Best Wedding Destinations in India: 10 Places by Budget

In the 2025 season, the traders’ body CAIT counted roughly 46 lakh weddings across the country in just 45 days, from 1 November to 14 December, and put the spending at about Rs 6.5 lakh crore. That is bigger than the annual budget of most Indian states. A growing share of that money now leaves the home city, which is why the list of wedding destinations in India keeps getting longer and the quotes keep getting wilder.

I have sat through enough of these as a guest, and helped two cousins plan theirs, to know that the brochure price and the final bill are rarely close. So I have sorted ten places by what a destination wedding there really costs for 100 to 150 guests over two nights. The figures cover rooms, all meals, venue charges and sensible decor. Outfits, jewellery and guest flights are extra. Each place gets one honest downside.

First, Fix the Date: The Muhurat Window This Season

Hindu wedding dates open after Dev Uthani Ekadashi, which falls on 20 or 21 November 2026 depending on your panchang. Going by Drik Panchang, the first stretch has barely ten good days: 21 November, then 24 to 26 November, 2 to 6 December and finally 11 and 12 December. After that comes Kharmas, roughly 16 December to 14 January, when most North Indian families will not fix a wedding at all.

Dates return from 15 January 2027 and February is generous, with a dozen or so muhurats spread between the 2nd and the 28th. A few more fall in early March before Holashtak. Panchangs differ by region, so whichever of the wedding destinations in India you shortlist, treat this as a planning frame and let your family pandit confirm the final date and lagna.

Why does this matter for venues? Because the whole country is chasing the same Saturdays. 21 November, 5 December and 12 December are the three dates every palace and beach resort sold first. The weekday muhurats, such as 24 to 26 November or 9 to 11 February, are where the deals are hiding.

Wedding Destinations in India Under Rs 25 Lakh

The cheapest wedding destinations in India are in the hills and on the Tamil Nadu coast. This tier works only if you keep the list near 100 and pick one resort that can sleep everybody. Once guests spill into a second hotel, you are paying for shuttles.

Rishikesh and Jim Corbett

Riverside resorts around Rishikesh and the jungle lodges of Dhikuli near Corbett are the value kings of North India. Expect roughly Rs 12 to 22 lakh in total, or Rs 10,000 to 15,000 per head for two nights. Rishikesh is about 20 km from Dehradun’s Jolly Grant airport. For Jim Corbett, most families simply drive the 250 odd km from Delhi in five to six hours, since Pantnagar airport has very few flights.

The downside is specific. Rishikesh town is officially vegetarian and dry, so a cocktail night has to move to a resort outside municipal limits, and even there rules are tight. In Corbett, resorts near the forest face strict limits on loud music and lighting, and nights in December drop to 5 degrees, which is hard on elderly guests at an outdoor sangeet.

Mussoorie and Shimla

The old colonial hotels of Mussoorie and the estates around Shimla and Chail give you a hill wedding for about Rs 15 to 25 lakh. November and February are the workable months. Mussoorie is around 60 km from Jolly Grant, two hours on a good day. Shimla guests usually fly to Chandigarh and drive 115 km, close to four hours with the traffic at Solan.

My honest worry here is January. Snow looks lovely in photographs, but a blocked road means your caterer’s truck is stuck below Kufri and the baraat is shivering. Lawns are small in the hills too, so 150 guests is the ceiling.

Mahabalipuram

The beach resorts along the East Coast Road are the South’s most convenient option, just 55 km from Chennai airport, a drive of an hour to ninety minutes. Totals usually land between Rs 18 and 25 lakh, with per plate rates of Rs 950 to 1,500 at the mid range resorts. The big five star brands on the same coast will cross Rs 30 lakh. The 8th century Shore Temple is close by for the couple shoot.

Here is the catch that North Indian families miss. Tamil Nadu gets its main rain from the northeast monsoon, October to early December, and that is also cyclone season on this coast. A late November beach mandap is a gamble. Mid January to February is the safe window.

