No 1 Travel Blogger in India: Who Takes the Top Spot and Why?

If you’re searching for travel ideas in India, you’re bound to bump into the same familiar name over and over: Shivya Nath, author of The Shooting Star blog. Don’t expect boring tourist lists and sponsored posts stuffed with ads. Her whole thing is about authentic storytelling, solo hacks, going off-grid, and real-world adventure you can actually try, even if you’ve only got a weekend off from work.

Think travel blogging in India is just about posting selfies next to famous sights? Shivya’s blog proves there’s a real appetite for more. She shares stories of backpacking across hidden corners, tips for eco-friendly trips, and honest takes on places that are worth your money—and those that seriously aren’t.

But what makes her really stand out is her no-nonsense style. She talks as if you’re a friend, not just a follower. Want ideas for solo treks, working while traveling, or skipping the crowds? She’s got you. Curious if you need to buy another fancy suitcase or can get by with a regular backpack? She’s already tested it on Indian trains, buses, and dodgy roads. Every guide is built for real life, not just Instagram likes.

• What Makes a Travel Blogger No 1 in India?
• Meet the No 1 Travel Blogger: Key Stats and Background
• Signature Content: What Keeps Readers Hooked
• Influence: Can One Blogger Really Shape Travel Trends?
• Best Tips and Hacks You Can Actually Use
• How You Can Start Your Own Travel Blog in India

What Makes a Travel Blogger No 1 in India?

Here’s the real question: Why do some travel blogs in India take off while others barely get noticed? Being the No 1 travel blogger in India isn’t just about fancy photos or racking up Instagram followers. It boils down to a mix of honest tips, useful stories, and just being relatable as a person.

If you dig into the blogs at the top, like The Shooting Star, you’ll notice a pattern. First, their stories feel real. They cover the actual hassles (missed trains, monsoon chaos, street food fails) as well as the travel highlights. Second, the advice is practical—down to the bus timings, local food joints, and costs. No fluffy guides you can't use back home.

• Clear, firsthand experiences: The No 1 travel bloggers always travel themselves, not just repost tips from the web. Shivya, for example, quit her job at 23 to travel full-time—her stories aren’t made up.
• Constant interaction: Top Indian travel bloggers actually reply to DMs, comments, and emails. Want advice for your first solo trip? Odds are, they’ll guide you directly or point to the right blog post.
• Transparency about money: Real numbers matter. It’s not all “magical vacations”—you get the breakdown: what the trip cost, hacks for trains vs flights, and tricks for budget stays.
• Community vibe: They build a tribe. Most top travel blogs have Facebook groups or Telegram channels where followers swap tips (and sometimes real-life meetups!).
• Consistency: There’s always fresh content. The top travel bloggers, like Shivya, post new updates, itineraries, and honest reviews every month.

Check this out—the practical benefits show in the numbers. In one 2023 report, The Shooting Star got over 800,000 visits a month and about 150,000 email subscribers. That’s more than just family and friends hitting ‘like’—it’s a huge proof people value what’s shared there.

The takeaway? To be the No 1 travel blogger in India, you have to keep things real, share actually helpful tips, and listen to your audience. If you’re looking for solid travel info, these are the blogs you’ll come back to again and again.

Meet the No 1 Travel Blogger: Key Stats and Background

If you want to talk about the No 1 travel blogger in India, you just can’t skip Shivya Nath. She grew up in Dehradun and did the whole corporate job thing before quitting at 23 to travel. That’s when her blog, The Shooting Star, started picking up steam. She’s not just another Instagrammer; Shivya’s stories show real places, cultures, and people. She’s built a reputation for choosing slow, responsible travel over flashy check-ins.

Shivya left her corporate career with just a backpack and hasn’t looked back. She became vegan on the road, ditched her permanent home, and has lived out of her suitcase for over a decade. Lots of folks think you need heaps of money to travel, but she’s honest about her budget and how to find deals. In fact, one of her most read posts is about how to travel India on a shoestring budget without missing out on stunning experiences.

