the Purna( means Complete)  Kumbh mela takes place at four places Prayag (Allahabad), Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik after every twelve years subject to the planetary movements.  Millions of people attend festival on a single day. A ritual bath at a predetermined time and place is the major event of this festival. Other activities include religious discussions, devotional singing, feeding in mass of holy men/women and pilgrims, the poor and religious assemblies where doctrines are debated and standardized.

One need to be very careful as this event  is one of the most crowd but well organized  by completive authority, You need to follow the instruction of guide and not to leave alone here and there to avoid missing in the crowed . There will be helping dust where one can broadcast the announce and set the meeting point.

Itinerary / hotels are sub. to change in case of strike, civil war threatens, I that case  you may be will lose expected places you have prepared for but will explore unexpected and for sure will not disappointed.

In case of Vehicle break down another mode of transport will be managed at the earliest possible, In that case you are requested to keep patience and co-operate with the situation. Also you can be transferred by alternative vehicle available at the moment as of local bus till you will be not having the proper mode of transport.

 In case scheduled visits cannot be undertaken due to 

 Unexpected closure such as renovations purpose, visits of politicians (vip), public holidays, or closures by unforeseen circumstances.  We will do our best to replace such sites if possible at the time. No refunds will be made in such happening.

The Company cannot be made liable for the consequences of weather condition, flight cancellations, war or threat of civil war, strikes, industrial action, political unrest or any other force majeure, unusual or unforeseen circumstance. The company reserves the right to use alternate transport, or vary the itinerary if breakdown, sickness or any other force major. Any additional that result, such as extra hotel accommodation, flight or road transport will be on your charge and must be paid directly at the spot. 

Please understand, there are certain hazards involved in your adventurous and culture holidays which you must accept at your own risk. The company will not be liable for any illness major or minor injury, death sustained during neither the trip, nor it will be liable for any uninsured losses of your property and other losses during the trip.

It is strongly advised that clients take out insurance to cover the unexpected and cancellation charges: 

Accommodation is based on 3 star category. Please note that some hotels has been chosen only for the best services, for their charms and for the locations. It is possible that during the Kumbha (Ardha Kumba Mela) accommodation may be will provided in fixe camp established only to cater this auspicious period, therefore advance booking is required to have the better location and choices,  

Verities of Indian and partly Tibetan vegetarian meal.  Is served, Non veg. is subject to availability. Indian recipes are bit on spicy side, Breakfast and dinner is included, Lunch you will manage your own on the way. Please note that you will be traveling to some of highly revered pilgrimage sites where non veg. meals are strictly forbidden as in Amritsar temple complex, Rishkesh and at Haridwar.  

Collective Meals (Langar) At Amritsar free meals is served to thousands of pilgrims and peoples of every faith and communities (volunteer donation can be done), those wish to join the collective meals can relish the delicacies of Punnjab. There are certain rules to be followed which guide on the spot will explain you.

When meals are not included; however, you will be spoiled for choice among a wide variety of dishes. Our guide will help you to select the restaurant that best suits to your budget and tastes. On average, a mid-range meal will cost you between 6 to10 USD (or Euros) in a mid-range restaurant. We strongly advise you to avoid the deep-fried street food, even if these dishes may appear appetizing. Already peeled fruits should avoid as well.

4-1: Water: Bottle water is not included in the price; mineral water is available everywhere throughout the trip. The guide will take care of purchasing it for you during the journey. Please note that you will be not allowed to use your water bottled bought from outside of hotel premises, you will be advised to consume from hotel itself.

Sub to the number of person in group, for 2 to 4 Toyota Innova / Scorpia or Zylo, for 5 and more than 5 persons Tempo travellers or mini bus will be provided. All vehicle will be air-conditioned, except in hilly area air-condition of any vehicle cannot be regularly used due to steep uphill drive, so you have to co-operate with. For the Autumns and spring season when temperature goes down, if you required heater except minibus each of those mentioned vehicle have the heating facilities and cannot be used while on uphill drive .

