- Delhi
- (103)
-
India
If your looking for a super cheap but clean place which has little character but is next to the train station in Delhi then this budget chain should do. It's a sort of an Indian Travelodge but concentrates on being cheap as far as I can see. The Metro is within a minutes walk as is the train station and if you can live with the small windows and the depressing view then it's just fine. I paid about £14 a night for a double bed on the fourth floor.
I have done over 4000 km in Indian trains over the last six weeks. I have not had one single problem with the food bought from the official IRCTC stands or guys going around. Look out for people with uniform shirts.
Some of the food was actually excellent
Any station
Based on the reader's suggestions here, we stayed at Inn at Delhi.
It was exactly as someone else had said before "Home away from Home".
The owners a retired couple; a history professor and a doctor that are full of energy and bustle and treated us like one of their family.
I would highly recommend staying with them and enjoying the Indian hospitality!
Inn at Delhi
Bed and Breakfast in New Delhi, India
C-34 Anand NIketan
NEW Delhi 110 021, India
site - www.innatdelhi.com
If you are travelling around India, do not book an air con train, they are far too cold. I have done over 2000km on the train system ad I recommend the no air con. Also the in the air con you keep the windows closed, and they are filthy so you don't see anything
New Delhi has been my hometown for the last four years and is also where I grew up, from early teens to adulthood, before leaving to work in other world cities. So I can safely write about the city as an insider. While Delhi has enough history to keep a whole archaeological department occupied for decades, there are enough contemporary sights and sounds for visitors to the city. Its definitely a “teeming megapolis” and more cosmopolitan than most other Indian cities, other than Mumbai. With about 18 million people and an ever-expanding border, the city has the good, bad and ugly in generous proportions.
If you like reading up before taking on a journey I would highly recommend William Dalrymple’s City of Djinns and Sam Miller’s Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity for an insider’s account of the modern city of Delhi. For a good overview, go to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi. In addition to the Lonely Planet, the HT City Eating Out Guide and HT City Night Out Guide are great and are used extensively by locals to plan their outings.
For places to stay, while “The Book” has enough recommendations in Paharganj for the budget tourist, it may be worthwhile to explore the newly started B&B setups. There is a list of approved establishments at www.incredibleindia.org. For the other end of the bandwidth, the best hotels are The Oberoi, The Imperial, Hyatt Regency and the Taj Mahal hotels. Tripadvisor now has an Indian website where you can check out customer feedback, but do double-check dates of reviews, as a lot of hotels are renovating these days with the upcoming 2010 Commonwealth Games in mind. The best locations to stay in Delhi are either central Delhi near Lutyen’s Delhi or south Delhi. These locations would reduce travel time to popular destinations to a certain extent.
For moving around the city, the Delhi Metro is the best deal if you are staying in a central location. Otherwise, the city sadly lacks any decent form of public transport. The suicidal auto-rickshaws are the next best bet and are easy to flag down. There is a fleet of radio taxis in the city now which are safe and not as bone-jarring as the auto’s. Some numbers are Meru Cab at (011) 44224422 and Easy Cabs at (011) 43434343. I would highly recommend these if you don’t mind spending a bit more and can allow for a waiting time of thirty minutes.
For those who would like to do some historical sightseeing, the must-do’s are Red Fort and Chandni Chowk in the Old City (the mandatory rickshaw ride is worth it), Qutb Minar, the Gandhi Museum and Humayun’s Tomb which was a precursor to the Taj Mahal in architectural terms. INTACH does an excellent heritage walk through Mehrauli and details are available at www.intach.org/news&events_intach.htm. This is very popular with locals as well and reservation is recommended as group-sizes are limited. One modern sightseeing destination that I often indulge in is Dilli Haat, which is a food and crafts bazaar with lots to sample from regional craftsmen. Bargaining is a must here but credit cards are not accepted in most kiosks. So do carry cash (I’m not certain that there’s an ATM nearby either!). It’s a great place to pick up gifts and local handicrafts.
Delhi has an extremely vibrant art and music scene and concerts by Indian performers are regularly held at the India International Centre, India Habitat Centre and Nehru Park. The best source to check out weekly listings are Timeout Delhi (www.timeoutdelhi.net) and What’s Hot which is a Friday pullout that comes with The Times of India newspaper. The Triveni Kala Sangam is a great hangout place for artists and art students. The beautiful building is designed by Joseph Allen Stein and the Triveni Café serves a great menu of home-style food which can be enjoyed on the terrace. I have spent enough hours here learning classical dance and eating the stuffed parathas at the café. The NGMA (National Gallery of Modern Art), The National Museum and the Rail Museum are great for museum-lovers.
