Cancellation & Refund Policy

All cancellations and date changes must be made in writing — a WhatsApp message or an email to info@vascotravels.com is fine. The effective date of cancellation is the date we receive your written request.

The cancellation charge is a share of the total tour cost, counted from your trip start date:

• 30 days or more before trip start: no cancellation charge. We refund what you have paid, less any documented non-refundable supplier or payment costs described in Section 5.
• 15 to 29 days before: the charge is 50% of the total tour cost.
• 8 to 14 days before: the charge is 75% of the total tour cost.
• 7 days or less before, or no-show: the charge is 100% of the total tour cost, as by this stage hotels and transport are fully committed.

Your refund is the amount you have paid minus the charge. The charge is only ever taken from money you have already paid: if it is larger than what you have paid, you receive no refund, but you never owe us anything more. Supplier amounts that cannot be recovered (Section 3) count towards the charge rather than being added on top; where they are larger than the charge, the larger amount is kept from what you have paid.

Worked example. Take a trip with a total tour cost of ₹40,000.

• You have paid the ₹5,000 advance and cancel 20 days before the trip. The charge is ₹20,000 (50%). It is larger than the ₹5,000 you paid, so the advance is not refunded, and you owe nothing more.
• You have paid the full ₹40,000 and cancel 20 days before the trip. The charge is ₹20,000, so we refund ₹20,000.
• You have paid the ₹5,000 advance and cancel 40 days before the trip. There is no charge, so we refund ₹5,000, less any documented non-refundable supplier or payment costs.

The balance of your trip is due before travel, at a time we agree with you in writing.

Some services are non-refundable from the moment they are booked — certain hotel and houseboat bookings, gondola tickets, flights, or special peak-season reservations. Where a supplier does not refund us, that specific amount cannot be refunded to you, even within a slab that would otherwise allow a refund. We will always show these components clearly.

For high-demand periods — in particular the tulip season (mid-March to mid-April) and the Christmas and New Year window — hotels and transport apply stricter, often fully non-refundable terms. For trips in these windows we may apply a stricter cancellation slab, and we will state this clearly on your quote before you pay.

Approved refunds are processed within 7 to 10 working days to your original payment method (UPI or bank transfer). There is no automatic flat processing fee. Any deduction depends on documented supplier cancellation or change charges already incurred, non-recoverable bank or payment-reversal costs, amounts already passed to suppliers, and stricter non-refundable terms for a peak-season or special service that were disclosed in your written quote. We itemise the recoverable amount before processing the refund.

If we ever have to cancel a confirmed trip for reasons within our control, you receive a full refund of everything you paid to us, or the option to reschedule to new dates at no rescheduling charge (subject to availability and any price difference).

Kashmir’s weather can close roads and affect activities at short notice. This is part of mountain travel, and we plan honestly around it. If a service cannot run due to weather, snow, road closure, an official restriction or other force majeure:

• we will first try to reschedule the affected service or offer a sensible alternative of similar value;
• where a service is genuinely missed and the supplier does not refund us, we cannot offer a cash refund for that portion, but wherever possible we will offer a credit towards a future trip or a substitute experience; and
• we will always explain transparently what was and was not recoverable.

Once a trip has begun, there is no refund for unused services, early departures or missed portions (for example a skipped sightseeing day or an activity you choose not to do), as these are booked and paid on your behalf.

We offer one free date change per booking if requested at least 15 days before your trip start, subject to availability and any difference in season pricing. Date changes requested within 15 days are treated as a cancellation and rebooking under the slabs above. Non-refundable supplier components may still be lost on a date change.

For peace of mind, especially on peak-season or higher-value trips, we recommend travel insurance covering cancellation, weather disruption and medical needs. If you ever need to cancel or change, message us on WhatsApp first — we will always try to find you the best possible outcome.