Planning a girls trip in 2026? Good timing. Travel has genuinely opened up in ways it hadn't before the pandemic years, visa processes have gotten smoother for Indian passport holders, and the options for women travelling together, whether it's a group of four besties or a multigenerational mother-daughter adventure, have never been better.
In This Guide
- 1. Bali, Indonesia
- 2. Thailand (Chiang Mai + Krabi)
- 3. Vietnam (Hanoi + Hoi An + Ho Chi Minh City)
- 4. Sri Lanka
- 5. Georgia (Tbilisi + Kazbegi)
- 6. Portugal (Lisbon + Porto)
- 7. Rajasthan, India
- 8. Gujarat Heritage and Wildlife
- 9. Japan (Tokyo + Kyoto + Osaka)
- 10. Kenya (Masai Mara + Nairobi)
- How to See All of These in One Trip
- What This Trip Costs from India
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Ready to Tick These Off Your List?
This guide covers ten destinations that actually deliver: places where you'll feel safe, where your budget makes sense, where the food is good, and where you'll come back with stories instead of just photos. We've kept a mix of international and domestic options because, honestly, India has some seriously underrated girls trip territory that deserves more love.
By the end of this, you'll know exactly where to go, what it'll cost from India, and how to stop overthinking and actually book the thing.
1. Bali, Indonesia
Bali is the gold standard for a reason, and it keeps earning that reputation year after year. For Indian travellers, it ticks every box: visa on arrival (currently USD 35), direct flights from Mumbai and Delhi under six hours, and a culture that feels spiritually familiar in the best way.
Split your time between Ubud and Seminyak. Ubud is where you do the good stuff: morning yoga overlooking rice fields, visiting the Tirta Empul water temple at dawn before the crowds arrive, and getting a proper Balinese massage for about Rs 800. Seminyak is where you eat well, shop the boutiques along Jalan Laksmana, and watch the sunset from Ku De Ta with something cold in your hand.
The food alone is worth the trip. Nasi goreng at a warung at midnight, fresh coconut on the beach, Balinese duck dishes that have nothing to do with any restaurant in India. Go between April and June or September and October to avoid both the monsoon and peak pricing.
2. Thailand (Chiang Mai + Krabi)
Thailand works beautifully as a two-city girls trip. Skip Bangkok as your base unless you love malls, and go straight to Chiang Mai in the north and Krabi in the south. Between them, you get jungle, beaches, temples, street food, and spa days, and the whole country is remarkably safe for women travelling.
Chiang Mai is for the soul. Explore the old city temples in the early morning, visit an ethical elephant sanctuary (there are good ones, do your research), take a Thai cooking class, and eat your way through the Sunday Night Market on Wualai Road. The city moves at a pace that lets you breathe. Krabi is for the body: limestone cliffs, turquoise water, island hopping to Phi Phi, and long-tail boats taking you to beaches that feel borrowed from a postcard.
Flights from Mumbai or Delhi to Bangkok connect onward to Chiang Mai or Krabi, and the Thailand e-visa is straightforward. Budget roughly Rs 65,000 to Rs 90,000 per person for ten days including flights, and you eat like royalty the entire time.
3. Vietnam (Hanoi + Hoi An + Ho Chi Minh City)
Vietnam is the girls trip that surprises everyone who goes. People expect the food to be good. They don't expect to fall completely in love with the country.
Hanoi is chaotic, alive, and full of French colonial architecture and the best pho you'll eat anywhere. Hoi An is the dreamlike ancient trading town where you get tailor-made clothes in 24 hours for almost nothing, where every building is warm yellow at lantern-lit night, and where the riverside is made for long conversations over Vietnamese iced coffee. Ho Chi Minh City is energy and history, including the War Remnants Museum which is sobering and important.
The country is long and thin, so fly between cities rather than train it everywhere. Vietnam visa is easy for Indian passport holders via e-visa. A 12-day trip covering all three cities runs approximately Rs 80,000 to Rs 1,10,000 per person from India, depending on your flight timing and hotel grade.
4. Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is India's most underrated neighbour for girls trips. It's close (under three hours from most Indian cities), visa is online and costs around USD 35, and it packs extraordinary variety into a small island.
A good seven-to-ten day route covers Colombo for a day (the Pettah market and Galle Face Green), then Kandy for the Temple of the Tooth and the cool hill air, then the tea country around Ella where you walk the Nine Arch Bridge and watch trains pass through mist, then down to the south coast beaches at Mirissa or Unawatuna. Whale watching off Mirissa from December to April is genuinely excellent, with blue whales being spotted regularly.
Sri Lanka is also where you eat incredibly well as a vegetarian. The rice and curry spreads, the kottu roti late at night, the fresh seafood on the south coast. It feels familiar but foreign in the best way, and Indian travellers tend to feel very comfortable here.
5. Georgia (Tbilisi + Kazbegi)
Georgia has been having a sustained moment, and for 2026, it's still one of the smartest picks for Indian travellers. Indians get visa-free access, direct flights operate from Mumbai and Delhi, and your rupee genuinely stretches here.
Tbilisi is one of the more beautiful cities in the world that most people have never heard of. The old town Abanotubani district has sulphur bath houses where you can book a private room and soak for hours, the food and wine scene is outstanding (Georgian cuisine is hearty and delicious), and the architecture mixes medieval churches with Art Nouveau balconies and Soviet-era curves. It's photogenic in every direction.
Kazbegi, about three hours north by road, sits at the base of the Caucasus mountains with the Gergeti Trinity Church perched dramatically above the village. The drive itself is beautiful. Georgia trips work well in May-June and September-October. Budget roughly Rs 70,000 to Rs 1,00,000 per person for eight to ten days including flights.
6. Portugal (Lisbon + Porto)
Portugal has been quietly climbing the girls trip rankings, and in 2026 it's a serious option if your group wants Europe without the eye-watering cost of Paris or Rome. Lisbon and Porto together make for an excellent ten-to-twelve day trip.
Lisbon is hilly, sun-soaked, and full of azulejo tile buildings, fado music drifting from doorways in the Alfama neighbourhood, and pasteis de nata (custard tarts) that you'll eat six of before lunchtime. The city is walkable, safe, and genuinely beautiful. Porto, three hours north by train, is where the port wine comes from, and a cave tour along the Douro riverbank followed by a tasting session is a legitimate highlight.
Schengen visa is required for Indian passport holders, so apply twelve to fifteen weeks in advance. Flights from Mumbai or Delhi typically route through the Gulf. Portugal trips work April through June and September. Budget Rs 1,40,000 to Rs 1,80,000 per person for a good eleven-day trip.
7. Rajasthan, India
Before you scroll past this thinking you've already been to Rajasthan, hear it out: most people have done Rajasthan as a family trip or a quick two-city tour. Doing it as a girls trip, slowly, with the right stops, is completely different.
The ideal route goes Jaipur (two nights), Jodhpur (two nights), Jaisalmer (two nights), and one of the heritage havelis in Shekhawati for a night. Stay in palace hotels where you can, because they're surprisingly affordable off-season and the experience of breakfasting in a Mughal courtyard is hard to replicate. Jaisalmer's sand dunes at sunrise, a camel ride at dusk, and a night in a desert camp under proper star cover are things your group will talk about for years.
Shop hard in Jaipur's Johari Bazaar and Bapu Bazaar. Get block print fabric in Jodhpur. Eat dal baati churma at a roadside dhaba and laal maas if your group eats meat. Rajasthan is the kind of trip where you genuinely don't need a passport, but it feels like a world away from everyday life.
8. Gujarat Heritage and Wildlife
Gujarat is criminally underrated as a girls trip destination, and if your group loves wildlife, heritage, and experiences that feel genuinely off the beaten path, this is the one to pay attention to.
