Why I Started Tracking
Every article about workations ends with a vague 'it's cheaper than you think'. I wanted to know the actual number. So I tracked everything — the stay, food, two weekend activities, travel, and miscellaneous — across 14 days working from a riverside property in Tirthan Valley.
The context: I was working a full five-day week, taking calls, shipping code, attending standups. This was not a holiday with a laptop. This was actual work, from a mountain property, for two full weeks.
The Stay
₹1,200 per night for a private room with a river view, fibre WiFi, power backup, and a dedicated desk. The maths stopped being interesting after that.
The property was a Bungstays-listed riverside stay in Tirthan — private room, attached bathroom, a desk that faces the river, fibre WiFi running at 45 Mbps on the slowest day, and an invertor that handled a two-hour power cut on day six without dropping a single call.
Long-stay pricing at 14 nights: ₹1,200 per night all-in. That's ₹16,800 for the stay. In Bangalore, my shared apartment room was ₹18,000 a month, no meals, no workspace, and a 40-minute commute each way.
Food
Breakfast was usually at the property — chai and something simple, included in the stay. Lunch and dinner at local dhabas and one home-cook meal arranged through the host. Average daily food spend across 14 days: ₹380.
Total food: ₹5,320. In Delhi, I was spending ₹600–800 a day on food without thinking about it. The mountain maths continued to get more interesting.
Activities
Two weekends, two activities. Day one of weekend one: a guided walk into Great Himalayan National Park with a local guide — ₹800 for the full day including lunch on the trail. Weekend two: a night camping trip, arranged through the host, ₹1,400 per person.
I was not going to skip the weekends. That was the whole point of being there. Total activities: ₹2,200.
Want to experience this? Browse work-ready stays in Jibhi and Tirthan — each with verified WiFi, power backup, and proper desks.
See propertiesTransport and Miscellaneous
Total spend for 14 days: ₹27,100. In Mumbai, I spend that in nine days without leaving the city.
Volvo bus from Delhi to Bhuntar: ₹950. Shared taxi from Bhuntar to the property: ₹300. Return: similar. Total transport: ₹2,500 roughly.
Miscellaneous — a local SIM top-up as backup, a book from a Kasol bookshop on the way: ₹780.
The total for 14 days, including stay, all food, two weekend activities, and travel: ₹27,100. In Mumbai, I was spending roughly ₹3,000 a day on rent + food + commute. Fourteen days there: ₹42,000. The mountains were not just nicer. They were ₹15,000 nicer.
