One Life Adventures India Classic tour: An honest review

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I first visited India back in 2019 during my first year of full-time solo travel, and while I certainly loved the trip, navigating the chaos as a young woman travelling alone was… a lot 🙃

Fast forward five years and an opportunity arose to go back and explore with ready-made travel buddies on a small group tour, and it was an immediate yes from me!

The One Life Adventures India Classic tour was my fourth trip with One Life (after the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Japan) and it completely reinforced what I already knew: small group tours are a brilliant option for solo travellers, especially somewhere as full-on as India.

Over two weeks we zoomed through chaotic cities in colourful tuktuks, became dahl makhani connoisseurs, ticked off iconic India rites of passage I’d never do as a solo gal (overnight train, looking at you 👀), ziplined around a 15th century fort, had our birth charts read by an esteemed Vedic astrologer who told me my love life was doomed because of Mercury’s placement in the sky when I was born, and managed to see a decent chunk of North India’s major highlights with the safety and comfort that only comes with having a legendary local guide and like-minded tour mates. Phew!

If you’re thinking about booking a spot on the One Life Adventures India Classic tour, here’s everything you need to know to figure out if this trip is right for you.

Disclosure: I partnered with One Life to provide coverage of this tour, but they have no editorial control of this review and (as always) all opinions are my own and are based on my personal experience.

A summary of the One Life Adventures India Classic tour

About One Life Adventures: One Life Adventures run small group adventure tours for 18-40ish year olds, with a focus on cultural immersion, transformative travel and actually experiencing a destination rather than just ticking off tourist spots. This was my fourth tour with them (Philippines, Sri Lanka, Japan and now India) so it’s safe to say I’m a fan.

India Classic itinerary: 12 days/11 nights starting in Delhi, covering the Golden Triangle (Delhi, Agra and Jaipur) before heading deeper into Rajasthan to Pushkar, Udaipur and Jodhpur, with an overnight train back to Delhi at the end. They also offer a shorter 6-day India Snapshot tour which ends in Jaipur if you’re pressed for time.

Our tour was actually 14 days and included Bikaner after Jodhpur but we were the last departure of this itinerary before they switched to 12 days (and I personally prefer the 12 day trip, I think dropping Bikaner was probably due to traveller feedback).

Tour accommodation: Pretty basic but what you’d expect for this price point in India. Local hotels and traditional havelis, spacious rooms but often minimal natural light, very firm mattresses (apparently this is a thing here!), hot water was hit and miss, some had elevators but hotel staff always took care of luggage if there wasn’t one. If you’re travelling alone they’ll pair you with another solo traveller of the same gender, or you can upgrade to a private room for 10 nights out of 11 (the overnight train is in a shared carriage).

Tour guide: Our local guide, Abhi, was nothing short of a superstar. His English was perfect, he seemed to know everyone everywhere which is impressive in a country of 1.4 billion people, he kept everything running smoothly during our group activities and had lots of helpful suggestions for our free time.

What was the group like: 14 of us for the first six days (some just did the India Snapshot), then 9 of us who continued on the full India Classic tour. Age range was 24 to 42, with mostly solo travellers but also some couples and two friends travelling together, hailing from the UK, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, USA, Australia and NZ.

Included activities: One of my faaavourite things about One Life tours is that loads of activities and entrance fees are baked into the tour price, so you’re not constantly paying for unmissable experiences or agonising over pricey optional add-ons. The India Classic trip includes things like a street food tour, fort visits, temple trips, a lake cruise, a cooking class, market tours and even a Bollywood movie!

Free time: With included orientation walks in every stop the trip does run at a fairly quick pace, but there were at least a few hours of downtime in each location for your own sightseeing or for a nap 💤

All you need to know about One Life Adventures

Who are One Life Adventures?

If you’ve followed my travels for a while then you’ll already know who One Life Adventures are, but if you’re new here let me explain.

They’re an award-winning small group tour operator running epic trips across Asia, Central America and North Africa, with groups capped at 22 people maximum (but all of my tours have been 9-16 people).

The majority of their guests are solo travellers but I’ve always had one or two couples and some duos or trios of friends on tour, and itineraries are designed for travellers from 18 to 40-somethings (or the young at heart) with the average age generally sitting between late 20s and mid 30s depending on the trip.

They have a few different tour styles depending on your budget and time: short and sweet Snapshots (4-7 days) which are usually segments of the longer tours, Classics (their OG tours, 10-15 days), Essentials (budget-friendly with fewer inclusions) and Expeditions (18+ days for in-depth exploration).

They’re also committed to responsible tourism in a way that feels natural and organic rather than feeling like a tokenistic tick box. Itineraries prioritise public transport wherever possible (an experience in India haha), include visits to community projects like Sheroes Hangout Cafe in Agra which is run by acid attack survivors, and guides are upfront about destination-specific ethical issues like why you shouldn’t give money to street kids, ride elephants to the forts or pay for monkey photos.

Of course it’s always up to the travellers whether they choose to follow those guidelines, but I love that One Life guides don’t shy away from those sometimes-awkward conversations.

Why visit India with One Life Adventures?

First of all, One Life Adventures is one of the top-rated operators globally on TourRadar with an average 4.9/5 rating from more than 11,000 reviews 🤯

And in terms of India specifically, their previous 14-day North India Classic itinerary (the tour I did, just before the itinerary changed) garnered an average 4.8/5 from 220+ reviews on TourRadar and the current 12-day North India Classic itinerary boasts 4.9/5 on TourRadar at the time of writing. Reviews are gospel in travel!

Some other reasons why this One Life tour is perfect for India:

An honest review of the 12-day India Classic tour with One Life Adventures

Where does the tour go?

This trip dives right into the deep end with two nights in the most hectic part of India, the chaotic capital of Delhi, before a local (air-conditioned) train to Agra for a whirlwind afternoon of sightseeing and an overnight stay.

Day 4 is a bus to Jaipur for two nights, day 6 is when the India Snapshot crew says goodbye and the India Classic adventurers continue on to Pushkar for a night.

