India travel plans: South, North & West/Deccan itineraries (and what each route costs)

India is the birthplace of the game of chess (chaturanga), the number zero (shunya), and more than a thousand years of living rock-cut and stone temple architecture. Because the subcontinent spans snowy Himalayan foothills, Thar Desert forts, Konkan beaches, Deccan boulder empires and tropical southern backwaters, trying to cram the entire country into a single week leaves you spending more time in transit than in the places themselves.

To make planning practical, we split India into three focused regional tour plans—each with checked 2026 train, coach and flight legs, monument ticket prices and three hotel tiers—plus a custom India trip builder covering 19 destinations across South, North, West, Central and East India.

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Plan 1 — South India in 10 Days: Chola Temples, Tea Hills, Backwaters & Hampi

Southern India—spanning Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and Karnataka—is the heartland of Dravidian temple architecture, Carnatic music, Bharatanatyam and Kathakali classical dance-drama, Chola bronze casting, misty Western Ghats tea estates and palm-fringed canals.

Stop-by-stop route & checked costs (10 days / 8 stops)

1. Chennai & Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu (2 nights): Explore Mylapore's sculpted Kapaleeshwarar Temple, hear live Carnatic music, and ride 55 km down the Coromandel Coast to the UNESCO Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram (600 INR ASI foreign entry), where the 7th-century Pallava kings carved the seaside Shore Temple and the monolithic Five Rathas out of solid pink granite.
2. Puducherry / Pondicherry (1 night — 3.5h East Coast Road bus, 350–950 INR): Stroll the bougainvillea-draped mustard-yellow streets of White Town, visit Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Manakula Vinayagar Temple, and walk the Rock Beach Promenade.
3. Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu (1 night — 4h coach across the Cauvery delta, 400–1,000 INR): Stand before the 66-metre hollow granite vimana tower of the 1010 CE UNESCO Brihadisvara Temple (free entry to the living Chola temple; 50–250 INR for the Chola bronze gallery at Thanjavur Maratha Palace).
4. Madurai, Tamil Nadu (1 night — 3.5h express train, 450–1,100 INR): Seat of the ancient Tamil Sangam poetry academies, built around Meenakshi Amman Temple and its 14 painted gopuram towers topped by more than 30,000 stucco figures (100–250 INR for the 1,000-pillar hall museum and 17th-century Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal).
5. Munnar, Kerala (1 night — 4.5h hill coach up the Western Ghats, 450–1,400 INR): Climb to 1,600 metres among emerald tea gardens, visit the Tata Tea Museum, and look for rare Nilgiri tahr mountain goats in Eravikulam National Park beneath 2,695-metre Anamudi Peak (400–900 INR park and museum entry).
6. Kochi & the Kerala Backwaters (2 nights — 4h descent to the coast, 350–1,100 INR): Watch Fort Kochi's cantilevered Chinese fishing nets at sunset, see an evening Kathakali performance, and spend a day cruising the 900-kilometre Kerala backwaters by thatched kettuvallam houseboat (1,500–3,500 INR).
7. Mysuru, Karnataka (1 night — 6.5h train, 700–1,650 INR): Tour the stained-glass halls of Mysore Palace (100–200 INR entry), lit on Sundays and during the ten-day Dasara festival by nearly 100,000 bulbs, and browse silk saris and sandalwood at Devaraja Market.
8. Hampi, Karnataka (1 night — 7.5h Hampi Express via Bengaluru to Hosapete, 750–1,850 INR): Finish among the giant granite boulders of the 14th-century Vijayanagara Empire, featuring the carved Stone Chariot and musical pillars at Vittala Temple (600 INR ASI ticket).

• All 7 overland legs combined (trains + AC coaches): 3,450 to 9,050 INR per person.
• Interactive budget breakdown: Open the South India 10-day planner.

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Plan 2 — North India in 8 Days: Taj Mahal, Rajasthan Palaces & Sacred Varanasi

This 8-day northern route links India's Mughal and Sultanate monuments in New Delhi and Agra with two contrasting royal cities in Rajasthan (Jaipur and lakeside Udaipur) before flying east to the ancient river ghats of Varanasi.

