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IMPORTANT - INDIA VISA ALERT FOR TOURIST VISA HOLDERS

In December 2009, India introduced a new rule that prevents Tourist visa holders from re-visiting India within 2 months after last leaving.
That rule has been updated recently to include the following:
All Tourist visa holders, including 6 Month visa holders, and Non US citizens holding a Tourist visa are impacted by the new rule. Some exceptions can be made on a case by case basis as decided on by the local Consulates. Exception reasons include sick family members in India.

More details are available here.

To apply for a Permit to Reenter India Within 2 Months, please visit our website to start the application process.

India

India is the largest country in the Indian Subcontinent and shares borders with Pakistan to the west, China and Nepal to the north, Bhutan to the north-east, and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia lie to the south-east in the Indian Ocean. It is the seventh largest country in the world by area and, with over a billion people, is second only to China in population. It's an extremely diverse country, with vast differences in geography, climate, culture, language and ethnicity across its expanse, and prides itself on being the largest democracy on Earth.

Regions

India is administratively divided into 28 states and 7 union territories. The states are broadly demarcated on linguistic lines. They vary in size; the larger ones are bigger and more diverse than some countries of Europe. The union territories are smaller than the states—sometimes they are just one city—and they have much less autonomy.

These states and union territories are grouped by convention into the following regions:

• Himalayan North
  Mountainous and beautiful, a tourist destination for the adventurous and the spiritual. This region contains some of India's most visited hill-stations and religious places. Also includes the exquisitely scenic states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir.
• The Plains
  The country's capital New Delhi is here. The river Ganga and Yamuna flows through this plain. Many of the events that shaped India's history took place in this region.
• Western India
  Miles and miles of the Thar Desert. Home to the colorful palaces, forts and cities of Rajasthan, the country's most vibrant and biggest city Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), wonderful beaches and pristine forests of Goa and Bollywood (Indian film industry in Bombay).
• Southern India
  A strong bastion of indigenous culture, South India features famous and historical temples, tropical forests, backwaters in Kerala, beautiful hill stations in Tamil Nadu, beaches and cosmopolitan cities in Pondicherry, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and the wonderful lush island groups of Andaman & Nicobar (on the east) and Lakshadweep on the west.
• Eastern India
  India's mostly rural region, its largest city is Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta), the temple cities of Puri of Lord Jagannath fame and Bhubaneswar are both in Orissa.
• North-Eastern India
  remote and sensitive, the country's tribal corner, with beautiful landscapes and famous for Tea Gardens. Consists of seven tiny states (by Indian standards, some of them are larger than Switzerland or Austria) popularly nicknamed as the Seven Sisters.

Quick Facts

• Capital: New Delhi
• Government: Federal Republic
• Currency: Indian Rupee (INR)
• Area total: 3,287,590 km2
• Land: 2,973,190 km2
• Water: 314,400 km2
• Population: 1,147,995,898 (2008 est.)
• Language: Hindi, English and 21 other official languages
• Religion: Hindu 81.3%, Muslim 12%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other groups including Buddhist, Jain, Parsi 2.5% (2000)
• Electricity: 230V/50Hz, Indian (Old British)/European plugs
• Calling Code: +91
• Internet TLD: .in
• Time Zone: UTC+5.5

Other destinations

India has many outstanding landmarks and areas of outstanding beauty. Below is a list of nine of the most notable:

• Bodh Gaya — the place where the Buddha Sakyamuni attained enlightenment.
• Ellora/Ajanta — spectacular rock-cut cave monasteries and temples, holy place for the Buddhists, Jains and Hindus.
• Goa — an east-west mix, beaches and syncretic culture.
• Golden Temple — Sikh holy site located in Amritsar
• Hampi — the awesome ruins of the empire of Vijayanagara
• Khajuraho — famed for its erotic sculptures
• Lake Palace — the Lake Palace of Octopussy fame, located in Udaipur
• Meenakshi Temple — a spectacular Hindhu temple in Madurai
• Taj Mahal — the incomparable Taj Mahal in Agra

Befitting its size and population, India's culture and heritage are a rich amalgam of the past and the present: From the civilizations, fascinating religions, variety of languages (more than 200!) and monuments that have been present for thousands of years to the modern technology, economy, and media that arises as it opens up to a globalised world, India will never cease to awe and fascinate the visitor.

For more detailed information about India, please visit http://wikitravel.org/en/India or www.lonelyplanet.com/india or http://india.gov.in/ or www.india.com.