Editor's Letter: January Travel in India 2025

Dear reader,

Happy New Year, and welcome to the January 2025 issue of Travel Viewpoint.

There is something about the first weeks of a new year that makes me want to be on the road. Perhaps it is the clean page of a fresh calendar, or the quiet resolve that comes with every January. Perhaps it is simply the weather. Across much of India, January brings some of the clearest, most comfortable days of the year: crisp mornings, golden afternoons and nights cool enough for a shawl or a bonfire. Whatever the reason, I have always believed that the best way to begin a year is by going somewhere, even somewhere close to home, and looking at it with fresh eyes.

This issue is our invitation to do exactly that. Our theme is January travel in India, and it is a theme with almost endless possibilities.

A month of contrasts

January in India is a month of contrasts. In the Himalayas, snow settles on the hills and transforms familiar towns into winter landscapes. On the plains of the north, fog rolls in at dawn and the smell of roasting peanuts and fresh jaggery fills the markets. In the Thar, the desert days are warm and the nights are cold enough to make you grateful for a camel-hair blanket. In the south, the sun is gentle, the beaches are inviting and the temple towns are alive with festivals.

And what festivals they are. Around the middle of the month, India celebrates the sun’s journey northwards in a dozen different ways: Lohri bonfires in Punjab, kites filling the skies of Gujarat for Uttarayan, Pongal pots boiling over in Tamil Nadu, feasts for Magh Bihu in Assam and holy dips for Makar Sankranti along India’s sacred rivers. Then, on 26 January, the nation marks Republic Day. In 2025, the month also saw the beginning of the Maha Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj, one of the largest gatherings of people anywhere on earth.

What is inside

We begin with the classic January question, where to find snow, in our guide to the best places in India to witness snowfall. For those watching their wallets after the festive season, we share budget trips that will not break the bank. Our offbeat January travel ideas are for the curious wanderer, while our great January escape suggests where to begin the year right. And for readers seeking calm, we explore spiritual places across India that offer peace and renewal at the start of a new year.

Then we slow down. We follow the road from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer, a single route that explains January in India better than any list could: blue lanes beneath a mighty fort, the open Thar, a living golden fort and a cold night under desert stars. We spend three unhurried days in Hampi, among boulders and ruins and the gentle bend of the Tungabhadra. Our guest writer takes us to Orchha, a quieter corner of Bundelkhand beside the famous temples of Khajuraho. And for practical planners, we offer an honest guide to what to skip on your first January trip, and a complete guide to food, stays and getting around.

On beginning well

I want to say a word about how we begin.

Every January, I am tempted, as many of you probably are, to make ambitious lists. Places to see, trips to take, experiences to tick off before December comes around again. There is nothing wrong with ambition. But over the years I have learned that the most memorable journeys are rarely the ones with the longest itineraries. They are the ones where I slowed down long enough to notice things: the way morning light falls on a fort wall, the conversation with a chai seller at a railway station, the taste of a dish I had never heard of, cooked by someone who has made it every winter of their life.

So my wish for you this year is not that you travel more, but that you travel more deeply. Choose fewer places and stay longer. Take a train instead of a flight when you can. Eat what the locals eat. Learn a few words of the language. Ask questions and listen to the answers. Leave every place a little better than you found it.

A thank you

Travel Viewpoint has always been a conversation with our readers, and I am grateful for every letter, comment and story you have shared with us. Many of the ideas in this issue began with your questions. Please keep writing to us. Tell us where January takes you, what surprised you and what you would tell a friend planning the same journey.

A note before you set out

January is a busy month for Indian travel, so a little planning goes a long way. Book key trains and stays early, especially around festivals and long weekends. Pack layers, because a warm afternoon can turn into a cold night, particularly in the north and in the desert. Allow some slack in your plans for winter fog in the Indo-Gangetic plains. And treat every festival you are lucky enough to witness as what it truly is: a celebration that belongs to the people who keep it alive, and to which we are guests.

Next month, we head into India’s forests, grasslands and wetlands for an issue on nature, wildlife and responsible travel. Until then, may your year begin with clear skies, good company and at least one journey that changes the way you see the world.

With warm wishes for a wonderful year of travel,

Khushi Anand, Editor