Why we ask every guest about insurance
Not a dangerous place: most of our guests never need to make a claim.
Why it is worth having: long distances between cities, old buildings with uneven floors and steep ramps, open jeeps on forest tracks, and desert nights a long way from a town.
Hard to replace: expensive, carefully planned arrangements that can't be rebuilt at short notice.
- Health
- Illness, accident, existing condition
- Disruption
- Emergencies, cancellations, fog, strikes
- Loss
- Bags, phones, cameras
- Our role
- We sell no policies
- Health: an illness, an accident or a flare-up of an existing condition.
- Disruption: a family emergency at home, a cancelled flight, fog that closes an airport, or a strike or closure that changes the plan.
- Loss: a bag that never arrives, a phone left in a taxi, a camera taken in a crowded bazaar.
- Good versus cheap: a good policy handles all three, and a cheap one may handle only the easiest.
- We are not insurers: we don't sell or recommend any policy. Rules and products differ by country, and a family from London needs something different from a couple from Singapore.
- What we offer: what matters on a Rajasthan journey, so you can ask the right questions of your own insurer or broker. Our guide to health and safety in Rajasthan covers the wider picture.
What a good policy should cover
- Medical
- Generous limit, direct payment
- Evacuation
- Never travel without it
- Cancellation
- Full journey cost
- Valuables
- Check single-item limits
- Assistance
- 24 hours, works in India
Medical treatment and hospital care
The heart of any policy: doctors, hospital stays, surgery and medicines if you fall ill or are injured while travelling.
- Not free for visitors: private hospitals in India's cities can be excellent, but they may ask for payment or a guarantee from your insurer before or during treatment.
- Worth paying for: a generous medical limit and an assistance service that can guarantee payment directly, over a cheap policy with a low limit.
Emergency evacuation and repatriation
From somewhere remote: a camp in the Thar or a lodge near a tiger reserve, you may need moving to a larger hospital, sometimes in another city.
- Flown home: in a serious case, with medical support.
- The cover we'd never skip: this transport is very expensive. Check that the policy covers it, and that the insurer's own assistance team decides and arranges it.
Cancellation and cutting a trip short
Cancellation: protects the money you have paid if you cannot travel for a reason the policy accepts, such as serious illness or a death in the family.
- Curtailment: protects you if you have to come home early.
- Match the full cost: luxury journeys involve deposits on hotels, cars and experiences months ahead, so the limit should match your whole journey, not a standard figure. Our booking conditions explain our own terms.
Delays and missed connections
Winter fog: in December and January, fog in north India can delay flights and trains, especially early mornings around Delhi.
- What helps: a policy that pays for an extra hotel night, meals or a replacement flight when a delay is long.
- Check the detail: how long a delay must be before it counts, and what evidence the insurer will need.
Baggage, money and valuables
Single-item limits: check these, not just the total. Cameras, lenses, jewellery, watches and laptops often have their own low limits, or must be listed separately.
- Photographers: with expensive equipment on a photographer's journey, you may need specialist cover.
- Unattended items: most policies exclude anything left unattended in public places.
Personal liability
- What it covers: accidentally injuring someone or damaging property, for example knocking over a valuable object in a heritage hotel.
- Cheap to have: usually included in comprehensive policies.
A 24-hour assistance line
As important as the cover: the quality of the insurer's assistance team.
- What you want: someone who answers at three in the morning, speaks your language, knows how to deal with a hospital in India and can guarantee payment.
- Ask before you buy: how their assistance service works in India.
Things to check for a journey through Rajasthan
Outside the plain wording: some of the best things to do in Rajasthan are. Most insurers will cover them, sometimes for a small extra premium, but they need to know.
Wildlife safaris: in open jeeps or canters, in Ranthambore, Jawai, Sariska and other parks. Usually covered as ordinary sightseeing, but check.
Camels and jeeps on the dunes: near Jaisalmer. Our camel safari and jeep safari pages explain how we run them.
- Safaris
- Usually covered, but check
- Horse riding
- Often classed as hazardous
- Balloon flights
- Sometimes excluded
- Lake swimming
- May not be covered
- Trip length
- Include every extra day
- Horse riding: including the Marwari horse safaris of the west. Often treated as hazardous, and multi-day riding may need specific cover. Our Marwari horse safari journey asks you to check.
- Hot-air balloons: over Jaipur or Pushkar. Some policies exclude them or cover only licensed operators.
- Cycling and trekking: dawn cycling tours in the old cities, and any trekking in the Aravalli hills or around Mount Abu.
- Swimming: hotel pools are generally covered. Lakes and reservoirs may not be, and we don't recommend them.
- Festivals and crowds: the Pushkar fair or Holi are rarely excluded, but injuries in crowds are a reason for good medical cover.
