Julia Wytrazek / © Culture Trip
The grand colonial buildings of Mumbai. The beautiful beaches of Goa. The monuments of Delhi. There’s so much to shout about in India. It’s no wonder, then, this country has produced a galaxy of stars in the travel blogging field, who reveal their home country – and the world beyond – one post at a time. So if you’re ready to join them on their journey, here are the most popular travel bloggers from India.
Meet an adventurer on a mission to inspire other young women to travel solo and be independent. Shivya Nath achieves this through her trophy-garnering blog, The Shooting Star. Sharing her expertise and tips on how to travel like a local has earned her the title of Best Travel Blogger at the Indian Blogger Awards, and she continues to generate interest in off-the-beaten-track destinations. It’s always inspiring to learn of someone quitting the corporate life to work as a full-time traveller – and Nath’s life story is absolutely fascinating.
In 2012, with his MBA in in the bag, Karthik Reddy realised he was ready to leave his comfort zone and get out on the road. The passion soon led to the creation of his travel blog, Romancing The Planet, on which he shares travel stories and advice as well as his favourite photos. This is a blogger with a major appetite for world cuisines, discovering cultures and meeting people. Check out his blog – it’s like having a (new) best friend helping you to gain the confidence to explore pastures fresh.
Blogging since 2004, Anuradha Goyal loves sharing ideas about her two biggest passions: travelling and reading. Her book reviews are listed under AnuReviews, and her travel stories appear on her other blog, Inditales. This bold traveller is a mine of practical information about getting around India, shedding light, for instance, on walking tours in some of the major cities. Able to recount tales of her international adventures with flair, Goyal is also the author of The Mouse Charmers—Digital Pioneers of India (2014).
Not content with life as a successful media professional, the multi-talented Lakshmi Sharath added these strings to her bow: full-time traveller, blogger, journalist and photographer. Check her out at Travel With Lakshmi, and you’ll be impressed with her experiences in India and internationally. Sharath has accepted a gong for India’s Best Travel Blog of the Year and through her posts has worked with major brands including Nokia, Airbnb and Virgin Atlantic.
There’s a beautiful story behind Arnab Maity’s blog, The Wireless Wanderer. It began as a way to help Maity’s mother, who instilled in him her passion for traveling, to journey virtually with the aid of her son’s words and pictures. More and more followers began contacting Maity to tell him how decisively The Wireless Wanderer had inspired them to hit the road. And so the blog took on greater dimensions and significance. Maity’s aim is to show that travelling can be inexpensive, that working people can travel too, and, finally, that the people you meet while on the road have incredible stories to share and insights to offer.
Also known as Shree, Devi is a travel blogger from Assam, who started My Travel Diary to share her personal travel stories. What shines through is the originality of her observations. She loves exploring remote corners of the world, getting to know local people, tasting their food, and learning about different ways of life. Devi hopes that, through her blog, she can inspire others to pack their bags and travel out of their comfort zones.
Shalu Sharma is one of the most knowledgeable travel bloggers we’ve come across, writing with poetic fluency and insight about her much-loved home country, India. This proud housewife and mum from Bihar, the eastern state bordering Nepal, is devoted to the outdoors, sightseeing and India travels, which she writes about whenever she finds the time. Her aim is to provide travellers to India with factually correct, valuable information, including places of interest, best times to visit, what to pack, vaccination requirements and everything in between.
Sankara is among the top travel bloggers in India, and his motorcycle adventures have found their way into media outlets as diverse as BBC Worldwide, The Times of India and National Geographic. BE ON THE ROAD is a forum for a stack of topics, including meat-free cuisine (Sankara is vegetarian), wildlife holidays, unique cultures and visas for Indian travellers. If you’re looking to journey efficiently on a budget – especially exploring India – you’ll find Sankara’s dispatches an indispensable source of great tips and information.
This has to be one of the most stylish adventure blogs any web trawl could bring up. On Anki On The Move, the cool wanderer conveys what she encounters with singular beauty. Among other successes, Sinha has conducted Indian-traveller hook-ups in various cities, bringing like-minded people together for mutually beneficial idea exchanges. She has also won a couple of awards for her writing, and is known as one of the best adventure bloggers in the country. If you’re craving an adrenaline rush, this blog is the fix – Sinha has the lowdown on the most extreme adventure sports, including mountaineering, cliff jumping and zip lining.
Say hello – and bon voyage – to another of India’s most successful travel bloggers. Siddhartha Joshi has unshakeable belief in the power of travelling to break down barriers and make us more accepting of each another. It is the human moments he lives for – because he finds fulfilment and happiness through his many interactions with local people. Take a look at his impressive blog, The Wanderer, and you’ll feel his passion for nations of the world.
We love the blog’s snappy name, Wanderink – so let’s introduce the man behind it, Thommen Jose. This traveller’s posts are all about driving ecotourism, and focus on the challenges faced by local people – he highlights what we can do to better understand local culture and traditions while becoming more conscious, more responsible travellers. Development is at the heart of Jose’s ambition, and he’s gained quite a fan base by raising awareness among the wider travel community.
Technology lover Deepak Patel is a committed travel blogger – his tech leanings produced his blog, Travel N Thrill. He’s never happier than when exploring ancient places, which comes across, beacon clear, in his posts. From reading ancient scriptures and gazing at historic architecture, to reflecting on the priceless cultural heritage of India, Patel gives his exhilaration free rein. This blog is a perfect port of call if you’re a lover of history and culture, looking for considered insights into the most fascinating destinations in India.
Nisha and Vasu are a dynamic blogger couple from Mumbai who photograph and write about their (extensive) global travels for their blog entitled Le Monde, the Poetic Travels. They’ve explore more than 45 countries, with Europe and Asia well covered, writing about some less generic angles, from the best group folk dances in a variety of Indian states, to the more mainstream pieces on where to celebrate Christmas in Switzerland. Their zesty words have also appeared on Lonely Planet, while Nisha has also made a video with Yahoo.
In a search for relief from a serious asthmatic condition, Rajasthan-born Shubham (Shoebum) Mansingka travelled around India, from the Himalayas to Kerala, with a few forays abroad. He updates his followers on off-the-beaten-path places, and maintains a strong focus on sustainability as well as responsible tourism. The goal is always full immersion in local culture, spending very little and leaving no litter behind.
Based in Gurgaon, North India, Mridula Dwivedi took 12 months out of her full-time job as a professor. One year turned into five as she sought more time to travel around India with occasional trips abroad. Her colourful blogs cover fascinating cultural aspects of her home country, such as the intricately carved Ramkund stepwell (pond) in Gujarat state. She also has intriguing lowdowns from journeys further afield, such as her trip to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, focusing on food and museums.