Time for the first Budget Breakdown of our world trip! We have to admit that we originally did not put India on our world trip itinerary. However, it was much cheaper to fly to Sri Lanka via India than catch a direct flight from Belgium to Sri Lanka. Since it is also a dream of ours to tick off all the New Seven Wonders of the World, we didn’t mind a stopover in India at all! We explored India’s Golden Triangle: Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. Our main focus was seeing the Taj Mahal with our own eyes. To make the most of our time in India, we added other attractions to our itinerary as well. In this budget breakdown, we share our expenses for 6 days in India and some tips to help you save money while exploring India.
Table of contents
- Flights
- Accommodation
- Transportation
- Food
- Drinks
- Sightseeing
- Other
- Total of our 6 days in India
- Tips and tricks for saving money in India
How much did our trip to India in January 2024 cost? Here’s our budget breakdown for 6 days in India:
Flights
We opted for the cheapest way to get to India, which involved two layovers. Initially, we flew from “Brussels South” (Charleroi) to Budapest, then Budapest to Riyadh, and finally reached Delhi from Riyadh. We secured our tickets four months in advance because we wanted to have a definite day to look forward to.
However, our journey wasn’t without its share of hiccups. Literally one day after booking all of our flights (through different airlines), our flight from Charleroi to Budapest underwent a schedule change. You guessed it: a 10-hour delay. Because this was a big “no-no” for our connecting flights, we proactively rescheduled our flight to Budapest a day earlier, to ensure ourselves enough time for the connection. 😉
If you thought that was all, you’d be mistaken! Exactly one week before we would kickstart our World Trip, we got ANOTHER schedule change. This time, our flight from Riyadh to Delhi was delayed by 12 hours, which meant we had to spend the night at the airport in Saudi Arabia. We weren’t very keen on this so asked for a refund of course. After some back and forth the airline company (flynas) finally complied and refunded our money.
In the meantime we also booked another flight for that same day. These tickets were € 50 more expensive than our original ones, but this way we wouldn’t have to spend the night at RUH airport! Our three flights totaled € 528,88, translating to € 264,44 per person, checked baggage included. We believe it’s a great deal, although it could’ve been even better if we hadn’t had to reschedule so many times. When we booked our original flights, the total cost per person was just over € 200 (!). We think you see where we are coming from.
If you’re like us and always looking to score a deal when it comes to flight tickets, definitely make use of Skyscanner. They make one amazing list of all available flight tickets for your dates, all you have to do is choose the flight you want!
Total cost of flights: € 528,88
Accommodation
We tried to stay exclusively in hostels, but after having no hot water (or even a working shower) at our first two accommodations, we canceled our last hostel and booked a hotel for our 2 nights in Delhi. That proved to be a great decision, since at this hotel we not only had a working shower with hot water, but also heating at night! We visited India in January, where temperatures at night can drop drastically. Not freezing our toes off at night was so amazing! The total accommodation cost for both of us was € 168,41, averaging to a mere € 14,03 per person per night. In other words: pretty cheap!
In Agra we stayed at Joey’s Hostel. We had a private double room with an attached bathroom. This was our priciest stay, amounting to € 63,57 for two nights for both of us. The location was ideal, a 5-minute walk from the Taj Mahal.
Moving on to Jaipur, our accommodation was at Horn Ok Please Jaipur. Once again, we secured a private room, though this time with a shared bathroom. The total expense for our two-night stay here was € 46,41 for the two of us.
Our last stop was Delhi, where we stayed at Blue Pearl Hotel. Here we had a full room to ourselves, including a private bathroom and heating. Surprisingly, we spent only € 58,43 for two nights for both of us. We consider this our best accommodation, and it wasn’t even the most expensive one! Our original accommodation was Moustache Hostel Delhi, where we planned on sleeping in an 8-bed dormitory room.
Total cost of accommodation for 6 nights: € 168,41
Transportation
During our time in India, we needed transportation for three reasons. The first reason is getting from one city to another, for this we actually used three different types of transport (train, taxi, bus). The second reason is getting from the airport to the city, and vice versa. Lastly, we also needed transport inside the city for all the different sightseeing purposes. For this we used rickshaws (tuktuks), but in Delhi we also hired a private driver to get us from one place to another. Our total cost of Transportation amounts to € 173,90 for the 6 days we were there, which is just under € 30 per day.
