Practical Countries Indians can visit Visa Free

While several travel websites list over 60 countries Indians can visit Visa free, many of these countries are not practical for visiting, due to reasons below

• No convenient direct or one stop flights
• Flight option too expensive- not practical spending over a lakh just on flight
• Transit country visa is needed (like USA)

List of countries Indians can practically plan a travel from India within a reasonable budget are shown below. I’ve set following criteria

• There should be direct or one stop flight from major Indian cities
• One stop flights should be via an airport/country that doesn’t need transit visa
• Standard return flight ticket should not be more expensive than 75000 INR if planned 3-4 months in advance

So I found about 29-30 countries which Indians can visit easily without visa and without spending too much money. All of these are in Asia and Africa only, none in Europe, America or Australia.

Asia	Africa
Cambodia Indonesia Thailand Bhutan Nepal Malaysia Maldives Sri Lanka Macau Myanmar Kazakhstan Laos Vietnam Qatar Jordan	Mauritius Seychelles Ethiopia Mozambique Burundi Kenya Zimbabwe Somalia Madagascar Tanzania Rwanda Comoro Island Djibouti Tunisia

I've not been to any country in entire African continent yet. Yet to visit Cambodia, Laos, Qatar and Kazakstan, Jordan in Asia. Let us see what 2024 offers.

Reasons why visiting the rest of the “visa free for Indians” destinations are not very practical. Out of 60+ countries that give visa free entry to Indians, about half of them are very difficult to visit.  

• 13 of them are in South America- either flights are expensive or you will need a US or some other country transit visa to reach there.
• 10 are in Oceania without any flights from India or flights too expensive. Best option to reach these countries will be via Australia and you will need multi entry Australia visa to do that
• 8 are in Africa- not much of a visa issue but flights are 2 stops or more or too expensive to justify spending so much to visit these countries.
• 2 are in Asia- visiting is possible but just a bit complicated.

#	Destination	Continent	Why is it difficult?
1	Montserrat	South America	No flights. Need to fly to USA and take another flight
2	Barbados	South America	1 stop flight costs over 1 lakh Transit visa needed
3	Bolivia	South America	2 stop flight costs over 1.25 lakh Transit visa needed
4	British Virgin Islands	South America	No flights. Need to fly to USA or any American destination and then fly to British Virgin islands
5	St Lucia	South America	1 stop flight costs over 1 lakh Transit visa needed
6	Dominica	South America	No flights. Need to fly to USA and take another flight
7	Haiti	South America	2 stop flights from 1.3 lakhs Transit visa needed
8	Saint Kitts and Nevis	South America	No flights. Need to fly to USA or any American destination and then fly further
9	St Vincent and the Grenadines	South America	2 stop flights from 1.3 lakhs Transit visa needed
10	El Salvador	South America	2 stop flights from 1.3 lakhs Transit visa needed
11	Grenada	South America	No flights. Need to fly to USA or any American destination and then fly further
12	Trinidad and Tobago	South America	2 stop flights from 1.3 lakhs Transit visa needed
13	Jamaica	South America	2 stop flights from 1.1 lakhs Transit visa needed
14	Cook Islands	Oceania	No flights. Need to fly to Australia and take another flight
15	Kiribati	Oceania	No flights. Need to fly to Australia and take another flight
16	Samoa	Oceania	2 stop flights from 1.1 lakhs Transit visa needed
17	Marshall Islands	Oceania	No flights. Need to fly to Australia and take another flight
18	Tuvalu	Oceania	No flights. Need to fly to Australia and take another flight
19	Vanuatu	Oceania	No flights. Need to fly to Australia and take another flight
20	Micronesia	Oceania	No flights. Need to fly to Australia and take another flight
21	Fiji	Oceania	1 stop flight costs over 80k INR (costs same from Australia/NZ as well)
22	Niue	Oceania	No flights. Need to fly to Australia and take another flight
23	Palau	Oceania	No flights. Need to fly to Australia and take another flight
24	Angola	Africa	1 stop flight costs over 1 lakh 2 stop flights above 75k
25	Cape Verde	Africa	2 stop flights from 1 lakhs
26	Guinea Bissau	Africa	No flights
27	Mauritania	Africa	2 stop flights from 1 lakhs
28	Togo	Africa	2 stop flights from 80 K Transit visa needed
29	Senegal	Africa	2 stop flights from 75 K
30	Sierra Leone	Africa	2 stop flights from 1.2 lakhs
31	Gabon	Africa	2 stop flights from 1 lakhs
32	Iran	Asia	Said to impact entry/visa to other countries like USA
33	Timor Leste	Asia	2 stop flights from 1.1 lakhs Easier to fly out from Bali

