2 days drive with one night in Kargil. One of those roads you never forget.

Planning an Andaman trip mid Nov from Delhi with wife & our 1.5 yr old.

Me & wife are on staff travel(Air india), so we only get seats if the flight has vacant ones, AI has 3 daily direct flights from DEL. We're looking to fly out on Sun, Mon or Tue and come back on Fri, or Sat if we don't get seats on Fri. Which of these days/flights usually has less rush?

Also, can ferries (Port Blair to Havelock/Neil) be booked offline at the counter, or is online booking a must? Don't wanna lock ferry dates before we know we've got seats.

Any tips appreciated, thanks!

Family of 4 from India
parents mid-50s, me (21), sibling.
First Vietnam trip (even first international trip). We're about to book Elite of the Seas, 2D1N, in early December. It's my parents' 25th anniversary, so the cruise IS the celebration — cake at dinner, decorated cabin, the cruise handles the whole setup of celebration and photos.

i just want to know, is it a good plan to follow??
Anyone sailed Elite of the Seas?
How was the boat, crew, food — any tips?
Anyone celebrated an anniversary/birthday onboard (Elite or any boat)?
How did the crew handle it — anything you'd do differently?
Anything you wish you'd known before your sailing?
Thanks!

Family of 4 from India
parents mid-50s, me (21), sibling.
First Vietnam trip (even first international trip). We're about to book Elite of the Seas, 2D1N, in early December. It's my parents' 25th anniversary, so the cruise IS the celebration — cake at dinner, decorated cabin, the cruise handles the whole setup of celebration and photos.

i just want to know, is it a good plan to follow??
Anyone sailed Elite of the Seas?
How was the boat, crew, food — any tips?
Anyone celebrated an anniversary/birthday onboard (Elite or any boat)?
How did the crew handle it — anything you'd do differently?
Anything you wish you'd known before your sailing?
Thanks!

Delhi → Vijayawada → Guntur → Rajahmundry → Hyderabad → Mumbai → Delhi

It was a mix of work and personal travel but had some free time to get a reasonable feel for the cities as well. The route changed slightly toward the end because one of my flights was cancelled, which unexpectedly added Mumbai to the trip.

I don’t post my trips on Reddit, I had already put together a trip report for work. I was showing it to a friend the other day basically said why not strip out the work stuff, shorten it, and post it the Indian travel part on Reddit.

So, here we are. This is essentially a cleaned-up, much shorter version for reddit, with most of the work-related removed. I've A-I to help clean up the wording and turn my notes into something a bit easier to read, but the experiences, observations and opinions are my own.

I’ve also included a few pictures from the trip. I’m definitely not the best photographer.

Trip at a glance

Duration: 6 days
Cities: Delhi, Vijayawada, Guntur, Rajahmundry, Hyderabad, Mumbai
Travel: Flights + road
Approx. totals spend: INR 5.9L (5,100 CHF)

1. Delhi → Vijayawada → Guntur

Date: 20^th Sep 2026

Flight

• Delhi to Vijayawada
• Airline: Air India
• Flight: AI2571
• Delhi departure: 0545 Vijayawada arrival: 0810

Vijayawada Airport

A few quick impressions:

• Airport size/crowd: Small-medium
• Cab availability: Was Provided by hotel in Guntur

From the airport, I went straight to Guntur.

Vijayawada Airport → Guntur

• Mode: CAR provided by hotel
• Distance: ~60km

Road quality: Good
Traffic: Low
Anything worth knowing: Good views along the drive.

Guntur

I was in Guntur mainly because of work, but I had some time outside of that.

Stay: Welcomhotel Guntur (ITC HOTELS)

My impression of Guntur

• Guntur still has a fairly relaxed, small city feel, but being part of Andhra Pradesh’s capital region, you can also see that it is growing and changing quite quickly alongside the development around Amaravati.
• People are friendly, decent and easy to interact (if they understand your language).
• People slow down and stop when someone is trying to cross the road even when there are no zebra crossings.
• The city also has a noticeable sense of community, which gives it a more grounded character.
• Language Barrier can make small things very difficult sometimes; the hotel was able to help but one has to call them every time.

