Getting there and around
Gateways, trains and metros.
India is a continent-sized country with a fast skeleton: Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai take the long-haul arrivals, the railways move everyone else, and the metro systems carry the cities. Get the gateways straight and the whole calendar opens up.
Delhi's Indira Gandhi International and Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International handle most long-haul arrivals, with Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Kochi taking their own international routes. Domestic flying is dense and cheap booked ahead: the metros are an hour or two apart by air, and the secondary cities on this calendar, Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Indore, Lucknow, are all on the domestic map. Goa has two airports, Dabolim in the south and Manohar International at Mopa in the north; pick by which end of the state your stay is in.
Inside the cities
The metros are the system everything hangs off: Delhi's is the largest and reaches the airport and most venues on this calendar, Mumbai's suburban railway and growing metro carry the west, and Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune, Kochi and Ahmedabad all run metros that serve their stadiums and expo halls. App cabs fill the gaps everywhere. Buy the city transport card or use the metro apps, and keep small cash for autos and the last mile.
Between cities
The railways are the classic way across: the Rajdhani and Vande Bharat expresses link the metros in comfort, the overnight trains turn distance into a hotel night saved, and bookings open sixty days ahead on IRCTC and fill fast in the festival season. The expressways have made some hops drivable, Mumbai to Pune, Delhi to Jaipur, Bengaluru to Chennai, but for anything longer, fly or take the train.
Search airport transfersvia Klook
Luggage, storage and the last train home
The big stations have cloakrooms, the airports have left-luggage counters, and the app-based storage services cover the metro centres, so a concert day without the suitcase is easy. The real planning fact is the ride home: metros stop around midnight, suburban trains run later in Mumbai, and app cabs surge after stadium shows, so the walkable hotel or the station hotel earns its money on event nights.