21 Days Across Northern India

One Backpack, 21 Days, Eight Cities

I travelled for 21 days across Northern India with exactly one backpack: a 65-litre Kathmandu pack that cost $120 AUD and is still my favourite bag years later. Everything I needed for three weeks in one bag, with room to spare.

The Backpack

A 65-litre pack is the sweet spot for a trip like this. Big enough to fit everything including souvenirs acquired along the way, small enough to still fit in airplane overhead bins and on train bunks. Smaller bags mean you're constantly making decisions about what to leave behind. Larger bags mean you overpack and suffer hauling dead weight through Indian train stations in 30-degree heat.

Features that matter for India specifically: a hip belt that actually distributes weight (you'll walk kilometres with this on), lockable zippers (not for theft per se, but for peace of mind on trains), and a rain cover (November is dry season in Northern India, but if you transit through Singapore or Southeast Asia, you'll want it). My Kathmandu pack had all three and survived being thrown onto bus roofs, stuffed under train bunks, and dragged through sandy desert without complaint.

Clothing: The Merino Wool Strategy

One rule transformed my packing: merino wool for base layers. Normal cotton gets gross quickly in Indian heat, holds moisture, and breeds bacteria. Merino stays fresh for multiple days of wear, regulates temperature in both heat and cool desert nights, and smells significantly less bad when it does get dirty.

I brought:

Base layers and underwear:

• 5 merino wool underwear (washed every 3 days in the sink with hostel soap)
• 3 merino wool socks (rotated daily, critical for walking 10-15km in heat)
• 2 merino wool base layer shirts (one wearing, one drying)
• 2 bras (quick-dry sports bras that double as activewear)

Outer clothing:

• 3 lightweight button-up shirts (cotton or linen, for temple visits requiring covered shoulders)
• 2 pairs lightweight pants (quick-dry, dark colours hide dirt and stains)
• 1 pair denim jeans (for one nice dinner in Delhi and cooler desert evenings)
• 1 lightweight fleece (essential for cool desert nights in Jaisalmer and early mornings in Varanasi)
• 1 lightweight scarf/shawl (covers shoulders in temples, useful for warmth, works as a blanket on trains, becomes a pillow when bunched up)

That's it. No "just in case" outfits, no backup clothes beyond washable items. I washed clothes every 2-3 days in the sink using hotel soap or a tiny bottle of travel detergent. Most guesthouses have clotheslines or roofs for hanging things to dry. In Indian heat, clothes dry in 2-3 hours.

Footwear

I brought exactly two pairs:

• Comfortable walking sandals with ankle straps (for temples where you remove shoes constantly, for hot days, for general wandering). You want something that's easy on and off but secure enough to walk kilometres in.
• Lightweight trainers/sneakers (for the zipline, for early morning walks when it's cool, for days with more serious walking)

I wore the sandals about 80% of the time. India involves constant shoe removal (temples, some restaurants, guesthouses), and dealing with laces gets old fast. Closed-toe shoes for the zipline were required by the operators. Amber Fort's stone staircases also benefit from closed-toe support. Everything else was sandals. Don't bring hiking boots: there's no terrain in Northern India that requires them, and they take up far too much space and weight in your pack. If your sandals have good arch support and a secure fit, they'll handle everything from Delhi pavements to desert sand to temple steps.

Health and Hygiene Kit

This is where you invest. Not in expensive gear, but in the things that save your trip when your stomach decides to betray you.

Total health kit budget: $62 AUD. The charcoal tablets alone are worth more than their weight in gold. They work, they're small, they weigh nothing. If you do nothing else on this list, bring activated charcoal.

