So you’re planning your first trip to India!
It’s a daunting task.
India is a big country, and there is such diversity with so many things to do and so many places to visit!
With so much free information available online, where to even start planning your trip to India?!
Is it worth it to get a guidebook for India travel?
Planning a trip itinerary for India that’s several weeks long, or maybe even several months long, can turn into what feels like planning about 10 vacations! Not only do you need to make sure you know how to get an Indian tourist visa, but with each new city, there’s that much more to research!
For some people it might seem a bit lame to use a guidebook as a bible for travel to any destination. But when you’re short on time or you just don’t want to plan 10 vacations, it can be very helpful in making sure you visit the must-see places of any given region or city. (It just might be the cure for FOMO. ;))
And you can use a guidebook as just that — a guide. It can give you a very good start to planning your trip when you just have no idea where to start… or you’re looking to sort through the abundance of free travel guides online!
When you are short on time, flying can be a cost-effective way to travel long distances around India because of the budget airlines that are available in India.
Now, here’s what’s on this page of travel guidebooks to take a look at for planning your trip to India!
- Get this guidebook with PDF so you can do some really specific India planning like where to stay and where to eat so you don’t get sick
- Get this guidebook so you can make a general plan based of your India itinerary of places to visit and what food to eat based on pretty pictures
Side note!
See about the best shoes for hiking in Hawaii and what to wear snorkeling in Hawaii! And for Hawaii vacation ideas, see the best things to do in Waikiki that will give you Hawaii vibes!
So, which travel guidebooks might you use for planning a trip to India?
One of the best India guidebooks for planning each day’s itinerary, finding the best places to stay, and eating at the best restaurants
Let’s start with the ultimate guidebook for travel to India.
So, there’s a good chance that you’ve heard of Lonely Planet travel guidebooks.
How is the Lonely Planet travel guide for India?
Well, once you get used to it, India is a country that can be easy to travel around because of the ease of being able to catch buses without advanced booking and the ease of being able to show up in a city without a guesthouse or hotel booking. (That said, sometimes advanced booking can be helpful!)
What makes that travel in India even easier?!
These are the top reasons to get Lonely Planet India:
- Getting sick is a common occurrence among foreigners. The restaurant recommendations in the book can minimize your chance of getting food poisoning! And in case you do get sick, here’s how to treat traveler’s diarrhea naturally.
- Getting ripped off is also a common occurrence among foreigners. The book will give a price range for guesthouses, activities, and rickshaw rides in a given city. This will make you feel more confident knowing that you’re not paying way too much!
- Sometimes it’s easier to just show up in a city and look for accommodation. The book can give you the best places to stay so you are not aimlessly wandering around. In the case that you want to pre-book your hotel, it can give you recommendations!
- And of course the book has a list of the best places to visit in any given city! It will give you ideas on nearby famous destinations. It also lists the best way to get to your next destination, as well as the best way to get around any city.
You can read some of the reviews here for using Lonely Planet India when traveling.
For easy planning when you’re on the road in India, here are some guidebooks to take a look at:
- Lonely Planet: India (best of the whole country)
- Lonely Planet: Rajasthan, Delhi, and Agra (includes best of the famous Golden Triangle)
- Lonely Planet: South India and Kerala
- Lonely Planet: Goa and Mumbai
These include the option of a pdf travel guide or e-book too, so be sure to have a look!
India is a big country, which means there’s a ton to cover. The Lonely Planet India book is over 1,000 pages which means it’s pretty bulky. Having the travel guide in pdf form on your phone can cut back on the weight of your backpack! It can also be helpful in finding a nearby place to eat when you’re out and about on an excursion.
Now, if you do still have a few weeks or months before your trip to India…
One of the best India guidebooks for figuring out the pretty places you want to visit
One of the negatives about Lonely Planet India is that aside from the city maps and information tables of buses and trains, it’s pretty much all text.
This text is incredibly helpful when trying to figure out where to stay and places to eat, in particular when you’re not planning too far ahead.
But if you’re wanting to figure out what the name of that temple you saw on Pinterest 😉 is called, Lonely Planet India won’t be able to really help you with that.
So it can be best used in conjunction with another resource.