Major part of road is good. You can face land slide due to rainfall from July till mid Sep. and can be blocked for few hours, you may miss the places expected to visit, or will visit the unexpected places, to regulate the situation the team at the spot will do the best possible at the moment. Road in India are being widen at so many states, you may encounter some inconvenience due to one way traffic circulation. Please don’t compare the driving time as estimated in developed nation.  

Take a spacious day bag having capacity to pack the things for day use as of water bottles, camera, sun cream or medicine pack those needed etc.

Take a flexible travel bag type of duffle bag or suite case (medium size). You will pack this bag with the things you don’t need during the day. While traveling the baggage will be loaded on the roof or in the back of the vehicles, hence the day use essential should be packed in day sac or day bag. 

While flying airline is the responsible of your bag, if any dispute occur related to your baggage should be directly solved between you and airline. 

During the tour luggage will be transported by  car, Minibus, buses subject to the group size, Yours  bags should strong enough solid to adopt  such mode of transport ,  Himalayan Frontiers will not be responsible for any damage happen during  the trip. During the trip you will be responsible of your own baggage. 

You will be guided by a professional English speaking guide, Language guide can be provided by paying extra charges (sub. to availability). Drivers and guide will be there to assist you at their best. They are chosen for their knowledge of local culture and ability to communicate with foreign clients. 

This is mandatory for all clients travelling on any tour/ trek / expedition or independent itinerary arranged by us. You are responsible for obtaining adequate insurance covering expenses of unexpected / unforeseen circumstances as mentioned in liability paragraph, such loss or damage of baggage, medical expenses, war or threat of civil war, strikes, industrial action, political unrest or any other force majeure, unusual or unforeseen circumstance, helicopter (air or ground) rescue, injury, death, repatriation, cancellation and curtailment of the itinerary.

There is a tradition of  tipping in India but it’s not mandatory, you may not leave a tip if you don't want to or are not satisfied by the services of your service provider, infect it’s  a gratitude to your service provider.  In other hand much of field team members are hired for Particular seasonal and short lasting period, tipping is a bonus to the local team which add into their seasonal economy and   plays major role in carrier of all the assisting teams that includes drivers and hotel staff, Tipping became a tradition hence is very difficult to deviate from the system.

Preparation of relief of sun burn, Lip salve, Anti septic cream, Antihistamine cream (for relief of insect bites), Anti diarrhoea (flagyl or any other), Anti headache (aspirin, paracetamol, zimalgin), Anti vomiting (avomin), For stomach-ache (baralgan,trigan or other diagnose) Dettol, wash proof Dettol plaster, Bandage and cotton, Balm, Anti cramp spray, Pills to purify the water, Scissor and knife are must in the medical kit. According to your physical condition you are requested to consult your doctor to complete your medical kit.

India is ranked in zone 2 on the risks scale (maximum of 3) above all during the Monsoon (from June to September). To travel in zone 2 requests an anti-paludal treatment, which will be a part of the topics to consult with your doctor before your departure.  Kindly take into account that all the mosquitos are not vectors and sting only during the night, and think to bring a mosquito repellent.  

No vaccine is mandatory. However, you have to be up-to-date for classical vaccines. The typhoid, hepatitis A, and hepatitis B are strongly advised. Hepatitis A passes on water and hepatitis B transmits by sexual relations or saliva.

Vaccine against Japanese encephalitis is recommended if you travel in rural farming areas and under special circumstances, such as a known outbreak of Japanese encephalitis.  

Vaccine against yellow fever in only obligatory if you have travelled before in some countries of Africa and South America. 

During this trip you will be visiting highly revered Golden temple at Amritsar, Buddhist monastery at Dharamsala, Hindu temples in various places including Hindu pilgrimage sites at Rishikesh and Haridwar where at different sites morning and evening daily ritual is practiced. While you may be participating such ritual you are requested to be silent, respect the rule and regulations at each sites.  Grand Mosque of Delhi is closed for the visitors during the prayer time, please check the latest visiting schedule with guide.