The Rs 25 to 60 Lakh Tier: Beaches, Backwaters and Jaipur

Most destination wedding budgets I hear about from friends end up in this band, even when they started lower. It also covers the most photographed wedding destinations in India outside Rajasthan.

Goa

For 100 to 150 guests, Goa runs roughly Rs 30 to 50 lakh at a good four or five star resort, and more in the week around New Year. South Goa properties around Cavelossim, Varca and Benaulim have the wide, quiet beaches. Note that Goa now has two airports. Dabolim is 45 minutes to an hour from the southern resorts, but many cheaper flights land at Mopa in the far north, a good two hours away. Tell guests which one to book.

The downside is paperwork and volume. A mandap on the sand needs coastal zone clearance plus local permissions, which I cover in the costs section below. And outdoor music goes off at 10 pm sharp. Goa police do turn up.

Kerala: Kumarakom and Kovalam

Of all the wedding destinations in India, Kerala looks the least like a Rajasthani palace, and that is its charm. A backwater resort in Kumarakom or a cliffside one in Kovalam costs about Rs 25 to 45 lakh at the mid level. The famous luxury names on Vembanad Lake start near Rs 60 lakh. The groom arriving by decorated kettuvallam instead of a horse is the picture everybody wants.

Kovalam is the easy one, 15 km from Thiruvananthapuram airport. Kumarakom is around 80 km from Kochi airport, over two hours by road. The Kerala beaches are at their best from December to February.

Two honest points. Humidity stays high even in winter, so heavy lehengas and afternoon functions do not mix. And North Indian catering is the weak link. Most families fly in their own halwai team for at least one meal, which is an extra cost.

Jaipur

Jaipur is the sensible entry to a Rajasthani palace wedding. Heritage hotels and converted havelis on the Amer and Kukas side manage 100 to 150 guests for Rs 30 to 60 lakh. The airport at Sanganer is well connected, and Delhi guests can drive down in about five hours. Our notes on travelling to Jaipur help guests who stay on.

The flip side is that Jaipur is a working city of over 30 lakh people. Your baraat may cross a traffic jam, and the top palace hotels here cost as much as Udaipur without the lake.

Andaman

A beach wedding on Swaraj Dweep, which everybody still calls Havelock, comes to around Rs 35 to 50 lakh for two nights. The Andaman Islands ask the most from guests. They fly to Sri Vijaya Puram, the new official name of Port Blair, and then take a ferry of 90 minutes to two and a half hours. December to March has the calmest sea.

I would not take more than 80 to 100 people. Few island resorts have 50 rooms, so bigger groups get split up, and one cancelled ferry in rough weather can strand half the baraat. Every flower comes by sea from the mainland, and you pay for that too.

Rs 60 Lakh and Above: The Palace Circuit

When foreign magazines write about wedding destinations in India, these three cities are what they mean. The rooms are few and the minimum spends are high.

Udaipur

Udaipur is the reason the phrase destination wedding exists in India. A heritage property on Lake Pichola or Fateh Sagar costs Rs 60 lakh to Rs 1.2 crore for 100 to 150 guests. Per head, planners quote anything from Rs 35,000 to Rs 2 lakh. The island palace buyout is another league. Taj Lake Palace, built in 1746 as Jag Niwas, has just 83 rooms, every guest arrives by boat, and a full celebration there runs well past Rs 5 crore.

The downside is the airport. Maharana Pratap Airport at Dabok is about 22 km from the lake and has limited direct flights, so fares from Mumbai and Delhi shoot up on muhurat weekends. Book guest tickets the day you book the venue.

Jodhpur

Umaid Bhawan was completed only in 1943 and is still home to the former royal family. The hotel wing has about 70 rooms, and even a compact wedding there starts between Rs 1 and 2 crore. Most go far higher. The smarter buy in Jodhpur is a heritage hotel like Ajit Bhawan or Ranbanka, from around Rs 50 to 60 lakh, with Mehrangarh Fort hired for a single evening function.