- Transport: check that domestic flights, trains and helicopter transfers are all covered as public or private transport.
- The full length: including any extension in Delhi, Agra, Varanasi or Kutch, and any days you add at either end.
Your health, and why honesty matters
What insurers ask: heart problems, diabetes, asthma, recent surgery, pregnancy, and medicines you take regularly.
Declare everything: even well-controlled conditions. An undeclared one may not be covered, and in some policies it can affect claims that seem unrelated.
- Declare
- Every existing condition
- Unsure?
- Ask, and note the answer
- Age
- Limits and higher premiums
- Medicines
- Whole trip plus spare days
- When unsure: ask the insurer and keep a note of their answer.
- Age matters: some policies have upper age limits, charge more for older travellers, or limit the length of a single trip.
- Multi-generation trips: on a multi-generation journey with grandparents, check each traveller's cover separately rather than assuming one family policy fits all.
- Before you travel: see your own doctor or a travel health clinic about vaccinations and medicines for India, and follow your government's official travel health advice. We give no medical advice.
- Pack your medicines: enough for the whole journey plus a few spare days, in original packaging, with a copy of your prescription.
- Tell your planner privately: about any condition that might need treatment, so we can plan routes and hotels close to good hospitals.
Medical care in Rajasthan
The cities: Jaipur above all, but also Udaipur, Jodhpur and Ajmer, have private hospitals and clinics used to international visitors.
Delhi: a short flight away, with some of the best hospitals in India.
- Best in Rajasthan
- Jaipur's private hospitals
- Also good
- Udaipur, Jodhpur, Ajmer
- Short flight
- Delhi's top hospitals
- Remote places
- One to several hours away
- First call
- Insurer's assistance line
- Smaller towns: local hospitals and clinics that can stabilise and treat common problems.
- Remote places: desert camps, forest lodges and village rawlas may be one to several hours by road from serious care.
- Mostly minor: an upset stomach, a cold from air-conditioning and dusty roads, a blister or a sprain.
- A doctor to your room: good luxury hotels can usually call one, and pharmacies are common in towns and cities. Our team can find one quickly.
- Something serious: call your insurer's assistance line first, and your planner second.
- How we help: our planners know the hospitals on your route and our chauffeurs know how to reach them quickly. We help you get there, translate, and stay in touch with your family and insurer.
How the seasons change what you need
The policy stays, the risks move: thinking about your season shows which parts of a policy matter most. Our weather and climate guide explains the year.
December and January: fog in north India can delay early flights and trains around Delhi and Agra for hours. Delay cover earns its keep, and we leave generous gaps between connections.
- December and January
- Fog delays
- October to March
- Cancellation cover matters most
- April to June
- Heat, often above 40°C
- July to September
- Monsoon floods and closures
- Festivals
- Crowds and fireworks
- October to March: the busiest months for festivals and hotels. Cancellation cover matters most, because peak rooms are paid well ahead and rarely refundable at short notice.
- April to June: the heat is serious, often above 40°C in the desert. Heat exhaustion is the main risk, so we plan early starts, long lunches and shade, and medical cover is what to check.
- July to September: monsoon showers can flood roads for a few hours and occasionally close a route or delay a flight. Some parks close their core zones. Check how your policy treats weather.
- Festival dates: Holi, Diwali and the Pushkar fair bring big crowds and fireworks. Good medical cover and care with valuables are the sensible precautions.
Different travellers, different questions
Families with children
Every child named: and the medical limit applying to each person.
- Parents too: ask how the policy handles a parent staying in hospital with a child, or travelling home with one.
- More planning: our guide to travelling with children.
Older travellers and grandparents
Common limits: age limits, higher premiums and limits on trip length.
- Declare and check: every condition and medicine, and evacuation cover with particular care.
- Mobility: tell your planner, so we choose hotels with lifts and plan around steep fort ramps. Our accessible travel guide explains how.
Solo travellers
- Someone to come out: make sure the policy pays for a relative or friend to fly out and stay with you if you are in hospital for some time.
- The rest of the planning: our page on Rajasthan for solo travellers.
Couples on a honeymoon or a special trip
- Valuables travel: wedding rings, new jewellery and cameras. Check single-item limits, and consider listing valuable items separately.
- Once in a lifetime: cancellation cover should match the full cost of the journey, not a standard figure.
When to buy, and how much cover to choose
Too late a week before: many travellers buy then, after months of deposits that would not have been covered in the meantime.
Buy soon after booking: it protects the money you have already committed.
- Buy
- When you book
- Medical limit
- The higher the better
- Cancellation limit
- At least the full trip cost
- Card cover
- Read the terms
- Medical limit: more is better, because hospital and evacuation costs can be very high.