This itinerary can be operated round the year. Hence there is wide range of temperature and climate conditions vary from different season and from the plain of Punjab to the foot hill of Himalaya. It is advisable to bring appropriate clothing. For protection against cold and freshness of morning and evening a layered clothing is better than a few thick ones, so choose your cloths accordingly. Cloths should be preferable be made from natural materials which allow the body to breath better. You will be offending people if you walk around in skimpy or tight fitting clothes. Although there are normally opportunities to wear shorts, it is strictly forbidden to be with short in any religious places as monasteries and temples. We would advise women to wear shirts or loose trousers, men should not wear singlet. 

While travelling during summer, autumn’s season and spring morning and evening are fresh, when in winter it’s cold. Hence required a light or heavy Pull over, Raincoat  ( Umbrella ), a polar jacket or waterproof jacket, light clothing except for winter you required worm clothing including type of Goretax jacket, worm shoes , Sun hat, short and long sleeves Shirts, Loose trousers, ( wearing short is not allowed at holy spot ) a pair of sport shoes, sandal , few pairs of socks, Sunglasses / Spare glasses or contact lenses, toilet kit, A small sewing kit, Safety pins, torch or flash light with spare batteries, Camera with spare cards and batteries, battery Charger, day sac, water bottle, personal medical kit as per your medical advisor. Anti-mosquitos spray. fanny pack to keep safely your important doc as passport, insurance paper, credit cards, money, Multifunctional knife, lighters, wooden pencils and pen, string of 4-55 meters to dry the clothing or other purpose, English –Hindi dictionary to learn the important words to greet and to communicate with locals and a note book can be useful to engrave your memory in it.

Many metropolitan cities in India are not that much conservative, but still in certain part of cities and in rural it is better to dress conservatively, One should not try to attract attention towards themselves due to their dressing style, while entering to religious site one should take off shoes, don’t dress short and half sleeves and are required to cover the head. Mobile are required to be in silent mode, hugging and kissing will shock the people hence restricted in public, To be respected, respect always local culture.

When visiting the public and highly revered religious and pilgrimage sites, please ensure that you will respect local rules, customs, and cultural norms. Avoid causing offense to the local population by entering temples or sacred places with shoes, dressing tight-fitting or overly revealing attire. At pilgrimage site peoples are seen taking bath / dip in holy river Gange, Kindly respect the integrity of the peoples and their privacy.  If you expect to be respected you need to give first.

There will be connectivity of foreign mobile phone only if you will activate the roaming services before leaving your home country. At most, of the places you will find WIFI in hotels, you can use your WhatsApp where Wi-fi facilities are available.

Use of any general satellite phones (Thuraya / Irridium or any others)  is strictly prohibited / forbidden in India, It is illegal and is an offence. 

Second:  Some new devices of mobile phone such as I phone  which has facilities of auto connectivity to GPS  through satellite like (type of Garmin in Reach) when you are out of reach to the cell tower or line ,off sight radio communication. Such mobile phone /  I phone  which has facilities of auto connectivity to GPS  through satellite, we request to deactivate such services from your devices before leaving your home country and do not activate  it till you reach back home. 

Any individual found to be in possession of an unauthorized satellite phone in India or found using such services  which are forbidden by law, he / she will be liable to prosecute or can be imprisoned without any bail by Indian law and enforcement agencies.

We, The Himalayan Frontiers as your DMC will have no role and no right to intervene between the persons found guilty and the competitive authority. Matter will be directly under the supervision of the competitive authority of India.

Throughout the trip electricity will be available at every town / places but power cut can be noticed which is refilled by generators at certain hotels and at certain places generator facility is not available as they are seasonally run hotels. You may need to recharge your mobile battery during the day as in vehicle there are limited distributors,  to facilitate the recharging the battery we recommend you to bring a high-capacity portable power bank to charge your mobile phones or camera battery if it happen to face such situation.

