Clothing for January in Rajasthan/Varanasi/Agra

Sharonov

I'll be all over Rajasthan (the usual cities plus a few villages and the obligatory camel safari) from January 12 to February 14. What kind of clothing should I bring? I have a travel blazer with zippered inside pockets that I always wear on trips, but in India will I look like a woman trying to dress like a man? Indian women have such beautiful, feminine clothing (I did buy one sameer kameez to bring along for evening dinners). Will I need a rain jacket? If I could bring one warm-ish outer garment, what should it be?

Alan D

To give you an idea of what weather you can expect, the Indian Meteorological Department site lists average weather conditions for cities around India. In the places you are going to you can expect minimum temperatures down to about 50F at night and around 70F maximum during the day.

In the deserts of Rajasthan temperatures at night will be lower, as will daytime and nighttime temperatures on the Ganges plains if it's foggy. Northern India in winter is also prone to cold spell conditions when weather systems bring cold air off the Central Asian Plateau.

As regards clothing, wear whatever you are comfortable with. My own preference is for a fleece jacket for winter evenings. Chances of rain are slight but a light parka would also be useful for cool, windy conditions.