How much to bring

esposabella

Hello ,

I am planning to stay in India for at least 3 weeks and want to stay in Ooty for a bit then go to New Delhi some days and treek back to Bangalore, now i have a budget of $700 do you think that would be enough to get around and stay at decent budget hotels??

any suggestions?

machadinha

At US$ = around 1600 Rs. a day for 21 days, that should be well doable yes (your "at least" three weeks doesn't bode so well to me though; of course staying longer will cost more and will spread your money out, how would it not be so?)

Canadian dollars would make it just a little less, obviously, but so little less as to make it still adequate.

It all depends on your leverage of course; don't expect any opulence for this, but it should be more than ample to keep you going on a (more than) ample budget level yes.

You'll find many budget estimates on this site to give you some idea, so look around some. My (very) personal break-down of costs and just for instance, just earlier this year, you'll find here: India a price guide!! That whole thread is quite good anyway; keep an eye on what posting dates you're looking at though. And do keep in mind it is all highly personal, there's little to say about it just like that.

Remember Ooty is a popular hill station; Delhi is obviously the national capital; and Bangalore is a modern city pretty much renowned for its nightlife and shopping. While such places don't have to be very expensive, staying just in such and if you don't keep an eye on expenses may considerably eat into your budget.

(btw Ooty and then up to Delhi and back down to Bangalore again, in three weeks and on an apparent budget and so presumably by cheaper transport options? It's really up to you, but I really don't envy you. Those are quite some distances, you may find half of it spent in transport, unless you find the best and direct connections -- not very likely from a place like Ooty I might add, and then you did mention "trekking back down" to Bangalore.)

To give you some idea, Bangalore-Delhi would be something like Toronto to some places in Newfoundland or North Dakota (or, just a little further, south Florida even -- or a little shorter, [some places in] Manitoba) as the crow flies, and always keeping in mind infrastructure may not be quite what you're used to.

It obviously follows that e.g. wanting to go up to Delhi just for "some days" makes no sense whatsoever, I'm sorry to say. Unless you're in a position to internally fly in and out of there, and then I'd still have my thoughts about it (getting into and out of airports and all).

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esposabella

Hello,

Thanks for your honest input, it's easy to say oh i will go here and here, but obviously i have NO idea!!!!! i think i will stick with Bangalore and Ooty

machadinha

That would seem wiser to me yes; for three weeks, I think it's definitely better to stick to one general region, and hopefully actually get to experience it a little bit. It will be over before you know it anyway.

It's easy to look at a map and think Oh that's not far; but then in practice it often turns out to be, certainly in India where travel may often be slow and taxing, and which is much larger than many seem to realize anyway (roughly the size of Western Europe). My usual advice is to look up the country on a map that shows it on the same scale as your home country (I have a great atlas that does just that for all the world). And then keeping in mind just zipping around like you might at home may not be so easily done, indeed. (One can perhaps move relatively fast from big place A to big place B; but keep in mind, and assuming most of us don't want to visit just the major cities, going from relatively small place C to small place D may take you just as long, even though they may be technically much closer to one another. A slow bus that stops everywhere on a bad road really doesn't get you anywhere very fast at all.)

Two regions further apart with preferably a flight inbetween could be done, but for me even that would already be pushing it for anything under a month or so.

Well, hope you enjoy, and be in with any other questions

Jorge Reverter

700 Us dollars are around 500 euros that means 25 euros per day or 1650 rupees. It also depends if you travel alone or not, because is not the same to share the cost of a room or to hire a car, etc. In any case is enough but if you are traveling alone you should move by train or bus ans stay in budget guesthouses of around 600-800 rupees per day.

Jorge

ishaq7

you can, stay in youth hostels, available in cheap discount ates or some ymca guest houses, so you can have low lodging cost. i think its enough for 21 days travel.

machadinha

In fact youth hostels in India aren't that common (there are a few in some of the major cities), and unlike in many other places in the world, they neither have to make for the cheapest of options, nor does one need to look for them for such. YMCA's or YWCA's aren't all that common either, save for perhaps in the metros again (usually taking in both sexes where they do exist btw).

There do however exist cheap guesthouses galore (going by any number of designations, so guesthouse, lodge, hotel -- the latter may as well and more commonly refer to just a restaurant in many areas --, whatever).