India

Do South Africans need a visa for India?

Yes — but it’s done from your couch. South African passport holders apply for an e-Tourist visa entirely online; there’s no embassy visit for the standard tourist e-visa. Apply at least a few days before you travel, upload a photo and passport scan, pay online, and carry the printed approval to show on arrival.

The tourist e-visa comes in 30-day, one-year and five-year versions (each with rules on how long a single stay can be), so choose based on your trip. Use a passport valid six-plus months with blank pages. You can apply for the e-visa online here if you’d rather not navigate the government portal.

What it costs (in rand)

India is one of the cheapest countries you can travel — budget roughly R200–400 a day for comfortable budget-to-midrange travel, and you can spend far less. A thali or street-food meal costs almost nothing, guesthouses are cheap, and the train network moves you across the country for very little. Costs rise only with domestic flights, private drivers, and the nicer heritage hotels (which can still be a relative bargain). Your money goes a long way here.

When to go

India is huge and spans climates, but broadly the cool, dry months of October to March are the most comfortable for the classic north (Delhi, Rajasthan, the Taj Mahal). April to June is fiercely hot before the monsoon (roughly June–September) sweeps in. The Himalayas flip this — summer is the time to go north to Ladakh and the hill stations. Goa and the southern beaches are best in the November-to-February dry window.

Getting around

The railways are the way to travel India — vast, cheap and an experience in themselves; book ahead, especially in peak season. Domestic flights are inexpensive for long hops. In cities, the Uber and Ola apps take the negotiation out of taxis and auto-rickshaws. Hiring a car with a driver is affordable and sensible for regions like Rajasthan. Traffic is chaotic, so most travellers leave the driving to locals.

What to actually do

For a first trip, resist trying to “do India” — pick a region. The Golden Triangle (Delhi, Agra’s Taj Mahal, and Jaipur) is the classic intro, easily extended into Rajasthan’s forts and desert cities. The south is gentler: Kerala’s backwaters and beaches, the temples of Tamil Nadu. Go north to the mountains for Rishikesh, Ladakh and the foothills. Whatever you choose, the food alone — regional, varied and brilliant — is worth the trip.

Honest take

Nowhere gives a South African more travel for less money than India, and the e-visa makes entry straightforward. It’s intense, though — first-timers do best easing in with one region rather than a frantic countrywide loop. Apply for the e-visa a few days ahead, and land with a data eSIM so you can book trains and rides on the move. Sensible travel insurance is worth having here too.