Although we don’t feel this is super expensive, there is still some clarification that needs to be given here. The first thing we want to mention is a “stupid expense”, because we had to rebook a semi-refundable ticket for our first morning in Delhi. When we booked our last flight ticket from Riyadh to Delhi all those months ago, we also bought train tickets from Delhi to Agra early in the morning. But after that flight got delayed and we booked a different flight (which left three hours later than our original flight), this meant we could no longer make it in time to that early train. The bad thing was, we only received a 50% refund on the ticket price, which means we lost € 18 that wasn’t refunded. This € 18 is included in the total amount.
Secondly, our train from Agra to Jaipur was delayed by 6 hours. Since Kelvin wasn’t feeling well, we decided to book a 4-hour cab ride to Jaipur instead, which cost us € 47. While this was much pricier than the train ticket, looking back, it was a good choice, especially since the delay eventually stretched to over 9 hours. Luckily, we did receive a full refund for our train ticket this time!
The last thing we want to mention is that we had a private tour guide and driver for one day in Jaipur (not included in this since it’s more of a sightseeing expense), and one private driver for our last day in Delhi (included in this category). The cost of the private driver in Delhi was € 33,31 (including tip), and was valid for 8 hours or 80 km. We found this a really good deal and it made us feel much safer. However, if you feel you can manage Delhi all by yourself you can totally deduct this amount of the total cost to get a better estimate for your style of traveling!
Total cost of transportation: € 173,90
Food
Now, onto the category that surprised us the most: food. We’ll get straight to the point, our total cost of food in India was € 62,75. Shocking, we know! If you calculate the daily average for that amount, you get € 10,46 per day for both of us.
Reason number one for this extremely low expense, is that Kelvin was pretty sick during our first 4 days in India. When we say ill, we really mean ill. A fever, sore throat, headache, cold shivers,… you name it. You can imagine that this plays a big part in whether you’re hungry or not. During the time Kelvin was ill, we only ate once a day. The moment Kelvin got a little bit better, the same happened with Thysia. She recovered faster, but this meant we never ate more than once a day.
The second thing that influenced this category is that we ordered room service once, and the hotel did not put the charge on our room. We only discovered this a few days after we checked out, which means we had one dinner for free!
Total cost of food: € 62,75
Drinks
Since we want our world trip to last as long as possible, saving on drinks is one of our top priorities. We decided not to drink alcohol in India, and being sick at the time made the decision easier. So, we didn’t spend any money on alcohol!
Total cost of drinks: € 0
Sightseeing
On to the next category, then: sightseeing! The main goal of our trip to India was of course to see the Taj Mahal. Nevertheless, this category goes way beyond the Taj Mahal alone, because we also bought tickets for other monuments in both Agra and Delhi. In total, we spent € 197,10, or € 16,43 per person per day.
The biggest expense in the Sightseeing category, which accounts for more than 50% of the total amount, is our private tour of Jaipur (€ 118,96). Included in this were a driver for the day, tickets to all landmarks in Jaipur, and tips for both the driver and guide. This was a little expensive, but considering we saw tons of landmarks and learned a lot during that day, we think it is worth it. If a private driver and/or tour guide are not your preferred way of traveling, we think you can get the Sightseeing-expense (entrance fees, transportation) for Jaipur down to around € 50 for two people. Remember, Jaipur is a very big city. You won’t get by with cheap rickshaw rides alone if you want to see Amer Fort or Patrika Gate!
Why not visit one of these activities on your next trip to India? 😉
Total cost of sightseeing: € 197,10
Other
This category includes miscellaneous expenses such as supermarket purchases, tips, visas, laundry, and more. The biggest expense in this category was the purchase of 2 visas, which cost us € 49,28. The second biggest cost was our first laundry session of the world trip, costing us € 8,86. Lastly, our data sim card set us back only € 4!
Total cost of other expenses: € 65,24
Total of our 6 days in India
Here is our budget breakdown for 6 days in India in January 2024:
Total per category for the two of us
✈️ Flights: € 528,88
🛏️ Accommodation: € 168,41 (€ 28,07 per night)
🚌 Transportation: € 173,90 (€ 28,98 per day)
🍛 Food: € 62,75 (€ 10,46 per day)
🍹 Drinks: € 0 (€ 0 per day)
🕌 Sightseeing: € 197,10 (€ 32,85 per day)
🛒 Other: € 65,24 (€ 10,87 per day)
💰 Total excluding flights: € 667,40 | € 111,23 per day for 2 | € 55,62 per day per person
💰 Total including flights: € 1196,28
Excluding our expenses for flight tickets, we spent € 111,23 per day for the two of us, or € 55,62 per person per day. Our largest spending category was transportation, amounting to a total of € 173,90. This is definitely something we could have saved on. The second most expensive spending category was sightseeing (€ 197,10), however, this was well worth every penny!
