Safety in India

Scams: Be ready for lines like "the road is closed" or "your hotel burned down". These are always lies, designed to steer you into a particular travel agency or a different hotel, so keep walking and check for yourself.

Crowds: In busy places and on trains, watch your pockets. Do not leave valuables visible and use locks on your backpack during journeys.

Women travellers: Solo female travellers should avoid dark lanes alone in the evening. Dress modestly, covering shoulders and knees, which noticeably reduces unwanted attention.

Roads: Traffic is chaotic and pavements barely exist. To cross a street, simply move with the flow of local people and avoid sudden movements.

Animals: Cows on the road are sacred and must not be harmed. Monkeys around temples can be aggressive and will steal phones, so do not hold food in your hands.

Health: Get hepatitis and typhoid vaccinations before you travel. Take out good insurance, since decent care in private clinics is expensive.

India has turned deceiving tourists into an industry. The schemes are decades old and convincing.

New Delhi railway station. The classic: a man in something like a uniform tells you your train is cancelled or that the foreigners' ticket office has moved, and directs you to a "government tourist office" a few blocks away, where an overpriced tour awaits. The real International Tourist Bureau is on the first floor of the main station building and has never moved.

Gemstones. In Jaipur and Agra you are offered stones to "resell at home for a profit", sometimes with forged certificates and a tearful story about customs duty. The stones are glass.

Drivers and hotels. Your driver takes you not where you asked but to a hotel that pays him commission, explaining that yours burnt down or is under quarantine. Show your booking, but give directions from your own map.

Bracelets and flowers. Outside temples a thread is tied to your wrist or a flower pressed into your hand "as a gift", followed by a demand for a donation. Accept nothing into your hands.

Auto-rickshaws. "Meter is broken" is the standard line. Agree the fare first or use an app.

Alcohol. The rules are set by state, not by country. Gujarat, Bihar, Nagaland and Lakshadweep are fully dry, including what you bring in your luggage. The legal age ranges from 18 to 25 depending on where you are. Gujarat issues temporary liquor permits to visitors, but you must obtain one properly.

E-cigarettes are banned outright — production, sale, import and possession, since 2019. A vape in your bag is confiscated on arrival and may bring a fine.

Satellite phones. Thuraya, Iridium and similar devices are illegal in India without a permit, and foreigners have been detained at airports over them. If you are heading into the mountains, leave the sat phone at home and arrange tracking through your operator instead.

Drugs. The NDPS Act is severe: minimum sentences run to years, and serious charges carry no bail. The relaxed attitude to charas in Himachal and Goa is an illusion, and the police make use of it.

Photography. Military installations, bridges, airports and some railway stations are off limits. Drones require registration and are banned at most tourist sites.

Beef. Several states criminalise cow slaughter and beef possession. The subject is emotionally charged and not one to debate in the street.

Vaccinations. None mandatory, but a yellow fever certificate is demanded from anyone arriving from Africa or South America — without it you go into quarantine. Doctors typically advise hepatitis A, typhoid and rabies, plus Japanese encephalitis for rural areas.

Rabies. India accounts for roughly a third of the world's rabies deaths. Street dogs and the monkeys of Rishikesh, Jaipur and the temple hills bite regularly. Any bite, and even a monkey scratch, means a clinic and vaccine the same day — this cannot wait.

Stomach. "Delhi belly" catches most visitors. The rules are simple: bottled water with an intact seal, no ice from street vendors, no salads or pre-peeled fruit from a cart, nothing that is not hot and freshly cooked.

Malaria and dengue occur nationwide, with higher risk in the monsoon. Discuss malaria prophylaxis with a doctor for your specific route.

Air. From November to February Delhi's air quality index passes 400 — a level at which asthmatics and people with heart conditions simply should not be in the city. Plan a northern trip for another season.

Healthcare. Private clinics in big cities are good and inexpensive; public hospitals are not. Insurance is essential.

India scores poorly on the Corruption Perceptions Index, and low-level extortion is routine. It touches tourists less often than locals, but it does touch them.

Traffic stops. A bribe instead of a fine is ordinary practice. For a foreigner it is usually simpler to insist on an official fine with a receipt — the request alone often ends the conversation.

Tourist police. Present in Delhi, Goa, Jaipur, Agra and other major destinations, in uniforms marked Tourist Police. They speak English and treat foreigners far more attentively than an ordinary station.

Reporting theft. Your insurer needs an FIR — First Information Report. Stations are slow and reluctant to issue one, but insist: without an FIR no company pays out. Many states now accept FIR submissions online.

Women's safety. This is a real problem, not press exaggeration. Practical rules: no trains or taxis alone at night, decline offers to "show you the city" from new acquaintances, and dress conservatively in the northern states. Kerala, Goa and the south generally feel markedly calmer than Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

Emergency number is 112 nationwide.