India Tours with Flights from €640

The Golden Triangle is the trip most people take first, and it earns the place. You fly into Delhi, drive 3-4 hours to Agra for the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, then 4-5 hours on to Jaipur for Amber Fort, the City Palace and the Hawa Mahal, before looping back to Delhi. The route draws a neat triangle, the drives stay manageable, and you tick off three of India's most recognisable sights inside a week.

The 5-day version is the way in. Swastik India Journeys runs a top-selling 5-day Golden Triangle with meals and a sunrise Taj visit from around €380 land price. Taj Tour Trips offers a 5-day private version out of Delhi for around €550. Those are land-only; add flights from Europe and you are at €800-€1,100 all told.

The 7-day version is where the trip finally has room to breathe. Golden Triangle India Tours runs a 7-day Delhi-Agra-Jaipur at around €850 that folds in a half-day at Fatehpur Sikri and a second day in Jaipur. The 8-day upgrade with a Ranthambore tiger safari from World Travel Experiences sits around €1,430 with 4-star hotels. And if you want the Taj at sunrise (you do, the light is the whole point), make sure your itinerary builds in two Agra nights rather than a day trip.

Reckon on 8-12 km of walking on the big sight days, temperatures of 25-32°C from October to March, and traffic dense enough to add an hour to every drive.

Once you have 10-14 days, three regions slot neatly onto the Golden Triangle. Rajasthan brings Udaipur and its lake palaces, Jodhpur with the blue city and Mehrangarh Fort, and Jaisalmer for the desert fort and Thar camel camps. Swastik's 14-day Taj Mahal and Rajasthan run with royal castle stays comes in around €1,360 land and is the best value going on the longer itineraries.

Varanasi is the spiritual one. Two nights on the Ganges ghats at sunrise and sunset, a dawn boat ride past the burning ghats, and one evening aarti ceremony. World Travel Experiences runs an 8-day Golden Triangle with Varanasi at around €1,600. It is intense, and it may be the most wholly Indian experience on any tour you could pick.

Kerala is the South, and the polar opposite in tempo. A night or two on a houseboat in the Alleppey backwaters, the Munnar tea plantations, and the colonial quarter of Fort Kochi. Most travellers fly Delhi to Kochi rather than drive, since the distances are simply too big. Kerala adds €400-€700 to a North India tour and flips the whole mood from dust and forts to water and green.

For the Himalayan add-ons, take your pick of Rishikesh (yoga, Ganges rafting, a 5-6 hour drive from Delhi) or Ladakh (altitude, monasteries, open May to September only). Mumbai with Goa is the third route, better suited to repeat visitors: Mumbai's colonial facades and street food, then 3-4 beach nights up in North Goa.

India runs to three tour styles that feel like three different holidays, and choosing the wrong one is the regret travellers voice most often.

Small-group tours with Intrepid, G Adventures or Exodus sit in the €900-€1,800 land-price range for 8-12 days. Groups are 10-16, hotels mid-range 3-4 star, transport a private AC bus or train. You travel with one leader the whole way plus local guides in each city. This is the easiest call for solo travellers, nervous first-timers, or anyone who wants the company.

A private driver with a local operator is common in India and cheaper than most people expect. Swastik India Journeys, Taj Tour Trips, Golden Triangle India Tours, Crystal India Holidays and Joyful Holidays all run private Golden Triangle and Rajasthan trips with a dedicated car, driver and English-speaking guide in each city. Reckon on €300-€700 per day for two sharing a room, hotels 3-4 star. You set the alarm, skip whatever you fancy, and pull over at the roadside dhaba whenever the chai calls. For couples and families, this is the sweet spot.

Budget backpacker style with TruTravel, G Adventures 18-to-Thirtysomethings or small local outfits trades the star ratings for guesthouses and sleeper trains. Eight days from €500-€700 land price. The honest take: it sings if you are under 35 and there for the social energy, and it falls flat if what you crave is a quiet evening and a clean shower after a long day. Greaves India and Trafalgar's India range hold the premium end, €3,500 and up for 12-14 days of heritage hotels and boutique camps.

Three seasons shape an India tour, and they pull sharply in different directions between North and South.

October to March is the main window for the North. Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and Rajasthan sit at 20-28°C by day, cool at night, low humidity, not a drop of rain. November to February is the peak: Christmas and New Year fill the Udaipur and Jaipur heritage hotels and operator prices lift 20-30%. October and March are the canny months, near-peak weather without the crowds.

April and May bring serious heat. Delhi and Agra clear 40°C by mid-April and push 45°C in May. Temple and fort visits become a 6am affair, and most travellers simply will not enjoy it. There is a reason tour prices drop 25-35%.

June to September is monsoon across most of India. Rajasthan gets short, heavy bursts and the hills stay lush, but the North turns humid and sticky. It is not peak season, though mid-September is a quiet shoulder with good prices if you can shrug off the odd wet day.

Kerala keeps its own calendar. The monsoon rolls in early June and lingers into September, so the South peaks October to March, with December to February the pick of it. Kerala in monsoon is far from miserable if you are there for an Ayurveda retreat, but the houseboats run less reliably.

For Ladakh, the road and flight window is May to September, full stop. Outside it the roads close and the flights bend to the weather.

Delhi (DEL) is the main gateway for the Golden Triangle, Rajasthan and the Himalayas. Mumbai (BOM) makes more sense if you are heading straight for Kerala, Goa or West India. Direct flights into Kochi (COK) for Kerala are thin from most markets, so plan to route via Delhi or Mumbai. Whatever your start point, a multi-city ticket (Delhi in, Mumbai out, say) usually costs the same as a round-trip and saves you a long internal leg.

From the UK and Europe, India is an easy long-haul. Air India flies Delhi nonstop from London, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan, Copenhagen and others in 8-9 hours. The Gulf carriers — Emirates via Dubai, Etihad via Abu Dhabi, Qatar via Doha — usually undercut the direct fares by €100-€250 at 11-14 hours total, and Turkish via Istanbul is often the cheapest of the lot. Shoulder-season returns run €500-€750, climbing to €700-€1,000 at the December-January peak.

From the US, India is a genuine haul from either coast, and the Gulf carriers are your friend. From the West Coast (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle) it's about 19-21 hours via Dubai, Doha or Abu Dhabi, US$900-US$1,400 return in shoulder season. From the East Coast it's shorter — Air India flies New York, Newark, Washington and Chicago nonstop to Delhi in around 14-15 hours, with the Gulf one-stops competing on price; expect US$800-US$1,300 return. Worth knowing: unlike Southeast Asia, India is no closer from California, so East Coast flyers actually have the easier trip here.

From Australia, the Gulf and Asian hubs carry the load. Sydney and Melbourne reach Delhi or Mumbai in about 14-16 hours with one stop in Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or a Gulf hub; Air India also runs some direct Sydney-Delhi services. Return economy runs roughly A$1,100-A$1,600 in the shoulder months and A$1,600-A$2,200 over the December-January summer break.

From Canada, Air Canada flies Vancouver and Toronto nonstop to Delhi (Vancouver around 15 hours, Toronto around 14), with the Gulf carriers one-stop alternatives; reckon on C$1,200-C$1,800 return depending on season and city.

Book 3-4 months out for the best fares from anywhere. The bundle prices the flight live in your own currency the moment you search, so the full trip cost shows right beside the tour before you commit to either booking. Kiwi.com handles the multi-city routing behind the scenes.