How are people crossing the Indian border on land?

[Alanymarce]

I’ve seen that thousands of people have travelled through South Asia by road, crossing multiple borders.

The information I have so far tells me that it is not permitted to enter India by road on either an e-visa or a paper visa (information from the Indian Consulate and also the Indian Government website).

We plan a trip next year on which we’ll visit India, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka; the 90 day limit per entry to India means that we’ll have to plan to leave and re-enter several times, and the requirement to enter India only by air (or at a few ports) means that we are going to have buy a lot of flights. We’ve already concluded that the cost of shipping our own vehicle to South Asia makes it impractical, so we currently plan to travel with a combination of hired vehicles, trains, and public transport.

The prohibition of land border crossing, couple with the fact that there are no flights between Pakistan and India means that to go (for example) from Lahore to Amritsar (about 50 km in a straight line) means flying from Lahore to Dubai and then from Dubai to Amritsar - 4000 km, with air fares to match!

 

[El-Dracho]

I’ve seen that thousands of people have travelled through South Asia by road, crossing multiple borders.

The information I have so far tells me that it is not permitted to enter India by road on either an e-visa or a paper visa (information from the Indian Consulate and also the Indian Government website).

We plan a trip next year on which we’ll visit India, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka; the 90 day limit per entry to India means that we’ll have to plan to leave and re-enter several times, and the requirement to enter India only by air (or at a few ports) means that we are going to have buy a lot of flights. We’ve already concluded that the cost of shipping our own vehicle to South Asia makes it impractical, so we currently plan to travel with a combination of hired vehicles, trains, and public transport.

The prohibition of land border crossing, couple with the fact that there are no flights between Pakistan and India means that to go (for example) from Lahore to Amritsar (about 50 km in a straight line) means flying from Lahore to Dubai and then from Dubai to Amritsar - 4000 km, with air fares to match!

Regarding the border between India and Pakistan, search the web for the keyword Wagah Border Crossing. Wagah is the only possible border crossing as far as I know. This border closing ceremony is also held here every day.

 

[Alanymarce]

Regarding the border between India and Pakistan, search the web for the keyword Wagah Border Crossing. Wagah is the only possible border crossing as far as I know. This border closing ceremony is also held here every day.

Yes, we plan to get there at some point, either from Lahore or Amritsar.

The list of entry points permitted doesn't include Wagah (or any other land border crossing). It's tough to find information however I have found this one India Consulate site: "Foreign nationals will not be allowed to enter India through land routes on e-Tourist Visa/regular paper Tourist Visa." I'm hoping that a visit to the FRRO on arrival may help...

 

[El-Dracho]

Regarding the border between India and Pakistan, search the web for the keyword Wagah Border Crossing. Wagah is the only possible border crossing as far as I know. This border closing ceremony is also held here every day.

Yes, we plan to get there at some point, either from Lahore or Amritsar.

The list of entry points permitted doesn't include Wagah (or any other land border crossing). It's tough to find information however I have found this one India Consulate site: "Foreign nationals will not be allowed to enter India through land routes on e-Tourist Visa/regular paper Tourist Visa." I'm hoping that a visit to the FRRO on arrival may help...

If you websearch a bit for that border crossing you will bump into several bligs and sites of overlanders who did it and explaining how it works. Another good resource for information about that is the HUBB of horizons unlimited and the caravanistan page. I will also ask a friend who did it some years ago, answer might take a while as he is on the road and I am also currently traveling. Will let you know once I hear somerhing useful.

 

[Alanymarce]

If you websearch a bit for that border crossing you will bump into several bligs and sites of overlanders who did it and explaining how it works. Another good resource for information about that is the HUBB of horizons unlimited and the caravanistan page. I will also ask a friend who did it some years ago, answer might take a while as he is on the road and I am also currently traveling. Will let you know once I hear somerhing useful.

Thank you, I'd appreciate advice.

I've posted on HUBB and haven;t seen any replies yet, but there's no rush.

I did some searching for blogs and posts and will continue to do so.