Flights are the weak point again. Jodhpur’s small airport, 5 km from town, has only a handful of daily connections, so many guests route through Jaipur or Udaipur and lose a day.

Hyderabad’s Palaces

Falaknuma Palace sits on a hill above the old city, about 2,000 feet above sea level, and its dining hall has a single table that seats 101 people. It also has only 60 rooms. A two day wedding for 150 to 200 guests usually lands between Rs 1.2 and 2 crore, with the remaining guests put up in city hotels. Logistics are the easiest of any palace venue, because Hyderabad airport at Shamshabad has direct flights from almost everywhere.

What you lose is the away feeling. Outside the gate you are in a busy metro, and local guests go home at night, which thins out the after party.

All Ten Places at a Glance

Here are the ten wedding destinations in India from this guide in one table, cheapest first. Budgets are for two nights.

The Bills Nobody Mentions in the First Meeting

These apply at nearly all wedding destinations in India, in every tier.

GST. Venue rental, banquet packages and hotel catering attract 18 percent. Rooms are taxed at 5 percent up to a tariff of Rs 7,500 a night and 18 percent above it. Most quotes are written “plus taxes” in small print. On a Rs 40 lakh hotel bill, that is about Rs 7 lakh more.

Vendor travel. Your photographer’s crew of six, the makeup artist, mehendi artists, the anchor, the DJ and the pandit all need flights, rooms and meals. For most wedding destinations in India this adds Rs 2 to 5 lakh, and the decorator’s truck from Delhi or Mumbai is billed separately.

Beach permissions. In Goa, a ceremony on the sand needs clearance from the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority, a Tourism Department nod, a panchayat NOC and police permission for sound. The fee structure GCZMA proposed starts at Rs 50,000 for an event of up to five days if you apply a week ahead, rising to Rs 75,000 for last minute files. Resort lawns behind the high tide line save you this headache.

The 10 pm rule. Under the national noise rules, outdoor loudspeakers must stop between 10 pm and 6 am. This is enforced in Udaipur, Goa, Jaipur and the hills alike. Plan the pheras and sangeet around it, or pay extra for an indoor ballroom, or hand out headphones for a silent after party.

Licences and guarantees. Each function day with alcohol needs a temporary liquor licence, and hotels ask for music licences for recorded songs. Read the room block clause carefully too. If you guarantee 60 rooms and 12 guests drop out, you still pay for 60.

How Far Ahead to Book, and How to Pay Less

At the popular wedding destinations in India, top properties sell their muhurat Saturdays 10 to 14 months ahead. If you are reading this in September and want a palace for early December, I would not hold my breath. Look at late January and February instead, or at the weekday dates. The Ministry of Tourism has been pushing wedding tourism hard under its “India Says I Do” campaign, so demand is only going one way.

A Tuesday to Thursday destination wedding is commonly 20 to 30 percent cheaper than the same hotel on a Saturday, and guests who are flying in anyway have taken leave regardless. Families not bound by muhurat, including Christian, Muslim and many Sikh and South Indian weddings, should look hard at 4 to 14 January. Kharmas keeps demand low, the New Year crowd has left, and Rajasthan hotels negotiate.

The biggest saving is the simplest one. Cut the guest list. Every name you remove saves Rs 12,000 in Corbett and more than Rs 60,000 in Udaipur. Club the haldi and mehendi into one afternoon so that you need two nights and not three. If a foreign beach is tempting you, compare the numbers with our list of exotic destination wedding places around the world before deciding.

After the Shehnai Goes Quiet at Ten

What I remember from the best of these weddings is never the drone shot. It is the hour after the speakers were switched off, with cousins on a ghat in Rishikesh or the boat back from an island in Pichola, shoes off, still laughing. Among all the wedding destinations in India, pick the one your budget can carry without stress and your oldest guest can reach without pain. The photographs will be fine anywhere.