Trifter

Planning a budget holiday in India? The first and foremost thing to bear my mind is – earlier the better. It is never too early to plan a vacation, especially when you want to extract maximum mileage out of your budgeted dollars. Keeping in view the ever-increasing number of domestic tourists, last-minute bargains are out of question.

First thing first

The starting point would obviously be to decide where you would like to go. Unlike in Europe, America and other parts of the developed world, the Indian travel and tourism industry is highly unorganized.There are very few web sites or other on line sources of information to compare fares. Nor there are consolidators that function like search engines to provide airfares, hotel room tariffs and car rentals with the click of a mouse, making the life difficult for  the holiday maker intending to explore India. However there are travel portals such as incredibleindia.com, www.traveljini.com, www.indiantravelog.com, www.journeymart.com that can lead you to great destinations.

Book the tickets first

Booking the tickets yourself instead of relying of an agent, is always cost effective. For travel within India it is always better to go to the websites of individual airlines and book the tickets.Alternatively one can visit air & train booking portals like Yatra.com, Makemytrip.com, Cleartrip.com ,compare airfares and book tickets.What has made air travel more economical within India, is the emergence of no-frills carriers  like Jetlite,Goair,Kingfisher Red, Spice jet and IndiGo. Compare the fares to your destination before you click the mouse to book. It is worth the time and efforts. For train tickets, www.irct.com will be your best option.This is the official booking portal of Indian railways.You can book and print e-tickets or order the tickets to be delivered at your doorsteps the very next day for nominal service charges.

For the best room tariff

The secret here is, keep Bargaining. And, if hotels are adamant on room tariff, ask for breakfast on the house or an extra night at the same cost or ask them not to charge taxes extra (which would help you save over 15 % of additional money which is rarely disclosed, but billed at the time of check out). You may also ask for an upgrade to a superior room.  Or better still, get the dinner included in the accommodation package. Don’t forget to search the websites of Indian tourism Development Corporation and the State tourism development corporations.You may hit a goldmine of bargain.

Plan the sights you want to see

Most of the hotels in India can offer sight-seeing as a package for their guests. And it is always worthwhile to negotiate a package deal with the hotels for local sight-seeing instead of hunting for a local travel guide. Invariably it works out to be cheaper and saves time. There are interesting options for the adventurous type, at places like Goa.The hotel may arrange a two-wheeler for you, which lets you take off on your own at a rent of about Rs 300 per day (exclusive of fuel).The current rentals for air-conditioned cars is around Rs 12 per km, while non-ac cars are available for around Rs 8 per km.

Some more  tips

Try to make the most out of non-peak season when hotel rooms are available at less than half the rates. Hotels in Goa offer heavy discounts during monsoon season. However the smartest thing would be to scan hotel tariffs on the net and book on off-peak rates on dates just preceding the peak rate dates.For this it is advisable to be flexible with travel dates and times. Late-night or early morning flights on most of the international airlines connecting domestic destinations are often cheaper. Also, choosing to fly on less-travelled days like Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays may be cost-beneficial.