Caravan travel is finding its wheels in India. As road trips get longer, remote work loosens the ties to office desks, and travellers look beyond the predictable hotel-and-itinerary holiday, campervans are offering a different way to see the country. Perhaps the biggest change vanlife brings is the idea of home itself shifting—even if it’s for a short while. Families are converting SUVs into homes on wheels, couples are trading fixed addresses for open highways, pet parents are taking their four-legged companions along, and retirees are discovering the pleasures of travelling at their own pace. The appeal is simple: carry your home with you, stop when you please, and let the journey decide what comes next. The catch? India is still learning how to accommodate life on the road.
Gurugram-based Dhruv “North”’s caravan adventure began in 2011 with a 1989 India Post Matador he found on OLX. He called it North, refurbished it and made it a campervan; and before long, his two sons joined him on the road. “I wanted to familiarise them with the outdoors. They now enjoy stone collection and help me with chopping wood for the bonfire.”
The campervan eventually became so integral to his identity that its name became his surname. For him, a trip is not about rushing from one attraction to another. It is about letting children get their hands dirty and learn things that no classroom can teach.
Families are converting SUVs into homes on wheels, and couples are trading fixed addresses for open highways, discovering the pleasures of travelling on their own
Ajmer-based businessman Kapil Sharma, too, wanted his family to experience travel differently. Inspired by videos of Western vanlifers, he modified his XUV 500 and set off on a 25-day campervanning trip to Ladakh in 2021.
The journey was not merely about waking up to dramatic landscapes. For Sharma, the most memorable moments came from the people he met. One such memory is of teaching a Ladakhi woman to make Dal Baati Choorma on the banks of Pangong Lake. That exchange captures what he enjoys most about travelling in a campervan: the opportunity to connect with people rather than simply pass through their lives. It has also changed how his children approach travel and everyday comforts. “They have learnt how to live with a scarcity of resources,” he says.
And then there are the dogs, who seem to take to this life with remarkable ease. For Harshit Kandpal, vanlife offered something more personal: an escape from burnout. After quitting his job, he modified his red Force Gurkha and set off on a 20-day trip to Adi Kailash. His dog, John Snow, came along and the journey gradually turned the dog into an indispensable companion in his new life on the road.
The experience, however, was far from postcard-perfect. In Spiti Valley, a wheel came rolling off his vehicle, leaving him stranded by the roadside. He ended up camping there through the night while suffering from acute mountain sickness. Yet Kandpal keeps returning to the road. The unpredictability that might frustrate someone else makes this life appealing to him. A breakdown can derail a journey, but a fixed routine, he feels, is harder to live with.
In 2021, Smriti Bhadauria and Kartik Vasan, an Indian-origin couple from Toronto, embarked on a campervan journey across 15 countries. They set off with their dogs, and the journey stretched to four years. Over time, the changing landscapes became almost incidental to a more fundamental transformation in how they lived. “Your needs become small and preoccupations become as basic as deciding what to eat,” she says. However, the romance of waking up to a new landscape can quickly fade when the practicalities of travelling come into play. For the couple, the lack of caravanning infrastructure while travelling through Rajasthan was hard to ignore. Finding a safe place to park overnight can also become stressful.
Comfort is a matter of perspective. A compact bed, limited storage and the absence of familiar conveniences may feel adventurous for a few days but is confining over a longer stretch. Faridabad’s Manka Garg and Aryan Chopra, however, have found a surprising degree of comfort in their modified Maruti Eeco camper. They began travelling in it two years ago, when they were just 24 years old, and have little patience for assumptions about the discomfort of sleeping in a vehicle. “Contrary to what people think, we get the best sleep in our van,” they say.
For those willing to navigate the challenges of the journey, the rewards go beyond scenic drives. There is the thrill of waking up somewhere unexpected, the pleasure of meeting new people, and the freedom to stay another day simply because the place feels right.