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India is a vast and complicated land of many cultures, languages and traditions, so it can be hard to know where to start. Even for someone who has been there a few times, knowing where to start is difficult.
So here are some resources on India.

The Lonely Planet, love it or hate it, is a useful starting place and has loads of practical information such as highlights, costs and how to get around. It’s useful for planning an itinerary and getting estimates on how much it could cost and how long it’ll take. Remember, it’s not the Travel Bible, it’s just a very practical guide and it will serve you fine.

The website has many of the features you’ll find in their books. Useful for an overview of a place and practicalities, they also have the Thorn Tree, an active forum where you can post questions about India and are likely to get some answers.
Out of the main travel books it seems to be the most comprehensive website.

Rough Guides introduction to India at first glance appears to have little information but this is deceptive. Click on ‘explore India’ and you can read about what the states of India have to offer and once there you can find out more information about each state.
Rough Guides are well written and entertaining. They also provide a useful overview of the country.


Footprint produces some very good guides books but their website has only limited information on India and the forum is not active at the moment. Looks like they are catching up with Lonely Planet and The Rough Guide


Incredible India, the government’s tourist webpage, is an attractive website with lots of gorgeous photos. The information is divided in many ways, from types of holidays (adventure sports, well being, beaches, etc) to destinations. There’s a lot of practical information to. Some of the specific holiday options they highlight are probably the more expensive ones.

Definitely worth a look to get ideas on what to do in India.

The great thing about India is that English is widely spoken and written. Indians have provided some of the best reads in English over the last 100 years. If you want to read about Indian’s opinions on a range of subject, this is a comprehensive introduction to Indian Bloggers.


Indian Travel blog written by photojournalist Arun, the site contains beautiful photos and write ups on his trips around India. The photos really show India off to its best and can give a feel for destinations much better than just reading a guide book.

I’ve read ‘The age of Kali’, which delves deeper into stories of the present and the past. Many of the stories have a political and social view, which can shed some light on why things are as they are in India. Stories include political intrigue and corruption in India’s poorest state – Bihar, the status of women and include interviews with Imran Khan and Benazir Bhutto as well as a host of other intriguing characters. The author is William Dalrymple.

Salman Rushie has written some wonderful books that capture the magic of the India, including Midnight Children and Haroun and the Sea of Stories.