Technology

• Phone (any smartphone works)
• Airtel India prepaid SIM card: Bought at Delhi airport, 500 INR ($7.50) for 3 weeks of data. Coverage was reliable in all major cities, patchy in desert areas and between towns. Enough for maps and messaging.
• Anker 10000mAh portable power bank: Lasted until evening most days, charged overnight at guesthouses. Essential because Indian power outlets are unreliable in budget accommodation. $15 AUD.
• Universal power adapter (India compatible): Indian sockets are different from Australian. Get a universal adapter, not India-specific, because then you can use it on future trips. $5 AUD.
• Headphones (so you can listen to music or podcasts on 12-hour train rides)
• Download offline maps before you arrive. Google Maps and Maps.me both work offline in India. You will lose signal regularly between cities.

Money and Documents

• Passport and visa (obviously)
• 3 photocopies of passport ID page (keep separate from passport in different bag locations)
• Credit cards: Visa and Mastercard both work. Bring 2 in case one gets stuck in an ATM (this happened to me in Jaipur, the machine ate my card and I had to visit a bank branch to retrieve it the next day)
• Cash: I started with $300 AUD exchanged at the Delhi airport for rupees. ATMs exist in major cities, so you don't need to carry everything. I withdrew cash in increments. Always carry enough cash for 2-3 days of expenses in case ATMs are down or you're in a small town without one.
• Travel insurance documents printed plus digital copies on phone

Comfort Items (The Real MVPs)

These are the things that don't appear on standard packing lists but made significant differences to daily quality of life:

• Earplugs: $2. Indian cities are loud. Trains are loud. Fellow travellers snore. Dogs bark at 3 AM. Buy quality foam earplugs (the orange 3M ones work brilliantly).
• Sleep mask: $3. So sunrise doesn't wake you at 4 AM in dorms or on trains when you desperately need more sleep.
• Notebook and pen: For writing, journaling, taking notes about trains and addresses, sketching things you see. I filled two notebooks on this trip and they're still some of my most treasured possessions.
• Lonely Planet India guidebook: The physical book weighs too much for a 21-day trip, but the Kindle version is excellent for quick reference. $15 AUD digital.
• 5 printed photos from home: I gave these to people I met along the way. A photo of my family, my dog, my city. It's a meaningful gesture that opens conversations deeper than "where are you from."
• Refillable water bottle with filter: You can fill from any tap and drink safely. Saves money on bottled water (5-10 INR per bottle adds up) and reduces plastic waste. $25 AUD.
• Sunglasses: Rajasthan sun is intense, especially in the desert areas around Jaisalmer. Don't forget these, and bring a hard case so they survive in your pack.
• One piece of meaningful jewellery: I wore a simple ring the entire trip. Something familiar while everything else was new. Also useful for the "I'm married" strategy when dealing with unwanted attention.
• Small padlock: For locking your backpack on trains and in guesthouse rooms that use external padlocks (common in budget accommodation). $5 AUD from any hardware store.

Complete Packing Checklist

Total gear weight: approximately 12kg packed. Light enough to carry comfortably through train stations and up guesthouse stairs without feeling like a pack mule.

What I'd Change Next Time

After 21 days, here's what I'd add, remove, or swap:

Add: A small dry bag for electronics (during the Singapore transit it rained and I was nervous about my power bank). A second pair of quick-dry pants (two isn't quite enough when one gets dirty and it's raining). A proper travel towel (most guesthouses provide towels but they're thin and slow-drying).

Remove: The jeans. I wore them exactly once. They're heavy, slow to dry, and not needed for any occasion on this trip. Replace with a third pair of lightweight pants if you need variety.

Swap: I'd upgrade from a basic water bottle to a filtered one (like LifeStraw Go) earlier. I bought bottled water for the whole trip which created a lot of plastic waste and cost more than filtering my own would have over 21 days.

Keep exactly the same: The merino wool strategy, the charcoal tablets, the 65-litre pack size, the two-shoe system (sandals plus trainers), and the printed photos from home. These were all perfect and I wouldn't change any of them.

Total gear investment for the trip: approximately $350 AUD (backpack $120, clothing $100, health kit $62, tech $43, comfort items $25). Most of this gear has lasted years beyond the India trip and been used on subsequent travels. The backpack is still going strong.

Last updated: March 2026. The Wild Logs Team.