Day 7 takes you to Udaipur with a full day there on day 8, day 9 is a bus to Jodhpur with a full day for exploring on day 10, then it’s an overnight train (which was actually super fun as a group!) to Delhi for a free day, family dinner at night and departure on day 12.

Highlights from our One Life India tour

I’m a chronic oversharer so I’ve written a diary-style day-by-day tour review further down this blog post, but if you’re just wanting to know the best bits of the trip then here you go!

P.S. Everything here is included in the tour unless specified otherwise.

What was the tour group like?

Your crew can absolutely make or break any group tour, but let me give you a quick backstory.

In 2023 I did a Sri Lanka One Life trip and met a bunch of fellow solo travellers who bonded quickly and deeply over our love for far-flung adventures, local food and bucket list moments, and now we have an annual reunion somewhere new. Year 2 was Japan, year 3 was India, year 4 we’re hoping for South Korea 🌸

Three of us from the OG Sri Lanka tour met up for the India trip (a few others had already been to India), another addition joined us from the Japan tour, one brought his girlfriend and one brought a friend from home. It sounds cliché but I am being 100% genuine when I say that these tours have given me lifelong travel buddies.

For the first six days there were 14 of us, with two couples, two friends travelling together and the rest of us solo. Five people dropped off on day 6 (they were doing the India Snapshot tour) and nine continued for the rest of the trip, which was one couple, the duo and five solo.

By the end of the full tour we felt more like a ragtag extended family who live in different continents rather than a tour group of strangers ❤️

What was the tour guide like?

Abhi deserves a proper shout out, because he made navigating India with a group of not-used-to-India travellers look easy, and I am CERTAIN that it’s not.

He stopped traffic for us to cross the road, expertly delegated group dinner plate arrivals and organised a ‘bus bazaar’ for us to pretty much swipe left or right on souvenirs from the comfort of air con, rather than making us deal with the chaos of vendors at the fort entrance. Genius.

Our trip went off fairly smoothly overall but there were some minor medical and logistical issues which Abhi helped to sort out, including finding me a private driver for an intercity journey when a migraine decided to hit right before a 5am departure for a six hour bumpy public bus ride.

He was also super knowledgeable about India’s history, culture and politics, had endless recommendations for food and drink in our free time, and invited us all to his niece’s wedding (which was unfortunately a few weeks after our tour finished but trust me when I say I set up a price alert on those flights).

What was the vibe and pace of the tour?

It felt a bit like a tale of two tours from a pace perspective.

The first six days are pretty much non-stop to make sure the shorter India Snapshot guests maximise their time on the ground, with in-depth orientations of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur as well as iconic landmarks and opportunities for local food.

From day 7 onwards it eased up a bit, there were still early morning departures for trains or buses but we typically had a few hours of free time in the afternoons in each destination to do our own thing or to catch up on sleep.

As always with India though, transport doesn’t always run to schedule! One of our trains was delayed due to fog which ate up our Agra downtime, and traffic can cause chaos for both public buses and private transfers.

In terms of vibe, it was authentic and adventurous without being extreme.

You don’t need to be super fit but you do need to be comfortable with walking on uneven surfaces, dealing with busy crowds and lots of noises from all directions, and a level of unpredictability that’s just a part of the India experience.

I will say that the environmental overstimulation is at a whoooole other level to anywhere else I’ve been, and I felt this more on the tour vs. when I was in India solo with a private driver and private guides.

As someone who typically travels solo and wears noise-cancelling headphones almost 100% of the time I’m in public, being exposed to the car horns, tuktuk engines, vendors trying to get your attention, dogs barking, our guide explaining something that’s probably important, and a million other sounds happening all at once had me sitting at 99.9% of my capacity for sensory input.

If you’re sensitive to this kind of thing like me then I’d highly recommend getting some Loop earplugs to just dull the intensity of the sounds around you when you’re doing a walking tour! One of our tourmates had some and kindly let me use them when we were walking through Jodhpur’s old town and she saw I had my fingers plugging my ears like a toddler haha, I swear I was one car horn away from a meltdown 🙃

What was the accommodation like?

All of our stays were simple 3* hotels or traditional havelis with twin or double rooms, and overall they were functional rather than fancy.

If you haven’t travelled much in South Asia before then this is where you need to adjust your expectations the most, because accommodation standards in India are based on different priorities than what most Western travellers would be looking for.

Firm mattresses are the norm (believed to be better for your back!), windows are often small to keep out heat, dust and pollution, and bathrooms tend to be open wet rooms without shower doors or curtains. I actually loved the firm beds (I despise a squishy mattress) but if you’re not this way inclined then you might want to ask for extra duvet inners to provide additional padding.

Most hotels had kettles but not much else in the way of in-room amenities, WiFi was inconsistent so get an eSIM if you need to be connected, hot water was hit and miss, and while most of our hotels were in calmer areas or tucked down side streets away from the chaos, India is never truly quiet and more than once I was woken up at 4am by dogs barking. Nothing earplugs won’t fix though!

Keep in mind that accommodation is subject to change so you might not get these exact properties, but here’s a quick review of our stay in each place:

What was the transport like?

A real mix, with private as well as public transport, on trains, buses, minivans and tuktuks.

In Delhi we used the metro (great to experience it with a guide first, now I’d feel totally comfortable doing it solo) as well as rickshaws, we caught a train to Agra in the air conditioned chair class (a.k.a. CC) which was more comfortable than I expected and included breakfast, and then we had a private minibus to get around Agra efficiently.

From Agra to Jaipur we took a public bus (also better than I expected), mostly used tuktuks around Jaipur, then it was back to a private minibus for the journey to Pushkar and then to Ajmer the following day to catch a train to Udaipur. This train was also meant to be air con CC, but the air con stopped working for a couple of hours which was nottttt ideal. Our Udaipur hotel was super central so we could walk everywhere for those two days.

From Udaipur to Jodhpur it was another public bus which I missed because I had a migraine, so I got a private driver instead. $80USD was well worth it for an extra four hours of sleep and a more comfortable journey, especially after the rest of the crew told me the bus driver basically sat on the horn for the entire trip.

