The Real Cost of Backpacking India On A Budget!

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What is the cost of backpacking India so you can plan your India backpacking budget??

This post was written after I had travelled North India for 2 months starting in Mumbai ending in Varanasi visiting 13 Cities/Towns in between all on a backpacker budget in India!

I knew India would be cheap, well, I assumed it would be cheap, and I knew my bank balance was going down quite slowly over the 2 months but even I was surprised when I realised just how much money I had spent travelling India for 2 months because it was not much at all!

In this post, I share exactly how much money I spent backpacking India for 2 months, what the general costs for accommodation, food, transport and activities are in North India and how to save even more money in India when backpacking India on a budget! 

Cost of Backpacking India

Best time to visit India

Before we get into this India travel blog, it’s worth thinking about the best time to visit India as the country get’s very hot and wet in the middle of the year. November to March are the best times to visit both North & South India.

South India will be warmer than North India in the winter months of December and January, Delhi and further North actually get cold in these months but are still enjoyable to visit with the right clothing.

Outside these months, you can still visit but you’ll find that the heat and humidity will be much higher, especially as you go further South.

In 2 Months Backpacking India I Spent = £1384!

Yes, that’s it! This includes everything to get me from Mumbai to Varanasi! I know! That’s not bad, is it?

And guess what? I could have done it even cheaper, this is how on a backpacking India budget:

Cost of Accommodation in India

My Costs:

I stayed mainly in private rooms on my own which meant I paid the whole cost myself because I was backpacking India solo. I did stay in a few hostel dorm rooms where private room costs were more or I wanted to meet people. Had I stayed in all hostel rooms I would have spent a lot less!

I paid about £10.00 per night for a private room on average in India. Some have been £8.00, others £12.00. Don’t get me wrong, not all of them have been nice, sometimes a cheap private room is worse than a dorm room in a decent hostel so keep that in mind for your cost of backpacking India! 

Costs for Backpacking India on a Budget:

If you’re on a budget in India you’ll be happy to know that India is fully set up these days for backpackers with so many hostels and really good quality hostels too!

Hostel dorm rooms start from £3.00 a night and these can be found all over Northern India. A dorm room costing £3.00 will be a mixed dorm with 6-8 beds and if you want a smaller dorm or a female dorm you’re looking at £4.00-£5.00. I paid £6.00 a night in Mumbai but accommodation is more expensive in Mumbai so expect this.

Private rooms in hostels can be quite expensive, up to £25.00+ a night so this is where you’ll have to look for a guest house instead to get a private room at a lower price, but if you’re a couple backpacking India or 2 friends then you can halve these prices which will help a lot! (Be sure to read to the bottom to see how much my friend and her boyfriend spent in one month in India!)

If you want a good hostel in India be sure to look out for the chains like Zostel, Backpacker Panda, Moustache and Madpackers.

Note: I’ve been booking all of my accommodation on Booking.com. I’ve used Booking.com for years and I’m now a genius member which means I do get discounts on a lot of my bookings and a few pounds off each stay really adds up, so I’d recommend using them around India! 

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• All My India City Guides and Tips

Cost of Food and Drink in India

My Costs:

Generally, I ate 2 meals a day in India, usually buying fruit for breakfast from sellers on the street from as little as 10p for 2 x banana’s and eating lunch and dinner out.

I started off my trip in Mumbai eating in very local places and paying 70p for Dosa and £1.50 for mixed curry and rice, so when I got to Rajasthan and saw curries for £1.80, rice for 80p and naan for 50p, I wasn’t too happy that my meals could cost up to £3.00. However, I soon worked out where to eat and what to order so I didn’t pay high tourist prices all of the time.

Generally, my meals cost between £1.20-£2.00. £2.50 got me a Western meal in a fancier cafe (which they have plenty of in India), and I rarely spent more than £3.00 in Northern India on just one meal.

I will say that the above total cost of backpacking India for me includes about only 5 beers, drinking was not a priority for me in India. Beers are not that cheap, or as cheap as you may think either- £2.00-£2.50 for a big bottle of King Fisher.

Drinks have varied. I’ve had a lot of chai from the streets for just 10p, but I’ve also spent £1.50 on a green tea in a chain coffee cafe just to get wifi. Generally a green tea, coffee, ginger lemon honey, cost about 60p each. I haven’t had many Lassi’s but these are 80p-£1.00.

I haven’t eaten really cheaply in India and I’ve been happy to pay more for food in a nice cafe, especially at lunchtime. I’m not a foodie though and like I said, most days have been just 2 meals a day with minimal snacks.

Costs for Backpacking India on a Budget:

Food in India can be really really really cheap if you stick to the local places and local Indian restaurants are pretty easy to find.

Places like Pushkar and Rishikesh may draw you into their fancier cafes with international menus which is where you will spend more (but still the costs above like me), and rooftops in Udaipur and Jodhpur will cost you more too, especially if you want to have a few beers.

I’d say you could spend as little as £5.00 on food in India per day or up to £9.00 quite easily if you eat out for all meals and eat whatever you want from a menu.