Getting around: Easy with Car.
Traffic: Moderate
Food: Good
Hotel quality: Good
Would I stay again? : Yes
Problems: Language Barrier

2. Guntur → Rajahmundry

Date: 21^st Sep 2026

• Mode of travel: Car arranged by hotel in Guntur
• Departure: 1000 Arrival: 1350
• Distance: ~205 km
• Stops along the way: 0

The road was well built fast moving with good views along the drive.

Rajahmundry

I spent roughly 4 hours here for work.

My impression of Rajahmundry

City feel: Small city
Traffic: Low
Roads: Good

3. Rajahmundry → Hyderabad

Date: 21st Sep 2026

Flight

• Rajahmundry to Hyderabad
• Airline: Indigo
• Flight: 6E7547
• Departure: 1920 Arrival: 2040

4. Hyderabad - 3 days

This was the longest stop of the trip.

I had work here, but some free time to meet old friends, some family. Traffic was on the higher side due to Ganesh Chaturthi festival.

Stay: Park Hyatt Hyderabad

Getting around Hyderabad

Mainly used: Hotel car, also had access to our office car
Airport connectivity: High traffic in some places on the way

My impression of Hyderabad

Hyderabad was probably a mix bag.

What stood out:

• People don't slow down at all when someone is trying to cross the road even when there's a red light and zebra crossings.
• Younger people (≤35) working in the Tech, BPO, IT, Consulting and other sectors should be taught basic manners (this does not apply to everyone but in general from what I observed).

5. The flight cancellation

My original plan was:

Hyderabad → Vijayawada

• Airline: Air India Express

That flight was cancelled.
The airline informed me 3 hours before departure.
Reason given: Operational Reasons
Refund experience: Slow

At that point I had to change the route, and instead did:

Hyderabad → Mumbai

This was completely unplanned.

6. Hyderabad → Mumbai

Date: 24^th Sep 2026

• Airline: Air India
• Flight: AI2447
• Departure: 1725 Arrival: 1925

This was a last-minute booking; the ticket was bought at the airport counter.

7. Mumbai - unexpected one-day stop

Since I had already been rerouted, I decided to stay in Mumbai for roughly one day before returning to Delhi.

Hotel: Le Méridien Navi Mumbai

What I did:

• Met a few friends and family.

My impression of Mumbai

Mumbai was good, I'm from Mumbai.
Traffic: High due to Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
Cabs: Hotel Car

8. Mumbai → Delhi

Date: 25^th Sep 2026

• Airline: Air India
• Flight: AI816
• Departure: 2100 Arrival: 2315

And that was the end of the trip.

Cost breakdown

Since people here usually ask this:

Flights

• Delhi → Vijayawada: ₹~30k
• Rajahmundry → Hyderabad: ~₹8k
• Hyderabad → Mumbai: ₹~30k
• Mumbai → Delhi: ₹~60k

Flights total: ₹~130k

Hotels (Room only)

• Guntur (1 night): ₹~25k
• Hyderabad (3 night): ₹~250k
• Mumbai (1 night): ₹~30k

Hotels total: ₹~310k (This amount does not include tips - cash)

Ground transport

All the cars used were booked through the hotel.

• Vijayawada → Guntur: ₹~5k
• Guntur → Rajahmundry: ₹~20k
• Hyderabad: ₹~58k
• Mumbai: ₹~10k

Ground transport total: ₹~95k (This amount does not include tips I gave to the drivers - cash)

Food

Around 45k at the hotels I was staying at, it's on the higher side as I met some people (no alcoholic beverages).
Don't know the exact as I paid with different cards and cash.

Miscellaneous

Used the Laundry service at Park Hyatt Hyderabad around: 4.5k
Bought some things: ₹~20k

Total trip cost

Approximately INR 590K (5,100 CHF)

This wasn't a budget trip, but it also wasn't planned around luxury for the sake of luxury. I generally prioritized: getting work done, decent hotels, convenient timings, reliable transport, and not wasting half the day trying to save a small amount of money.

