Data for Delhi, the Taj Mahal, Rajasthan, Goa and Kerala, installed before you fly. India is on the Asia plan, so the same eSIM carries on to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or a layover in Singapore. It cannot settle who invented the rasgulla.
The India plan covers India only.
The same 10 GB in a package that keeps working past India.
20 other countries share the package with India. A few of them:
What's included, when it starts, and how to get connected.
Most first trips to India start at Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International, the country’s busiest airport. Arriving means up to three online forms, all filed before you fly, and a 20-minute train into the city.
Install your onesim eSIM over Wi-Fi and leave the line switched off. Apply for the e-Visa at least four days before arrival on indianvisaonline.gov.in, the only official site. In the 72 hours before landing, file the e-Arrival Card there or in the Indian Visa Su-Swagatam app, and check whether the Air Suvidha health self-declaration is required for your dates: in September 2026 it was, for every passenger.
Once the plane is on the ground, go to Settings → Mobile Data, pick the onesim line for data and switch data roaming on for that line alone. That first connection starts the package. Your home SIM stays in the phone with its data roaming off, so bank codes and texts to your usual number still arrive.
Hand over your passport with the printed e-Visa approval, the ETA. The officer records your biometrics and stamps the e-Visa into the passport; check the stamp is there before you walk on, because you will need it to leave. There is nothing more to pay at the airport, whatever anyone tells you.
The Airport Express metro runs from Terminal 3 to New Delhi station in about 20 minutes, every 10 to 15 minutes from early morning until close to midnight. Uber picks up at every terminal, and many hotels will send a car. After dark, book the ride in an app rather than taking one from the kerb.
Bringing a satellite phone into India without a licence is illegal, even if you are only changing planes, and the ban can cover satellite messengers and handheld GPS units too. They can be confiscated and their owners fined or arrested; British travellers have been detained over exactly this. An ordinary phone is fine, eSIM included. Trekking the high Himalaya? Leave your route with the guesthouse instead.
Anjuna, on the northern coast, gave the world Goa trance and still holds a flea market on Wednesdays. Further south, Palolem and Agonda, a nesting beach for olive ridley turtles, are for doing very little. Since January 2023 the north has had its own airport at Mopa, about 60 km from Dabolim in the south, so check which one your flight uses before booking the taxi.
The legend of a black marble twin across the Yamuna goes back to the French traveller Tavernier, who visited Agra in 1665. Digs at Mehtab Bagh, the Moonlight Garden opposite, found a Mughal garden and a large octagonal pool instead: the only black Taj may have been a reflection. The garden is open every day, which matters, because the Taj Mahal closes on Fridays.
West Bengal won a geographical indication for its rosogolla in 2017. Odisha, which ties the sweet to centuries of offerings at the temple in Puri, answered with one for its rasagola in 2019, after four years of argument. The registry’s view: both can stand, as two variants of one sweet. Try each, in Kolkata and in Bhubaneswar, and keep your verdict to yourself.
All of India keeps Indian Standard Time, UTC+5:30, so the sun rises almost two hours earlier on the eastern border than in the far west. Assam’s tea gardens run on their own ‘tea garden time’, an hour ahead. Nepal, next door, keeps UTC+5:45, 15 minutes ahead of India. Your phone will adjust by itself; your body clock is on its own.
Answers about data, coverage and setup for India.
Sri Lanka, yes, and Bangladesh too: both are on the Asia plan, so the allowance carries on after the flight to Colombo or Dhaka. Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives are not on the plan, so the package does not work there; plan those days around hotel Wi-Fi or a local SIM. A layover in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok stays on the same package. The Asia plan
For Uber, no: it runs on data, your account stays on your usual number, and sign-in codes still reach the home SIM in your phone. UPI, which handles more than 600 million payments a day, is different. It runs on Indian bank accounts, normally tied to Indian numbers, and onesim is data-only. Visitors use a UPI One World wallet instead, opened with a passport and visa and topped up by card. Guide: keeping your own number abroad
In the cities, along the main roads and railways and in the beach towns, coverage is good, and the phone finds the local network a few minutes after landing. It thins in the high Himalaya, where trekkers should expect days without signal, in the national parks and on remote islands, as it does for everyone. Download offline maps, tickets and your hotel’s address before those legs.
