Since The Yeti and I will be in two (very!) different places doing different (very!) things for a few months, we’ll split the India budget into two parts. This post will cover the four weeks we spent together in Rajasthan, Agra, and Delhi.
Nobody will be surprised to hear that India is wicked cheap — the accommodation was a bit pricier than in Nepal, but traveling and food were cheap enough to more than make up for it.
Accommodation: $8.65/night
Like I said, a teeny tiny bit more expensive than Nepal. We traveled Rajasthan during off season, which cut the prices dramatically — in Jaisalmer, we paid $9 for a gorgeous (and enormous) aircon room that goes for $20+ during high season. We also saved some moolah on accommodation by taking a few night trains and buses.
Food: $14.31/day
Indian food is so good and so cheap. Food stall meals usually go for around 20c per plate (more about that here), and restaurant meals start at about $1.50. Plenty of places have thalis for $1-2.50, though we noticed that the touristy restaurants tend not to give refills. Stingy buggers. We ate so much chapati — at 10c a piece, how could you resist?
Travel: $5.74/day
We traveled quite a bit in India. In fact, a quick google-and-calculate tells me that we covered just over 3000km. So, about 2.5c per km each — not too shabby! We almost always traveled by trains, and always chose non a/c sleeper class. Cheap as can be, and surprisingly comfortable.
Miscellaneous: $6.50/day
In India, our ‘miscellaneous’ budget was spent almost entirely on entry fees. Most historical sites charge a $5-7 entrance fee. I also spent a bit on some rad shirts in Pushkar.
Total: $35.22 altogether or $17.61 each (the cheapest so far!)
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