- Cancellation limit: at least the total cost of the journey, including international flights.
- Baggage: check the single-item limit against your most valuable possessions, and consider separate cover for expensive cameras or jewellery.
- Existing cover: through a credit card, an employer or an annual policy can be enough, but read the terms with care.
- The catches: card cover sometimes applies only if the whole trip was paid on that card, and annual policies sometimes limit the length of a single journey.
- Final check: that the cover applies to India, to your activities and to the full value of your trip.
How to read a policy in ten minutes
The excess: how much you pay yourself on each claim before the insurer pays.
The limits: the most the policy pays for medical costs, evacuation, cancellation and each valuable item.
- The exclusions: look for activities, pre-existing conditions, unattended belongings and named events.
- Alcohol: many policies exclude claims linked to drinking. An accident after too much wine may not be covered. Our guide to alcohol and dry days explains local customs.
- Notification rules: how quickly you must contact the insurer after an incident, and whether they must approve treatment first.
- Evidence: usually medical reports, receipts and, for theft, a written police report.
- Travel advice: some policies are affected if you travel against your government's official advice for an area. Check it before you go, and again before you leave.
- The geographical area: make sure India, and any neighbouring countries on your route, are included.
If something goes wrong on the road
- First call
- Insurer's 24-hour line
- Second call
- Your planner
- Keep
- Reports, bills, receipts
- Theft
- Police report, the FIR
- Lost passport
- Embassy in Delhi or Mumbai
Call your insurer's assistance line first
Beyond the minor: for any real medical problem, call the 24-hour number as soon as you can.
- Why first: many policies must approve hospital treatment, and the team can guarantee payment and arrange evacuation.
- Keep it handy: in your phone and on a card in your wallet.
Then call your planner
On WhatsApp throughout: we send your chauffeur, find the nearest suitable hospital or clinic and help with language.
- Behind the scenes: we rearrange the hotels and plans that follow, and keep your family informed if you wish.
- How our team works: our private chauffeur journeys page explains.
Keep every document
- At every stage: medical reports, prescriptions and itemised bills, and all receipts.
- Back them up: photograph them. Insurers almost always ask for originals or clear copies.
Report a theft or loss promptly
The FIR: for theft, you will usually need a written report from the local police, called a First Information Report, for a claim.
- Where: at the police station for the area where it happened, as soon as possible. Our team will go with you and help with the language.
- Lost passport: contact your country's embassy or consulate in Delhi or Mumbai as well.
Lost or delayed luggage
At the airport: report it to the airline before you leave, and keep the written report.
- Essentials: buy what you need and keep the receipts.
- Fast replacements: our team can help in Jaipur, Jodhpur or Udaipur, where tailors and shops work quickly.
How we keep the risks small in the first place
Daylight drives: wherever possible, with rest stops, and our chauffeurs do not drive tired.
No tight fog-month connections: especially for early flights out of Delhi in December and January.
- Hotels near care: for guests who have told us they need it.
- Registered operators: licensed guides and registered safari operators, and no elephant rides or any activity we consider unsafe or unethical.
- Steep forts flagged: we tell you which involve steep ramps or uneven steps, and plan alternatives such as a jeep to the upper gate.
- Food and water: our Rajasthani food guide helps you eat well and safely.
- Your policy details: with your permission, we keep your policy number and assistance line, so we can help quickly.
What we can and cannot do for your claim
Not insurance advisers: we don't sell insurance and are not qualified to advise on a policy. That belongs with you and a regulated insurer or broker in your own country.
Cancellation paperwork: a clear invoice of what was paid, written confirmation of what could be refunded and what could not, and the dates of any changes.
- Delays and longer stays: we rearrange hotels and cars and keep a record of the extra costs.
- If you are unwell: we stay in touch with you, your family and, with your permission, your insurer's assistance team.
- Early warnings: we flag anything on your plan an insurer may ask about, such as a riding safari, a balloon flight or a long stretch far from a large hospital.
- More answers: our frequently asked questions page.
What to carry
Your policy: the number, the insurer's 24-hour assistance line and the policy wording.
Passport and visa copies: our visa guide explains the e-Visa, and the official portal at indianvisaonline.gov.in has the current rules.
- Policy
- Number, wording, 24-hour line
- Documents
- Passport and visa copies
- Health
- Medicines and prescriptions list
- Contacts
- Planner, office, embassy
- Valuables
- Receipts or photographs
- Health list: your medicines and conditions, and a copy of your prescriptions.
- Our numbers: your planner's WhatsApp and our office.
- Your embassy: the contact details of your embassy or consulate in India.
- Proof of valuables: receipts or photographs of expensive cameras, jewellery and electronics, in case you need to claim.