three-month incubation period before the start of the trip. Start by consulting your GP (who will be able to advise if you are up-to-date with your polio and tetanus jabs); he or she may be able to provide the jabs or direct you to a travel-medicine specialist.

India is a huge country – it is fourteen times the size of the UK – and its weather is wide-ranging with considerable regional variations. The key feature of the subcontinent’s climate is the monsoon, which breaks on the Keralan coast at the end of May and then works its way northeast across the country. At this time rainfall can be very heavy, particularly over the higher regions facing the sea. Thus the best time to travel to India, or at least the majority of the country, is during the dry season from November and March when it is cooler. It is a great time to visit Delhi, Agra, Varanasi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

The best time to visit the tiger parks is from October to April. If you can bear the heat, then May is also an option when the vegetation is not as thick and it is also mating season.
In the south – Kerala and Goa – the weather is comfortable from November through to January. In the Himalayas, the best time to go trekking is in August and September. However, we would recommend travelling earlier in the year, in March, if you want to try and see snow leopards.

India is home to more than 40 national parks. To help increase the odds of spotting a tiger, Steppes Travel can offer you a greater understanding of the local issues and differences between the parks, the best chance of being in the right place at the right time and advice on how to avoid the many pitfalls that create substandard safari experiences.