If you are in a nearby country- say USA or Australia etc it might be easier to visit these nations. If you are determined you may still be able to visit these countries taking 2-3 flights, via other countries and so on, just that the time, effort, cost is too much for a normal tourist/traveler.

An easier way is to secure a USA/Canada/Schengen visa (long term, multi entry visa) which will open entry to following countries.

Set 01: Nearby countries easy to visit with US/Canada visa

#	Country	Continent	Condition
1	Singapore	Asia	4 day VFTF if you have USA, UK, Canada, Australia or Schengen visa
2	Taiwan	Asia	Apply for e-visa (Electronic travel authorization), 30 days with USA/Canada/UK visa
3	Philippines	Asia	USA/Canada visa, 14 days
4	UAE	Asia	VOA with US Visa
5	Mexico	North America	US/Canada/UK/Japan/Schengen Visa
6	Oman	Asia	E-visa possible with US/Canada visa

Set 02 Other countries: Having US/Canada/UK/Schengen visa may open up another 30 countries to Indian passport holders, but most of these are bit far and unless you’re very keen to travel or already visiting a nearby country (like USA), or you’re planning a long term multi country trip it will be expensive to plan a trip to these countries. Over half of them are small countries in the Caribbean area or South America area.

#	Country	Continent	Condition
7	Colombia	South America	US Visa (up to 90 days
8	Panama	South America	US/Canada Visa, 30 days
9	Costa Rica	South America	US Visa, 30 days
10	Honduras	South America	US/Canada
11	Guatemala	South America	US/Canada
12	Peru	South America	US/Canada/Australia/Schengen Visa
13	Belize	South America	US/Canada visa
14	Nicaragua	South America	US/Canada visa
15	El Salvador	South America	US/Canada visa
16	Cuba	South America
17	Sint Maarten	South America
18	Antigua and Barbuda	South America
19	Aruba	South America
20	Curacao	South America
21	Anguilla	South America	US/UK/Canada visa
22	Bahamas	South America	US/Canada Visa
23	Bermuda	South America	US/UK/Canada visa
24	Cayman Islands	South America	US/UK/Canada visa
25	Dominican Republic	South America	US/UK/Canada/Schengen visa
26	Macedonia	Europe
27	Montenegro	Europe	US/Canada
28	Romania	Europe	Multi entry Schengen visa
29	Serbia	Europe
30	Georgia	Europe	US/Canada
31	Albania	Europe
32	Armenia	Europe	US/UK/Canada/Schengen visa
33	Sao Tome & Principe	Africa
34	Turkey	Asia	Eligible for eVisa
35	South Korea	Asia	Short term Visa free entry if transiting via South Korea from USA/Canada, NZ etc

Please note that the above list is indicative only. Visa rules keep changing from time to time as decided by respective countries. Please check the latest applicable visa rules before planning your trip.

TIMATIC is the most authentic way to check for visa documents. Sometimes countries announce new visa rules, but unless it reflects in TIMATIC, airline staff won’t let you board.

Visa on arrival conditions may vary on several factors such as

• Have you traveled at least once to country that issued visa (like USA, Canada)
• Max allowed stay (7,14 or 30 days usually, varies country to country)
• Other supporting documents- return ticket, hotel stay, funds etc
• Any previous incidents like visa overstay, visa rejection etc
• Any other rules (ex: max 180 days each year)

Hope this helps. Let me know your thoughts.