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For independent travel, the best guidebook to take is either the Lonely Planet or Rough Guide. I gave Sarah the Lonely Planet and Karen the Rough Guide and we road-tested both of them head-to-head across India. The result was a tie, with similarly excellent levels of both practical travel information and historical and cultural background. I personally prefer the Lonely Planet, but Karen preferred the Rough Guide. Just make sure you take one of these two guides with you..! If you buy anything at Amazon through these links, Seat61.com gets a small commission to help support the site.

Buy Lonely Planet India at Amazon.co.uk

Buy Rough Guide India at Amazon.co.uk

Or buy direct from the Lonely Planet website, with shipping worldwide.

The Quest for KimRudyard Kipling's 'Kim'

Also recommended...

OK, so Rudyard Kipling's 'Kim' is a novel, not a guidebook - but you'll need a reading book for your trip, right..? Trust me on this - 'Kim' is a magical tale, that captures the feel of Northern India even today. Buy Kim online - it costs all of about £1.25..! Once hooked, you'll probably want to get Peter Hopkirk's book, 'The Quest for Kim', which tells you about the real people and places on which the characters and places in the novel are based.