For budget travelers visiting India, a reasonable daily budget per person, covering food, accommodation, transport, and other expenses, would range from € 20 to € 30. This is, of course, if you do not take cabs, don’t book tours, and do not hire private drivers.
Our week in India was quite an intense start to our world trip. From monkeys, cows, and dogs everywhere to insane traffic and lots of scammers, it was quite the journey! Still, we are happy we were able to experience this. We saw amazing architecture, ate super delicious food, and met lots of friendly locals. Another funny thing is that everyone wanted to take pictures with us. We don’t know why but it was sooo funny! We felt like celebrities. 😂
Tips and tricks for saving money in India
Let us tell you first: India is a very cheap place compared to European countries. That doesn’t mean we still went a little over our daily budget that we set prior to our trip. In order for you to not make the same mistakes we did, we list all the tips and tricks we discovered so you can make your wallet happy during your time in India.
1. Transportation (part one)
We looked at our biggest expense and asked ourselves what we could have done differently in regards to Transportation. The first thing that comes to mind is all the money we wasted because of missed train rides. If you don’t want to follow in our footsteps of throwing money away, make sure to either buy fully refundable tickets, or buy additional insurance when buying through a third party website. Travel plans change, the little added cost of buying insurance can save you a lot of money in the future!
Also, it helps to take a moment and think whether you’re definitely going to make a certain (train, flight) journey. Not sure you can make it? Better book a different time slot! It can also help to do some research about your means of transportation and whether it’s reliable or not. When we looked online to see by how many hours our Agra to Jaipur train was delayed, it was stated right next to it that this train was almost always delayed. If we had known this in advance, we would have probably booked a more reliable bus ticket instead of a last minute, expensive taxi ride.
2. Transportation (part two)
The second thing we can recommend doing when it comes to Transportation, is download the Ola and Uber apps. Of course, you will need mobile data or (reliable) wifi to actually use these and order rides. But even checking these apps to get a general idea of what a ride would cost is such a money saver! You can check fares for both rickshaws and regular cars. We think this is a great help because you won’t have to start your next negotiation with a driver without knowing the actual price of the ride. Sure, it will be near impossible to get the fare down to the price that’s shown in the app. Using these apps will give you some guidance nonetheless!
We actually installed these apps before we left for India, but forgot about them during our first two days there. Initially, we were happy to get the price down by 50 rupees or so, but on day three we started using app prices as a starting point and really noticed the difference. We could often get the fare cut in half! All those extra 50, 100, 150 rupees are better spent elsewhere. 😉
3. Transportation (part three)
Finding good and reliable transportation in India can be daunting. First of all, the country is so big! This makes it really difficult to get an idea of how long a journey will take you, and what routes are/aren’t possible. Additionally, information about public transportation is scarce, or at least hard to find. Timetables, pricing, the amount of stops along the way… There’s a level of uncertainty comes with traveling this massive piece of land. To help you with this, we highly recommend using a ticketing platform like 12go.asia! They take care of all of this for you so that you can travel in peace. We tried booking everything ourselves, but a quick look at the official Indian Railway website told us this was a bad idea. For your convenience, we have included a useful widget to help you on your next trip in India!
4. Sightseeing
The last tip we can give you when it comes to saving money, is in the Sightseeing category. We really recommend buying your tickets online prior to your visit! Whether it’s for the Taj Mahal or any other landmark in India, just check this website to see them all in one place. In addition to making sure you have your tickets booked well in advance, you also get a discount of 50 rupees if you book online! Factor in the timegain of not standing in line at the ticket counter, and we call that a big win.
Another thing you should think about when visiting India, is whether you want to explore it all by yourself. If you feel comfortable in doing your own research when it comes to transportation and sightseeing, what landmarks to see in what order, how far each monument is from the next and how to get there, haggling over the price with a rickshaw driver… then it can save you a lot of money going forward! If all of this sounds a little too intimidating, you can opt for a guided tour that takes care of all of this for you, but of course it will cost some money. We went on a private tour in Jaipur, and can really recommend it!
More helpful budget breakdowns
- 3 weeks in Sri Lanka: Budget Breakdown
- 40 days in Thailand: Budget Breakdown
- 26 days in Vietnam: Budget Breakdown
- 16 days in the Philippines: Budget Breakdown
- 3 weeks in Japan: Budget Breakdown
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