India leaves no one indifferent. You either fall in love with it or hate it. Let’s be honest: India has stunning sights, nature, and ancient culture, but there are downsides to traveling there. This is why some people have doubts: Should I travel to India at all?
A trip to India gives a one-of-a-kind experience. You’ll travel not just through space, but also through time. By the way, even the Indian time zone is special. It differs from all the others by several hours and another half an hour.
When visiting India for the first time, be prepared to encounter things that may seem unusual, illogical, or strange. But if you stay open-minded, you’ll be richly rewarded. However, there are plenty of great reasons to visit India, regardless of your willingness to fully embrace its distinctiveness. The key is planning the trip thoroughly to ensure a memorable experience.
Ancient and Vibrant Culture
Why visit India? With a history spanning many thousands of years, India is a country like no other. The Greek historian Megasthenes, born in 350 BC, wrote about India in his works, but its history goes back even further, to the third millennium BC, when Ancient Greece was still in its infancy.
India’s history is difficult to date because the country has never placed importance on recording dates. In India, myth dominates, having no defined start or finish. Like the Indian gods, India is timeless, existing in an eternal state.
Visiting India, you can witness living history. Women wear the same sarees as their distant great-grandmothers. Religious holidays spill out onto the streets of cities and villages, and you will become a direct participant in them, whether or not you want it.
People pray to ancient gods in old temples and build new ones, from modern materials, but comply with age-old traditions. You are welcome to come in and join them.
Indian culture, rooted in antiquity, honors tradition while welcoming change. It respects homegrown wisdom yet absorbs foreign ideas, blending past and present in a vibrant tapestry.
The mixture of old and new is evident in everything. During rush hour in Jaipur, among the dense traffic, you will see cars, motorcycles, scooters, cycle rickshaws, as well as horse-drawn carts, pack elephants and camels.
Many cafes in South India serve food on palm leaves, like in the old days, using eco-friendly disposable tableware. Traditional Indian yogurt can be both in plastic packaging and also and in clay pots, which are supposed to be broken and thrown away after use.
At 5 o’clock entire India drinks chai – tea with milk and sugar. Now, after British rule, it has become an integral part of the local culture.
50 Shades of Bright – Choose Yours
India’s diversity astounds. Its multitude of languages, religions, and customs create a rich cultural mosaic unparalleled worldwide.
Country is a home for several hundred different nationalities. 447 different languages are spoken, not counting dialects. The inhabitants of India profess Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.
India became a unified country only recently. Historically, there were many principalities on the Hindustan Peninsula.
And now each Indian state is like a separate country. They speak their own languages and follow their own traditions. There are hardly any similarities between Kashmir and Kerala. Even the states located in the Himalayas are very different from each other. Uttarakhand has the most important Hindu shrines: Badrinath, Kedarnath, the Ganges’ source, and more. Ladakh and Sikkim are home to people related to the Tibetans and professing Buddhism.
While most of India was under British rule, little Goa was a Portuguese colony until 1961. Many Portuguese villas and other traces of the colonists are left here. The town of Pondicherry ceased to be a French colony in 1954, but people still play Pentanque on its streets. Chai, tea with milk and sugar, is popular on India’s streets. Meanwhile, in Madras, coffee, not tea, is served in the same small cups at the same stalls, and it’s delicious, by the way.
That’s why visiting India is like exploring many different countries. Just pick your destination.
Historical Monuments
India is a home to cave temples that have been preserved for centuries, abandoned ancient cities from the Vijayanagara era, and palace-fortresses built by the Great Mughals. The Taj Mahal is the most popular among these attractions, and everyone is familiar with its beauty from photos.
However, India has much more to offer beyond these famous landmarks. In fact, the country boasts 35 cultural monuments on the UNESCO World Heritage List. India ranks sixth in the world in the number of such places.
Even in pre-Aryan times, between 2600-1900 BC, India had cities with magnificent architecture. Unfortunately, conquerors destroyed them, and for a long time, buildings were made of brick and wood. The oldest cultural monuments that remain today date back to the 2nd-6th centuries AD, when Buddhism emerged and spread in Hindustan.
Later, from the 10th-14th centuries, India saw the creation of stunning Hindu architecture examples, which influenced the style of famous temples like Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Borobudur in Indonesia, and others.
Luckily, the Muslim invasion of India did not erase all cultural heritage. Instead, it left its mark on the monuments of Indo-Islamic architecture.
No matter the cultural monument’s period, it is a masterpiece. The skills of ancient architects, artists, and stone carvers are astounding.
The chaotic streets of Indian cities, filled with deafening noise and traffic jams, are overwhelming. The monuments leave a deep impression, creating a feeling as if time has stopped and all that is left is you and your thoughts.
India’s Nature Beauty
India is the seventh-largest country in the world by area. It lies in four major climate zones: from the snow-capped Himalayas in the north through the Thar Desert in the northwest to the tropical jungles of the south. The Bay of Bengal is to the southeast of the Indian subcontinent. The Arabian Sea is to the southwest.
Seven natural sites in India are included in the UNESCO Heritage List. This is not the full list of national parks in India, indeed. For lovers of wildlife in India, there are 573 wildlife sanctuaries covering an area of 123,762.56 km2, which is 3.76% of the geographical area of the country. Wild animals can be seen in various sanctuaries in India, including snow leopards, musk deer, elephants, rhinoceroses, Himalayan bears, Bengal tigers, Asiatic lions, Indian buffalos, leopards, gaurs, deer, wild boars, langurs, rhesus macaques and many, many more. Wildlife accompanies you at every step in rural India. Be careful; meeting a leopard or a bear during your evening walk is dangerous!
