India

No. These trips were built around work travel, so I flew between Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Goa rather than driving — the cities are 500+ km apart. Locally, I got around in cars hired through my hotels or arranged through work rather than hailing rides myself. I never needed to rent a car or drive anywhere.

With planning, yes, though it takes more effort than a well-labeled country. India scores 5/10 overall — Manageable rather than easy — and that average hides a real range: Hyderabad's upscale dining scene scored 8/10 with two fully dedicated GF restaurants, while Bengaluru and Goa each came in at 4/10, where celiac-aware options exist but take more research and clear communication with staff. There's no formal national GF certification body — the Celiac Society of India is an advocacy and support organization, not a labeling authority — so I verified ingredients restaurant by restaurant rather than looking for a seal. Naturally gluten-free staples like dosa, idli, and rice-and-dal dishes make everyday eating more manageable than the score alone suggests, but hidden gluten in ingredients like asafoetida (hing) and curry thickeners means it's worth staying alert everywhere, not just at unfamiliar restaurants.

I visited in April 2026, which is past the ideal window for two of these three cities — Bengaluru and Hyderabad are both better in the cooler months, roughly October through February, and even Goa, whose season runs later into April, was firmly in pre-monsoon heat by the time I got there. If your schedule is flexible, I'd aim for November through February across all three cities instead. April meant real heat management — electrolytes, sun protection, pacing outdoor time — that a cooler-month trip wouldn't require.