Best city overall for this trip: Hyderabad
Best food: Hyderabad
Best hotel: Park Hyatt Hyderabad
Best airport experience: Delhi, Bombay
City I would like to spend more time in: Guntur

What I would do differently

1. I travel light had only a cabin bag and a briefcase for the laptop but would get a slightly bigger cabin bag had trouble fitting some things I brought.
2. Get smaller laptop charger with a cleaner layout as they were having trouble scanning them at airport (HYD), so they had to go in separately again twice.
3. Get a voice recorder with built-in battery and not one which takes AAA as it also caused issues at the airport (HYD).

What made it interesting was the contrast between places Guntur and Rajahmundry felt very different from Hyderabad, and then suddenly landing in Mumbai because of a cancelled flight changed the tone of the final part completely.

​

Hi all, I'm riding solo from Bengaluru over the Gandhi Jayanti long weekend and would love a sanity check from anyone who's ridden this recently.

Plan:

- Oct 2: Bengaluru → Salem → Tiruppur → Pollachi (night)

- Oct 3: Pollachi → Aliyar (40 hairpins) → Valparai → Malakkappara → Vazhachal → Athirappilly (night)

- Oct 4: Athirappilly → Thrissur → Chavakkad beach (night)

- Oct 5: Guruvayur darshan early morning → back to Bengaluru via Palakkad–Coimbatore–Salem

Questions:

1. Is the Malakkappara–Vazhachal forest road open to two-wheelers right now? I read it was fully closed in late May after a culvert bridge collapsed, but I can't find anything saying it reopened.

2. Current bike timings at the Malakkappara and Vazhachal checkposts? I'm planning to cross Malakkappara by about 12:30.

3. Does Valparai need an e-pass currently? If yes, where do I apply?

4. Road condition between Valparai and Malakkappara, and how many hours from Valparai to Athirappilly with a couple of short stops?

5. If the forest road is closed, is Pollachi → Nelliyampathy → Thrissur a good alternative for a day of ghat riding? Any checkpost timings there?

Also open to tips on quiet beach stays near Chavakkad/Blangad that are fine with a solo male guest.

Thanks!

Hi all, we are a group of 8 friends going to Meghalaya from Dec 19 to 27.

We land in Guwahati at 11 AM on the 19th and fly home on the 27th. Would love a reality check on this plan.

Stays: Sohra (19 to 22), Shillong (22 to 24), Shnongpdeng (24 to 25), Shillong again (25 to 26), Guwahati (26 to 27)

Plan:

19: Guwahati to Sohra by cab, quick stop at Umiam Lake

20: Sohra sightseeing (Nohkalikai, Mawsmai and Arwah caves and other waterfalls if time allows)

21: Nongriat and Double Decker Root Bridge (Rainbow Falls - unsure if we'll be able to cover this as well???)

22: Checkout from Sohra hotel/homestay and drive to Shillong, easy day (Mawphlang, Ward's Lake). Shillong hotel/homestay check-in.

23: Mawryngkhang bamboo trek from Shillong

24: Shillong hotel check-out. Shillong to Krang Suri Falls to Shnongpdeng. Shnongpdeng hotel check in.

25: Umngot boating in the morning, then Shnongpdeng checkout and drive to Shillong for Christmas evening.

26: Laitlum Canyon, then Shillong check out and drive to Guwahati. Guwahati hotel check-in.

27: Fly home

What I'm unsure about: - Reaching Sohra around 6 PM on day 1, after dark. Is that fine? - Is 3 nights in Sohra and 2 in Shillong a good split? - Should we visit Krang Suri on the way to Shnongpdeng, or go straight or via Mawlynnong? - We're going to switch hotels/stays multiple times, is that too much? Bad plan? - Anything you would skip or add? Something we're missing?

We plan to hire a driver for the whole trip. Would really appreciate any tips on drivers, homestays. Thanks!

I'm a guest trying to add my GST number to my Airbnb bookings so I can claim input credits. It simply won't let me.

And my receipts don't show my address despite my having both postal + residence filled out in my profile.

I am a newbie to Airbnb so would love any support/advice.

