Milking cows in Likir, 60 km from Leh, was exactly the kind of work Sejal Luthra needed two years ago. She was 30, tired from working a social sector job in Delhi, and in no mood for a hectic travel schedule. But volunteering at a homestay in the mountains? It looked like a Ghibli adventure.
Luthra spent three weeks at the Old Likir Traditional Farm Stay, harvesting vegetables, planting spinach, feeding the animals and helping maintain the four-room property. He learned that milking a cow is not as easy as the movies make it out to be. It requires rhythm, a specific technique, and a lot of arm strength – at one point, even the cows lost patience with him. She also failed spectacularly to carry a bale of hay, and her sunglasses got lost in the pile – an extreme city-girl moment. In return, she got a room to herself, meals twice a day and ample time to read, cycle through Likir and visit the nearby monastery and pottery studio. “It felt like a more meaningful way to travel,” she says.
If this sounds like the IRL version of all those Insta posts inviting tourists to “manage a café in Spiti” or “stay on an organic farm in Goa” in exchange for free food and lodging, that’s because volunteer holidays have suddenly hit everyone’s must-do list. There are requests to tutor kindergarteners in Kumaon, help a Kutch homestay manage their social media, and DJ at a hostel in Goa.
The deal sounds simple, but like any exchange, there are expectations, limitations, and a learning curve. There is a 360 degree-view here.
it takes a village
Volunteer tourism has long been a favorite way for Western gap-year students to spend the summer and build their resumes. Global platforms such as WorkAway and Worldpackers have been connecting travelers with barter programs since the early 2000s. Backpacker has been teaching in Dharamshala schools since the 1990s. However, local interest only increased after the pandemic, as young travelers began looking for vacations that felt a little less lonely, a little more immersive, and a lot cheaper. Platforms like Volunteer Yatra have existed since 2021, but networks essentially spread across WhatsApp groups, Instagram pages, websites, and word of mouth.
Indians volunteer differently than foreigners who suffer from guilt. They’re between 20 and 40 – not gap-year kids. Volunteer travel avoids listing farm-related tasks. “Locals already know how to do it efficiently,” says founder Akash Mann. And no mentorship program. “People like to come and suggest what should be done, but don’t like to actually do it. Our idea is to bring in people who can add value at the grassroots level.” So, volunteer work can include building a better website, teaching a particular skill to the community, painting the signboard of a homestay, even taking charge of the DJ console at a hostel.
great upgrade
Yarana Stay & Café is a hostel-style homestay in Manali that hosts musicians, painters and carpenters as volunteers. Harsh Bhatt, who founded the place with his sister Janhvi in 2022, says they’ve been flooded with requests, but they only accept volunteers who are “very good at their job,” match the ambiance, and can communicate well with other guests on the property.
In return, volunteers get a place to stay (rooms cost up to Rs 1.5 lakh). ₹₹3,000 per night), one can relax at the café and tag along on “treks, mountaineering, snowboarding and much more”, says Bhatt. There is no contract. But it’s not bad, one has to work about five hours a day.
In Goa, backpacker hostel Pappy Chulo is almost always looking for volunteer bartenders, hosts, chefs, and anyone who can keep the energy up during social gatherings. The gigs last for three weeks. Most of the candidates contact through Instagram and Social Media Manager Dev Advani screens their social media and also analyzes their work experience, samples and references. “Above all, we want someone who gets along well with people,” he says.
Even at Mustache hostels in Manali and Delhi, the primary volunteer task is to bring guests together. “They are the social glue. They help break the ice and shape the atmosphere,” says Raj Kumar, who manages the volunteers and community. This work could include leading a walk, organizing a sports night or organizing a market trip. The appointment is informal and temporary. If the program goes well, volunteers can extend their free stay to a month or more. If not, both sides move on.
Panky Sood, who founded the Himalayan Volunteer Tourism (HVT) Facebook group with Mahima Mehra in 2018, says unpaid work can make a real impact. The network has more than 34,000 volunteers (artists, musicians, digital marketers, architects, even financial literacy experts) across seven Himalayan states, including Ladakh, where they work with around 160 schools. Some stay for extended periods of time to teach students at their own expense. “Recently, a volunteer gave financial education to rural women during a pilgrimage,” he says.
Do not trouble
Yes, this is not a traditional job. Yes, you are technically on leave. But volunteering still comes with rules. The big takeaway: know your limits. “A big part of volunteer roles is bringing people together and organizing parties and mixers. That doesn’t mean you start becoming over-familiar with guests,” says Bhatt.
Rule Two: Don’t lie on your resume. Advani’s volunteers include “so-called bartenders whose drinks customers kept sending back; event planners who couldn’t organize a party.” Bhatt recalls a foreign tourist who volunteered to manage the hostel in 2022, but worked on his own schedule. “He would wake up whenever he wanted, which was fine, but he would also spoil the work. If he concentrated on one thing, two other tasks would be missed and we would end up getting more done.”
safe journey
Advani compares the volunteer system to a game of Russian roulette: “We never know who we will get”. It’s the same for volunteers, some of whom have faced rude hosts or been expected to work longer hours than discussed. “In rural India, volunteers also need to be aware of social realities – caste dynamics, gender roles. We can’t change this overnight,” says Mann. A quick briefing is not enough to combat culture shock.
Volunteer travel is helping both parties to work better. “We investigate all properties and impose sanctions on anyone involved in misconduct,” says Mann. The site has created a code of conduct for a volunteer and a standard operating procedure that includes how much work a volunteer will do, the amount of expected output, along with organizing the volunteer’s travel experience. “We also arrange for scooties or bicycles as well as pick-up and drop so that volunteers can move around.” The app has an SOS button for unsafe situations and WhatsApp groups for each area. And given that the network is widespread, “there is always material help available,” claims Mann.
Luthra, who has volunteered at other places after her time in Likil, also checks for herself: how far away the place is, whether there is access to a market, transportation or even a bicycle. “You don’t want to feel stuck.” She also reads reviews, talks to hosts beforehand and reaches out to former volunteers to get the full picture.
be my guest
How to know if free migration is worth it, and if free labor is actually making a difference? “Our primary goal is to see what makes a difference in the village,” says Mann. “If our volunteers are teaching in a school, how have things changed for the children?” Some volunteers leave a lasting impression. For Bhatt, it was a guest named Sangram S from Mumbai who painted his entire hostel in 2022. “Yarana means friendship. They painted the entire property yellow, the color of friendship.”
The best volunteers are the ones who stay. Pappy Chulo’s first volunteer, Josephine May of England, signed up 10 years ago, when the place was “just three rooms and a sand floor.” She has been a receptionist, tended bar, done housekeeping, trained her dogs to stay away from the rooms, “all kinds of things really.” She keeps returning after staying for two-three months continuously. “He’s practically family now,” says Advani.
Luthra returned from Likir in June 2024. Since then he has volunteered in hostels in Bangkok and Malaysia during slow breaks. “Sometimes, I choose a destination first and then look for volunteer opportunities there. Other times, I find a great opportunity and choose the destination because of that.”
From HT Brunch, April 4, 2026
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