Getting There & Away
India's major international airports are Mumbai (Bombay) and Delhi, though there are plenty of international flights also arriving in Calcutta and Chennai (Madras). Flights from Europe tend to arrive in India in the early hours of the morning, which can be inconvenient if you don't have reserved accommodation or don't like tramping around unfamiliar cities in the dark. Delhi is the cheapest place to buy air tickets in India, followed by Calcutta and Mumbai. International flights to neighbouring countries can be very cheap: especially between Calcutta and Dhaka (Bangladesh), Delhi and Karachi (Pakistan) and Tiruchirappalli and Colombo (Sri Lanka). The departure tax on flights to Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal is approximately US$3, but to other countries it's US$10.
The most popular overland routes between India and Nepal are Birganj-Raxaul, Sunauli-Gorakhpur and Kakarbhitta-Siliguri. If you're heading from Kathmandu or Pokhara to Delhi or elsewhere in north-western India, then Sunauli is the most convenient entry point; to reach Calcutta or most of eastern India, Birganj is the best place to cross the border; and to get to Darjeeling, it's easiest to go via Kakarbhitta. It's fairly easy to travel between Calcutta and Dhaka overland. The only border crossing currently open between India and Pakistan is between Lahore and Amritsar. This crossing can be done either by train or by road. All other border crossings are by road only. A bus service between Lahore and Delhi, operating four times a week, is now up and running.
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