The Delhi Punjabis are known for their fondness for shaking a leg and downing multiple pegs of Johnnie Walker Black Label. Some of the best bars with good music in Delhi, which locals frequent, are Kasbah at Greater Kailash N-Block market, Shalom which now has more than one bar, Q’BA in Connaught Place and Tabula Rasa at Saket. There is no dearth of drinking hot-spots in the city but these are my favourites. I have also heard good things about Manre and Ai, both of which have live music on certain days and great food, though have not personally sampled these. Both are located in the MGF Metropolitan Mall in Saket. Along with these, the Select Citywalk mall in Saket is the best shopping centre in the city with a great outdoor area and some nice coffee bars to while away time at. This mall is currently the hot favourite of local Delhiites, both for shopping and as a social meeting-place.
Sampling Indian cuisine would be high on the to-do list of several visitors and my favourites are Moti Mahal in Daryaganj for mughlai cuisine, Swagat at Defence Colony market for fantastic south-Indian seafood, Oh Calcutta at Nehru Place for a highly satisfying Bengali meal and Sagar for superb dosas, also at Defence Colony. I have had the best Italian meal in Delhi at Diva which also has an excellent wine-cellar and for a Mediterranean meal I head for Olive Beach at the Diplomat Hotel in Chanakyapuri. Of course, a Bukhara meal at Maurya Sheraton is on every tourist’s list, so you are welcome to it – its definitely very good. The Lodi Restaurant has a great al-fresco setting and you can take a stroll at the Lodi Gardens next door. I love these gardens in the middle of the city. It has some beautiful old structures and is also a very popular picnic-spot in the winters.
Finally, if you want to experience a real local’s lifestyle, I would recommend the following:
1. Travel at peak time down any of the arterial roads to experience traffic nightmares
2. Eat chaat (a local savoury snack) at Prince Paan Corner at GK1 M-Block market, followed by a chaser of your favourite digestive. Chaats are really yummy street-food but its best to eat from a clean source. Bengali Sweet House in Bengali Market is another good source of these.
3. Watch the latest Bollywood blockbuster (Slumdog Millionaire does not count!). Ask a local for a recommendation.
4. Shop for saris in the Karol Bagh or Lajpat Nagar markets. You’ll get enough photo-ops here to capture the chaos that most locals wade through everyday
5. Visit the neighbourhood vegetable market. Some good ones with a fine balance of fresh veggies and slippery sludge are the CR Park market in south Delhi and INA Market opposite Dilli Haat. You could pick up some great spices at these markets as well.
6. Hangout with local university students at the north campus of Delhi University and sample Tibetan momos with them at Majnu-ka-Tila.
7. Watch an evening arati at a Hindu temple. Or eat langar (the free lunch available for all) at a gurudwara. Most Indians visit their place of worship pretty regularly.
8. Do a weekend-trip to one of the several destinations around. Besides Agra for the Taj Mahal, other places nearby that I love are Rishikesh, Bharatpur, Kasauli and Mussoorie. You are sure to meet several Delhiites at any of these places!
While Delhi does have a bad scorecard for safety, as a local, I have never had a bad experience primarily by not indulging in foolhardy late-night activities. As a woman traveler I would try and develop a rhino-skin to deflect unwelcome male attention and ignore friendly overtures by all strangers. If you are partying late-night do so when with friends and never ever travel alone post 9 pm in an auto-rickshaw or an unregistered cab. On such occasions its best to call a radio-taxi. With these precautions, Delhi is a great place to explore.
Indians are hospitable by nature so if you have any local acquaintances do contact them before you get there. Most people would be happy to show you around the city. I love the city despite its chaos and would recommend it to both the adventurous and the conservative traveler. Happy travelling.
The Indian Railways online ticket system. Don't even think about queueing to buy a ticket, just go online and buy it there. It only has one major problem, you either need a local card or a AMEX... Otherwise it is a godsend, no endless Indian queues
Chokola is a great restaurant in south Delhi, just a few minutes from India Gate.
It serves Mediterranean food (mezze, pizza, salads) as well as brilliant desserts and breads. I love the hot chocolate and the paninis!
Its in posh Khan Market, but much cheaper than the rest and it is so calm and relaxing - a great place to recharge yourself before heading out into the madness of Delhi.
Khan Market, New Delhi
The hotel has decent air-con rooms for a reasonable price (I got 50% off the ratecard so barter hard) - nothing special, but better than many. The reason I am recommending it is the staff, who were absolutely fantastic. I arrived in a bit of a state and they took care of me, and went far above and beyond the call of duty in trying to re-arrange my flight home. They could not have been more kind and that makes a big difference when you're travelling alone so I highly recommend this hotel (at least in the immediate future, presuming that the staff don't change!).
Pahar Ganj, on the left-hand side as you walk away from New Delhi station (about 100m down).
Inn at Delhi is a new luxury bed and breakfast in New Delhi.
