General Information about India
India - the land know for its diversities in all aspects of land, climate, people, culture traditions themes. Each city in India brings upon the something special exclusive about itself ! to meet the expectation of every type of tourist. With her varied topography, picturesque valleys, High Mountain peaks and cascading rivers, she never ceases to surprise tourists with her kaleidoscopic attractions. India with magnificent historical sites and royal cities, golden beaches, misty mountain retreats, colorful people, rich cultures and festivities. At any part of the year India can offer you a dazzling array of destinations and experiences. The sun-drenched beaches are inviting and wildlife sanctuaries with their abundance of flora and fauna are a buzz with the nurture of the young. You can live like a maharaja in the rich ambiance of royal forts and palaces that are now heritage hotels; luxuriate in the serene beauty of a coral island with its turquoise lagoon; participate in the exuberance of a village fair or a colorful festival; day dream on a house boat drifting down the palm - fringed backwaters; delight in the grace of a dancer or shop till you drop - buying exquisite silks, carved figurines, brass and silver ware, marble inlaid with semi-precious stones, finely crafted jewelry, miniature paintings, carpets at unbelievable prices.
To make it more convenient for you, we have made a good number of sample tours suggestions. These tours can even be customized as per your specific requirements. You can also send us a list of your specific requirements and we will revert to you with a tailor made suggestion.

Documents & Formalities Special Permits
Photography Restrictions Customs Formalities And Regulations
Health Regulations Restricted & Protected Areas
Transport Facilities

Documents & Formalities
Passports: All travelers to India (except nationals of Nepal & Bhutan ) must possess a valid passport. Tourists are suggested to carry their passport at all times for identification.

Visas:
All foreign tourists to India (barring nationals of Nepal & Bhutan) must possess a valid visa. For a visa, contact the Indian embassy or consulate in your country. Tourists visas, valid for three to six months, allow complete entry to simplify visits to neighboring countries.

Special Permits
Special Permits can be obtained if specifically asked for while applying for a Visa or they may be obtained after arrival in India. The FRROs (Foreigners Regional registration offices) in Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and the chief Immigration officer in Chennai can issue the same as well as group permits. The permit is valid for maximum period of 15 days only. Permits must be applied for at least two weeks in advance for group tourists.

Permits are required for the following places.
1.North Eastern Frontiers
2. Andaman Islands

Customs Formalities And Regulations
The usual duty free regulations of one bottle of whisky, i.e.950 ml or less and 200 cigarettes apply for India. If the tourist brings in more than $1000 in cash or in traveler's cheques, it must be declared by completion of a currency declaration form.
While small items like perfumes, cosmetics. are allowed into the country, larger items like video cameras are likely to be entered on a 'Tourist Baggage Reexporrt' form to ensure that the article is taken away on Departure. The TBRE form should be resubmitted on Departure.
A tourist can clear goods up to Rs.2, 400? in value duty free. Goods brought in excess of this are chargeable to duty as per Prevailing law.

Health Regulations
Barring a yellow fever vaccinations for tourists, coming from infected areas ( African and South American countries ) there are no vaccination requirements for tourist in India.

Restricted & Protected Areas
Military installations and areas, defense organizations and research organization are considered protected areas, where permits are generally not given to foreigners.

Photography Restrictions
Photography is prohibited in places of military importance, railway stations, bridges, airports and other military installations.

Export Of Antiquities
Antiques include sculpture, painting or other works of art and craftsmanship, illustrative of science, art, crafts, religion of bygone ages and of historical interest which has been in existence for not less than one hundred yrs.
Also manuscripts or other documents of scientific, historical, and literary or aseptic value in existence for not less then seventy-five years- art, -treasures- not necessarily antiquities but having regard to the artistic and the aesthetic value cannot be exported out of India.

Restrictions Pertaining to Export Of Articles Made of Animals etc.
Govt. of India is concerned about the conservation of its endangered species and rare fauna. With this view, export of all wild animals indigenous to the country and the articles made from such listed animals like skin, pelts, furs, ivory, rhino horns, trophies, etc. have been totally been banned.
Tourists are advised to acquaint themselves with provisions of Conventions on International Trade of Endangered species of wild flora and fauna. All the member countries of the convention allow import of the articles covered by the convention on the strength of certificate of export from the country of origin.

Transport Facilities
There are various modes one can adopt, they are
1. Air :India is well connected and all major cities in India have Airport. The National Carrier is Indian Airlines and there are others to choose from they are Sahara Airlines, Jet Airways, and Alliance Air etc.
2. Train: The Indian Railways is the world's second largest railway system, under a single management with route length of over 62,000 Kms.. Time Tables are available at all railway stations.
3. Bus: India has an extensive and well-developed bus system, with the system varying widely from state to state. Buses with Video shows are becoming extremely popular on major routes.
4.Driving: Car rental system (similar to those in west) is available in India. Also available are chauffeurs driven cars and the short and long distance metered Taxis.
5.Other Transport: In Some places; auto rickshaws (three wheelers), tongas (horse- drawn two wheelers) and Victories (horse -drawn carriages) operate. Calcutta boasts of an extensive tramway and also India's only underground Metro Railway.

Climate
India has three major seasons: summer, winter and the rainy season or the monsoon.
The summer months (April -June) are hot in most parts of India. This is the season to visit the summer resorts of Shimla, Mussorie, Nainital, Kufri and the Kashmir valley, Darjeeling, Shillong, Ootacamund, Kodikanal, Panchmarhi and Mount Abu.
The Winter Months are (November -March) are pleasant throughout India with bright sunny days. Winter is more severe in the Northern Plains, and in the foothills of Himalayas, while the southern, eastern, and the western zones of India, remain pleasantly cool.
The Monsoons break at the beginning of the June on the South West coast of India, and gradually break at all parts of the country, except South Eastern areas. These areas receive most of the rainfall between mid -October and end -December.

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