The TingoTrip Journal

The journal is where we write down what we know. Not destination listicles and not sponsored round-ups — just practical notes from people who have made the journey, written so that you can plan around them.

What you will find here

Most of what we publish falls into a few kinds of piece, and each exists because travellers kept asking us the same questions.

• Route notes. How to actually get somewhere: which train, which bus for the stretch the train misses, roughly what a cab costs, and how long the whole thing really takes with stops.
• Seasonal guidance. When a place is at its best and when it is genuinely unpleasant. The monsoon makes the Konkan extraordinary and some hill roads miserable, and we will say which is which.
• Stay notes. Where we would put a family, a couple or a solo traveller in a given town, and what the trade-offs are between the seafront and the quiet street behind it.
• Food, honestly. The family kitchen worth the detour, the dish that is only good in one season, and the famous place that no longer deserves the queue.
• Practical pieces. Refunds, cancellation windows, what a PNR actually means, how to plan around a festival rush.

How we write it

Every piece is written by someone who has been there. If we have not made a journey ourselves, we say so and tell you who we spoke to. When we quote a price, we date it, because a cab fare from two years ago is not useful to you.

We do not take payment to recommend a hotel, a restaurant or a destination. If a piece mentions something we sell, it is because it is relevant, and you will be able to tell. Where we get something wrong, we correct it on the page rather than quietly deleting it.

We also try to be honest about the dull parts. A beautiful beach with a four-hour road approach and no decent food nearby is still a four-hour road approach, and you deserve to know before you commit a weekend to it.

Planning a trip from what you read

Every route note is written so you can act on it. Where a piece names a stretch you would fly, take a train or drive, you can search that leg directly, compare what is available and book it without leaving the journey half-planned. Curated holidays cover the routes we know best, and are built around the same advice you are reading.

Writing for us

If you know a region deeply — properly deeply, the sort of knowledge that comes from years rather than a long weekend — we would like to hear from you. We are particularly interested in parts of India that are badly served by the usual travel writing, and in people who can tell us what a place is like in the off season.

Write to us through the Help Centre with a short note on the region you know and a sample of your writing. We pay for what we publish.

Suggest a subject

If there is a journey you are trying to plan and cannot find honest information about, tell us. Those messages are where a good number of our pieces start, and the question you are stuck on is usually one that a few thousand other people are stuck on too.