If you want to know how she connects with travelers? She runs her own newsletter, interacts through YouTube, and still answers reader DMs. It’s not just travel porn—it’s stuff anyone can use. With awards from Outlook Traveller and National Geographic India, she’s not just popular, she’s widely respected for shaping the top Indian blogs scene.

Signature Content: What Keeps Readers Hooked

If you land on No 1 travel blogger in India Shivya Nath’s blog, you’ll notice how practical and personal her writing feels. It isn’t just lists of the usual tourist hotspots. She shares dead-simple itineraries for anyone who’s short on time and wants the best use of a long weekend—no fancy bookings or travel agents needed.

One reason people keep coming back? Her deep dives into local life. Instead of just snapping a pretty sunset from a resort, Shivya often writes about homestays in remote villages, cooking classes with local families, or volunteering with community projects. If you’re looking for hidden gems or ethical travel tips, her blog’s packed with guides that other big Indian travel blogs just gloss over.

Food is a big draw too. Her posts on local eats—think street food in Varanasi or vegan cafes in Himachal—come with tips you can actually use, like best times to go or how to avoid the tourist traps. She shares packing lists for India’s extreme weather, route breakdowns for popular and offbeat treks, and straightforward cost breakdowns for trips—down to the last rupee. Here’s a quick look at what makes her content stand out:

• Visual travel guides: Every post is stacked with real photos and easy maps, not just stock images.
• Solo travel tips: Advice for both first-timers and seasoned backpackers, tested in India’s real conditions.
• Eco-friendly travel hacks: She pushes zero-plastic, public transport, and local experiences, and shares how simple it is to travel responsibly.
• Stories behind destinations: You get background on people she meets, not just places she visits, so the travel feels like a connection, not just a checklist.

Sticking to real costs and busting sponsor-driven hype has helped her grow a massive Indian and global audience. In 2024, her blog drew over 1 million monthly visitors, the highest among top Indian blogs in the travel scene.

Shivya’s relatable voice and practical, firsthand experience are why she holds the No 1 spot among Indian travel influencers. With every post, she makes sure readers take away tips they can actually use, not just daydream about.

Influence: Can One Blogger Really Shape Travel Trends?

It's wild how much a single person can shake up the whole travel scene in India. Take Shivya Nath, for example—a name you can’t miss if you search for No 1 travel blogger in India. People don’t just read her stuff; they actually change where they travel and how they travel because of her posts.

Her blog, The Shooting Star, has over half a million monthly readers—just imagine that many people picking their next holiday based on one blog. Tourism boards, both in India and worldwide, have started to invite her to explore lesser-known spots. When she covers a place, bookings there jump almost overnight. She once shared a story about Spiti Valley, and local homestays reported nearly double the calls right after. That’s crazy reach for a one-woman show.

But it’s not just about numbers or pageviews. Her honest, often blunt, takes have made eco-friendly and slow-travel more popular among young Indian travelers. Instead of urging people to visit only Rajasthan or Goa, Shivya makes folks consider new states like Arunachal Pradesh or Sikkim. She convinced a ton of her readers to ditch single-use plastics on trips—one Instagram story at a time. She broke myths around solo female travel in India, which got picked up in major media outlets like BBC and National Geographic.

Let’s be real—Shivya isn’t the only top Indian blog out there. But she’s proven you don’t need to be a celebrity or own a fancy travel agency to shape travel culture. Readers trust her advice because she calls out the bad parts as much as she praises the good. That’s why if she says a train journey in Kerala is worth it, those tickets start flying. Bloggers like her help new places become must-visits, highlight hidden struggles (like over-tourism), and sometimes even impact policy decisions with enough buzz. It’s influence on a whole different level.

Best Tips and Hacks You Can Actually Use

The coolest thing about following the No 1 travel blogger in India is getting access to tricks that actually work in the real world, not just on glossy feeds. If you’re planning your next trip, here are some takeaway tips that people swear by, especially if you’re rolling on a budget or just want to experience places differently.

