Puducherry (Pondicherry)
The sparse, spotless rooms here, adorned with a single photo of the Mother, make for good-value ashram lodgings. It's very popular: book three weeks ahead.
Must-see hotels in India
Shillong
This place has pleasant rooms with wood panelling and tasteful traditional decor. Expect some street noise in front rooms, as it's on a main thoroughfare.
Andaman Islands
Simple, comfortable enough whitewashed concrete cottages attached to a low-key restaurant and a pool, all in a bucolic setting among forest and mudflats.
Andaman Islands
No-frills tin-roof concrete-and-bamboo cottages for two to three (some bunk-style), plus surfboard hire (₹1000 per day) and home-cooked meals (₹180).
North Goa
A pleasant courtyard pool and well-equipped rooms make this a reliably good midrange choice. There’s a good little restaurant and bar facing the road.
Mcleod Ganj
This inexpensive 10-room guesthouse has its three best rooms fronted by a wide roof-terrace area. There’s also a cosily inviting cafe. No prebooking.
Punjab (India)
Sangam offers neat and tidy air-conditioned rooms, plus a few cheaper, grubbier fan-cooled rooms. The restaurant does good Punjabi platters for meals.
North Goa
Baba Place, in the shadow of Chapora Fort, continues to improve with immaculate, decent-sized rooms with verandah, a small pool and a bar-restaurant.
Kochi (Cochin)
Though now much reduced in size, 50-year-old Elite is a popular budget bet in an unbeatable location on Princess St, behind a streetfront tour desk.
Arambol (Harmal)
Better than some similarly priced Arambol options, Ludu offers simply decorated, clean and bright cliffside rooms with attached cold-water showers.
Gujarat & Diu
Friendly cheapie in a good central location. Rooms have extravagant bedheads, impressively modern bathrooms and often ear-splitting street noise.
Karnataka
Located 1km north of the centre of Aihole, with adequate if somewhat dated rooms and a decent restaurant.
Odisha
Right on the beach, the Sea Pearl is a passable option. Rooms are small, though they feature a sea view of some sort (except the cheapest ones).
Tamil Nadu
Comfortable modern rooms with good beds make this the best value in Kumbakonam, especially since discounts are offered if it isn't fully booked.
Darjeeling
Clean, basic rooms and satisfying meals in a cosy house among mountain meadows, 2.5km above Mane Bhanjang on the way up to the Singalila Ridge.
Varkala
Not bad value for the sea-facing clifftop location, Puthooram’s 10 wood-lined cottages are set around a charming little garden of pot plants.
Ladakh
At the southern end of Korzok village, Nomadic Life has en suite bedded tents that are marginally closer to the lakeside than its competitors.
South Goa
The budget offering on Talpona Beach, Matashree has 10 basic lime-green huts on the beach, with bathroom and fan. A bargain for the location.
Jaisalmer
This friendly and small homestay provides simple but clean rooms and homestyle meals. The building sits on the remains of the city walls.
Punjab (India)
The smartest of a few hotels just outside the bus station, Hotel Comfort has modern rooms with TV and wi-fi, plus a restaurant and a bar.
Telangana & Andhra Pradesh
Offers spacious though drab rooms, while the balconies enjoy good views. It's conveniently located across the road from the boat launch.
Hampi
The place for those who like things quiet, with attractive mud-brick huts in a bucolic setting among rice fields, close to the river.
Andaman Islands
A small, simple, palm-dotted resort offering five well-kept, colour-walled rooms and home-cooked meals, just back from Kalipur Beach.
Tamil Nadu
If you're looking to save rupees, you could do a lot worse than this clean and friendly cheapie a few hundred metres from the fort.
Arambol (Harmal)
At the north end of the cliffs, Shree Sai has simple, cute, sea-facing huts overlooking Kalacha Beach, alongside a good restaurant.
The Western Ghats
The best of Theppakadu's reserve-owned accommodation: well-maintained wooden rooms with private bathrooms, but still pretty basic.
North Goa
Just four clean rooms and two spacious bungalows in the garden behind an old Portuguese house; has a popular restaurant attached.
Uttarakhand
The first place in from Amdanda Gate at the Corbett Tiger Reserve; meals are available.
Darjeeling
Offers inexpensive accommodation with attached bathrooms in Rimbik, a trailhead for Singalila Ridge treks. Fooding available.
Mysuru (Mysore)
Functional rooms with cable TV. There are four price categories from compact singles to spacious rooms with balconies and AC.
Uttarakhand
Clean and simple rooms, set in an area with lots of wildlife, especially birds and crocodiles, but tigers and elephants, too.
Srinagar & the Kashmir Valley
Friends is plain and some mattresses are hard but in general rooms are spacious and good value, and the welcome is friendly.
The Western Ghats
Helpful staff, clean air-conditioned rooms, and a quick walk to the bus stand make this a good overnight choice in Pollachi.
Himachal Pradesh
With a neo-traditional facade, Rohru's HPTDC hotel has large, clean, air-conditioned rooms, a lawn, a restaurant and a bar.
Tiruvannamalai
Basic, clean and friendly, this popular place is down a lane south off Chengam Rd. It's got good wi-fi and modern AC units.
Havelock Island (Swaraj Dweep)
Modern, slightly overpriced concrete bungalows with private porches on a peaceful plot of land trickling down to the beach.
Hampi
Run by a tight-knit family, Ranjana has reasonable rooms with TVs, and killer temple views from its sunny rooftop terrace.
Palolem
This very nifty village of seafront beach huts and restaurant is good value. The best huts have sea views, TV and air-con.
South Goa
This is the budget offering on Cola Beach with just a few hillside huts and a basic restaurant south of the lagoon.
