e-Visa to India

soun80

Has anyone tried the e-Visa option rather than the traditional tourist visa? If you have, how was the process and do you have any tips? Thanks in advance!

joycesw

We used this in January 2016 and it was really quite simple ( and much cheaper)if you are prepared and patient. Also, the arrival lines were much shorter when we used the electronic visa. I posted a detailed account of how to do it on this Forum. Look under General Discussion, then go back to about page 4 and look under the "Portrait of India" thread (posted on July 11, 2016). I assume the process has not changed. The very best source is the India visa forum on Trip Advisor.

Nanos

I took the Portrait of India trip in February 2017 (phenomenal trip!!) and got the e-visa. Getting the visa was easy...however upon arrival in Delhi, the lines for e-visa travelers were very long... It took almost 2 hours to get to the counter while there were no travelers in the regular visa lines. The long lines were due to only a handful of agents to deal with several planes arriving at the same time (my flight arrived 1 hour late) and their system of fingerprinting travelers. It took many attempts for the machine to register the prints. I was told that they are getting new equipment soon to speed up the process. In any event, once we met the Tauck rep who zoomed us off to the hotel, the aggravating wait to be processed at the airport was soon forgotten.

soun80

Thank you Nanos and joycesw.

I have a follow up question for both of you. I'm trying to decide if I should arrive at 2AM or at 10AM. Which would be better in terms of how busy the airport is and traffic?

I'm leaning towards 10 AM knowing that the airport will be busy and traffic will be bad, but also knowing that I will arrive just in time to check in at Leela Palace, get cleaned up and participate in a street food tour at 5PM.

I'm open to your advice. Thanks in advance!

British

soun80 wrote:

Thank you Nanos and joycesw.

I have a follow up question for both of you. I'm trying to decide if I should arrive at 2AM or at 10AM. Which would be better in terms of how busy the airport is and traffic?

I'm leaning towards 10 AM knowing that the airport will be busy and traffic will be bad, but also knowing that I will arrive just in time to check in at Leela Palace, get cleaned up and participate in a street food tour at 5PM.

I'm open to your advice. Thanks in advance!

We arrived in Delhi in the middle of the night and the Delhi airport was very busy, the same returning home, our flight was the middle of the night and the airport was hectic. About 95% of the people were male and surprisingly it made me quite nervous even though I was with my husband. We slept until very late that day, not setting the alarm, just letting ourselves wake naturally. We did not make plans, just went for a swim in the fabulous Oberio indoor pool where Tauck stayed at that time.

soun80

Thank you for your reply British. Great tip! Seems like time doesn't matter since airport will be busy either way. I think I'd like to pursue the 11 AM arrival in New Delhi. I want to maximize the time I have in India.

joycesw

We arrived on the 1:30 AM Lufthansa flight. Sadly, we did not get out of the airport until about 3:30 as my husband's luggage did not make the flight from Frankfort! A great travel story as the red tape was sort of out of a Keystone Cops tale! It was about 4:30 by the time we got to our rooms, so that day was sort of a loss. We hung around the Oberai and took a cooking class that evening. By the next day we were rested, his luggage arrived and we hit the city for our adventure! Not knowing your flight schedule, it would be hard to advise you (length of flight time, able to sleep on the plane, layover (if any) time, etc.). Sometimes it is difficult to hit the ground running when arriving in a new city. With that said, we have done that many times, and as long as we don't plan something too extensive, it works!

Nanos

We arrived at the Delhi airport at about 11am. We flew from NYC to Hong Kong for a few days and then to Singapore for a few days. And then to Delhi. We were rested, refreshed and ready for our India adventure. We had pre-arranged thru the concierge at the Leela for a driver and guide to begin with us at 1pm. Unfortunately we did not arrive at the hotel until 2:30ish. But no problem...our driver and guide were there, waited while we checked into our rooms. Since we had less time than planned, our original touring plan needed adjustment. The guide recommended going to the Old Market (near the Red Fort). Tauck does not take you to the Market. We drove through Delhi, the guide explaining what we were seeing. As we approached the market, we left the car and driver. With the guide, we went through the market on tuk tuks and by foot. Amazing!! And so our trip began...amazing from start to finish!!