An e-Visa applied for online, approved by email in two to five days, and stamped into your passport on arrival. It is genuinely straightforward and it is also strictly enforced: the e-Visa is tied to a list of approved airports and land crossings, and arriving anywhere else with one does not work.

Visa	Cost	Notes
30-day e-Tourist, April to June arrival	USD 10	The low-season rate. It is the cheapest way into India and almost nobody knows it exists.
30-day e-Tourist, July to March arrival	USD 25	—
1-year e-Tourist, multiple entry	USD 40	Reduced from USD 80. Maximum 180 days in the year.
5-year e-Tourist, multiple entry	USD 80	Maximum 180 days a year. Some nationalities now pay considerably more; check your own before assuming.
Bank charge	About 2.5 to 3% on top	Added at the payment page and not refundable if the application fails.

30-day e-Tourist, April to June arrival
Cost
USD 10
Notes
The low-season rate. It is the cheapest way into India and almost nobody knows it exists.
30-day e-Tourist, July to March arrival
Cost
USD 25
Notes
—
1-year e-Tourist, multiple entry
Cost
USD 40
Notes
Reduced from USD 80. Maximum 180 days in the year.
5-year e-Tourist, multiple entry
Cost
USD 80
Notes
Maximum 180 days a year. Some nationalities now pay considerably more; check your own before assuming.
Bank charge
Cost
About 2.5 to 3% on top
Notes
Added at the payment page and not refundable if the application fails.

If you hold	What applies
Most Western passports	e-Visa online, at the fees above. Apply at least four days before you fly and up to 120 days ahead.
Nepali and Bhutanese nationals	No visa required for entry by land or air, under longstanding bilateral arrangements.
Pakistani nationals and people of Pakistani origin	Not eligible for the e-Visa at all. A regular visa from an Indian mission is the only route.
Anyone who has held an Indian passport	Renouncing Indian citizenship requires a surrender certificate before a visa is issued. This catches out people of Indian origin every year and it cannot be fixed at the airport.
Diplomatic and official passports	Not eligible for the e-Visa. A regular visa from an Indian mission.

Most Western passports
What applies
e-Visa online, at the fees above. Apply at least four days before you fly and up to 120 days ahead.
Nepali and Bhutanese nationals
What applies
No visa required for entry by land or air, under longstanding bilateral arrangements.
Pakistani nationals and people of Pakistani origin
What applies
Not eligible for the e-Visa at all. A regular visa from an Indian mission is the only route.
Anyone who has held an Indian passport
What applies
Renouncing Indian citizenship requires a surrender certificate before a visa is issued. This catches out people of Indian origin every year and it cannot be fixed at the airport.
Diplomatic and official passports
What applies
Not eligible for the e-Visa. A regular visa from an Indian mission.

How to actually get it

Apply on the government site, not a lookalike

indianvisaonline.gov.in is the only official portal. There is an entire industry of agency sites that charge three or four times the fee to fill in the same form, and they rank well in search. If a site is asking USD 120 for a 30-day tourist visa, you are on one of them.

The photograph is what fails

A plain white background, square crop, face filling most of the frame, no glasses. More e-Visa applications are rejected on the photograph than on anything else. Take it against a white wall on a phone rather than scanning a passport picture.

Print the approval

You receive an Electronic Travel Authorisation by email. Print it. Airlines at check-in ask for it on paper more often than they should, and the immigration counter at Delhi stamps against it.

Entry point matters

The e-Visa is valid at 36 airports, 38 seaports and 12 land crossings, and the land list includes the Nepal border posts at Raxaul and Sunauli. Arriving overland anywhere not on the list with an e-Visa means being turned back.

What catches people out

The e-Visa is not extendable and not convertible once you are in the country.
The 1-year and 5-year e-Tourist visas cap you at 180 days in any twelve-month period, not 180 consecutive days.
Restricted and protected area permits still apply on top of a visa for parts of Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh's border areas, Lakshadweep and the Andamans.
A same-day connection through Delhi on separate tickets means clearing immigration with the visa you hold. There is no airside transit for most nationalities.
Fees are nationality-specific and change without notice. The figures here were checked in February 2026 and are for common Western passports.

