Travel

Thailand from India in 2026: How to Plan It Without Overspending

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Aerial view of turquoise waters and limestone cliffs in Krabi Thailand

Thailand is the first international trip for a huge number of Indians. It was mine. I went in 2022 with a friend from college, a budget of ₹60,000, and almost no planning. We spent three days in Bangkok and four days in Phuket, spent more than we planned, and came back with the specific kind of exhaustion that comes from doing too many tourist activities too quickly. Two years later I went again. Better planned, better budget, better experience. This guide is everything I learned from doing it twice. Visa — Straightforward in 2026 India and Thailand have a visa-on-arrival arrangement. Indian passport holders can get a visa on arrival at major Thai airports — Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok Don Mueang, Phuket, and Chiang Mai. The visa on arrival costs 2,000 Thai Baht (approximately ₹4,800 at current rates). It allows a 15-day stay. You need a return ticket, proof of accommodation, and 10,000 Baht (approximately ₹24,000) in cash or equivalent — you will be asked to show this at immigration. The queue for visa on arrival at Bangkok can be long — 30–60 minutes on busy days. If you … Read more

Kedarnath Trek 2026: What Nobody Tells You Before You Go

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Snow-capped Kedarnath temple surrounded by Himalayan peaks in early morning light

I reached Kedarnath at 5:30 in the morning after walking through the night. My legs had stopped hurting somewhere around the 10 kilometre mark the previous evening — apparently there is a point where exhaustion becomes its own kind of numbness. The temple was lit by a single string of lights against a completely black sky. The Mandakini river was a sound more than a sight. The temperature was around 4 degrees Celsius in early June. There were maybe forty people at the temple at that hour — pilgrims who had walked through the night like me, sadhus who seemed unaffected by the cold, and a few temple priests preparing for the morning aarti. I am not a particularly religious person. But standing at 3,583 metres above sea level in the dark, having walked 18 kilometres through the Himalayas to get there, something about the experience goes beyond religion entirely. Here is everything you need to know to do this trek properly. The Route — Gaurikund to Kedarnath The trek starts at Gaurikund which is the last point motorable vehicles can reach. From Gaurikund to Kedarnath temple is … Read more

Goa in Monsoon: Why I Went in July and Did Not Regret It Once

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Lush green coastal cliffs and grey monsoon waves at Goa beach in July

Everyone told me not to go. My colleague said the beaches would be dirty. My mother said the sea would be dangerous. My friend who goes to Goa every December said monsoon Goa is “not the real Goa.” My cab driver on the way to Mumbai airport said I was wasting money. I went anyway. It was July, I had four days of leave I needed to use, and flights to Goa in July cost ₹2,800 return from Mumbai. The same flight in December costs ₹11,000. Here is what actually happened. What Goa in Monsoon Actually Looks Like The first thing that hits you when you land in Goa in July is the green. Goa in December is beautiful but it is a dry, dusty, crowded beautiful. Goa in July is green in a way that does not look real — like someone turned the saturation up on everything. The roads have moss on their edges. The cashew trees are enormous and dark. The Portuguese-era houses look like paintings against the grey sky. There are cows sitting in the middle of every road as always but now they … Read more

Manali on a Budget: How I Did 5 Days for ₹13,500 from Delhi

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Snow-covered Manali mountain valley with wooden guesthouses and pine trees in winter

My first trip to Manali cost ₹38,000. It was 2019, I booked everything through a travel agent, stayed at a resort that looked better in photos than in person, and spent most of the trip in a vehicle being taken from one “tourist spot” to the next on a schedule that left no room for actually being in Manali. My second trip cost ₹13,500 for five days including the overnight bus from Delhi. I planned everything myself, stayed in guesthouses recommended by people who had actually been there, and ate where locals ate. The second trip was three times better in every way. Here is exactly how I did it. Getting There — The Overnight Bus from Delhi The most practical way to reach Manali from Delhi is the overnight Volvo bus from Kashmere Gate ISBT. It departs around 5–6 PM and arrives in Manali the next morning around 10–11 AM depending on road conditions. Cost: ₹700–₹1,400 depending on operator and season. I booked through RedBus two weeks in advance and got a window seat on the upper deck for ₹950. The journey is approximately 14 hours. The … Read more

Best Hill Stations Near Mumbai: Where to Actually Go on a Weekend

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Misty green valleys and winding road at a hill station near Mumbai during monsoon season

Every Mumbai resident has the same conversation with themselves on a hot Wednesday in May: I need to get out of this city this weekend. Then Friday comes, the traffic on the expressway looks impossible, the hotels in Lonavala are ₹8,000 for a Saturday night, and somehow you end up staying home. I have done this trip-planning-then-cancelling cycle more times than I want to admit. But I have also actually made it out on enough weekends to know which destinations are worth the effort and which ones are not. Here is the honest guide. Lonavala — Honest Assessment Everyone goes to Lonavala. This is both its greatest strength and its biggest problem. The ghats around Lonavala — Bhushi Dam, Tiger’s Leap, Rajmachi viewpoint — are genuinely beautiful especially in monsoon when everything is green and the waterfalls are running. The problem is that on any Saturday between June and September, every viewpoint has approximately 400 people at it simultaneously, the road from the expressway to the main market is a complete traffic jam, and the famous chikki shops on the main street are more tourist trap than genuine … Read more

Coorg Travel Guide 2026: What Nobody Tells You Before Your First Trip to Kodagu

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Misty green coffee plantation in Coorg Kodagu Karnataka with morning fog rolling over the hills

Introduction: The Drive That Changes Everything I had read approximately fifteen articles about Coorg before I went. All of them said the same things: Scotland of India, coffee plantations, misty hills, Abbey Falls, Raja’s Seat. I nodded at each of these facts and filed them away and thought I understood what Coorg was. Then I actually drove into Coorg from Mysore on a October morning — through the ghats, where the road narrows and the trees close in overhead and the temperature drops four degrees in the span of two kilometres — and I understood that no article had actually described the feeling of arriving there. The air smells of coffee and wet earth and something else that I cannot name and have not smelled anywhere else. The hills are so green they look slightly unreal, like someone has adjusted the saturation on a photograph. The mist sits in the valleys below the road and moves slowly and does not hurry. Coorg is not like other hill stations. It does not have a mall road with shops selling identical woollen shawls. It does not have a main market … Read more

Rishikesh Travel Guide 2026: First Timer’s Complete Guide to the Yoga Capital of the World

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Laxman Jhula suspension bridge over the green Ganga river at Rishikesh with Himalayan hills in the background at sunrise

Introduction: The City That Is Louder Than It Looks in Photos Every photograph of Rishikesh is peaceful. Laxman Jhula at sunrise, shot from a specific angle, with the green Ganga below and the hills behind. A sadhu sitting by the river in golden hour light. Yoga on a rooftop with mountains in the background. What the photographs do not capture: the sound. Rishikesh is not quiet. It is full of people, vehicles, bells, chanting, tourist groups being briefed about their rafting trip, cows who own the road entirely and know it, and the constant rhythm of the Ganga which is loud and fast and green-grey and nothing like the gentle spiritual watercolour you imagined. I arrived in Rishikesh at 6am after an overnight bus from Delhi, dragging a bag that was too heavy for a three-day trip, standing on the Ram Jhula bridge in the cold and the noise and the sudden chaos of a pilgrimage town waking up. And I thought: this is not what I expected. And then I stayed for five days because I could not bring myself to leave. Rishikesh is complicated. It is … Read more