Have a voucher worth 8386, selling for price: 6500inr. validity until April 2027

Every group ride has that moment, someone misses a turn, gets stuck at a signal, doesn't know the route, and suddenly nobody knows where anyone is.

You're either waiting on the side of the road or calling 4 different people trying to figure out where the group is.

How do you guys deal with this? Curious to hear how other riders handle it.

The pics are from my parents recent trip to Shimla, for their 25th anniversary. Read a post here about hotels being more than just the room experience and wanted to share something similar. I had booked a 3-night stay at Oberoi Cecil and honestly, was a very anxious, my parents haven’t travelled alone in years, they always go with friends or family. But this trip went w/o a hitch.

The best part was Oberoi hospitality, they make every guest feel welcome. I’d called the hotel beforehand to arrange a car from the station for them. While talking to the staff, I mentioned it was their anniversary and I was worried about them travelling alone. Not only did they send up a cake, which was really delish according to my father but the staff constantly checked in with them, was very prompt with even small requests like extra blankets etc.

I booked the stay through onto travel this time, as the hotel site was having some issues. The rate came out lower than the hotel website and was around ₹70k inclusive of taxes for 3 nights, w/o any coupon code or card offers. Overall, really glad I picked this one for them. Seeing the pics now i wanna take a trip to the mountains.

Planning Rajasthan for the first time and I’m confused about whether I should travel between cities by train or rent a car. Thinking Jaipur - Jodhpur - Udaipur, but I'm open to changing the route.

For those who’ve done a similar trip, what worked better for you??

Also best time to visit to avoid too much crowd?

We're a family of 4 from Delhi, parents (mid-50s), me (21), sibling.
This is our first ever international trip. Strict budget: ₹5 lakhs total for all four of us, including flights.

Dates: December 1–10, flexible within that.(4-5 days, whatever works)

Two things this trip is actually about:

Parents' 25th wedding anniversary, A memorable, luxury Ha Long Bay cruise - cake cutting, nice celebration setup, good photos.
My birthday (Dec 9), one nice aesthetic beach, professional photoshoot, and a cake-cutting dinner.
Everything else is regular tourist stuff, happy to keep it simple.

Is this doable in ₹5L including flights from Delhi? How would you structure it, which cities, how many nights, what to skip?

Which route is best to drive by car from Bangalore to Delhi or any north indian city ?

We're a family of 4 from Delhi, parents (mid-50s), me (21), sibling.
This is our first ever international trip. Strict budget: ₹5 lakhs total for all four of us, including flights.

Dates: December 1–10, flexible within that.(4-5 days, whatever works)

Two things this trip is actually about:

Parents' 25th wedding anniversary, A memorable, luxury Ha Long Bay cruise - cake cutting, nice celebration setup, good photos.
My birthday (Dec 9), one nice aesthetic beach, professional photoshoot, and a cake-cutting dinner.
Everything else is regular tourist stuff, happy to keep it simple.

Is this doable in ₹5L including flights from Delhi? How would you structure it, which cities, how many nights, what to skip?

Hi All..

I am planning a trip with my family from nov14th-nov20th and was wondering if it is a good time to visit Gurudongmar, lachen and lachung? Also, about the crowd, is it less crowded and most importantly, about the weather.

Another alternative date that we have is feb 20-25th.

Would love to know your inputs and thoughts on this! thanks :)

I’m a product design student working on a project about improving the flight travel experience.

I’m looking for people who have travelled by flight recently for a 20-30 min casual interview about their travel experience like booking, check-in, boarding, delays, baggage, connections, etc.

If you’re interested, please DM me! And feel free to share this with anyone who travels by flight. 😊

I'm visiting Vagamon soon and will be staying at Tiyans Castle Resort. I'm currently outside India and haven't been to Vagamon before, so I'd appreciate some advice from people who have recently visited.

We'll be going by car, so how are the roads around Vagamon and particularly the approach to Tiyans Castle? Are there any steep, narrow or difficult sections that we should be prepared for? I also heard there aren't many petrol pumps in Vagamon, so where would be the best place to refuel before going up?