Flying there

Non-stop routes only. Anything with a connection depends on the day and is better answered by a search than by a table.

From	Airlines	In the air	Notes
London	British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Air India	8h 30m	Non-stop to Delhi
New York	Air India, United	14h 30m	Non-stop to Delhi
Frankfurt	Lufthansa, Air India	7h 45m	—
Dubai	Emirates, IndiGo, Air India Express	3h 30m	The densest short-haul link into India
Singapore	Singapore Airlines, IndiGo, Air India	5h 30m	—
Kathmandu	Nepal Airlines, IndiGo, Air India	1h 45m	To Delhi. Several a day
Paro	Drukair, Bhutan Airlines	1h 45m	To Delhi, around five a week

London
Airlines
British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Air India
In the air
8h 30m
Notes
Non-stop to Delhi
New York
Airlines
Air India, United
In the air
14h 30m
Notes
Non-stop to Delhi
Frankfurt
Airlines
Lufthansa, Air India
In the air
7h 45m
Notes
—
Dubai
Airlines
Emirates, IndiGo, Air India Express
In the air
3h 30m
Notes
The densest short-haul link into India
Singapore
Airlines
Singapore Airlines, IndiGo, Air India
In the air
5h 30m
Notes
—
Kathmandu
Airlines
Nepal Airlines, IndiGo, Air India
In the air
1h 45m
Notes
To Delhi. Several a day
Paro
Airlines
Drukair, Bhutan Airlines
In the air
1h 45m
Notes
To Delhi, around five a week

Getting around inside	Airlines	In the air	Notes
Delhi to Varanasi	IndiGo, Air India, Akasa	1h 25m	The alternative to an overnight train
Delhi to Leh	IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet	1h 20m	Morning only. Leh is at 3,500 m and needs two days of doing nothing
Delhi to Bagdogra	IndiGo, Air India	2h	For Darjeeling, Sikkim and the land route into Bhutan
Delhi to Jaipur	IndiGo, Air India	1h	Usually driven in five hours instead, because the road is the point

Delhi to Varanasi
Airlines
IndiGo, Air India, Akasa
In the air
1h 25m
Notes
The alternative to an overnight train
Delhi to Leh
Airlines
IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet
In the air
1h 20m
Notes
Morning only. Leh is at 3,500 m and needs two days of doing nothing
Delhi to Bagdogra
Airlines
IndiGo, Air India
In the air
2h
Notes
For Darjeeling, Sikkim and the land route into Bhutan
Delhi to Jaipur
Airlines
IndiGo, Air India
In the air
1h
Notes
Usually driven in five hours instead, because the road is the point

Joining it onto the country next door

Half the trips in this catalogue cross a border. These are the links they are built on, and the lead times they impose.

On to	How	How long	Notes
Nepal	Fly Delhi, Varanasi or Kolkata to Kathmandu, or cross by land at Sunauli, Raxaul or Kakarbhitta	1h 20m to 1h 45m flying, a full day by road	—
Bhutan	Fly Delhi, Kolkata or Bagdogra to Paro, or drive in at Phuentsholing	1h to 1h 45m flying	Indian nationals need a permit rather than a visa, issued on arrival
Tibet	Not directly. Via Kathmandu, or via mainland China	Two flights	There is no tourist land crossing from India into Tibet

Nepal
How
Fly Delhi, Varanasi or Kolkata to Kathmandu, or cross by land at Sunauli, Raxaul or Kakarbhitta
How long
1h 20m to 1h 45m flying, a full day by road
Notes
—
Bhutan
How
Fly Delhi, Kolkata or Bagdogra to Paro, or drive in at Phuentsholing
How long
1h to 1h 45m flying
Notes
Indian nationals need a permit rather than a visa, issued on arrival
Tibet
How
Not directly. Via Kathmandu, or via mainland China
How long
Two flights
Notes
There is no tourist land crossing from India into Tibet

When to come

When		What it is like
October to March	Best	The season for the north: Delhi, Rajasthan, Agra and Varanasi are clear and cool. December and January are genuinely cold and foggy in the morning, which delays flights and trains.
March	Best	Holi, and the reason to build a trip around a single date. Warm rather than hot, and the last comfortable month in Rajasthan.
April to June	Hard	The plains reach 45°C. It is also when the 30-day e-Visa costs USD 10 and when the Himalayan north, Ladakh and Sikkim, is at its best.
July to September	Hard	Monsoon. Kerala and the Western Ghats are wonderful in it; the Golden Triangle is humid and the Himalaya is landsliding.

