India, planned for the whole family
Most Indian-American families have been to India many times and seen surprisingly little of it, because the trip is always about relatives and always slightly exhausting. This is the other version: two weeks with the family you actually want to travel with, in the India you'd take a friend to.
No fee to start · A personal reply within one business day
Why this trip needs planning more than most
Travelling with three generations from the US to India is one of the harder trips to get right, and the difficulty is never the sightseeing.
Three generations, three different holidays
Grandparents want temples, comfort and a rest day. Parents want the food and the history. Children want the tiger and the pool. The good version of this trip builds in split days on purpose, so nobody spends two weeks being polite.
The internal travel is the trip
Delhi to Udaipur to Jaipur can be a pleasant private car, a short domestic flight, or an eight-hour ordeal that ruins the next day. Which one you get is a planning decision, and it matters more than which hotel you booked.
Family time, and the rest of it
Almost every trip has obligations attached — a week in Ahmedabad or Chennai, a wedding, an elderly relative to visit. Building the holiday around that rather than pretending it isn't there is what makes it work.
Hotels that are the reason you came
India has some of the best hotels in the world, and the gap between a good one and a great one is enormous — a converted palace, a working haveli, a tented camp at the edge of a tiger reserve. This is where the money is worth spending.
Documents, before rather than during
OCI cards, e-visas for spouses and children who aren't OCI holders, expiring passports, and the specific rules for a US-born child on an Indian-issued document. Sorted three months out, not discovered at the check-in desk.
Where to actually go
Two regions in two weeks is plenty. Three is a mistake almost everyone makes once.
Rajasthan
The obvious answer, and it deserves to be. October to March. Palaces you can stay in, not just visit.
- ◆Udaipur — Taj Lake Palace, Oberoi Udaivilas
- ◆Jaipur — Rambagh Palace, Samode
- ◆Jodhpur and Jaisalmer for the desert forts
Kerala
The gentlest India for elders and for children. Slower, greener, easier.
- ◆Backwater houseboats and Vembanad
- ◆Tea country at Munnar and Thekkady
- ◆Kovalam and Marari beaches
Wildlife
Worth arranging around: the best lodges and the best guides book out a year ahead, and tiger sightings improve sharply in the hot months.
- ◆Ranthambore — the accessible option from Jaipur
- ◆Bandhavgarh and Kanha for serious sightings
- ◆Kaziranga for rhino, in Assam
The rest of it
For families who have done Rajasthan and want the trip that surprises them.
- ◆Varanasi — early morning on the Ghats
- ◆Ladakh and the Himalaya, June to September
- ◆Amritsar for the Golden Temple, and the Wagah border
- ◆Goa as a soft landing at the end
How the year works
India rewards planning around the season far more than around the price.
- October–March
The season
The weather everyone wants, and the reason Christmas and New Year in Rajasthan is booked a year out at rates to match. December palace availability is the single hardest thing to get.
- April–June
Hot, and worth it for wildlife
Genuinely uncomfortable in the north, but the best months for tigers, with much lower rates. A good trade if the trip is built around a reserve.
- July–September
Monsoon, and Kerala
The south and the hill stations are beautiful and cheap. Ladakh is at its best. Rajasthan is not the plan.
- 9–12 months out
When to book
For December and January, or any trip built around a specific palace or safari lodge. Four to six months is comfortable for the rest of the year.
What I handle
I handle
- ◆The route — which two regions, in which order, with how long in each
- ◆Flights from the US, and the internal flights and trains
- ◆Hotels chosen specifically, including which room in which wing
- ◆Private cars with drivers who have been briefed, not a taxi each morning
- ◆Guides who are worth the day, and the days deliberately left free
- ◆Safari lodges and permits, booked early enough to matter
- ◆Pure vegetarian, Jain and allergy requirements at every hotel
- ◆OCI, e-visa and passport-validity checks before they become a problem
- ◆One number to call, in your timezone or theirs
I don't
- —The family obligations — those are yours, I just plan around them
- —Anything you'd rather arrange with relatives on the ground
First conversation and proposal are free, and I'd rather tell you that two weeks isn't enough for what you've described than sell you the version that doesn't work.
Questions people ask
We go to India often. What would you actually add?+
Usually the holiday itself. Most family trips are all obligation and no travel — the same city, the same relatives, no time to see anything. The version worth paying for is the fortnight bolted onto that: two regions, hotels that are the reason you came, and none of it organised by you.
How long do we need?+
Two weeks for two regions plus family time. Ten days works for one region well. Anything shorter and you spend the trip in transit — I'd rather tell you that before you book the flights.
Is it suitable for elderly parents?+
Very, if it's planned that way. Fewer moves, private cars rather than domestic connections, hotels with lifts and ground-floor rooms, and a rest day built in after every travel day. Kerala and Udaipur are gentler than Delhi and Varanasi.
What about the kids?+
Tigers, forts, camel rides, cooking classes and a hotel pool at the end of every day. Ranthambore is the accessible tiger reserve; Bandhavgarh is the serious one if the sighting matters more than the drive.
Do you handle OCI and visas?+
I check what each traveller needs and flag it early, including the cases people get caught by — a spouse without OCI, a US-born child, a passport with under six months left. The applications are yours to file; knowing what to file and when is mine.
Tell me who's coming
How many of you, roughly when, and whether there's family time attached. That's enough for me to come back with a route that fits — and to tell you honestly if the dates need to change.
Also worth reading
Indian destination weddings, travelled properly
After the weddingA honeymoon that asks nothing of you
Based in New JerseyA travel advisor you can actually sit down with
Food, handled in advanceTravel where the food is already sorted
Three generations, one tripA trip that works for a grandparent and a nine-year-old
The ship is the decisionThe cruise you would actually enjoy
Twenty-five, forty, fiftyThe trip that marks it, without a speech
Where the camp is the tripA safari where the camp is the decision