Old Harbour Hotel, Fort Cochin, Kerala Details: B&B doubles from £80 book as above
Nilaya, Arpora, Goa- Details: Half-board doubles from £218 (00 91 883 2227 6793,www.nilaya.com)
Shahpura Bagh, Bhilwara, Rajasthan Details: B&B doubles from £72. Dinner from £6. (14 8422 2077,www.shahpurabagh.com). Alastair Sawday’s Special Places to Stay India (£11.99, 01275 395431, www.sawdays.co.uk).
Getting to India
Flights:
British Airways (0870 8509850, www.ba.com), Air India (020-8560 9996, www.airindia.com), Jet Airways (0808 1011199,www.jetairways.com) and Virgin Atlantic (0870 3802007,www.virgin-atlantic.com) have non-stop flights to Delhi and Bombay from Heathrow.
Charter flights:
Thomsonfly (0870 1900737, www.thomsonfly.com) and MyTravel (0870 2418984, www.mytravel.com) fly to Goa from Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester. Monarch (0870 0405040,www.flymonarch.com) flies to Goa from Manchester and Gatwick (winter only).
Getting around:
By air: budget flights have revolutionised travel in India. No-frills domestic airlines include Air Deccan (www.airdeccan.net), Air India Express (airindiaexpress.in), Go Air (www.goair.in), Paramount Airways (www.paramountairways.com), and Spicejet (www.spicejet.com). Kingfisher (www.flykingfisher.com) has the edge with better legroom and inflight meals.
Airpasses are worth buying for multiple flights: Trailfinders (0845 058 5858) offers seven-day airpasses on Jet Airways from $350 and 15-day passes on Indian Airlines from $630.
By rail: Indian Railways (www.indianrail.gov.in) carries 10 million passengers a day over a route network of 63,000km. There are eight passenger classes to choose from, so you shouldn’t have to ride on the roof. Even for a single journey it’s best to buy an IndRail Pass (a half-day pass lasts up to 12 hours), available in Britain from SD Enterprises (020-8903 3411, www.indiarail.co.uk).