• Pack light, go farther. Shivya Nath swears by a single backpack and always recommends ditching hard suitcases. India’s trains, buses, and shared jeeps aren’t friendly to big wheels. Stick to one bag you can carry up overhead racks or along uneven roads, and you’ll be a lot less stressed.
• Local over luxury, always. She’s made a point to highlight homestays, small guesthouses, and even eco-villages. Not only do you pay less, you usually get real home-cooked food and stories you’ll never hear in hotels. People often mention her Kerala and Sikkim homestay finds as their favorites.
• Go off-season, save cash (and sanity). One of her top travel hacks—visit the hotspots when nobody else wants to. Want to see Ladakh or Goa? Try right before or after peak times. Fewer crowds, way better photos, and smaller bills for everything from transport to food.
• Public transport is your friend. Forget hailing a cab for every ride. Use Indian Railways for long routes and hop onto local rickshaws or share autos for city trips. Shivya often posts Instagram Stories showing how a ₹15 local ferry beats an expensive cab to see the real side of places like Mumbai and Kochi.
• Solo travel isn’t just for influencers. Her step-by-step tips for solo trips are super beginner-friendly. Things like learning some key Hindi phrases, carrying a power bank, and sharing your location with family help newbies feel way more confident on their first solo train ride or trek.
• Work as you travel. She turned her blog into a remote job, but you don’t have to be a writer to do it. Lots of people she’s profiled teach online, pick up freelance gigs, or even trade work for accommodation. It’s not just for digital nomads—anyone with basic skills can get started.

Her real advantage is how open she is about the costs and headaches. Shivya’s reviews always include how much she spent for food, stays, and activities, so you know what to expect. Here’s a quick look at recent trip cost breakdowns from her blog, showing how you can travel on different budgets:

Try using these hacks on your next adventure. You’ll save time, money, and probably have a better story to tell.

How You Can Start Your Own Travel Blog in India

Ever thought of sharing your trips with the world just like the No 1 travel blogger in India? It’s honestly way more doable than it looks on the surface. You don’t need fancy gear or a huge budget. You just need a bit of patience, love for travel, and a story people actually want to read.

Let’s break down the steps for you:

1. Pick Your Niche: Specific is better. Are you into solo backpacking, family getaways (like me with my kid Zane), food travel, or eco-friendly trips? The tighter your niche, the easier it is to build a loyal audience.
2. Get Your Domain and Hosting: Buy a simple .com domain—something like "yourname.com" or "nameonthego.com". Good Indian hosting companies like Hostinger India, Bluehost, or BigRock make starting out cheap and smooth.
3. Start With WordPress: It’s the go-to for 90% of new bloggers in India. It’s got free themes that look professional and tons of guides if you get stuck.
4. Write Real Stories: Don’t copy and paste. Share your honest experiences, what went well, what flopped, and what you wish you’d known before. That’s what gets people coming back.
5. Promote Smartly: Social media helps, but don’t spam. Share your posts in Indian travel Facebook groups, tag Indian travel hashtags on Instagram, and connect with other bloggers for shoutouts and collabs.
6. Learn Basic SEO: Want to get found on Google? Learn to add keywords like "top Indian blogs" or "Indian travel tips" in your post titles, meta descriptions, and within your stories. Tools like Yoast (free on WordPress) make this way easier.

Travel blogging isn’t just writing and posting photos—it’s a side hustle for some and a full-time gig for others. Here's a quick look at what new Indian bloggers usually use to kick off their sites:

If you want your blog to be more than a hobby, try sticking to a schedule—write at least once a week. Good photos help, but your own voice is what will really set you apart. Study the big names and figure out what you’d do differently. And remember, you don’t have to quit your job to start. Some of the top Indian blogs started as pure side projects.

I always tell my son Zane, the best time to start is when you’re itching enough to tell that one story you wish someone else had told you. Skip the excuses, grab your phone or camera, and just put that first post out there. The rest follows.