India Travel Budget Calculator

The room is the anchor line: $35 nightly in New Delhi, halved to $17.50 per person when shared, accumulating to $245 over a seven-night stay for two. Meals stack to $18 daily per person across India at $6 a sitting; traders who eat one meal street-side trim that to roughly $13.20.

India's 10% tip custom quietly inflates restaurant bills — near $1.80 per day — and the $20 activities-and-transit allowance covers a metro pass plus one ticketed sight.

The style ladder in India spans $33.30 (hostel dorm, market food, walking days) through $55.50 (3-star room shared, casual restaurants, paid sights) to $111+ (5-star, fine dining, private guides) per person per day. Prices thin out away from New Delhi: secondary cities and rural South Asia routinely land 20-35% below the headline, so a $55.50 capital day becomes roughly $38.85 elsewhere. The $25 India entry cost is typically settled online or at the border for most passport holders, a one-off outside the daily model.

Formalities rarely slow anyone down entering India: $25, a passport photo, done. Every café and taxi in India bills in INR, not dollars: the calculator itself stays in USD, and the INR column in the style table below converts its headline figures at the indicative rate so you can sanity-check a folio. India prices at 30 on the index — low enough that the constraint is rarely money: the $55.50 day already assumes sit-down meals and paid sights throughout.

Swapping the hotel for a serviced apartment saves a quarter to two-fifths on lodging in New Delhi, more by the week. The midday set menu is India's quiet bargain: identical kitchens, about $4.20 against $6 at night. You can negotiate and book directly in India — English comfort is 4/5 — where New Delhi's honest rates live.

Small print that costs money in India: 230V / C/D/M plugs (adapters at the airport cost triple), and left-hand driving if you price a rental into the plan. India's temperate profile means the seasonal price swing — not closures — is the main reason to mind October through March when you book. Self-driving in India means left-hand traffic and a right-hand-drive rental in most fleets — price the premium, about $10-$20 a day over a standard booking.