Landing at Delhi Airport
Most overseas visitors arrive at Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport, often at night. Immigration can take an hour or more. Your driver waits at arrivals with a lala:Cab name board and tracks your flight, so a delay is not a problem. Our airport pickups include the first hour of waiting.
From the terminal, the drive to Vrindavan is about 170 km and takes 3 to 3.5 hours. Many guests sleep through most of it. If you arrive at 2 am, you will be in bed by 6 am, and the first mangala aarti can wait for the next day.
E-visa basics
Citizens of many countries can apply for an Indian e-visa online. Always use the official government portal (indianvisaonline.gov.in) and apply well before you fly. Look-alike websites charge extra. Rules, fees and eligible nationalities change, so check them on the official site. Carry a printed copy of your approval, and keep your passport valid for at least six months.
Guest houses in India must register foreign guests with the police. Not every small place does this, so we confirm the stay for your passport before we accept your booking.
Where to stay
Laladham, our homestay, is placed near the ISKCON temple and Prem Mandir, so you can walk to evening aarti and back. The food is home-cooked sattvik, without onion and garlic by default. If you prefer the ISKCON guest house, book it early, since rooms are limited in Kartik and around festivals.
Satvik food is the pleasure of Vrindavan: hot kachori in the morning, dal and sabzi in the afternoon, and rabri or peda after aarti. Drink bottled or filtered water, and ease into spice if you are new to it.
A few honest tips
- Banke Bihari temple timings vary by season. Check them the day before.
- Dress modestly: shoulders and knees covered. Remove shoes at temples, and carry socks for hot floors in summer.
- Monkeys snatch glasses and phones in Vrindavan. Keep them in a zipped bag.
- Winter nights are cold, and Delhi fog slows the road in December and January.
- The best months are October to March. Holi, Kartik and Janmashtami are wonderful and very crowded, so book early.
How we work
We follow the path Krishna gave in the Bhagavad Gita: we keep dharma at every place we take you, and we keep responsibility for everything we have said we will do. You message one WhatsApp number, from the airport pickup to the guide who tells you the leelas, and one team answers.