Find a travel partner for India

What is worth sharing in India

• Rooms. Doubles are usually close to the price of a single, so sharing changes your budget noticeably.
• Private taxis and drivers for a day or a route, which is often the sane choice for longer stretches.
• A houseboat in Kerala, a jeep safari, a boat — the per-person price drops steeply with more people.
• Food. You can order far more dishes and try far more of a menu with company.
• The quiet stuff: watching luggage, keeping an eye out when one of you is sick, sharing a room when you need to rest.

When people go

The main season for most of the country is roughly October to March, when it is dry and cooler. The monsoon arrives around June and lasts into September in most regions, which does not make travel impossible but does change it. The mountains flip the calendar: Ladakh, Spiti and the high Himalaya are summer destinations, roughly June to September. Goa and Kerala fill up over the European winter, especially around December and January.

The two classic routes

Most first trips follow one of these, and both are easy to join for part of the way:

• North: Delhi, Agra, Rajasthan (Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Jaisalmer), then Varanasi, and often up to Rishikesh or the Himalaya
• South: Mumbai or Kochi, the Kerala backwaters, Goa or Gokarna, Hampi, and inland to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
• Many longer trips do the north in one season and the south in another, or add Nepal or Sri Lanka

Meeting a travel partner safely

Meet first in a public place in the city you both arrive in, and do a small thing together — a meal, a half day — before committing to a week. Keep your own room booking until you have met, and keep your own money and documents. Agree how you will split costs before you start, not after. In PlaneMate, every profile carries a visible trust level, face verification is optional, and you can block or report anyone.

Questions before take-off