{"id":6553,"date":"2015-11-17T08:00:42","date_gmt":"2015-11-17T08:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/?p=6553"},"modified":"2021-04-16T14:57:59","modified_gmt":"2021-04-16T13:57:59","slug":"great-indian-homestay-conondrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/great-indian-homestay-conondrum\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Indian Homestay Conundrum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"dera-mandawa-ind-courtyard\"<\/p>\n

Everyone\u201d, says\u00a0Philippa, \u201cshould stay in an Indian home as part of their Indian holiday experience\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Philippa Kaye<\/a>, our \u2018on the ground\u2019 travel expert in Delhi, was giving me advice for\u00a0arranging my own trip to\u00a0India. She’s prone to a sweeping statement every now and again, but when it comes to the melting pot that is India<\/a>, she usually has a point.\u00a0I was surprised, because\u00a0for me \u2018homestays\u2019 conjure images of quaint local houses, with pretty\u00a0basic conditions, in remote rural locations \u2013 they certainly weren’t\u00a0for everyone.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_4743

Philippa and Matt, our India Experts<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Homestays in South East Asia and Sri Lanka<\/h2>\n

Having travelled across much of Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka before, I had some experience with\u00a0homestays and generally concluded they suited a more adventurous traveller.\u00a0In Sri Lanka, for example, a homestay means you stay in someone\u2019s house, well off the beaten track, and\u00a0get a glimpse into\u00a0how locals live.\u00a0In Vietnam, a\u00a0homestay is more of a euphemism for what is in fact a small guesthouse with simple conditions in a rural location. The same can be said of Thailand too. In the remote islands of Indonesia such as Flores, homestays are often entire houses within a community given over to low key tourism. Homestays are usually away from the infrastructure of the tourist trail and best for those wanting an alternative experience of a country \u2013 no matter how basic their accommodation.<\/p>\n

\"Ayisha<\/a>

Ayisha Manzil Homestay, Kerala<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Homestays in India<\/h2>\n

However, Indian homestays are a\u00a0different beast altogether<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/strong>Big, imposing and impressive, they tend to be\u00a0houses of the former gentry or senior government employees.\u00a0I’d\u00a0even classify some forts and palaces as homestays on the grounds that they are still very much homes where a visitor is treated as a guest of the family. In general,\u00a0Indian Homestays<\/span>\u00a0are more similar to a very nice B&B in the UK. The difference is that dinners are usually taken with the family, which gives you unparalleled insight into Indian culture. Another key difference is that a house like that in the UK would be very unlikely to have paid staff living there as standard!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dera Mandawa Courtyard<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

\n

In many ways the Indian Homestay experience is like a hotel but the service is more\u00a0quirky, personal and friendly. They\u00a0should not be confused with a \u2018Heritage Hotel<\/a>\u2019, as although they share some characteristics, the spirit\u00a0of a homestay is that you will be looked after by the family themselves and gain insight into the local community. Your stay will definitely be more hands-on compared to a regular hotel.<\/p>\n

\"FullSizeRender<\/p>\n

My personal highlight was having a proper family meal with an incredibly\u00a0convivial atmosphere. It really was one of the real pleasures of my\u00a0trip to India and, as an added bonus, I noticed the food is often more representative of what people actually eat locally, rather than being adjusted to western taste buds. Homestays in India really do give authenticity matched with comfort in equal measure.<\/p>\n

\"Devra<\/a>

Devra Udaipur<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Like all homestay experiences though, I would say that spending your entire holiday with a family might become a bit too much of a good thing. I certainly found that I needed my own space after a few days \u2013 it\u2019s good to be able to relax and rejuvenate a little after some of the busier Indian sites and there are some wonderful heritage hotels and wildlife lodges which you should also try out to keep your holiday varied.<\/p>\n

\"Serenity,<\/a>

Serenity, Kanam<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

\n

All in all though, from my own experience, Philippa was right and my conundrum was resolved. Everyone visiting India should stop at a homestay as part of their holiday. It’s comfortable, it’s insightful and it’s a lot of fun\u2013 not the intrepid experience I thought it might be. The homestay could transform your holiday by adding something very special and unique and I would thoroughly urge you, as Philippa did for me, not to miss out.<\/p>\n

Liked this blog? Have a look at our\u00a0holidays to India<\/a>\u00a0for more travel inspiration. Also meet ETG’s Founder Sam Clark<\/a> as he talks about what makes our India trips\u00a0a little bit different.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

To see how a homestay could fit into your India holiday, take a look at these sample itineraries:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Essential Rajasthan with the Taj Mahal<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Northern Kerela<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Highlights of India and the Maldives Holiday<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Feel free to contact me on\u00a0020 7924 7133<\/span> for a chat on further ideas for your India holiday. I’m happy to chat at any stage of your planning and there is no obligations whatsoever.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Philippa Kaye, our \u2018on the ground\u2019 travel expert in Delhi, says everyone travelling to India should stay in a homestay. I was surprised because for me \u2018homestays\u2019 conjure images of quaint local houses, with pretty basic conditions, in remote rural locations \u2013 they certainly weren’t for everyone. I went to investigate myself to resolve the great Indian homestay conundrum. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":9971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[714,1357],"coauthors":[912],"class_list":["post-6553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india","tag-local-life","tag-unique-accommodation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":4677,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6553"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=6553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}