From Jodhpur you catch an overnight train to Delhi, in an open carriage with three bunk beds facing another three bunk beds, air conditioning, sheets and pillows provided. Honestly not that dissimilar to the six-berth couchette layout in older European sleeper trains, except that the whole carriage is open rather than each little section having a door.

What food was included?

The 12-day India Classic trip includes five breakfasts, two lunches and five dinners, a mix of hotel meals, local restaurants, food tours and a cooking class.

Abhi always had convenient recommendations for meals in our free time and we usually ate together as a group, but I also had a few delivery dinners from Swiggy (Indian UberEats) or did my own research.

This tour is right for you if…

This tour might not be right for you if…

Day 1: Arrival in Delhi

And the adventure begins!

The India Classic tour includes an airport transfer if you’re landing in Delhi that day, I landed late the night before but booked an extra night at the starting hotel with the airport transfer for ease and comfort, which was ideal.

Our hotel was Taj Princess in Karol Bagh, a buzzing district with market stalls, a big shopping mall around the corner, plenty of restaurants and a metro station a short walk away. The hotel rooms were business-y, very spacious with decent air con (which I actually used as a heater because it was 11°C at night 🥶) and my hot water worked perfectly, though some other guests said theirs was inconsistent.

Day 1 doesn’t officially start until the group meeting at 6pm, so if you arrive earlier you’ve got some time to explore or to just rest before the busy two(ish) weeks kick off.

At 6pm we all went to the hotel restaurant to meet our guide, Abhi, and the rest of the India Classic and India Snapshot crew. Abhi took us through the important stuff like safety, transport info, the rough itinerary and our Delhi plans in more detail, then we headed off for our first family dinner (included).

We went to Suruchi Restaurant which was a short walk from our hotel, where we indulged in what can only be described as a feast of vegetarian delights on a traditional thali, the big metal platter with different curries, dals and dips. Nothing like bonding with new travel friends over your spice tolerance levels… or lack thereof.

Despite the restaurant guys constantly topping up our thalis with pappadums and roti, most of the group were tired after long journeys so we had a respectably early night ahead of a day of exploring Delhi.

Day 2: Delhi city tour & street food tour

Day 2 began with our initiation into Indian public transport, catching the metro to Chawri Bazar in Old Delhi. This is something I wouldn’t have done solo based on cautionary tales I’ve heard and read, but the benefit of group tours is that you can try these things with the safety blanket of a guide and (usually) realise they’re totally safe.

We found the dedicated women’s carriage and the nine of us gals jumped on, with the four boys and Abhi in the all-genders carriage next to us.

In Chawri Bazar we enjoyed a fresh-out-of-the-pan street food breakfast and then wandered to Jama Masjid, one of the largest mosques in India. It’s stunning, even in Delhi’s haze of pollution.

It was here that we quickly realised how much we stood out as visibly-obvious tourists, particularly those of us that are blonde and/or tall, with a few requests from local visitors to have photos with us. The first of many haha.

Next we winded our way through narrow streets to reach Gurudwara Sisganj Sahib, a historic Sikh temple that provides free vegetarian meals to everyone, regardless of religion, race, age or socio-economic status. We had the opportunity to put in some elbow grease and get our hands floury in the community kitchen before joining locals in the eating hall.

We jumped in rickshaws for the next leg of the tour, with expert peddlers weaving through the traffic to deliver us to Khari Baoli spice market. Our rickshaw driver was the cutest 🥺 he offered to take photos for us and then we asked him for a selfie and he took the request VERY seriously.

The afternoon until dinner was free time, but one of the girls had heard about Swaminarayan Akshardham, a gigantic Hindu temple complex that was easily accessible by metro from our hotel and free to visit, and most of the group were keen to go together.

I am SO glad we did, because this place is mind-blowing.

The temple complex has super strict security and you aren’t allowed any electronic items inside at all, so no phones, cameras, AirPods, smartwatches, vapes or anything, you’ve got to leave it all at the (camera-covered) security centre at the entrance. The process is super smooth though, you put your group’s stuff into a tray, note on the form how many of each different device you’re storing, and you get a token which you provide at the exit to get your stuff back.

The forced digital detox enhanced our temple experience exponentially, I personally felt overwhelmingly more ‘present’ and engaged with what I was looking at without having my phone or camera to distract me.

The building is exquisite inside and out, the grounds around it are perfectly-manicured, and there was a long carved mural that encompassed the main temple with inspirational quotes that we actually read, internalised and discussed as a group. Unfortunately we forgot most of them immediately since we didn’t have our phones to note them down 🙃

They do have a claaassic tourist photo spot at the temple which we obviously had to say yes to since we had no photographic proof of being here otherwise, I think it was about $1.50USD and you get a massive print out to take home haha. One for Nan’s fridge!

We left the temple just before sunset, caught the metro back to the hotel, met up with Abhi and the rest of the group for another family dinner (included) and hit the hay in preparation for a long travel day.

Day 3: Delhi to Agra, Agra Fort & the Taj Mahal

It was an early morning wake up for our transfer to Delhi’s main train station to catch the 1h 40m fast train to Agra… which ended up taking 3h 30m due to foggy conditions.

Luckily the train was comfortable, we travelled in a ‘CC’ carriage which refers to air conditioned chair class, with two seats on one side of the aisle and three on the other, tray tables, luggage storage racks above the seats and an airplane-style breakfast served on board.

The delay cut into a decent chunk of our Agra time, so after a quick hotel check in at Taj Vilas and a post-train refresh, we jumped on a private minibus to get to Agra Fort for a tour with a local guide.

Agra Fort unsurprisingly plays second fiddle to the spotlight-stealing world wonder just down the road, but after visiting twice I actually think the Fort is so underrated, and both times I’ve been it’s been SIGNIFICANTLY less hectic than the Taj so way easier to take decent photos.

