Solotraveling in India for a month…what am I in for?

Yes, there is that hilly region over there near the border of that town and the adjacent one down along that coast.

Lots of sweating. It's humid as heck there.

You can run laps around the Taj Mahal.

Out of the 25 worst polluted cities in the world, 13 are in India.

500 million Indians sh!t out in the open EVERY DAY.

Here's an short article describing more of what you can expect in India. (Warning - I don't think you can handle the truth.)

You MUST replace the "!" in the word "sh!thole" in the URL below with a "i" (Letsrun won't let me post the real URL because they say the URL is profane.)

firstpost.com

NYT writer is absolutely right: Delhi is literally a shithole; but so is all of India-India News , Firstpost

The capital of a super power aspirant, a country which is projected to become the world’s third biggest economy in 2020, has been described as “among the most populous, polluted, unsanitary and bacterially unsafe cities on ea...

Open link

Why would you say this? Rape isn’t funny.

There have been many well publicized cases of gang rapes in India over the past few years. I don't think that the poster was trying to be funny. It's a serious warning.

Diarrhea

India is one of the best countries to travel too.

Where are you going?

Why?

As an unaccompanied woman you will get a lot of aggressive unwanted attention. It’ll be worse if you’re white and don’t cover up everything or go where you stand out. I was a guy in a bigger city (Hyderabad) and probably the first white guy half of them had seen. I got a lot of attention.

Besides that stay in tourist areas, hire a car to drive you around depending on where (similar cost to normal rental car to get car & driver). Running on the streets isn’t really a thing and sidewalks don’t exist reliably. There were parks for a small fee $.25 to $1.00 or so you could probably get some space and less likely to be accosted.

All that being said, you should be fine just be prepared.

Isn’t hiring a car riskier? Wouldn’t it be safer to take public transportation like the bus where you’re around other people?

He's not, so please be careful.

As I woman, I went to India in 2019 with my now husband. I would never go there alone. As an earlier poster above said, you will stick out as a sore thumb if you’re white. This will also make it you a very susceptible target for beggars and others to trick you into giving them money. I ran twice in the three weeks we were there and the air quality made the runs super difficult breathing wise. And yeah the case of the runs hit me at the beginning and end of the trip. There were a lot of positive experiences that I did enjoy such as the Taj Mahal, giving an elephant a bath at a sanctuary, visiting a few of the textile shops, and the tour we went on around Dehli. You just need to be ready for the culture shock. But if you think you’re going on a solo running vacation I suggest going someplace else.

If you ride a bus just expect that a lot of people will be playing with your hair and touching you inappropriately. Busses are packed to a level that doesn’t seem possible. If you are going between cities a private cabin on a train would probably be ok.

A driver for a company has probably been vetted at least a bit and reports to a company so if anything happened he’d be traceable so that gives you a layer of protection.

Indian here living in the US and have been to India several times so I can give you more of an honest answer.

India is a beautiful country with awesome people, amazing food, excellent scenery, and some pretty good hospitality. If you are white, you will definitely be treated better than the average Indian. Sure, you will receive some unnecessary attention but most of it will be good-natured. If you stay in hotels, managers will personally greet you and be at your beck and call. If you go to a mall, store clerks will be extra attentive to your needs.

There is much to do in India and much to see. Delhi is an OK city. I am a bigger fan of Bombay (Mumbai), the mountains of Northern India, and the lush countryside of South India. Goa is beautiful and has some cool Portuguese history (former Portuguese colony) if you are into that sort of stuff.

Now, for the bad. Air quality in and around major cities isn’t ideal. I was born and brought up in the US so I am very pampered by US air quality and definitely felt a difference when I was in Delhi. I still ran 8 miles a couple hours after getting off my flight and felt fine for the most part. In addition, running in India is not great. Like a previous poster said, there is not much sense of a sidewalk and runner-friendly roads in India. In addition, stray dogs are a big thing in India and you don’t want one of those suckers chasing you down and biting you. When I ran in Goa, the roads were pretty empty and there were many super nice runs along the beach next to million dollar houses but I simply couldn’t get to some streets because stray dogs were blocking them off and I didn’t want to risk getting too close to them. There are many parks in India luckily, and if you are fine with a little monotony, running loops will be your best friend. The good thing is most parks are unpaved (cinder or thinly cut grass) so the surface is ideal. I rarely run on hard surface in India.

Enjoy your trip and exercise appropriate caution! India is nota country to be avoided but definitely one where if you use your common sense and take a couple extra precautions as a white female, you will be fine!

"I'm going to a humongous country. Tell me a good place to run."

Hollywood Bollywood Same tree different wood

Was going to say this. If you are indeed a female, I would NOT(!) got to India by yourself. Very high chance you will get raped.

If you want to travel abroad somewhere exotic that is safe, go to SE Asia. There is chance for SA anywhere, but if you keep your wits about you there, the chances are low.