Desi travellers are now fascinated by exotic villages in India and abroad

BENGALURU: Suresh Hinduja felt like a samurai recently. Residing at a heritage home with secret passages, waking up to a public alarm at 7 am, drinking Sake (rice wine) at Ryokan (a country inn) and enjoying the Japanese tea ceremony on a oneacre plot ­ the village life of Kikugawa left more of an impression on this traveller than modern Tokyo. The founder of Gourmetindia.com lapped up the rustic life of Japan during a recent holiday.

"The five days spent at Kikugawa near Mt Fuji was unique. The village had a public address system with wake-up calls and nursery rhymes," says Hinduja. He is now planning to explore the rural interiors of Philippines.

Travellers are apparently happy packing in a village tour during vacations abroad. Manasi Kirloskar, executive director of Kirloskar Systems, walked through three villages in Vietnam namely Lao Cai, Ta Van and Thanh Phu. She covered 21 km a day on foot, ate with the local tribes, trekked and slept under the stars over a river bridge. “A trip to the village is cleansing. It helps me get out of my comfort zone," says Kirloskar. For New Year's, she plans to go on a similar voyage to Mongolia.



If one thought Indian travellers find only villages in foreign lands exotic, think again. Even villages in India are becoming tourist destinations.PR professional Shweta Ramesh visited two villages while holidaying in Ladakh recently. One was Chumathang on the banks of river Indus. The other was Turtuk, the last village on the Indo-Pak border recaptured by India in the 1971 war.

"I remember listening to the Turtuk locals narrate stories. One recalled the night of December 13, 1971 when he went to sleep on the land that belonged to Pakistan but woke up to the news that it now belongs to India," says Ramesh.



According to Vikram Ahuja of community-based travel company Byond Travel, villages are a recent addition to experiential travel. He says villages of Ladakh, Punjab and the North-East are popular in the domestic circuit. Internationally, enquiries are for Vietnam, Spain, Jordan and Morocco.

"Curiosity, awareness and a perception of safety have made villages ­ which have recognised the opportunityto monetise from tourism ­ popular. Platforms like Airbnb too have allowed villagers to become entrepreneurs," explains Ahuja.



Seema Jaising of Che Experiences curated a trip to a Dholavira village near Bhuj, Gujarat. In the only Harappan site in India, a lunch thaali with jaggery, daal, and vegetable was organised by a local.

"Travellers want to explore a destinations beyond sightseeing, food trails and shopping. Unusual and local are thus the new hip," says she.Her next trip is to Romania, with a night's stay at a medieval town called Sibiu.