After the fort we stopped in at Haldiram’s (explained to us as the ‘Indian McDonalds’) for a taste of local fast food, and then it was time for what everyone was most looking forward to: the spectacular Taj Mahal. Having been here already I was in the lucky position of being able to watch everyone else’s reaction as they saw the building for the first time, which was magical ✨

Abhi organised a photographer for us, ideal since so many of the crew were solo and didn’t quite know each other well enough yet to play Instagram Husband comfortably! The photographer was efficient with his captures, perhaps a little too far on the ‘tacky tourist’ side haha but it was worth it.

Once everyone had got their shots at the various photo spots he went through the files one by one on his camera for us to choose which ones we wanted to purchase, from memory it was maybe $1.20USD per photo (you get both printed and digital, no option for digital-only) and we had 10-20 per person.

If you’ve got the same kind of photographer set up please trust me when I say just buy them all, they’re cheap enough and it’s not worth wasting another 15 minutes at literally one of the most iconic landmarks on the planet for everyone to individually decide what photos they want.

The combination of diviiiine afternoon light coupled with my admittedly-extreme lack of tolerance for inefficiency and indecision (I blame many years of solo travel) had my impatience levels dangerously rising, so I told the photographer to count me as a yes for all my shots and I wandered off cameras-in-hand to capture my own content.

After the photo session we had just under an hour to explore the complex ourselves before meeting up with the local guide to actually learn about the Taj, which can absolutely fly by when you take into account waiting for photo spots, the line for the mausoleum and countless requests from locals for selfies, so you need to walk with purpose and not fuck around 🏃‍♀️ and I say that with love!

A quick note on the photo requests, this is a major thing in India and it’s something you need to be prepared for if you look different to locals, particularly if you’re blonde or a redhead, if you have light skin or eyes, and/or if you’re tall! It happens at all tourist sites here but the Taj is by far the most intense for it, and it can be overwhelming if you’re experiencing it for the first time.

Always remember that both of these things can be true: most locals are just curious and excited to see tourists rather than having any creepy or malicious intentions, aaaand at the same time it can feel intimidating to be stared at or to have strangers take photos of/with you.

You don’t owe anyone anything, and you can absolutely say no if you don’t feel comfortable.

If you’re an obviously-not-local woman and you decide to separate from the group or guide to wander alone, be prepared for the photo requests to multiply exponentially. The rest of the group went into the mausoleum (I’ve been inside before and you can’t take photos anyway so I chose not to go in again) and in the 10 minutes I was alone waiting for them, no exaggeration, I would’ve taken 25-30 photos with different people, often one per family member haha. If you say yes once then other people will notice and will ask you too!

Personally I don’t mind saying yes to having photos taken, especially with young girls, older women or anyone who asks politely, and in my experience people have almost always been respectful of my personal space and my time.

In saying that though, unfortunately one of our tourmates had a negative experience at the Taj where she kindly said yes to photos with a group of young guys, and one of them intentionally groped her ass. It was a horrible start to her India trip and a reminder for all of us that while the vast majority of these interactions are genuine, there are bad people in every corner of the world and unfortunately busy tourist spots like this are seen as easy locations for predators.

If anything like this happens to you, you are fully within your rights to make a scene, call the person out or find a guard.

ANYWAY back to the lighthearted stuff…

At 5.30pm we met the local guide near the main gateway for a short but sweet lesson on the Taj’s history, before having to drag ourselves away from the beauty (with a few more photo requests) to get to our included dinner.

Aaaand that’s where the lightheartedness ends again, because our next stop was Sheroes Hangout Cafe, a social enterprise run by acid attack survivors and some of the most inspiring women I’ve ever encountered on my travels.

On arrival we watched an intro video about the prevalence of acid attacks in India, a horrific form of violence typically perpetrated by men (84% of offenders) towards women (80% of victims, source here), though the most sickening stories were the ones of mothers attacking their daughters due to perceived family shame. Impossible to fathom.

We had a delicious meal cooked by these legendary ladies, had the chance to get some henna done by Shabnam who is an artistic genius (spot the smiley face she gave me 🥺) and left with our bellies, our camera roll, our brain and our hearts full after a rollercoaster of a day.

Day 4: Agra to Jaipur & a Bollywood movie!

Another early morning and our first public bus experience, with a 6.30am departure for the six hour bus ride to Jaipur, known as the Pink City.

The bus wasn’t bad, there was air con and the seats reclined enough to be able to fall asleep without your head drooping forward, and we had a couple of bathroom stops along the way.

On arrival in Jaipur we got tuktuks to our hotel, Utsav Niwas, more traditional vs. the previous accommodation, with beautiful latticed balconies and exquisite wall paintings in the dining room. The rooms were basic (kettle but no fridge) with wet room bathrooms (no shower curtain or divider) and very firm beds, but we were so busy in Jaipur that we barely spent any time in there anyway.

Lunch wasn’t included but most of us opted to eat at the hotel restaurant, where I had the best butter chicken of the trip, before we jumped back in the tuktuks to head to Raj Mandir Cinema to watch a Bollywood movie at the ‘world’s 3rd most enjoyable movie theatre’. Yes, really!

The cinema itself is an icon with a glittering ceiling and fancy designs all along the walls, even inside the actual theatre was impressive.

The film that fit our day’s itinerary was Border 2, an epic sequel to a 1997 classic war movie, but with a running time of 3h 20m (which is long for any movie, let alone one in a language you can’t understand haha) Abhi suggested we watch until intermission before heading off to dinner.

We grabbed popcorn, got comfy in the plush reclining chairs (someone in our group got a bit too comfy 😴) and enjoyed two hours of Bollywood goodness that blended action, comedy, romance and dancing. Despite the language barrier and mishmash of genres we actually managed to follow along the general storyline quite well, but alas the rooftop bar and a pink sunset was calling!

Dinner wasn’t included on this night but we were keen to eat together so Abhi organised a table at Dagla Rooftop bar, stunning views overlooking the city up to the fort.