The voltage is 220V, and the outlets are almost the same as in Europe. In some locations, the power outlets feature wide sockets, so we advise you to bring an adapter.

Before any administrative procedures, please check that your passport is valid for more than 6 months after the date of return, be sure it has minimum 3 blank pages left in good condition.

To visit India you need Indian visa, E visa or ETV Visa is applied online and is more convenient and faster to obtain than classical visa, for classic visa you need to take appointment at VFS or send the documents by post which take more time than ETV. ETV can be obtain from one month to one year with options of multi entry. Following are the official website to apply the ETV:

https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/tvoa.html

To apply for visa you will complete online visa application (form), upload the copy of passport that you are travelling with, Identity photo of particular size required of Indians standards -JPEG format, visa fee must be paid online by credit card. Once uploading of required documents is complete, you will get mail back with document of granted visa within 48 hours or earlier.  Once Visa granted mail received, you must print it and present it with your plane tickets when boarding and on arrival at the Indian immigration service.

Those who wish to extend their tour to any destination in India or neighboring country as of Nepal, Bhutan and to Srilanka, Please contact us in advance, such arrangement should be done prior to your arrival in respective destination.

Clients arriving in India earlier than scheduled or departing after the planned program will incur additional days or nights beyond the original itinerary. In such cases, surcharges will apply for the extra days/nights, calculated based on the rates of the hotel to be used in the respective city. Please note that check-in and check-out times are subject to the hotel's specific policies; for instance, standard times such as check-in at 12:00 PM and check-out at 12:00 PM, or check-in at 2:00 PM, etc., may apply.

Generally, vary to different season, summer is Mai- June, July-August-Mid Sep. is Monsoon, Mid Sep. to la November is autumn, winter remain till February and spring season is March to end of April.  In winter higher part of itinerary as of Dharamsala/ Manali are cold and you can face the fresh snow fall. So the worm clothing are required for this season and hotels are not centrally heated.   

Temperature in July and August: 

Summer Minimum: 15-25 degree, Maximum: 25-40 degree

Autumn                  :  8-15 degree, Maximum: 15 to 25 degree

Winter                    :  -0-15 degree, Maximum: 10 to 20 degree

Night in winter at 2000m can face the fall of temperature from.-0 to 010 degree. 

Exchange rate is vary from time to time, you need to check the latest forex table.

Facilities to get exchange of foreign currency is available on arrival at airport in Delhi However in every cities and in most of the hotels, private money exchanger in cities and in bank such facilities are available and you can withdraw from the ATM as well. There are certain shop where you can pay by credit card those wish to buy the souvenir.

Those who cancel their trip, following the terms and conditions norms as per the time period we will refund the advance or full payment made to book the trip by deducting the applicable taxes as of GST, bank charges, file charges and other applicable taxes and charges. For foreign client’s differences of currency buying has to be borne as per the present exchange rates.

For foreign nation participants additional charges will be add on to buy the foreign currency, (hence buying the currency charges has to be borne by clients) bank transfer (wire transfer) charges and other administrative paperwork to be completed which is quite long exhausted process, we request you to understand and co-operate with. We will do our best possible to deal such cases respecting the present circumstances.

Clients has to bare the 3.8% of bank charges on total amount those wish to pay by credit cards. Therefore please add 3.8% on the total amount of the tours/Treks. In other hand those who wish to pay your payment of tour/trek by bank transfer, the bank transfer charges will be borne by you, for more detail please consult your local bank where you hold your bank account.

Pre-travel conditioning is very desirable, as more you are prepared the more you enjoy the trips. For all the cultural tours minimum physically fitness is required. One has to in good health and able to resist while long drive , at certain places road in are rough damaged by previous year rain fall and flood but most part are very much better, While visiting the monuments you will be walking in and outside of the premises of monuments which may cause fatigue to certain persons therefore pre-travel conditioning is important .

The environment is fragile and it is our special concern and endeavour to protect and preserve the existing ecology. We are also sensitive to local cultures and traditions and make special efforts to sensitize all our clients on this matter.