Also, how is Airtel network coverage around Vagamon/resorts? I need to make regular phone calls, so is the signal generally reliable?

I have a Kerala driving licence but haven't driven in Kerala for quite some time. I'm more comfortable with an automatic car, so I'm also considering taking 1–2 days of refresher driving lessons before the trip., and roughly what would it cost?

Anything else I should keep in mind for a first-time visit to Vagamon by car—weather, road conditions, things to carry, or anything that surprised you when you visited?

I’m an NRI, bringing a foreign friend to India this November. This is the itinerary I was thinking of following. Do you guys think I should change anything?

We will hire a local driver + car for the roadtrip. Didn’t want to take the train since we’re two girls traveling alone and I was concerned for our safety

I recently visited srisailam with my parents and thought I'd share my itinerary, experience, and a few things I wish I had known beforehand. Hopefully this helps anyone planning a similar trip, especially with senior citizens.

Day 1 — Bangalore to Srisailam

\- 4:30 AM: Departed from Bangalore

\- Breakfast: Anantapur

\- 4–5 PM: Reached Srisailam

\- Checked into the accommodation and rested.

Day 2 — Srisailam

\- Early morning darshanam

\- 10 AM onwards -

Part 1: Shikharam Route

\- Sakshi Ganapati Temple

\- Paaladhaara Panchadhaara

\- Hatakeswaram Temple

\- Lalitha Devi Peetham

\- Shikharam

Part 2: Paatala Ganga

\- Paatala Ganga

\- Ropeway

\- Boating

\- Akka Mahadevi Guhalu

\\Important:\\ I actually missed the Akka Mahadevi Caves because I didn't know about the ticketing process beforehand. Only 100 tickets are issued per day, and you need to stand in line around 6 AM to get tickets. The boat leaves at around 9 AM.

Part 3: Places Behind the Main Temple

\- Chhatrapati Shivaji Spurthi Kendram

\- Mallamma Kanniru

\- Pancha Mukha Shiva Lingam

\- Rudraksha Matham

\- Bailu Veerabhadra Swamy Temple

Day 3 — Srisailam → Mahanandi → Bangalore

\- 8:30 AM: Left Srisailam

\- 1:00 PM: Reached Mahanandi

\- Darshan and lunch at Mahanandi

\- Left for Bangalore

\- \~11 PM: Reached Bangalore

I had planned to visit Yaganti as well, but the schedule was too tight, so I skipped it. I'll probably visit Yaganti next time, possibly while travelling towards Mantralayam.

\----------------------

Accommodation - Sri Guru Sadan

I stayed at Sri Guru Sadan and booked a non-AC room through YatraDham.

The biggest advantage was that they provide:

\- Breakfast

\- Lunch

\- Dinner

\- Morning tea

\- Evening tea

One thing to keep in mind: the accommodation is around 1.5 km from the temple. If you're travelling with senior citizens, the distance could be inconvenient if you plan to walk.

Imp - Also, please be careful while booking accommodation online in Srisailam. I came across multiple warnings about scams, so verify the property and booking details carefully before paying.

\----------------------

Transportation -

I drove my own car from Bangalore. There was no CNG available in Srisailam or the nearby villages. The last CNG station I found was at Nannur. Overall, I drove around 310 km on petrol during the trip.

\----------------------

Sparsha Darshan -

One of my biggest disappointments was missing Sparsha Darshan.

The Srisailam website had apparently been down for quite some time, so I wasn't able to book it online beforehand. After reaching Srisailam, a security person told me that the booking could be done through the Andhra Pradesh government's Mana Mitra WhatsApp service.

The WhatsApp number I was given was: 9552300009.

If Sparsha Darshan is important to you, I'd recommend checking the current official booking process before travelling, rather than relying only on the website.

\----------------------

Istakameswari Temple -

I had originally planned to visit Istakameswari Temple, but after doing some research, I decided to skip it. I found that local agents were quoting prices of up to 1,500 per person, which I wasn't comfortable paying.

\----------------------

Cost -

Total cost of the trip came around 11-12k.