Day 5: Optional leopard safari, Jaipur Pink City tour & Galta-Ji Monkey Temple

We had an optional leopard safari at the crack of dawn, just $22USD per person for hotel transfers to the Jhalana Leopard Reserve and 2.5ish hours rolling through the forest hoping for a glimpse from our open-top safari jeeps. Unfortunately we weren’t in luck, but for that price it was a no brainer. And I swear the day I choose not to do an optional safari will be the day the group sees every rare animal ever!

One thing to note is that if you’re visiting in winter, it’s bloody freezing in the reserve before the sun hits. We were layered up like we were in the mountains.

Back at the hotel we thawed out before a tuktuk journey into the heart of the Pink City. I made the mistake of getting a (delicious) hot Nutella from Cafe Bluez across the road from where we were staying just before the drive, and lets just say I’m surprised I had any left in the cup after all those potholes.

We had ‘brunch’ (included) in the market, with hearty samosas and other traditional dishes, and wandered toward the world-famous, aesthetically-pleasing Hawa Mahal or ‘Palace of the Winds’ for photos, then another three-wheeled adventure took us out to Galta-Ji Monkey Temple. I’ll never get sick of baby monkeys.

Beyond its fame on social media for the terracotta pink buildings throughout the old city (a colour mandated by law since 1877), Jaipur’s known as one of the leading gemstone hubs in the world, so if you’re wanting to splurge on a special piece of jewellery then this is the place to do it.

We went to top-rated Marcopolo Jewellers for a Gemstones 101 lesson and to see the cutting process, then we had time to look around the massive showroom with shiny things ranging from affordable earrings to antique metalwork to five-figure diamond-encrusted masterpieces that look like they’re straight out of a museum.

Safe to say this ring is the most expensive thing I’ll ever wear in my life (and just so you know, the shop owner encouraged me to put it on despite it being extremely obvious I couldn’t afford even 1% of it haha).

There was another fun optional activity to finish up the day, a Bollywood dance class! Abhi organised it for us and the dance teacher came to our hotel with colourful outfits, a boom box and a lot of patience while he taught us 90 seconds of choreo (with time for freestyling afterwards 🤸🏼‍♂️).

SUCH a good laugh and a really fun way to wrap up the first portion of the trip before we parted ways with the India Snapshot crew the next day.

Day 6: Jaipur to Pushkar, blessing on the lake

Day 6 marked a slight decrease in the tour’s pace, with a much-needed sleep in before a 10am departure and a three and a half hour private minibus transfer to Master Paradise Hotel in Pushkar.

Pushkar’s a spiritually significant town and holy pilgrimage site for Hindus, home to one of the world’s only temples dedicated to Lord Brahma, creator of the universe.

The vibe is suuuper hippie with elephant pants lining the market streets, Hebrew menus catering for the huge numbers of Israeli backpackers, hostels on every second corner, ‘special lassis’ made with cannabis, and an array of quirky characters (both locals and tourists) you might encounter while you’re exploring. I even met an eerily-accurate Captain Jack Sparrow impersonator!

We had a few hours of free time for lunch, a swim or a treatment at the hotel’s ayurvedic spa (traditional rather than luxe), and we set off for our orientation walk in the late afternoon when we all feeling calm and relaxed.

The first stop was the lakefront where we received a blessing and read threaded bracelet from a Brahmin, also known as a ‘Pushkar Passport’ to show keen opportunists that you’re not worth targeting for the infamous Pushkar scam.

Next up was Jagatpita Shri Brahma Mandir, the Brahma temple, and then some sightseeing time, shopping and a radiant sunset before a low key dinner.

Day 7: Pushkar to Udaipur, sunset cruise

We took our private minibus for a short drive over to Ajmer, with stunning sunrise views along the way, then jumped on a five hour CC train to reach the ‘White City’ of Udaipur.

Unfortunately this train’s air con stopped working for a couple of hours which was grimmmm, but we survived and after a quick tuktuk jaunt made it to our hotel, Pratap Bhawan, my favourite accomm of the trip.

This family-owned hotel is in the middle of Udaipur’s major tourist spots, just a few minutes’ walk from Lake Pichola, Jagdish Temple, Gangaur Ghat and Bagore Ki Haveli. Ideal! My room had a cosy little reading nook, an actual desk where I got a bit of work done, and a fantastic shower with consistent hot water and water pressure.

After checking in we all met up at the rooftop restaurant for a hearty lunch with sweeping views over the city and lake, before Abhi took us on an orientation walk.

We started with Jagdish Temple, an exquisitely carved 1651 temple, caught the ethereal afternoon light at Gangaur Ghat, watched sunset from a Lake Pichola cruise, and ended the night at Lord & Tailor with the opportunity to get custom clothes made-to-fit and delivered to us the next day.

I’m a bit of a tailoring addict 👀 I’ve had more than 30 different items tailored in Hoi An, Vietnam over three trips, so I obviously jumped at the chance to try it out here too.

This shop’s focus was natural fabrics like linen, silk and cotton, with typical Rajasthani textiles like block-printed fabrics in bold, vibrant colours and patterns that I couldn’t walk away from.

I decided to get a button-up shirt, a pair of shorts, a pair of linen-blend pants and two silk scarves, plus they hemmed some pants I bought earlier that day as a bonus, and I paid 8500INR ($90USD/$130AUD/£68) for all of it to be ready in less than 24 hours. Pretty good value!

If you just happen to be visiting both India and Vietnam (lucky you) and want to know which one to get clothes made in, I’d say Vietnam still takes top spot for me:

• Vietnam’s tailoring shops are mostly staffed by women whereas the vast majority of customer-facing roles in India (not just tailors) are occupied by men. The guys at Lord & Tailor were completely respectful and friendly, but I personally find it more comfortable to work with another woman when choosing designs to fit my curves and getting measured etc.
• The textiles in India were more traditional for sure, very beautiful and there were so many to choose from, but I didn’t see the same range of different fabrics and prints you can find in Hoi An
• Hoi An’s tailors run a smooooth operation with quick turnaround for pretty much any item, in Udaipur we were limited to quite basic pieces that could be created in the 24 hour window we had. I try to avoid single-day turnarounds anyway because it doesn’t leave any room for error, so next time I’m in India I’ll spend a few days in Udaipur to see what they could do with the extra time.