Google? 😉
Or once again, in order to have the best of India all in one place so you don’t have to sift through so much information, there’s an India guidebook for that! 😉
For planning your trip to India using pictures, take a look at:
DK Eyewitness India isn’t necessarily the best for travel tips when it comes to things like specific ways of how to get around. But at the back of the book, there is a big list of recommendations for where to stay and places to eat, arranged mostly by state. Still, for practical travel tips when you’re on the road, Lonely Planet India is pretty good.
But DK Eyewitness India will give you the pictures, along with the descriptions of what makes each place significant. So instead of just listing a foreign name of a place that you are sure to forget, it gives you that image that your memory will likely better retain.
Or if you won’t be doing too much pre-planning of places to visit before your trip to India, you may like all the colorful images to help you decide where you want to go once you arrive in any given city. The street-by-street city maps also include pictures. This makes it so that when you look at the map, you will see what the market or palace looks like at a specific location.
Using DK Eyewitness India as your guidebook when traveling in India might turn you into a foodie! There are food sections that list the local dishes and specialties of a region. These come with pretty pictures of the food, and you just might end up wanting to try all the food when in India! 😉 So if you’re looking forward to trying the diversity of food options available in India, you might like this book too.
The tagline for DK Eyewitness is “the guides that show you what others only tell you”… and this is what the guidebook does through its abundance of colorful pictures!
Now, is it really necessary to take 2 guidebooks with you to India?!
That does sound like overkill.
Plus, that’ll add weight to your backpack and take up more space than you probably want it to.
In which case, you might want to lean towards Lonely Planet India. It really can be used as a bible for your trip to India. And showing up in a city and knowing where to stay and safe places to eat (so you don’t get sick!) can be superbly helpful.
Well, what if you want your India guidebooks to have the pictures of the best places to visit and a bunch of useful travel tips when traveling around India?!
If you can commit to doing at least a little bit of planning ahead of time, DK Eyewitness India really can help you see India in pictures in a simple way.
Lonely Planet India can be even more helpful on the road when you’re in India, so consider using DK Eyewitness India for trip planning when you’re still at home. Then leave DK Eyewitness behind instead of taking it with you to India so you don’t have to lug around that extra weight.
And, if you’re not planning on taking it to India with you, you may even see if the guidebook is available at your local library.
One of the problems with borrowing travel books at libraries is that the only version that the library has might be one from 10 years ago. But with DK Eyewitness India, if your primary purpose is to look at the pictures, it generally shouldn’t really be a problem even if the book is a little outdated.
With Lonely Planet India on the other hand, if you’re using it mainly for hotel recommendations and restaurant recommendations, it’s probably best to get a book that’s been updated in the past couple of years. Here are the most recent versions.
What if you just really don’t want to make room in your backpack for a guidebook?! 😉
And then of course, if you don’t want to carry any extra weight in the form of an India guidebook, you always have the trusty Lonely Planet India PDF!
But do make sure you make room for that international first aid kit for India!
HAPPY INDIA TRIP PLANNING!
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🐠 Here are things you must consider packing!
- Swimsuit or swimming shirt aka rash guard
- rash guard: swim set for women and swim shirt for men
- Water shoes
- Waterproof phone case (so you can capture pictures of fishies underwater!)
- cheapo phone case OR waterproof camera
- I also have this "camera" wrist float to attach to my cheapo waterproof phone case so my phone won't sink to the bottom of the ocean in case I somehow let go of it. (Mine does stay afloat - test this for yourself before completely trusting it!)
- Swimming goggles or snorkeling mask set
- Reef-safe(r) sunscreen
- lightweight travel towel:
- walking sandals:
I also don't go snorkeling without a personal swim float buoy. Not only does it help to keep me visible, but it makes for a perfect way to rest out in deeper water! Oh, and it also serves as a dry bag so I can take stuff into the water with me.
Another way I have taken valuables into the water with me is to wear a travel money belt that I don't mind getting wet with salt water (it's not waterproof but I have several so I just use one of them) and then I put things in a ziplock freezer bag, and put that freezer bag in the money belt.
There are also designated waterproof waist pouches that you can store your valuables and take into the water with you.
see more:
- What to wear hiking
- What to wear snorkeling