 

[El-Dracho]

Just bumped into a guy who is currently on a trip from Europe to India by motorcycle. He got visas for Pakistan and India in advance and is heading for the bordercrossing near Lahore which is the Wagah borderpost then I assume.

 

[Alanymarce]

Just bumped into a guy who is currently on a trip from Europe to India by motorcycle. He got visas for Pakistan and India in advance and is heading for the bordercrossing near Lahore which is the Wagah borderpost then I assume.

Interesting dilemma - I find examples of people who've made the crossing, and it's obvious that many do, and I also have explicit written advice from the Indian Consulate saying that we can't do so... I guess the answer is to toss a coin and hope, although the cost of shipping the vehicle to South Asia on spec is a bit too much for us...

 

[OverlandFaction]

There is a UK member who has taken his Jeep all the way to India and back.. He is not very active on here but you can find him on fb - Log into Facebook

Its not as difficult as it seem's. You need to arrive in Mumbai or Chennai this needs to be on a CDP and is initially 6 months and can be extended by 6 months on request. There is also rules on LHD vehicle's, but this does not apply to temp imports or cars with a electronic signalling device (:-))

 

[Alanymarce]

There is a UK member who has taken his Jeep all the way to India and back.. He is not very active on here but you can find him on fb - Log into Facebook

Its not as difficult as it seem's. You need to arrive in Mumbai or Chennai this needs to be on a CDP and is initially 6 months and can be extended by 6 months on request. There is also rules on LHD vehicle's, but this does not apply to temp imports or cars with a electronic signalling device (:-))

Thanks for this - yes, I've found several who have made the trip as you note. We've determined that shipping our vehicle to India makes no sense financially (as well as there being various other limitations). Apart from the cost we also have a limit in how long the vehicle can be out of the home country, which means having it only 10 months in the region. The vehicle could be in India for more than 6 months, but we cannot. The plan is to fly in to the region, and use a combination of hired vehicles, trains, and flights to get around..

 

[OverlandFaction]

The best part about India is the train network, built by the British and still run today, to the point it's better than the system in the UK.. It goes everywhere.

If you travel light then correct you could actually travel India while your vehicle ships elsewhere.

Do you have an outline A/B plan?

 

[Alanymarce]

The best part about India is the train network, built by the British and still run today, to the point it's better than the system in the UK.. It goes everywhere.

If you travel light then correct you could actually travel India while your vehicle ships elsewhere.

Do you have an outline A/B plan?

Yes trains are amazing - we took the express from Udaipur to Jaipur - reclining seats, lots of space, newspaper, tea, and flower on boarding, breakfast 1/2 an hour later, midday soup, lunch an hour later. 6-1/2 hour trip - USD 58 for two!

Overall plan is to take trains between key areas, rent vehicles to explore regions where this makes sense (Jammu & Kashmir for example), fly long distances.

General plan is:

- Arrive Mumbai, head to Bengaluru in a couple of months in a rental car
- fly to Nepal, two weeks there
- fly to Bhutan, three weeks there
- fly back to Nepal for a month
- fly to Pakistan via Europe (some admin needed there) - 6 weeks or so in Northern Pakistan
- fly from Lahore to Amritsar via Dubai (unless we can travel by road, which is apparently not possible with an e-visa - we have an e-visa and will have to get a new one to continue travelling - paper visa needed for land entry to India and this would mean flying back to Colombia, applying in person, and waiting a month, then flying back to India ).
- Explore NW India in a rental car
- Fly to Bangladesh
- Fly to Kolkata, train to the NE, explore the NE in a rental car for a month.
- Train through Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, to Delhi - a month or so
- Fly to Kerala, explore Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the East Coast by train and perhaps rental vehicle(s) for a month
- Fly to Sri Lanka for a month.

Note - shipping our own vehicle from Colombia to India is prohibitive - we can rent vehicles for at least 6 months for the shipping cost; if we were to ship it to India then drive to Pakistan we cannot re-enter India from Pakistan (as noted above), so would have to ship it, similarly for Nepal and Bangladesh. Really there's no sense in taking the vehicle. People who do so, as far as I can determine, use paper visas.