Where the money goes
Hotel: $22 for a clean AC room at a place like Hotel CJ International near Golden Temple or a Treebo in Chandigarh Sector 22. Breakfast: $2 for chole bhature at a dhaba. Lunch: free at the Golden Temple langar or $3 for a thali. Dinner: $6 at Kesar Da Dhaba including a lassi.
Transport: $4 for an Ola or Uber across town, or $1 for an autorickshaw. Sightseeing: most gurdwaras and museums are free or under $2. That leaves roughly $10–12 for a rooftop drink, a souvenir, or the Wagah border shared taxi.
A sample Amritsar day
6am Golden Temple sunrise (free), 9am chole bhature at Bharawan Da Dhaba ($2), 11am Partition Museum ($3), 1pm langar lunch (free, donation of $1), 3pm rickshaw to Jallianwala Bagh (free entry, $1 ride), 5pm Wagah border shared taxi ($5 return), 9pm dinner at Kesar Da Dhaba ($6), 10pm walk back to hotel.
Total spend: $18 plus $22 hotel equals $40. You are $10 under budget and have not skimped once. Punjab is genuinely the best-value state in north India.
Questions, answered
Hotels in Punjab
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