Cost of Activities in India

My Costs:

Daily costs for activities changed a lot for me in North India. Somedays they were quite high, for example on my first day in a city where I’ve wanted to see all of the must-see places I’ve paid for a tuk-tuk driver (around £6.00-10.00), entrance fee’s into a fort or palace plus into a museum or temple or something (anywhere from £4.00-£8.00 each). I have easily spent £20.00-£25.00 just on activities per day in India.

Other days though I haven’t spent any money or just a small amount like £2.00 on activities as I’ve walked around the city or town and not paid to get into places.

Costs for Backpacking India on a Budget:

If you decide to visit every tourist place in the cities in Northern India I can assure you that you will end up spending more money than you thought. A lot of places are worth visiting for sure but my biggest tip to budget your money in India and to keep in mind for the cost of backpacking India, but also not to burn out and get ‘over’ India is not to do everything!

See a few places in each city and spend the rest of your time walking about, checking out the street food, cafes and restaurants for good Indian food, and people watching from a rooftop above.

Cost of Transport in India

My Costs:

Trains are by far the best and easiest way to get around India and what I love about India is that I can book this myself, choose the time of day and choose the class which alters the price.

I only did 2 overnight trains in Northern India in 2 months, I went 2AC in both of them and they cost £26.00 for one and £12.00 for another.

Day Trains varied between £4.00-£10.00 for a journey of 2-8 hours. I have booked all AC Chair Car Day Trains but the one time I booked Second Seating as that was all that was available it cost me £1.50 for a 4-hour journey!

Tuk Tuk’s and Rickshaws are cheap in India too and there are plenty of taxies. I haven’t taken that many but often in big cities in Northern India it’s much more pleasant to get a tuk-tuk over walking a short distance because of the traffic and I haven’t held back on this or been too ‘tight’ and budget-conscious, I have spent money quite freely on transport in Cities.

Uber in Delhi and Mumbai is really cheap with a 20-minute journey costing just £1.00-£1.50!

Costs for Backpacking India on a Budget:

As I said above, the best thing about transport in India for backpackers and travellers is that you have so much choice! Trains and Buses are readily available and you can choose whether you go by local bus or tourist bus and trains can be chosen from 1AC, 2AC, 3AC & sleeper (sleeper is the lowest class) on overnight trains and AC Exec Chair, AC Chair Chair and Second Seating on Day Trains.

Of course, the prices also depend on availability (it is always good to book tickets in advance for the trains in India as they can get booked up very quickly due to the amount of Indians that travel) but when there is availability you can choose how much you want to spend on transport yourself by which class you go and which times.

Often for short journeys, there are day trains and overnight trains which take longer, this will save you a nights accommodation and probably be cheaper than a day train ticket if you are travelling India on a backpacker budget.

Backpacking India Budget – How Much You Need!

Hopefully, this has given you a good insight into how much it costs to backpack and travel around India but I know it’s hard to read these amounts and figure out how much you need!

I like to plan my spending costs in terms of months and I think that £750.00 for one month of travel in Northern India is totally enough as long as you have the ‘backpacker’ mindset and don’t go too crazy on accommodation.

My friend and her boyfriend travelled Northern India for 1 month and spent about £1500.00 between them, how good is that and pretty much the same as me on my own! They did a good amount of overnight train journeys which meant they saved on accommodation and of course they could spilt the private room accommodation charge and often shared meals too as the meals in India can be very big!

They took an internal flight and did have a few beers whilst here which is something I didn’t do but our costs worked out the same.

I think one of the best things about travelling India really is how cheap it is and it means you don’t always have to think about money or budget hard like so many other countries, it’s so freeing!

I thought about money in my 2 months in India of course and was careful not to spend too much on accommodation, on food, on entrance fee’s but I really didn’t compromise my trip for it and a lot of the time I was happy to splash money on things (like yoga classes and massages) and not even think about it, and I still spent way less than I thought I would!

(THIS IS BEING WORKED OUT BASED ON £1.00- 88.86RS. SINCE WRITING THIS THE EXCHANGE RATE HAS CHANGED SO CHECK THE CURRENT RATE)

Look out my other India-related Blog Posts

Here are my Blog Posts on where I visited in Northern India to help you plan your trip further:

• Agra – My Top Tips for Visiting the Taj Mahal!
• Amritsar – Tips for Visiting Amritsar’s Golden Temple and the Wagah Border Ceremony!
• Dharamshala – Dharamshala & McLeod Ganj Travel Guide for Travellers!
• Jaipur – The Best Way To See Jaipur aka The Pink City of India!
• Jodhpur – Incredible Homestay Experience in Rajasthan at Chhotaram Prajapat’s Homestay!
• Mumbai – Things To Do in Colaba and How To See Mumbai From Colaba!
• Rishikesh – Visiting The Beatles Ashram in Rishikesh!
• Pushkar – 12 Things Perfect For Backpacker To Do in Pushkar!
• Udaipur – Tips for Visiting Udaipur’s City Palace & Doing a Boat Trip Around Lake Pichola!
• Varanasi – 2 Day Itinerary for Varanasi – Will you love it or hate it?

• Now you’ll be set for your trip to India! Enjoy!
• See ALL My India Posts Here!
• See My India Adventure on YouTube Here!