Also, can anyone help suggest with places in India where there aren't a lot of Americans? thanks

Other than inside five star hotels, the number of Americans compared to the number of anything else will be very small.

If you are looking to avoid Europeans and Americans combined, you might avoid Goan beaches, and certain towns in the Himalayas.

thank you so much. can you also recommend any places that sell nice beaded fabris, silk and saris? i don't know if they do these in the street vendor areas, but was looking for something of really nice quality. thanks again.

Setting your tour around some of the small palaces is a good way of seeing the real India, and there are not bus-loads of foreign tourists.
Gujarat embroidery is special.

I am American and would really like to see the culture there and not the bus loads of American people. The worst thing in traveling is getting caught up in the loads of tourists. Doesn't seem like you've left America when that happens. Thank you for the replies!

I was in India about a year ago,and was surprised by the small numbers of western tourists I saw.I don't think it will be the kind of issue that it is in many places.

Depends on what time of the year you plan to arrive in. There are a lot of places in the plains & up in the hills of north India which you would love to travel to. It is the small towns that will help you have a peep into Indian culture.
Best wishes!

If that's what you want then here's what you do.

You acquaint yourself with common tour itineraries - that's most of those mentioned here. Then you get a guide book and a map, and a copy of Indian Railways "Trains at a glance" and start looking for alternatives/possibilites. Then you buy a plane ticket and book somewhere to stay for the first night. Then you make your own way to somewhere that took your fancy during your research that didn't feature in all in those glossy tour guides. By all means pass through the must see places - they are there because they are worth seeing, but go further.

And then you take it from there. Just busk it.

It's a while since I was in India and last time I met very few Americans. If they were there they were all travelling in private cars with drivers. And I expect the same is still true.

There are all sorts of places that the two weekers wouldn't venture. May I suggest - Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu - how about Amritsar, or Lucknow, or Nainital, or Mt Abu, or Trivandrum.


Or,or ...

And these are not difficult places to get to if you have a little nous.