Stop-by-stop route & checked costs (8 days / 5 stops)

1. New Delhi (2 nights): Split your time between Old Delhi's Red Fort and Chandni Chowk spice bazaars and New Delhi's Qutub Minar (with its rust-resistant 4th-century Gupta iron pillar), Humayun's Tomb and India Gate (600–1,200 INR/day in ASI monument tickets).
2. Agra, Uttar Pradesh (1 night — 2h Gatimaan or Vande Bharat Express, 750–1,650 INR): Watch the white Makrana marble dome of the Taj Mahal (1,300 INR foreign entry including mausoleum) glow at sunrise, then tour the red sandstone palaces of Agra Fort (650 INR).
3. Jaipur, Rajasthan (2 nights — 4h train west via Fatehpur Sikri, 550–1,400 INR): Admire the 953 latticed windows of Hawa Mahal, climb to hilltop Amer Fort and its Sheesh Mahal mirror hall, and read the time to within two seconds on the 27-metre stone sundial at Jantar Mantar (1,000–2,200 INR composite ticket).
4. Udaipur, Rajasthan (1 night — 6.5h Vande Bharat or Intercity Express, 750–1,750 INR): Cradled by the Aravalli Hills around Lake Pichola, Udaipur centres on the sprawling City Palace complex, evening lake boats past Jag Mandir, and folk dance at Bagore Ki Haveli (800–2,000 INR).
5. Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh (2 nights — 3.5h flight east, 5,400–10,800 INR): Glide by rowboat at dawn past the 84 stone ghats along the crescent bend of the Ganges, witness the evening Ganga Aarti brass-lamp ceremony at Dashashwamedh Ghat, and visit the 5th-century Dhamek Stupa at nearby Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon. (Travellers extending north into Punjab can also add Amritsar in the custom trip planner to visit the gold-plated Golden Temple and its community langar kitchen.)

• All 4 intercity legs combined (3 fast trains + 1 flight): 7,450 to 15,600 INR per person.
• Interactive budget breakdown: Open the North India 8-day planner.

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Plan 3 — West India & the Deccan in 7 Days: Mumbai, Goa, Hampi & Hyderabad

Following the Arabian Sea coast south on the engineering marvel of the Konkan Railway (which crosses more than 2,000 bridges and 92 tunnels) before climbing onto the Deccan Plateau, this 7-day plan blends coastal heritage, island cave temples, medieval granite ruins and Qutb Shahi fortresses.

Stop-by-stop route & checked costs (7 days / 4 stops)

1. Mumbai, Maharashtra (2 nights): Stand beneath the basalt arch of the Gateway of India, take a 1-hour harbour launch to the 6th-century rock-cut Elephanta Caves (600 INR ASI ticket + 260 INR return boat), and admire the UNESCO Gothic Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Art Deco Marine Drive. (Maharashtra is also home to the 30 rock-cut Buddhist Ajanta Caves near Aurangabad.)
2. Goa (2 nights — 8h Konkan Railway Vande Bharat or Jan Shatabdi, 950–2,200 INR): Explore the 16th-century UNESCO Basilica of Bom Jesus and Se Cathedral in Old Goa, walk the pastel Portuguese-era lanes of Fontainhas in Panaji, and relax on palm-fringed Arabian Sea beaches.
3. Hampi, Karnataka (1 night — 7h train through the Western Ghats to Hosapete, 650–1,650 INR): Climb Hemakuta Hill at sunset and explore Virupaksha Temple, Lotus Mahal, the royal elephant stables and Vittala Temple's Stone Chariot (600 INR).
4. Hyderabad, Telangana (2 nights — 7.5h AC coach across the Deccan, 750–1,750 INR): Finish in the historic City of Pearls. Climb the four-minaret 1591 Charminar, test the acoustic clapping arch at hilltop Golconda Fort, and taste slow-cooked Hyderabadi dum biryani (400–1,000 INR for monument entries).

• All 3 intercity legs combined (2 trains + 1 AC coach): 2,350 to 5,600 INR per person.
• Interactive budget breakdown: Open the West India & Deccan 7-day planner.

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Daily hotel, food & local transport costs across India (checked October 2026)

| Expense category | Temple towns & hills (Thanjavur, Madurai, Hampi, Varanasi, Amritsar) | Regional capitals & coast (Chennai, Kochi, Jaipur, Udaipur, Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata) | Major metros (Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Budget stay (double room/night) | 1,100 – 2,500 INR | 1,400 – 3,000 INR | 1,800 – 3,800 INR | | Mid-range stay (3–4★ / heritage haveli) | 2,600 – 6,200 INR | 3,400 – 8,500 INR | 4,500 – 10,500 INR | | Comfort stay (5★ palace / houseboat / resort) | 6,800 – 18,000 INR | 9,000 – 28,000 INR | 11,500 – 32,000 INR | | Daily food (budget → mid → comfort) | 350 → 1,200 → 4,000 INR | 450 → 1,800 → 5,800 INR | 550 → 2,200 → 7,500 INR | | Local transit (metro, auto-rickshaw, bus) | 120 – 450 INR/day | 150 – 650 INR/day | 200 – 800 INR/day |

Want to mix stops from different regions—or add Bengaluru, Amritsar or Kolkata (home to the white marble Victoria Memorial, Howrah Bridge and vintage trams)? Use the custom India trip planner to pick your exact cities, number of days, travel style and currency.