After all that shopping we’d worked up an appetite, it was a free night but most of us decided to take Abhi’s recommendation to head to Hotel Udaigarh Udaipur’s rooftop restaurant for dinner, complete with a projector screen showing the Udaipur scenes of Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Octopussy haha.

Day 8: Udaipur walking tour & cooking class

Our full day in Udaipur began with a nice and slow start, with nothing in the calendar until 11am. Praise the travel gods 🙏🏼

I logged a mega 10 hour sleep (which literally happens twice a year if that, what a dream) and headed to Sun N Moon rooftop café for brunch, it took an hour to come out but was worth the wait.

The group met up at Women’s Skills just around the corner from the hotel for an included cooking class, where we learnt how to prepare a North Indian thali with various vegetarian dishes, before digging in ourselves.

The rest of the day was free time with a range of suggestions from Abhi, including an opportunity to get our palms and birth charts read by a Vedic astrologer. After feeling refreshed and rejuvenated after a brilliant sleep, I felt like it was the *perfect time* to pay $20USD to be taken down a notch 🙃

The astrologer, Manish, set up shop at our hotel in an empty room’s sun-soaked reading nook, and I was his first victim customer.

My reading took about 20 minutes and Manish told me to record it so I could refer back to it, with the first half based on the alignment of the planets the moment I was born and the other half all about what my palm says about my past and future.

Full disclosure: I’m not an astrology-kinda-gal but I’m always down for a new experience and a good laugh, and my goodness, what a laugh it was haha.

Most of the planets were good to me, apparently I’m primed for success in a multitude of life areas (💃🏼), buttttt good ol’ Mercury was so low in the sky on that fateful morning in 1992 that, and these were his exact words, my “type of person not much on this planet anymore” 😂 well shit. Nice to know that my single-ness is written in the stars though, that’s quite validating!

He also said that to increase my chances of finding love I could eat 6 almonds and 3 walnuts every day, donate green things on Wednesdays and fast on Sundays, but honestly I like the solo life and walnuts are expensive 🙃

There were a couple of other absolute gems which caused existential panic too:

• He said that in a few weeks my work life would get very busy and I’d have additional responsibilities put on me for the next two years, and that I needed to say no to my boss to protect my peace. I advised him that I am, in fact, my own boss, and he said I need to say no to myself (he’s not wrong).
• And he also said that my life will start to get calmer when I’m 45, and will stabilise when I’m 62. Another 28 years of this chaos?! THAT’S SO FAR AWAY.

Overall it was hilarious, I’m glad I did it but I’m not going to take it too seriously, though the next time someone asks me “why are you still single?” I will definitely be informing them that it’s Mercury’s fault.

Some of us met up for dinner at Rainbow Restaurant right by the lake, where I had a steaming tandoori grill platter and one of the best Snickers milkshakes I’ve ever had in my life (and I’ve had many).

Day 9: Udaipur to Jodhpur, Blue City walking tour & market tour

We had an early departure from Udaipur to catch a 6am bus to Jodhpur, but just before bed the night before I’d been hit with a horrible migraine which wouldn’t have been enjoyable on a six hour public transport journey 🫠

I’d messaged Abhi for advice and he said he could find me a private driver to leave later in the day for a faster and more comfortable drive after a longer sleep, setting me back about $85USD. WORTH IT.

I cancelled my 5am alarm, relished the extra few hours of rest, even had time to wander down to the waterfront to see it perfectly calm before the day’s chaos began. The hotel guys helped me organise a tuktuk to meet my driver and we hit the road, with decent air con and enough space for me to get comfy.

Five hours later I reached Jodhpur, migraine-free thankfully! I caught up with the group after their city orientation walk and heard about their bus journey where the driver honked the horn for about 70% of the trip. The private car was maybe the best $85 I’ve ever spent.

Our hotel in Jodhpur was Heritage Kuchaman Haveli, the rooms were simple but it had a beautifully grand interior courtyard and the staff were lovely, they let me use their kitchen to make some microwave popcorn (which they’d never seen before and they all crowded around in amazement as it popped haha).

For dinner some of us went to 1955 Restaurant, a rooftop spot with pretty decent reviews. We arrived as the sun was setting and got a stunning view of Mehrangarh Fort overlooking the city, then enjoyed a traditional musical performance by two young boys and their dads/uncles.

Unfortunately that’s where the positives ended, the food was subpar and one of our friends waited two hours (no exaggeration) for Maggi two minute noodles, and while we were paying the guy tried to say “oh that’s just how long those noodles take to cook” 😂

Day 10: Mehrangarh Fort

This is where our tour (the final departure of the old itinerary) differed from the new itinerary so let me run you through what we did before I explain what’s changed.

In the morning we caught tuktuks up to Mehrangarh Fort, a hulking 15th century fort with unreal views across Jodhpur’s Blue City and beyond. Someone was getting married here the following day and we saw people setting up flowers, igloos and Arctic animals!

Abhi gave us a quick rundown on the fort and its history before letting us explore with the audio tour, then most of us opted to do the fort zipline in the afternoon which was loooads of fun and incredibly good value, just 2000INR ($21USD/$31AUD/£16).

We got decked out in the harnesses and had a safety briefing and practice zip in the garden to learn how to brake properly, then walked up to the ancient fortified walls for the first of six ziplines.

As ziplines go it’s definitely more relaxed and scenery-focused rather than anything too heart-racing, just 1.2km in total with the longest zipline about 300m, and none of them are so steep that you fly at out-of-control speeds. Anyone who can handle 30 seconds of heights will be fine.

The location is what makes it so worth it though! The ziplines take you along the fort’s walls, across Ranisar Lake, over to Rao Jodha Desert Rock Park for a captivating view of the fort towering on the hilltop, and then a final gravity-defying zip over the water again back to Mehrangarh.

