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Planning trip to India, have a couple of questions

Planning trip to India, have a couple of questions

Old Mar 31st, 2015, 06:51 AM
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Les
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Planning trip to India, have a couple of questions

We're planning a trip to northern India later this year (late fall), and I have a couple of questions:

Is a visa required (we'll be leaving from the United States), and if so, how and where can we get it?

We're deciding between going in October or December this year, or January next year. What would be the best choice, as far as weather is concerned?

I'm sure more questions will come to mind (although we've mostly decided on our itinerary), but for now, answers to these questions would be greatly appreciated.
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Old Apr 1st, 2015, 12:19 AM
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A visa is required, but they now do a visa on arrival. I believe you fill out the application in advance and no longer have to send off your passport. The actual visa is placed in your passport when you arrive, as I understand it. (My 10 year visa is good through 2018, so I haven't dealt with this yet)

Both October and December are decent months. December has more foggy days in Northern India, often causing flight delays, but is also cooler than October.
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Old Apr 1st, 2015, 09:55 PM
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My son and I spent the first three weeks of October 2009 in Northern India, and it was perfect. October is known as the "shoulder" season since it's still a bit hot, yet there are less tourists around. December and January will bring more tourists.

Be sure and visit Varanasi and Sarnath. It was so fascinating, and my favorite spot.
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Old Apr 3rd, 2015, 07:17 AM
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If I had a choice, I'd probably do it in late fall when there is at least a possibility of some greenery. By January everything is tan, dry and dusty.

I would do some careful checking right now to see how the new visa upon entry is actually working out. I think there had been concerns, but these glitches may have been ironed out by now.
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Old Apr 3rd, 2015, 04:56 PM
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Les
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Thank you for the replies.

We're planning on taking an 8-day trip out of Delhi on the Maharaja's Express (returning to Delhi), and the November option was booked. Since my wife prefers cooler over hotter, we've decided to go in December.

Icuy, thanks for the visa information. I think we'll go for the advanced visa option, rather than on arrival. I believe the visa on arrival option won't be available until December, and I'm not anxious to be one of the first to see how well that works (or to spend extra time at the airport on arrival).

Since we'll be getting a 6-month tourist visa, and the clock starts running from the day the visa is stamped into the passport, we'll have several months to wait before we actually apply for the visa.
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Old Apr 21st, 2015, 09:08 PM
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It is the great time to visit northern India and enjoy your winters. There are lot of things to do in winter in northern India. You can enjoy the beautiful view of snowcapped mountains of Himalayas and admire its beauty.
It is a peak time for tourists in Northern India so make sure to book reserve your hotel and tickets.

Best Wishes for your trip.
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Old Apr 22nd, 2015, 09:46 AM
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ammy, thank you for the info. We've already booked our hotel, train, and flights. The only thing left to do is get our visas (as mentioned above, we'll have to wait until we're within the 6-month window to do that).
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