October to March
What it is like
The season for the north: Delhi, Rajasthan, Agra and Varanasi are clear and cool. December and January are genuinely cold and foggy in the morning, which delays flights and trains.
Best
March
What it is like
Holi, and the reason to build a trip around a single date. Warm rather than hot, and the last comfortable month in Rajasthan.
Best
April to June
What it is like
The plains reach 45°C. It is also when the 30-day e-Visa costs USD 10 and when the Himalayan north, Ladakh and Sikkim, is at its best.
Hard
July to September
What it is like
Monsoon. Kerala and the Western Ghats are wonderful in it; the Golden Triangle is humid and the Himalaya is landsliding.
Hard

Money on the ground


Cards	Widely accepted in cities and at anything aimed at tourists. Cash for markets, autorickshaws and small towns.
ATMs	Everywhere. Withdrawal limits are low, often INR 10,000 a time, so expect several visits.
UPI	The country runs on it and it is now open to foreign visitors with an Indian SIM. Worth setting up if you are staying more than a fortnight.
Currency export	Taking Indian rupees out of the country is restricted, and INR 500 notes are not legal tender in Nepal. Spend down before you cross.
Tipping	Ten per cent in restaurants where service is not added. INR 500 to 1,000 a day for a driver on a private tour.

Cards
Widely accepted in cities and at anything aimed at tourists. Cash for markets, autorickshaws and small towns.
ATMs
Everywhere. Withdrawal limits are low, often INR 10,000 a time, so expect several visits.
UPI
The country runs on it and it is now open to foreign visitors with an Indian SIM. Worth setting up if you are staying more than a fortnight.
Currency export
Taking Indian rupees out of the country is restricted, and INR 500 notes are not legal tender in Nepal. Spend down before you cross.
Tipping
Ten per cent in restaurants where service is not added. INR 500 to 1,000 a day for a driver on a private tour.

Arriving

Delhi is the gateway for everything in this catalogue

Indira Gandhi International has the widest choice of long-haul routes in South Asia and it is ninety minutes from Kathmandu, four hours from the Taj Mahal and an easy connection to Varanasi. Every India and Nepal itinerary we run starts or ends there for those reasons and not for any other.

Flying between India and Nepal

Delhi to Kathmandu is one hour forty-five minutes on Nepal Airlines, IndiGo or Air India, several times a day. Varanasi to Kathmandu is a shorter hop and is the one that makes a Ganges-then-Himalaya itinerary work without doubling back. Kolkata to Kathmandu is the third option and the least frequent.

Crossing by land

Sunauli, near Bhairahawa, is the crossing for Varanasi and Lucknow. Raxaul, near Birgunj, is the one for Patna and Bodhgaya. Kakarbhitta in the east serves Darjeeling and Siliguri. All three are open daily, all three issue Nepali visas on arrival, and all three take considerably longer than the map suggests. Budget a full day and do not book anything for the evening.

Health and safety

No vaccination is required unless you are arriving from a yellow fever country, in which case the certificate is checked and enforced.
Typhoid, hepatitis A and tetanus are the standard travel-clinic recommendations. Rabies is worth discussing if you are going rural.
Drink sealed or filtered water and treat street food by how busy the stall is rather than how clean it looks. Somewhere with a queue turns its stock over.
Delhi's air quality between late October and January is genuinely poor and is a real consideration for asthma and other respiratory conditions. An FFP2 mask is not paranoid there.
Private hospitals in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai are excellent and are where insurance will send you. Keep the policy number somewhere that is not only on your phone.

Still not sure the paperwork works?

Tell us your passport and your dates and we will tell you plainly whether the trip is possible, before you have paid anything.

Ask us