One thing to note is that you have to wear gloves for braking so can’t hold any devices, though you can obviously take turns getting photos for each other. The zipline guides can take epic videos of the actual zip journeys for you too, if you feel comfortable with a stranger holding your phone over a lake filled with catfish. Maybe set a reminder to back up your photos the night before just in case 🙃

If this location looks familiar it might be because you recognise it from the Dark Knight Rises, where Bruce Wayne escapes the Pit.

It was a hot day and there’s no shade at all on the zipline course, so luckily our afternoon plan was to do a walking tour around Jodhpur’s Blue City, where the narrow alleyways provide some protection from the sun.

The old city’s houses have been blue-hued for centuries, something that likely started with Brahmins (priests) wanting their homes to show their status and with the added bonus of keeping interiors cool and repelling insects.

Unfortunately rising prices for indigo dye coupled with more modern ways of dealing with scorching summer temps have resulted in some residents opting for less traditional colours, but there’s a huge restoration project going on to try and preserve the neighbourhood’s heritage by repainting hundreds of homes.

It felt like we had this place all to ourselves, we only saw a handful of tourists and vintage-looking Royal Enfield motorbikes outnumbered humans significantly.

From here we wandered into the hectic streets towards the clock tower market, and I’m not sure if it was the heat, a migraine-hangover from the day before or just my general susceptibility to overstimulation, but this was truly the closest I’ve ever been to a sensory meltdown as an adult. Non-stop horns, dogs barking, engine smoke, fruit vendors with wheeled carts that were impossible to pass and other pedestrians yelling at them, I’m getting a headache just reliving it.

The lesson here: Loop earplugs, my friends!

We survived the journey without any tears (just) and found peace and quiet at Stepwell Café overlooking the restored Toorji Ka Jhalra stepwell. It was one of the pricier meals we had on the trip but it was fantastic, I got the Indian cheese platter and a chicken parmigiana and both were delish.

For the new itinerary, on the evening of day 10 you catch an overnight train from Jodhpur to Delhi.

For our trip following the old itinerary, we had one more night in Jodhpur before an early train to Bikaner for one night, then the overnight train to Delhi.

Bikaner has been cut completely (which I’m not upset about) and there’s just one night in Jodhpur, so I suggest you copy our day 10 evening plans to your day 9 because this night out was SO FUN.

Aware that we had a disgustingly early train the next morning, we decided to get spruced up and headed out to a fancy restaurant in the upmarket Ratanada neighbourhood for dinner at On The Rocks at a very respectable hour of 7pm. Very Bali-esque with lush gardens and fairy lights, Indian/Chinese/European menus on offer, highly recommend.

After a yummy dinner we were walking out to the tuktuks waiting for us, and juuuust as we passed the indoor club area the DJ started some singalong from my high school years, and obviously I couldn’t leave. We spent a good few hours enjoying banger after banger, made friends with some local ladies who were so excited to see us that they made their husbands and kids film us all dancing together, and then got back to the hotel at 12.30am still needing to pack our bags before our 6am departure 🫠

Day 10 evening of the new itinerary: Overnight train to Delhi

On our trip we left from Bikaner to catch the overnight train to Delhi, but the experience from Jodhpur in the new itinerary will be pretty much the same.

The main thing to note is that you probably won’t have your own room accessible in the afternoon/evening before the night train leaves, you’ll most likely need to check out during the daytime and then have a couple of day-use rooms between the group for showering/changing pre-train at night.

I wish we’d thought about this in advance and planned our day better because in Bikaner we were exhausted by 4pm after visiting forts, temples and markets, then we had six hours of free time before our train which felt like an eternity when we didn’t have our own beds to lie down in.

The new itinerary has Mehrangarh Fort in the afternoon of day 10 and doesn’t mention what time the night train is, but if you’ve got any more than a few hours of downtime I’d really recommend booking in a massage or spa treatment or something else to get you through to the departure time without completely draining your energy.

I was quite excited for the night train experience, I’ve been on many throughout Europe and Southeast Asia but it was my first time in India, and I felt infinitely more comfortable going with a group and tour guide than if I’d had to do it solo.

Our sleeper beds were in an AC three tier carriage, three bunk beds facing another three bunk beds and then two bunks running parallel to the train across the other side of the aisle. There’s no doors between compartments, all beds are open to the aisle, but you can place bags underneath the bottom bunk and secure them to the metal bars if you’ve got a lockable cable.

Sheets, a blanket and a pillow were provided and they were more comfortable than many I’ve had in Europe, and the air con worked well all night. I didn’t use the bathrooms but my tourmates said they were totally fine at the start, not so fine by the end.

I had a pretty decent (medication-supported) sleep and got to tick an Indian night train off my travel bucket list, woohoo!

Day 11 of new itinerary: Full day of free time in Delhi

We arrived in Delhi at 6.15am which was honestly pretty horrific, I’m hoping that the itinerary change means a better schedule for the overnight train. I would’ve much rather spent a couple of extra hours sleeping horizontally on the train than napping on the table in the breakfast area of our hotel, which is what we did!

The Delhi hotel kindly let us check into our rooms as soon as they were ready, about 10am for the earliest one and then one by one for the next couple of hours.

It was free time all day, some of the group had booked organised activities like temple visits or food tours and some of us just chilled.

One of my tourmates raved about the Salaam Baalak City Walk, they’re a non-profit which supports street-connected and working children, and they run walking tours where teens supported by their NGO show you around the streets they grew up in, giving you the opportunity to see Delhi from a totally different perspective and giving them the chance to improve their English and communication skills. Definitely on my list for next time.

We decided to have a ‘party shirt’ theme for our included family dinner for the final night, with some brilliantly bright and garish shirts on show, before some of our travel buddies had to head home to pack for middle-of-the-night flights. Cue the tears 🥺

Five of us from the India trip were continuing on to Nepal for the rest of the India-Nepal Expedition tour the following morning, our airport transfer was coming at 8am and I still had to pack my bag to meet the 20kg weight limit (awkward because I arrived with 22kg and bought a bunch of stuff), so I obviously made the responsible decision to go home at a reasonable hour to pack and then sleep properly before heading somewhere new… Not.