For those who are looking for privacy in the bosom of nature, the vast Himalayas region is the best choice. Here, you can enjoy mountain walks, stunning views, and trekking adventures. Similar experiences await in Rajasthan’s mountains and the Western Ghats, where the climate is warmer and the natural scenery is distinct.
If you don’t mind the humid tropical heat, boating along the Kerala Backwaters can be a great experience. Afterward, you can unwind on Kerala’s beautiful beaches.
The Andaman Islands are a corner of the world virtually untouched by civilization with white sandy beaches and azure water. Tourism here is almost undeveloped, but this is precisely the charm of these protected places.
For lovers of beach holidays with opportunities to relax in clubs, listen to music, and socialize, a holiday in the famous state of Goa is the best.
Yoga
Today, you can practice yoga anywhere, whether with a teacher or online. But practicing yoga in India is a special experience. Believe it or not, try it – you will feel a different quality in your practice.
The body warmed by Indian heat behaves completely differently. It is not for nothing that India is the birthplace of yoga.
Advanced practitioners often travel to India to study with well-known yoga teachers or at their schools, such as Pattabhi Jois’ yoga shala in Mysore or Iyengar’s yoga school in Pune. You can also find a good, though lesser-known, yoga teacher in popular tourist spots across India. Yoga classes perfectly complement Indian travel experiences, fitting in smoothly with resort stays and cultural explorations throughout the vibrant subcontinent.
Many people who practice yoga travel to India from all over the world to become qualified yoga teachers. The Yoga Alliance International diploma is recognized globally. Anyone can contact this organization, take their exams, and earn the right to teach yoga. A more popular and simpler way is to enroll in a yoga teacher training course in India, led by recognized masters who work with the Yoga Alliance. After completing the course, you can become a certified teacher.
Ayurveda
Another good reason to visit India is Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine. I’ve been using its services for a couple of decades now and I’m a huge fan of Ayurveda. I can confirm that it works!
This is the oldest system of medicine in the world, which appeared about 5,000 years ago. Over time, Ayurveda has built up a vast amount of practical experience, which has been continually summarized and analyzed.
Unlike Western medicine, Ayurveda takes a holistic approach. The patient’s individual characteristics, temperament, personal history, and lifestyle are all considered when making recommendations. A diet tailored to each person is highly valued in Ayurveda. Ayurvedic medicines are derived from herbs, fruits, roots, and minerals. The manufacturing process is complex, requiring handmade production to meet all the rules.
Authentic Ayurvedic drugs can only be found and purchased in India, as well as in Sri Lanka and Nepal.
In Ayurveda, cleansing the body plays a large role. Many people travel to India specifically to undergo Panchakarma, a special Ayurvedic procedure. Panchakarma’s minimum duration is three weeks. Typically, the first week involves daily massages that prepare the body for subsequent cleansing procedures. A doctor’s consultation is usually required to create a personalized plan, as is the case with Ayurveda in general. After completing all the procedures and the recovery period, people are often unrecognizable in their own reflection. They report feeling exceptionally healthy and energized. Panchakarma is indeed a rejuvenating procedure. As a direct result, you can expect increased immunity and excellent health.
Panchakarma is performed in Ayurvedic clinics all over India. However, Kerala stands out as the most popular destination for “Ayurvedic tourism”, attracting both local and foreign visitors. Known as the Ayurvedic state, Kerala is home to many small and large family clinics, where management is often passed down from father to son or daughter. It’s certainly appealing to spend three or four weeks undergoing procedures in a beautiful setting, like the seashore of “The Land of the Gods”.
Authentic Indian Food
You may already be familiar with Indian cuisine, but if you don’t, you will love it! Those famous curries, a variety of veggie dishes, and thick, creamy gravies seasoned with spices are very tasty. However, be careful, the real Indian food is very hot!
Indian cuisine is very diverse, and everyone can find something to their liking.
First of all, India is a real paradise for vegetarians. However, lovers of chicken, lamb, and the like will not be disappointed either. In the coastal regions, you can enjoy fresh fish and seafood.
Each region of India has its own cuisine with its own traditional dishes. The most popular dishes – curries, biryani, sambar, and palak paneer – are everywhere.
Traditional Indian everyday meal is thali. It’s a platter (or, as we already knew, a palm leaf) with several small bowls with different dishes. The thali must-haves are rice, chapati (Indian flatbread), lentils, vegetables, chutney (sweet and sour sauce), yogurt, pickles, papad (a cracker made from dried lentils), and a sweet dish. But the number of dishes in thali could be much bigger, even 50 or more. Of course, it’s not an everyday option.
Many tourists fall in love with dosa. It’s a thin pancake made of bean-rice flour, with a filling wrapped inside. It comes with a large selection of sauces.
The most delicious Indian food is the one cooked in a tandoori – a special spherical or jug-shaped oven. Flatbreads cooked in such an oven are called roti, but the name may vary depending on the region. You can bake anything in a tandoori, from pieces of vegetables or mushrooms to chicken and other meat products. India has tasty milk and dairy products. They are especially good at dahi – Indian curd – and paneer – a very tasty cottage cheese. I love scrambled eggs, and I have never tried such delicious eggs anywhere as in India.
These are just a few of the many reasons to visit India, a country with a rich and diverse culture, unique cultural attractions, historical treasures, and natural wonders. Plus, its original cuisine is a must-try. And that’s not all – there’s even more to discover in this amazing country, just waiting to be explored!