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Local Life

Activities

With snowy mountain ranges, humid rainforests, warm seas and sun-baked deserts, India presents endless options for outdoor activities. In the mountainous north, you can go trekking, paragliding, skiing and mountaineering. In India's many protected areas, you can take jungle safaris seeking tigers, elephants, leopards, birds and other wildlife. Along the southern beaches you can go diving, surfing, kayaking, swimming or dolphin-spotting, and in Kerala you can cruise inland waterways on houseboats. And in this birthplace of yoga and ayurveda, there are thousands of opportunities to practice different forms of yoga, meditation and healing.

Shopping

India's exuberant bazaars and tantalising shops offer a treasure trove of goodies, including fabulously patterned textiles, finely crafted woodwork, chunky silver bangles, delicate gemstone jewellery and a tremendous mix of village creations. The array of arts and handicrafts is vast, with every region, sometimes every village, having its own unique traditions.

Government-run emporiums, fair-trade cooperatives, department stores and modern shopping centres charge fixed prices. Anywhere else you may need to bargain, as initial asking prices can be highly inflated.

The first ‘rule’ to haggling is don't show too much interest in an item. Second, resist purchasing the first thing that takes your fancy. Wander around several shops and check their prices. Decide how much you would be happy paying, and then express a casual interest. If you have no idea of the going rate, try slashing the asking price by half. From there, you and the vendor can work up and down in small increments until you reach a deal. You’ll find that many shopkeepers lower their so-called ‘final price’ if you head out of the store saying you’ll ‘think about it’.

Entertainment

Cultural performances, including Indian music and dance, and more-contemporary live-music gigs mostly take place in larger cities, while entertainment in smaller places centres on the year-round whirl of festivals, with music, costumes, parades and dance. Annual arts festivals featuring Indian classical dance and music happen in many places and are good opportunities to see the best of Indian traditional culture.

Eating

India has it all: from sizzling street food stands, where crowds wait impatiently for the next batch of taste-sensation snacks, to fantastic fine dining restaurants where desserts are brought out on a bed of dry ice. In between is a mass of regular eateries churning out honed-for-generations specialities. Restaurants in main cities and tourism hubs usually embrace a range of international as well as Indian cuisines. This is the world's best country for vegetarian travel, with tasty, nourishing, meat-free food available everywhere.

Drinking & Nightlife

There's a wide choice of bars and some nightclubs in India's large cities, catering to a glamorous mix of local men and women. However, in many smaller towns the only nightlife you're likely to find is the possibility of drinking alcohol at a restaurant, if that, and any bars will be patronised only by men.