The heat and dust of an Indian summer can be a daunting prospect if you have dreams of visiting India around this time. But fear not, if you’re smart and sensibly follow some basic rules like the locals do, you can transform these challenges into new opportunities of discovering a whole new side of this amazing country.
Travel Light—Travel Right
The most important thing is to do some solid spade work on where and how to travel around India in summer, before finalizing your trip.
As its the off-season in most parts you’ll probably be able to get some good discounts on even the poshest hotels. So, you’ll get good value for your money. Now’s your chance to grab that opportunity of an uber luxury stay and spend the hottest part of the day lounging by the pool, catching a spa treatment and dining in style.
Excess baggage shouldn’t be an issue as you need to be packing cottons and linens, baggy pants and Ts, a swimsuit, sarongs for the beaches and maybe a stole or a light sweater for cooler evenings in the hills. Sneakers are good to go for tramping around forest trails in the hills, and flip flops are perfect for the beaches.
Remember to chuck in sunglasses, sunscreen, wet wipes, mosquito repellent and hand sanitizer in your tote —and keep a hat/cap or bandana/scarf at the ready when you step out.
Eating and Drinking
Tuck into the amazing array of summertime fruits…water melons and musk melons, apricots, peaches, grapes, purple phalsas, tongue-curling star fruit, plums and lemons. Cut fruits in the bazaar are a complete non-no.
Drink lots of water to keep hydrated, but also enjoy glasses of cooling frothy lassi, milk shakes, tender coconut water, shikanji (lemonade) aam panna (raw mango cooler), sherbets and more. Lunch on apple and walnut salads, citrus and feta cheese salads, cooling curd rice, and kairi curry (scorched raw mango curry) and then polish off generous helpings of kulfi- falooda or ice cream.
Where To Go
Choose to travel to some of the cooler parts of the country. Hill stations offer fabulous array of nature-culture experiences, which you might have missed in winter being caught up exploring the more popular tourist destinations like Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur, Kerala et al.
Hill towns like Darjeeling and Kalimpong, Mussoorie, Shimla, Dharamsala, Ooty and many more offer wonderful opportunities to explore mountain trails, gaze upon snow peaks, go birding in rich forests and stay option in old British dak bungalows Indulge in a bit of Japanese form of ecotherapy— shinrin-yoku or forest bathing. This is a super restorative physiological and psychological exercise involving a short gentle walk in the woods.
Even Goa in summer has its own enchantment. It’s the perfect time to plunge into the fabulous array of watersports, a mangrove forest safari and birding in the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary. In Delhi you can go museum-hopping for a deep dive into India’s multilayered history, heritage and cultural diversity.
If you are a wildlife buff it’s the best time for animal spotting in Ranthambhore, Corbett, Nagarhole, Bandhavgarh and other national parks and wildlife sanctuaries as the heat drives them out of hiding to the waterholes scattered around the jungle. You can run away to Rishikesh for yoga at an ashram and river rafting on the Ganga. Later head out to the wonderful Ananda in the Himalayas Exclusive Spa, one of world’s leading spa destinations.
Go Exploring In The Cool Of The Day
You should be out and about in the coolest part of the day, just like your neighbourhood community. Early morning walks/ jogging/gyming and garden gazing for example in Delhi’s Lodi Gardens or Sundar Nursery is a good way to start your day. View the Taj at sunrise, when it’s still cool and uncrowded. Take a slow boat on the Ganga in Varanasi at dawn. If you want to explore the local markets go late in the evening. In the long hot afternoons go swimming, chill with a book, enjoy a leisurely lunch followed by a long snooze…
Relax and rest. You don’t need to be rushing around doing every site. This is your gift from time — to Go Slow and just Go with the Flow…