The Gujarat Heritage & Wildlife Tour combines the Asiatic lions of Gir National Park (the only place on earth where you can see them in the wild), the flamingo-covered Nal Sarovar lake, the ancient stepwells at Patan and Modhera's sun temple, and the architectural brilliance of Ahmedabad's old city, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can also add the surreal white salt desert of the Rann of Kutch if timing allows.
The food story in Gujarat is exceptional, especially for vegetarian travellers. The thalis are legendary, the street food in Ahmedabad's Manek Chowk, from fafda in the morning to pav bhaji at midnight, runs around the clock. Gujarat is also very safe, very accessible from Mumbai or Delhi, and largely uncrowded compared to Rajasthan. This is the trip for the group that wants to feel like they discovered something.
9. Japan (Tokyo + Kyoto + Osaka)
Japan rewards groups that pay attention and punishes those who rush. For 2026, Japan has reintroduced a tourist tax and manages visitor numbers more carefully now, which actually means better experiences at most sites if you plan well.
Tokyo is sensory overload in the best way: the fish market breakfast at Toyosu, the Harajuku street fashion, ramen at a counter at 11pm, the robot restaurant if you want pure spectacle. Kyoto is the counterpoint: ancient temples, bamboo groves in Arashiyama at early morning, geisha sightings in Gion if you time it right, and matcha everything. Osaka is where you eat nonstop: takoyaki, okonomiyaki, street food along Dotonbori canal.
Japan is not cheap. Budget Rs 1,60,000 to Rs 2,20,000 per person for twelve days. But it is extraordinary value for what you get. The visa is straightforward for Indian passport holders, and the country's safety record for women travellers is exceptional. The IC card system makes getting around cities completely stress-free.
10. Kenya (Masai Mara + Nairobi)
Kenya is an unusual girls trip pick, and that's exactly why it works. If your group is done with beach holidays and city breaks and wants something that genuinely shifts perspective, the Masai Mara will do it.
The great wildebeest migration passes through the Mara between July and October, and the river crossings where thousands of wildebeest charge through crocodile-filled water are some of the most dramatic things you'll ever see in the wild. Outside migration season, the Mara is still one of Africa's best reserves for big cat sightings, especially lions and cheetahs.
After 12 years and 15,000+ trips, we've found the biggest difference between an average trip and a great one is guide quality and game drive timing. These are things Safari Sutra Holidays gets right for every client, and in Kenya especially, having a great guide transforms what you see. Pair two or three days in the Mara with one night in Nairobi for a city contrast, and end with the stunning Incredible India-level hospitality you'll find at some of Nairobi's rooftop restaurants. Kenya e-visa is available online for Indian passport holders.
How to See All of These in One Trip
You can't do all ten in one go, obviously, but you can be smart about combining destinations based on geography and season.
South and Southeast Asia combo: Bali plus Bali makes no sense, but Bali plus Vietnam or Thailand plus Sri Lanka can be done as a 14-to-18 day regional trip if you sequence the flights well. Book the furthest point first (Bali or Vietnam) and work backwards.
European pairing: Portugal plus Georgia sounds odd on paper but works beautifully if you fly into Tbilisi first, then connect to Lisbon via Istanbul. Twelve to fourteen days total.
India domestic deep-dive: Gujarat plus Rajasthan as a combined 12-day circuit makes a seriously memorable Indian girls trip, especially from October to March when the weather cooperates across both states.
Africa as a standalone: Kenya is best treated as a dedicated trip of seven to ten days. Don't try to tack it onto a beach holiday on the other end; the game drives are early mornings and the pace is different.
What This Trip Costs from India
Here's an honest, ballpark breakdown per person, including return international flights from Mumbai or Delhi, mid-range accommodation (good 3 to 4 star hotels or safari lodges), most meals, and internal transfers. Domestic India trips exclude flights from your city.
