Is it Safe to Travel to India Today?

[ZenSwift]

Obviously there's no guarantees with anything in reality but I'm curious to see what you guys on the Forum have to say about India.

I would like to travel to India for a yoga practitioner retreat that will last for 2 months in Rishikesh, and then I would like to travel to southern India, exploring around, backpacking, along with possibly even visiting Thailand as well. I'm looking at a three to four month trip of solo travel.

(I also have never traveled solo before like this. I've flown to a few places in the USA alone but that's about it.) 

- A colleague of mine mentioned that she reads the news and is worried about me going to India for fear of me being caught in the middle of World War 3 or some similar dangerous conflict.  So that is why I come here to get your thoughts. 

Let me know about your thoughts on: 

• What's going on in and around India today?
• What are the chances of it being safe versus unsafe in the upcoming months?

And Furthermore: 

What are some great resources to help keep yourself safe when traveling solo in a new country? How to avoid getting conned, scammed, taken advantage of, etc. (I will study Leo's video on the topic as well.)

Please share with me all the resources and insights you got. 

[Heaven]

India in general is a safe place with a lot of nice people but very poor as well which can lead to theft 

[integration journey]

There are a lot of YouTuber bloggers that travel to India and report their experiences. I recommend watching some of them to get a different perspective 😊

[Pro24]

23 hours ago, ZenSwift said:

Let me know about your thoughts on: 

• What's going on in and around India today?
• What are the chances of it being safe versus unsafe in the upcoming months?

I am from India so I am the right person to tell you. 

First of all there is much less fear of mass shootings as compared to USA. 

Rishikesh is good and safe. It's in the state of Uttarakhand. 

India is the most populous country in the world (1420 million) (Second is China). 

It's not as clean as developed countries. You may face lots of traffic and noise on roads. 

But when you go to a big store/mall or a restaurant or a clinic or anything like that... they are peaceful and well decorated. There are many luxurious buildings here as well as poor ones. There's so much diversity here. 

There isn't any major riot or war going on here except few places which you can Google. 

Don't care about world war 3. There are embassies for that. India is not involved in world affairs too much. I mean it's sort of neutral. It maintains decent relationships with all countries. Israel as well as Palestine. Russia as well as Ukraine. 

It may be unsafe for girls, if they don't have bouncers with them. 

Edited October 11, 2024 by Pro24

[Con heo dien]

I have lived in and travelled through India for about 2 years and I have mostly positive personal experiences. I think it has an incredibly interesting culture, beautiful landscapes and on the whole friendly people. India never stops to fascinate me. But... I am a guy. 

The majority of women that have travelled India alone, that I have spoken to while living there had negative to very negative experiences. They were constantly nagged, bothered, followed, harassed. With the possibility of worse (although admittedly that chance seems to be not very high).

I actually ran a hostel with a large mixed dorm in Southern India and there was no end to the creepy shit that was going on in there. I can write a book about it.

So in short, if you're a guy go for it, if you're a girl, preferably bring a guy with you (then the problems will disappear like snow in the sun). Or at the very minimum take some Krav Maga lessons (this is not a joke).

Disclaimer: I know, India is a vast country, with a vaste range of people. Some places are much safer than others. Some women travelling alone had a great time. But this is my experience on the whole.

[Ajay0]

On 10/10/2024 at 11:28 PM, ZenSwift said:

- A colleague of mine mentioned that she reads the news and is worried about me going to India for fear of me being caught in the middle of World War 3 or some similar dangerous conflict.  So that is why I come here to get your thoughts. 

This is one fear you can shed. 

India is part of the non-aligned movement ( NAM) which does not align itself with military alliances considering that both world wars which killed over a hundred million people and the cold war were a consequence of such military alliances.

So there is no fear of India getting caught up in a third world war unlike the western nations and the Russia-China blocs. 

Switzerland is an another nation whose neutrality for centuries enabled it to escape the devastation of the two world wars which originated in europe and wrecked the other western  nations embroiled in the conflict.

[bliss54]

Im thinking of doing this too, few months trip in india

would you leave your place in US empty? not sure what to do with that part yet

[ZenSwift]

On 18/10/2024 at 5:03 AM, bliss54 said:

Im thinking of doing this too, few months trip in india

would you leave your place in US empty? not sure what to do with that part yet

Currently I've dropped my place to live at home because I had a job working away the whole summer. I am lucky with logistics.