We stayed there for three nights and absolutely loved the place. It is nestled in a place called Anand Niketan - right next to the embassy area. It is surrounded by three parks.
We loved it because:
- Rooms were larger than most accommodations which we have stayed in previous travels to Delhi. We import goods from India and therefore travel frequently.
- Surrounded by parks - good to de-stress after a day's work in chaotic Delhi.
- Excellent breakfast
www.innatdelhi.com
C-34 Anand Niketan
NEW DELHI 110 021, India
Tel: 0091-11-24113234,
Fax : 0091-11-24113233
Email : innatdelhi@yahoo.co.in
The best place for cheap budget hotel and good food at budget price. Not far away from the center of Delhi.
It is a road near the railway station.
Very famous for backpackers.
With regard to the warning about Holi, I had a lovely time at Holi in Delhi this March. Yes, stuff costs a bit more and you do have to dodge the odd coloured waterbomb, but isn't that all part of the experience? Plus people were friendly and multicoloured! Brilliant!
Avoid either arriving, departing or simply moving out of your hotel during Holi... (Indian spring festival)
The local lads gather in the streets and have water fights - with coloured water and western tourists are a prime target.
The papers were full of warnings about the chemicals used in the colouring (I wrote off a pair of trousers and T-shirt) They contain some pretty nasty chemicals that can cause skin complaints.
All the taxis and rickshaws (if you can find one) will charge three times the normal rate as "danger and damage" money.
Sit tight (it's only one day) and watch the mayhem from a balcony or rooftop!
Not in Lonely Planet (why?).
Cheap, very safe (staffed reception and safe boxes), clean with hot water 24/7 hotel in downtown Delhi.
Check out the eaterie opposite the hotel for a veg Thali for less than a pound.
Only hassle is taxi drivers may be reluctant to come to the Main Bazaar, Pahar Gange (very narrow and crowded streets). Make sure you tell them that it's in PG and print off the map for directions - the last three times I have been to PG the taxi driver managed to get lost...).
We spent a day split between the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid and the bazaar by Chandni Chowk.
The highlight of the three was the cycle rickshaw ride through the narrow streets. We really felt as if we were touching some of Delhi’s history.
Another day was spent on a city tour which we would definitely recommend. There is never enough time spent at some monuments but it did enable us to travel a long distance with some ease and see quite a lot.
We enjoyed most of all the Qutab Minar and Indira Gandhi’s house, both of which we would like to visit again.
In Delhi we stayed at the Hotel Kashish which was excellent. This was in the middle of Paharganj within easy reach of the metro, New Delhi train station, a variety of restaurants and all the atmosphere of a bazaar that you could want.
We paid R1000 for a double room, ensuite with air conditioning. I am sure we could have found somewhere similar a little cheaper but it was down a side street and slightly less hectic, which helped with overcoming the culture shock.
Hotel Kashish
Laxmi Narain Street
Near Imperial Cinema
Pahar Ganj, New Delhi – 110055
41000359
hotelkashishinternational@hotmail.com
It is like the Barbican/Southbank of Delhi. Excellent architecture, a culturally alive place with art galleries, theatres and some old pictures of Delhi. It is good to check out listings to see what's on.
Next to Khan Market, Lodhi Gardens and India International Centre.
It is a bit of a challenge getting around Delhi. There are some areas now served by the metro. But apart from that, autos (three-wheeled tuk tuks) are an absolute no-no, you end up paying more than what you would pay to a cab (black car with yellow roofs).
There is also a a radio cab service, which is also air-conditoned and reasonably clean. Available on call at 1920, 1929, 123.
www.megacabs.com/radio-taxi.html
www.delhilive.com/radio-cabs-launched-in-delhi
Just behind Qutub Minar and off the beaten track. A bit filthy but an absolute treasure house with old tombstones, forts, water bodies.
If you are hungry, look for the 'Royal Dakshin Restaurant' at one of the edges of the park.
If you decide to brave it until night falls then the djinns come out.
www.igougo.com/travelcontent/journalEntryFreeForm.aspx?reviewID=1216579
Excellent place to spend time in Delhi. The place offers designer stores for Indian handicrafts, restaurants, cafes in the outer and middle lane, some of Delhi's oldest bookshops and Lodhi Gardens are right next door!
Don't miss. Set up by famous Indian designer Rohit Bal with chef Suvir Savan of the Michelin-starred Devi in New York, and chef Hemant Mathur from India.
Stylish, glam decor, great service, but most important, fabulous food specialising in North Indian Tandoor items.
Connaught Place, Delhi
You can see a link to it from Suvir's website: www.suvir.com
Map: tinyurl.com/2hnotr
Send your feedback or queries to been.there@guardian.co.uk
Search Been there
Your tips about Delhi