- Bali (8 days): Rs 60,000 to Rs 85,000
- Thailand, Chiang Mai plus Krabi (10 days): Rs 65,000 to Rs 90,000
- Vietnam (12 days): Rs 80,000 to Rs 1,10,000
- Sri Lanka (8 days): Rs 55,000 to Rs 80,000
- Georgia (9 days): Rs 70,000 to Rs 1,00,000
- Portugal (11 days): Rs 1,40,000 to Rs 1,80,000
- Rajasthan domestic (8 days): Rs 25,000 to Rs 55,000
- Gujarat domestic (7 days): Rs 20,000 to Rs 45,000
- Japan (12 days): Rs 1,60,000 to Rs 2,20,000
- Kenya safari (8 days): Rs 1,50,000 to Rs 2,50,000
Groups of four or more often get better hotel rates and can split private vehicle costs, which genuinely changes the maths on the higher-budget destinations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Which destination is safest for a group of Indian women travelling without men?
All ten destinations on this list have strong safety records for women travellers. Japan, Bali, Sri Lanka, and Portugal consistently rank among the safest in their respective regions. Georgia is extremely safe with very low street crime. Within India, Rajasthan and Gujarat are both comfortable for women's groups, especially if you're staying in reputable hotels and using pre-arranged transport rather than random cabs.
Q: Do I need travel insurance for international girls trips?
Yes, always. Get comprehensive travel insurance that covers medical evacuation, trip cancellation, and lost baggage. For safari destinations like Kenya, make sure your policy specifically covers wildlife-related activities. Insurance typically costs Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 per person per day depending on coverage level and destination, and it has saved many of our Safari Sutra Holidays clients from genuine financial disasters.
Q: What's the best time of year to book a girls trip from India?
It depends on the destination. October to March works well for Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Gujarat, and Rajasthan. April to June is best for Europe (Portugal, Georgia) and Japan's spring season. July to October is ideal for Kenya's migration. Book flights at least three to four months in advance for good prices, and six months ahead for peak season travel like December or Diwali.
Q: How do we split costs fairly in a group of different budgets?
This is one of the most common friction points in group travel, and the honest answer is to have the conversation before booking. Decide early whether everyone is on the same tier (budget, mid-range, or premium) or whether you're flexible on accommodation but fixed on activities. Shared expenses like vehicles and shared rooms are easier to split equally. Personal expenses like shopping and spa treatments are obviously individual. Many groups use apps like Splitwise throughout the trip to keep it clean.
Q: Can we get vegetarian food easily at these destinations?
Bali, Thailand, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka are all excellent for vegetarians. Japan has more options than you'd expect, especially Buddhist vegetarian cuisine, though you'll want to communicate clearly at restaurants. Georgia and Portugal are more meat-forward but have good options in cities. Within India, Gujarat is paradise for vegetarian travellers and Rajasthan has very solid vegetarian food across all price points.
Q: How far in advance should we start planning a group girls trip?
For a group of four or more, start at least four to five months ahead for international trips and two to three months ahead for India. Group travel involves more variables: aligning leave dates, passport validity, visa timelines, and the inevitable back-and-forth on preferences. The earlier you start, the better your flight prices and hotel options.
Q: Is it worth hiring a travel company or just booking everything on our own?
For destinations like Kenya, where guide quality genuinely determines what you see, working with a specialist is worth every rupee. For Thailand or Bali, confident independent travellers can manage fine on their own. The middle ground, where a travel company handles flights, hotels, and transfers while you keep flexibility for daily activities, often works best for groups. You save hours of research and have a human to call if something goes wrong.
Ready to Tick These Off Your List?
You've got the destinations, the costs, and the logic. The only thing left is actually making it happen, and that's where most groups get stuck because planning a trip for four-plus people is a project in itself.
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Safari Sutra Team
Travel curators with 13 years of experience planning Indian and international holidays — from safari adventures to island escapes.
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