It was a Saturday night and Valentines Day so it would’ve been rude not to spend it with people I love! From dinner we headed to a rooftop bar where I accidentally sucked a dead fly through a straw, and then had to scull an entire Sex on the Beach to try and repress that memory, and by that stage we were well on our way to a big night out.

Abhi took us to Connaught Place which is packed with nightlife options, we settled in at Lord of the Drinks (an institution) for divine cocktails and then ended up at the Shangri-La Hotel’s nightclub, where Abhi’s connections let us skip the line and take the spot right in front of the stage, with bodyguards literally assigned to protect us and our little dancing area. A country of 1.45 billion people and somehow he knows someone everywhere?!

Drinks were more expensive than I’d ever pay in New Zealand or Australia, and it wasn’t fun packing at 4am for an 8am departure, but it was an epic night and the perfect ending to our two weeks in India!

Day 12 of new itinerary: Depart Delhi (optional: continue to Nepal ✈️)

Day 12 of the tour (day 14 for us on the previous itinerary) is the departure day with nothing planned, so you can depart any time.

I would suggest departing no earlier than 11am if you want to be able to enjoy the final night without stressing, it’s recommended to arrive at Delhi Airport 3-4 hours before international flights and the drive from Karol Bagh is 30 minutes with no traffic, could be longer if it’s busy. Plan accordingly.

For the five of us on the India Nepal Expedition tour, we had another week of adventures!

One Life Adventures India FAQs

Final thoughts on exploring India with One Life Adventures

India is one of those destinations where your experience will drastically differ depending on how you choose to explore it.

On my first trip to India in 2019 I was totally solo with a private driver and private guides in each city, which was brilliant for photography, ticking off landmarks and for safety, butttt it also felt super sanitised and a bit like I was seeing the tourist-version of the country from the back of a Hyundai Sonata, rather than actually experiencing it authentically.

This One Life Adventures India Classic tour gave me everything that my first India trip lacked.

We still got to see the major highlights (the Taj is just as spectacular the second time by the way), but with a local guide to answer questions and travel buddies to explore with, I was able to immerse myself in parts of India I wouldn’t have had the know-how, confidence or money to do by myself.

We navigated the Delhi metro at rush hour, ate from hole-in-the-wall local restaurants hidden deep down alleyways, took public buses and sleeper trains, saw a Bollywood movie (well, half of one) and learnt a traditional Bollywood dance, cooked our own Indian delights, met acid attack survivors, ziplined around an ancient fort, all without having to worry about logistics, spending hours on research or being constantly on guard.

And without our guide organising an astrology reading, how would I ever have known that my standards aren’t actually too high, it’s just that the type of guy I’ll end up with is basically critically endangered and that Mercury is to blame? 🤷🏼‍♀️

Abhi was a superstar who kept everything running smoothly despite the chaos India’s known for, our whole crew was legendary and there were so many special moments I’ll never forget. As my fourth One Life trip I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed, but it was truly even better than I expected.

If you’re a solo traveller who’s been dreaming about India but feeling intimidated by the idea of navigating it alone, this is 1000% the tour I’d recommend. And don’t forget to use the promocode FINDINGALEXX to save 10% off your tour when you book it direct 🥰

If you have any questions that I haven’t answered then please let me know in the comments, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Happy travels!

MORE INDIA & SOUTH ASIA TRAVEL GUIDES:

• Solo travel guide to Sri Lanka
• Solo travel guide to the Maldives

OTHER SOLO-FRIENDLY TOURS TO ADD TO YOUR BUCKET LIST:

• Travelling Sri Lanka with One Life Adventures
• Travelling Japan with One Life Adventures
• Travelling Borneo with G Adventures
• Travelling Morocco with G Adventures

MY GO-TO TRAVEL PLANNING RESOURCES

Flights ✈️ I use Skyscanner to find the best flights for my trip and then I’ll always book direct with the airline to protect myself from having to deal with dodgy third parties if anything goes wrong.

Trains 🚂 If I’m travelling through Europe, I try to travel by train wherever possible! For an extended trip (2+ weeks) I’ll calculate if a Eurail Pass is worth it, or I’ll book point-to-point tickets through RailEurope or the local train operator.

Accommodation 🛎️ I book almost all of my accommodation through booking.com, they have a user-friendly website + app and many of their options are free cancellation, easily cancelled with a simple click of a button.

Activities 🗽I use GetYourGuide, Klook and Viator to look for activities in the places I visit, or I just Google ‘things to do in [city]’! P.S. If you book anything on Klook you can use the promocode FINDINGALEXXKLOOK to get 10% off

Travel cards 💳 I’m a Wise gal through and through, they’ve been my chosen travel card for more than five years now. You can easily top up your card from your bank account or through Apple Pay, convert your money to local currency, and spend money with minimal fees and the best exchange rates around.

Travel insurance 🩺 I use Cover-More NZ travel insurance for my own trips, I have a comprehensive policy and I’ve only had good experiences with them. Cover-More also has an Australian company, but if you’re from elsewhere then two popular insurance options for global travellers are SafetyWing (cheaper policy, lower coverage) and World Nomads (more expensive but significantly better coverage).

Luggage 💼 I travel with Samsonite Cosmolite suitcases, one 75cm check in bag and a 55cm carry on bag, and I absolutely adore them and will never travel with anything else! They are SUPER lightweight (2.8kg and 1.9kg respectively) so I have much more space for my actual stuff.

Camera gear 📸 I use a iPhone 15 Pro Max for phone photos/videos, and my camera kit includes a Lumix S9 (incredible lightweight full-frame camera, a game changer for travel creators!) with a 20-60mm lens, a Lumix G9 with an 8-18mm and 12-60mm lens, a DJI Mini 3 Pro drone and a GoPro Hero 10. I do all my writing and editing on my ASUS Zenbook 14, it’s lightweight but powerful enough for photo editing and intense blogging sessions.