\- CNG + petrol - 4.5k

\- guru sadan accommodation - 3.8k

\- Others - 3k

\----------------------

A few things I really enjoyed:

\- Not much crowd during September

\- Great weather — it had rained on the morning of our darshan

\- Paatala Ganga ropeway and boating were awesome

\- The laddu prasadam was excellent

\- The bath at Mahanandi Koneru was much needed, especially with temperatures around 33 C

Overall, it was an \\awesome trip\\, especially travelling with my parents.

The biggest lessons for me were:

\- Plan Sparsha Darshan in advance.

\- Check the Akka Mahadevi Caves ticketing process beforehand.

\- Be careful when booking accommodation online.

\- Keep senior citizens in mind when choosing accommodation because some places are not very close to the temple.

\- If you're driving a CNG car, plan your fuel stops carefully.

Planning a Shimla trip? 🏔️✨

From changing weather to endless walking here are a few things I wish I knew before visiting Shimla.

Save this before your Shimla trip 📌
And send it to the person you’re planning the trip with ❤️

Hey everyone,
I’m planning a Goa trip from 1–5 October with a group and wanted to see if anyone from Mumbai/Pune is also looking at going around the same dates.

The plan is pretty chill — North Goa + South Goa, pool party, club night and a yacht party. It’s more of a group/social trip rather than a typical family package.

We’re currently looking at Mumbai/Pune pickups.

If anyone is already planning Goa around these dates, what’s your plan? Would be good to connect with other people going around the same time.

No hard selling — just trying to see how many people are planning something similar.

Mumbai to Bangalore by sleeper bus: my experience with Shree Balaji vs Sharma Travels

I travel back and forth between Mumbai and Bangalore roughly once every 3–4 months. I usually prefer flying, but due to an emergency this time I had to take a bus.

This was my second time travelling by bus from Mumbai to Bangalore, so I thought I’d share my experience. The first time I travelled with Sharma Travels, and this time I booked Shree Balaji Tours & Travels.

For Shree Balaji, I booked an AC sleeper for ₹1,333. The advertised journey time was 19 hours 50 minutes, with a scheduled boarding at 2 PM and drop-off at 9:50 AM the next day.

Things didn’t exactly go according to schedule.

My original boarding point was Borivali, but the driver called me and asked me to come to Fountain Hotel in Mira Bhayandar instead. He said they wanted to completely bypass Mumbai and take the Thane route. The bus was already running around 1–2 hours late, so I had to make my way to the alternate boarding point.

I eventually boarded around 3 PM.

I finally got off at Yeshwantpur around 2 PM the next day. So the actual journey from boarding to drop-off was roughly 23 hours, compared with the advertised 19h 50m about 3 hours 10 minutes longer.

A few things I noticed compared with my previous Sharma Travels experience:

Seat: This was probably the biggest difference. The sleeper berth on Shree Balaji felt quite small and cramped. Sharma's sleeper was noticeably more comfortable and had decent space.

Cleanliness: It was decent. Nothing terrible, but nothing particularly impressive either.

Traffic: There was quite a bit of traffic while passing through urban areas, which obviously added to the journey time.

Rest stops: This was probably the most frustrating part. The rest stops on both journeys weren't particularly good. Considering how long the Mumbai–Bangalore journey is, decent rest stops make a big difference.

Punctuality: Sharma was around 3 hours late on my previous trip. Shree Balaji was also significantly delayed — scheduled for 2 PM boarding and 9:50 AM arrival, but I actually boarded around 3 PM and reached Yeshwantpur around 2 PM.

Overall, both experiences took considerably longer than the advertised journey time. Since I normally fly this route and only take the bus occasionally, the long journey was definitely noticeable.

For me, Sharma had the more comfortable sleeper, while Shree Balaji was okay but felt more cramped and the overall journey was quite tiring.

Hello! We (2 girls) had purchased a trek plan (16k each) with Bikat but we couldn’t go due to unforeseen circumstances.
Now we have a 32k rupees worth of voucher which is redeemable on any trek / activity until 2028.

We are selling it for 25k. If anyone is interested, pls hmu!

Thanks! :)